Any Fountain Pen Writers?

[Coolmint]

@Edema Rue… Better handwriting?  Work on simple letter forms.  Keep enough breathing space between letters and words.  Keep slant consistent.  
 

This from someone who got trapped after school to 'force' me to write legibly.  I do now, no thanks to the school.

22 hours ago, Slowswift said:

Alas, I only mentioned wanting to get it fixed. The only thing stopping me at this point is the hassle of shipping and the distance of pen shows.

I've always wanted to try a UEF nib, but I don't think I'd ever want to own one. My fine nib is just perfect; I can't imagine going smaller.

Because it's so scratchy? How soft is the nib actually, or does it not matter since you're writing so lightly anyways?

Not at all scratchy!  Just so soft and so fine it's a delicate operation.  It hasn't been de-inked since I bought it.

Edited March 22 by Coolmint

[+Slowswift]

18 hours ago, Edema Rue said:

Ok hi, I don’t belong here at all but I’ve wanted to get into fountain pens for a while…except I have horrible handwriting. Do you guys have any tips for improving handwriting?

I find that using fountain pens forces me to be more mindful of how I'm writing--it slows me down enough that I can be more consistent. Just pay attention to the way you form letters, and over time you'll improve. (See also Kas and Coolmint's advice.)

14 hours ago, Kasimir said:

My friends accuse me of being a pretender because I love broad nibs but my handwriting is so small it ruins the point of going broad

Honestly, same? My handwriting is probably more suited to medium nibs but I can't stay away from the fines.  

1 hour ago, Coolmint said:

 

Not at all scratchy!  Just so soft and so fine it's a delicate operation.  It hasn't been de-inked since I bought it.

Glad to hear it!

Edited March 22 by Slowswift

[Cyclops]

On 3/21/2024 at 5:50 PM, Edema Rue said:

Ok hi, I don’t belong here at all but I’ve wanted to get into fountain pens for a while…except I have horrible handwriting. Do you guys have any tips for improving handwriting?

First question:  Are you a lefty or a righty?

[Edema Rue]

7 hours ago, Cyclops said:

First question:  Are you a lefty or a righty?

A righty.

(also, thank you all for the suggestions!)

[Cyclops]

3 hours ago, Edema Rue said:

A righty.

(also, thank you all for the suggestions!)

Ok, then I can't help much.

[Kasimir]

Largely managing to avoid temptation and be good, though MrCypress occasionally has some tempting models >>

On 3/24/2024 at 1:13 AM, Cyclops said:

Ok, then I can't help much.

I admit I chuckled  

[Kasimir]

I had to rest my wrist more so I was not using my pens as much. Now I have too many pens over-inked and I should've just admitted defeat and cleaned them out >>

[Cyclops]

11 hours ago, Kasimir said:

I had to rest my wrist more so I was not using my pens as much. Now I have too many pens over-inked and I should've just admitted defeat and cleaned them out >>

I've had far too many pens inked at once, but now I just have a few too many.  Ones that I thought I would use more than I actually do.  Someday...

Question:  Has anyone here had a Conklin All-American in olive wood, and if so, were you able to keep the nib from drying out, and if so, how?  And if I've asked this already, forgive me, I'm old.  Sort of, anyway.  I recently joined the Double Nickel Club, so I'm an old man.

[Coolmint]

Lots of pens inked.  I'm afraid to count.

Right now I'm in love with cheep Chinese Clicky pens.  Some have no name but I also have a set of Luoshi, a couple Mura, and Cobee.  

Edited May 12 by Coolmint

[Cyclops]

Most of mine are Pilots and Preppies.  A few Chinese in there, but not many.

[The Isochronism]

Finally got a fountain pen (On Easter Sunday a few months ago) so now I'm here to join y'all. I freaking love these pens. My issue is sometimes they stop writing for a minute, like the ink got clogged or something. Is this normal?

Never thought I'd need a fancy pen until I got one, I absolutely love it. 

[Coolmint]

55 minutes ago, The Isochronism said:

Finally got a fountain pen (On Easter Sunday a few months ago) so now I'm here to join y'all. I freaking love these pens. My issue is sometimes they stop writing for a minute, like the ink got clogged or something. Is this normal?

Never thought I'd need a fancy pen until I got one, I absolutely love it. 

What brand of pen?  How does it load: cartridge/converter or piston?  What type/brand of ink?  These answers will help diagnose the problem (I'm in the middle of repairing a 'problem child' pen now).

And welcome aboard!

[+Slowswift]

10 hours ago, The Isochronism said:

Finally got a fountain pen (On Easter Sunday a few months ago) so now I'm here to join y'all. I freaking love these pens. My issue is sometimes they stop writing for a minute, like the ink got clogged or something. Is this normal?

Never thought I'd need a fancy pen until I got one, I absolutely love it. 

They're amazing, aren't they? Makes writing so much more joyful. Welcome down the rabbit hole!

To add to Coolmint's question, does it suddenly stop in the middle of a word, or is it when you first start writing?

[Cyclops]

I got a couple of more Pilot Penmanships the other day for less than $18.  The aftermarket nibs I got for my Silver Python just didn't work out very well.  So I put one of the new EFs on it, and it writes like a dream.  Shoulda done that to begin with.

As long as the price holds out, I'm going to keep getting more of those Penmanships and stock up on them.  For spare nibs and feeds, if nothing else.

A little while back,I tried using one as an eyedropper.  Worked fine for a while.  But then the ink started getting low in it, and for some reason wanted to start blobbing onto the paper.  So no more Penmanships as eyedroppers for me.

An experiment I wanna try soon is to make one extra long Pilot cartridge out of two...

