Any Fountain Pen Writers?

[+Slowswift]

Now I match one of my favorite pens!

[Coolmint]

Now I've done it.  Wanted to see how a retractible pen works.   Bought a Pilot Vanishing point, a Mahjohn copy, and tested them both.  They each had F nibs.  Pilot was heavier, slipperier, and scratchier.

Pilot lost, by a wide margin, and is being returned.

Oh, and I bought a set of five other retractible pens.  Sixteen bucks for all five.  They're cute and write well.  Can't beat that.

[Kasimir he/him]

9 hours ago, Slowswift said:

Now I match one of my favorite pens!

Do I upvote you and destroy the beauty of that rep or not?

10 minutes ago, Coolmint said:

Pilot lost, by a wide margin, and is being returned.

Huh, now that is unexpected for me. I thought the VPs tended to be popular. What do you like about the Majohn? Have hesitated about whether to try retractable. (Did you go Curidas?)

I will say the good point is that Majohn now sells refillable cartridges for Pilot that also have caps, so I can now carry filled cartridges of selected inks and insert them into my Pilots on the go without worrying about reusability.

[Coolmint]

1 minute ago, Kasimir said:

Do I upvote you and destroy the beauty of that rep or not?

Huh, now that is unexpected for me. I thought the VPs tended to be popular. What do you like about the Majohn? Have hesitated about whether to try retractable. (Did you go Curidas?)

I will say the good point is that Majohn now sells refillable cartridges for Pilot that also have caps, so I can now carry filled cartridges of selected inks and insert them into my Pilots on the go without worrying about reusability.

I had a Curidas on my wish list, but took it off after buying the Mahjohn.  This was the A1 (or 1A, don't recall).  Mahjohn also makes a clipless version and a smaller, slimmer resin/plastic version.

Long, long time ago there was a local stationery store with a huge fountain pen section, selling everything from Pilot Varsities to Montblancs, and the inks to go with them.  They were excellent about letting people try things, and let me dip a Vanishing point.  It was one of the smoothest nibs I had encountered, but the weirdness of the clip being where the nib popped out prevented me from buying it.

Now lately I am seeing retractibles being spoken of everywhere.  I really wanted to try one again.  The Mahjohn was lighter than the Pilot, less slippery, and half the price of the Vanishing Point that was itself on sale at half price.  And it uses Pilot cartridges.  

[Kasimir he/him]

8 minutes ago, Coolmint said:

Mahjohn also makes a clipless version and a smaller, slimmer resin/plastic version.

:eyes:

:EYES:

Hell yeah.

8 minutes ago, Coolmint said:

Long, long time ago there was a local stationery store with a huge fountain pen section, selling everything from Pilot Varsities to Montblancs, and the inks to go with them.  They were excellent about letting people try things, and let me dip a Vanishing point.  It was one of the smoothest nibs I had encountered, but the weirdness of the clip being where the nib popped out prevented me from buying it.

Fair, yeah. I remember VP nibs are very wet and smooth, but the clip is a real issue for me. Fair point about the pluses of the Majohn. Itching to try one myself and I might in future  Am still in the strange spot where I'm so happy with my grail I'm not feeling the urge to go to too many other pens at the moment, though I admire the creativity in the Chinese pens space (Majohn, PenBBS, and Jinhao.)

I have gotten two Kakunos for the office though, largely for the refillable cartridge use. They're working perfectly, but this is Pilot, which tends to write really well out of the box  

[Kasimir he/him]

Anyone have any good Ina-ho lookalikes? Can't believe I have just one bottle of it  

[Coolmint]

2 hours ago, Kasimir said:

Anyone have any good Ina-ho lookalikes? Can't believe I have just one bottle of it  

I've tried various 'lookalikes,' such as Sailor Kobe Shinkaichi, and my own mixes.  Nope.

Edited July 2, 2023 by Coolmint

[Kasimir he/him]

Just now, Coolmint said:

I've tried various 'lookalikes,' such as Saikor Kobe Shinkaichi, and my own mixes.  Nope.

Was worth a dream, thanks

Pilot, of all the inks why'd you have to kill Ina-ho...

Mildly disappointed that Reddit voted against Rolled Oats and the Harvest ink that would've been close to Ina-ho...

[Coolmint]

6 minutes ago, Kasimir said:

Was worth a dream, thanks

Pilot, of all the inks why'd you have to kill Ina-ho...

Mildly disappointed that Reddit voted against Rolled Oats and the Harvest ink that would've been close to Ina-ho...

There could be something close in color, but Ina-Ho was a subtle one.  Have you done a search for a lookalike?

[Kasimir he/him]

Just now, Coolmint said:

There could be something close in color, but Ina-Ho was a subtle one.  Have you done a search for a lookalike?

I have, but wondering if you all have anything that particularly works. Most of the inks they suggest aren't easily available where I am, e.g. we don't get a lot of the Ferris Wheel inks and importing them here is murder. You're right about subtle as Yamabukiiro is suggested an alt but it's too yellow (I have it.) Antigua's Olive looks like the closest, but again, difficult to get my hands on.

[Coolmint]

3 minutes ago, Kasimir said:

I have, but wondering if you all have anything that particularly works. Most of the inks they suggest aren't easily available where I am, e.g. we don't get a lot of the Ferris Wheel inks and importing them here is murder. You're right about subtle as Yamabukiiro is suggested an alt but it's too yellow (I have it.) Antigua's Olive looks like the closest, but again, difficult to get my hands on.

I just did a quick search myself.  People mentioned Noodler's Rome Burning; I got a sample and thought it wasn't even close.  The one ink that may have looked similar is also discontinued: Pelikan Khaki.  
 

Someone else had an (accidental) mix of R & K Alt Goldgrun and Diamine Honey Burst.  I have both, but never tried that.  Birmingham inks were mentioned, too.

[Kasimir he/him]

Just now, Coolmint said:

I just did a quick search myself.  People mentioned Noodler's Rome Burning; I got a sample and thought it wasn't even close.  The one ink that may have looked similar is also discontinued: Pelikan Khaki.  
 

Someone else had an (accidental) mix of R & K Alt Goldgrun and Diamine Honey Burst.  I have both, but never tried that.  Birmingham inks were mentioned, too.

Birmingham demands a king's ransom to ship here, so that's unfortunate for me. I have never found Noodlers' to be consistent: their Turquoise came out a deep dark green, so I wouldn't be really surprised there.

Might see if I can do the R&K and Honey Burst mix as I have both inks.

[Coolmint]

1 hour ago, Kasimir said:

Birmingham demands a king's ransom to ship here, so that's unfortunate for me. I have never found Noodlers' to be consistent: their Turquoise came out a deep dark green, so I wouldn't be really surprised there.

Might see if I can do the R&K and Honey Burst mix as I have both inks.

This was a reddit poster.  He'd forgotten to clean Honey Burst from a pen before adding the Alt Goldgrun, so we're talking teeny amounts of Honey Burst, I think.

[Kasimir he/him]

1 minute ago, Coolmint said:

This was a reddit poster.  He'd forgotten to clean Honey Burst from a pen before adding the Alt Goldgrun, so we're talking teeny amounts of Honey Burst, I think.

Wcgw

Nah I'll do the safe thing and mix in a vial and leave it for a week before trying.

[Cyclops]

I'm not sure what's going on with my phone, but for some reason it won't upload a photo.  Anyway, i got my first Eco, EF.  I loaded it with Writer's Blood, and started working on a book from Jacob Marley's point of view. 

[Kasimir he/him]

9 hours ago, Cyclops said:

I'm not sure what's going on with my phone, but for some reason it won't upload a photo.  Anyway, i got my first Eco, EF.  I loaded it with Writer's Blood, and started working on a book from Jacob Marley's point of view. 

How do you find the Eco so far?

Have been wondering what the fuss over Primary Manipulation is  

[Cyclops]

14 hours ago, Kasimir said:

How do you find the Eco so far?

Have been wondering what the fuss over Primary Manipulation is  

It is a very smooth writer, much smoother than the Go I had.  I gave that one away because it had far too much feedback for me.

Dumb question: what is this "Primary Manipulation" you refer to?

[Kasimir he/him]

41 minutes ago, Cyclops said:

It is a very smooth writer, much smoother than the Go I had.  I gave that one away because it had far too much feedback for me.

Dumb question: what is this "Primary Manipulation" you refer to?

Congrats! I have definitely enjoyed my Ecos, though the B more than the Stub, which was just cursed for me, even with regrinding.

Primary Manipulation is a Brooks blank that uh some of my local pen group friends regularly rant about in the ballpark of "why do Westerners love this damnit"  It's fairly colourful and both custom penmakers and Nahvalur/Narwhal and Leonardo will frequently make runs in it:

Example link here.

IMO the biggest weakness of these blanks is that they're chancy because they're functionally resin pours. You can get an incredibly photogenic pen or one that looks really unimpressive. All luck of the pour!

[Coolmint]

52 minutes ago, Cyclops said:

It is a very smooth writer, much smoother than the Go I had.  I gave that one away because it had far too much feedback for me.

Dumb question: what is this "Primary Manipulation" you refer to?