Edited May 18 by Cyclops

[Kasimir]

On 5/17/2024 at 1:56 AM, The Isochronism said:

Finally got a fountain pen (On Easter Sunday a few months ago) so now I'm here to join y'all. I freaking love these pens. My issue is sometimes they stop writing for a minute, like the ink got clogged or something. Is this normal?

Never thought I'd need a fancy pen until I got one, I absolutely love it. 

Welcome to the hobby!  

Don't have questions to add to Slowswift's and Coolmint's but IMO they're helpful for diagnosing what's going on.

38 minutes ago, Cyclops said:

An experiment I wanna try soon is to make one extra long Pilot cartridge out of two...

Why so?

[Cyclops]

10 hours ago, Kasimir said:

Why so?

So I can write for longer periods of time before refilling.  A regular cartridge holds a lot more than a converter, that's for sure, but I'd still like to see if I can make a Franken-cartridge.

[Coolmint]

19 hours ago, Cyclops said:

I got a couple of more Pilot Penmanships the other day for less than $18.  The aftermarket nibs I got for my Silver Python just didn't work out very well.  So I put one of the new EFs on it, and it writes like a dream.  Shoulda done that to begin with.

As long as the price holds out, I'm going to keep getting more of those Penmanships and stock up on them.  For spare nibs and feeds, if nothing else.

A little while back,I tried using one as an eyedropper.  Worked fine for a while.  But then the ink started getting low in it, and for some reason wanted to start blobbing onto the paper.  So no more Penmanships as eyedroppers for me.

An experiment I wanna try soon is to make one extra long Pilot cartridge out of two...

The Penmanship is the one that's plastic with a short, threaded cap, yes?  I think I have one.

Any eyedropper blobs when the ink level is low enough…all but my Recife Crystal.

[The Isochronism]

On 5/16/2024 at 10:11 PM, Slowswift said:

They're amazing, aren't they? Makes writing so much more joyful. Welcome down the rabbit hole!

To add to Coolmint's question, does it suddenly stop in the middle of a word, or is it when you first start writing?

 

On 5/16/2024 at 12:53 PM, Coolmint said:

What brand of pen?  How does it load: cartridge/converter or piston?  What type/brand of ink?  These answers will help diagnose the problem (I'm in the middle of repairing a 'problem child' pen now).

And welcome aboard!

Brand is Iridium Point Germany (according to the tip?) and because pen and ink were both gifts I'm not positive of brand otherwise. The cartridge loads by breaking the end of it by stabbing it on to the end of a thingy. Ugh, I'm too new to any of this to understand the terminology.

Ink stops in the middle of a word, pretty randomly throughout my writing.

Hopefully that's enough information? 

[Kasimir]

13 hours ago, Cyclops said:

So I can write for longer periods of time before refilling.  A regular cartridge holds a lot more than a converter, that's for sure, but I'd still like to see if I can make a Franken-cartridge.

I was more confused because Pilot carts are really huge so I was surprised doubling them could still fit in the pen o_O

4 hours ago, The Isochronism said:

Brand is Iridium Point Germany (according to the tip?) and because pen and ink were both gifts I'm not positive of brand otherwise. The cartridge loads by breaking the end of it by stabbing it on to the end of a thingy. Ugh, I'm too new to any of this to understand the terminology.

Iridium Point Germany is a pretty generic stock nib, but that's helpful because we can rule out a lot of brands that would normally name their nib. This one could be a custom too I think, but not sure.

Dw about being too new, it's just a rabbit hole thing. If you don't need to know then you don't. We all start somewhere. If it has a cartridge, then it's what we call a c/c or cartridge or converter model. (You either stab the cartridge, as you point out, or you get a refillable device we call a converter. Dw about the converter right now as well, you seem happy enough with the cartridges and not every converter fits every pen so that's a different headache.)

4 hours ago, The Isochronism said:

Ink stops in the middle of a word, pretty randomly throughout my writing.

Are there specific letters it stops on? e.g. when your pen is moving up, or when it is moving down? (upstroke, downstroke.) And does it feel 'smooth' when writing, or a bit scratchy?

At this point I think in my head there's a few options but trying to narrow down on what might be the problem.

Edited May 19 by Kasimir

[Coolmint]

6 hours ago, The Isochronism said:

 

Brand is Iridium Point Germany (according to the tip?) and because pen and ink were both gifts I'm not positive of brand otherwise. The cartridge loads by breaking the end of it by stabbing it on to the end of a thingy. Ugh, I'm too new to any of this to understand the terminology.

Ink stops in the middle of a word, pretty randomly throughout my writing.

Hopefully that's enough information? 

Could you post a photo of the pen?  And also the nib?  That'll help too.

[Cyclops]

5 hours ago, Kasimir said:

I was more confused because Pilot carts are really huge so I was surprised doubling them could still fit in the pen o_O

It's just something I wanted to try, I guess mainly because some say it can't be, or shouldn't be done.

I'm a bit of a nonconformist. 

[Coolmint]

15 hours ago, Cyclops said:

It's just something I wanted to try, I guess mainly because some say it can't be, or shouldn't be done.

I'm a bit of a nonconformist. 

Interesting project.  How will you do it?

[Cyclops]

39 minutes ago, Coolmint said:

Interesting project.  How will you do it?

Not sure yet, but thinking maybe to cut the top third off one, and bottom third off another, and then maybe use super glue gel to connect the two larger pieces.  It might hold an amount of ink comparable to the big converter, but said converter won't fit my Metropolitan; it's too fat.  But I need to be careful because I live a limited number of Pilot carts.