My Go is resting in a glass where I keep gushers.  It is smooth enough, but I have trouble compressing the spring.

Oooooooo….lucky for me the Primary Manipulation pen I want is sold out.

Edited July 6, 2023 by Coolmint

[Kasimir he/him]

17 minutes ago, Coolmint said:

My Go is resting in a glass where I keep gushers.  It is smooth enough, but I have trouble compressing the spring.

Oooooooo….lucky for me the Primary Manipulation pen I want is sold out.

Had to regrind my Go, so I guess similar problem to Cyclops, though I used a B. Something kept snagging. Agreed about the spring though. It's a bit of a problem whenever flow isn't enough for me.

I feel you on this  Fortunately I have not been tempted by Primary Manipulation but enough friends seem to be!

[Kasimir he/him]

Anyone has any advice on this? I tried to unscrew a PenBBS nib unit but the nib and feed came free and the housing is stuck. I'm currently soaking the section overnight. A FP forum suggested alternating hot and cold cycles to try to crack something. I do have a chopsticks and rubber band but it wasn't budging, so I'm soaking for now. Might add a bit of dish soap and pray.

[+Slowswift]

57 minutes ago, Kasimir said:

Anyone has any advice on this? I tried to unscrew a PenBBS nib unit but the nib and feed came free and the housing is stuck. I'm currently soaking the section overnight. A FP forum suggested alternating hot and cold cycles to try to crack something. I do have a chopsticks and rubber band but it wasn't budging, so I'm soaking for now. Might add a bit of dish soap and pray.

I'm currently suffering from a stuck feed in a LAMY Studio, so I am unfortunately in need of the same advice.

[Coolmint]

1 hour ago, Kasimir said:

Anyone has any advice on this? I tried to unscrew a PenBBS nib unit but the nib and feed came free and the housing is stuck. I'm currently soaking the section overnight. A FP forum suggested alternating hot and cold cycles to try to crack something. I do have a chopsticks and rubber band but it wasn't budging, so I'm soaking for now. Might add a bit of dish soap and pray.

More info, please?  I was wiping the nib on a Platinum 3776, and the nib and feed just popped out.  I shoved it back in and all has been well since.  Am I to understand that this is a different situation?  
 

If the entire nib and feed is a threaded unit (like most piston-filling Pelikans), which part is stuck?

 

PS:  I wouln't try to 'crack' anything.

[Kasimir he/him]

1 hour ago, Slowswift said:

I'm currently suffering from a stuck feed in a LAMY Studio, so I am unfortunately in need of the same advice.

Can't help for this one, LAMY feed system is very different I think. Might need a knock-out block?

Edited to add: It looks like it's friction-fit. I think soaking would be my first suggestion as well, in case dried ink is causing it to stick. I am currently planning to add dish soap and then do a second round with a tiny bit of pen flush but IDK.

46 minutes ago, Coolmint said:

More info, please?  I was wiping the nib on a Platinum 3776, and the nib and feed just popped out.  I shoved it back in and all has been well since.  Am I to understand that this is a different situation?  

Ah, apologies.

The pen has been leaking for quite a while now (and this was the pen with a cracked housing unit I changed earlier.) The nib unit is screwed into the section. I attempted to unscrew it to take a look at whether I needed to swap out the nib unit but instead the nib and feed came out. This is the point I noticed the housing itself was once again, cracked, so the housing itself must come out.

I tried putting the nib and feed in again and trying to unscrew it. No dice. I then tried a rubber-band wrapped chopstick. Also no dice. I'm currently soaking it in water overnight in case it's being glued there by dried ink. In general I don't know why it's not coming out. It might be a friction issue, or there might be something else in there, but the housing must be freed from the section.

46 minutes ago, Coolmint said:

PS:  I wouln't try to 'crack' anything.

I'm hoping if the housing cracks further, it'll likely solve the issue. As it is, I can't use the pen because the section has the stuck housing.

Edited to add:

@Coolmint:

Not mine but this is how the nib unit looks like. Both nib and feed came free of the housing, which is trapped in the section.

Spoiler

 

Edited July 18, 2023 by Kasimir

[Coolmint]

 

 

Okay, that's quite different (pretty pens, BTW, even if it's someone else's).  I'd leave it to soak, or try some Rapido-Eze... or don't they carry it where you are?  Can you get a new housing if you get that one out?

As for The Mystery of the Stuck Studio... @Slowswift, what happened there?

My 'problem' is I am looking for something that takes standard international carts/converters but isn't metal, or skinny, or too $. 

(O dang how do you tag someone?)

Edited July 18, 2023 by Coolmint