Coolmint

Tales of Fountain Pen Woes: got three CUUUTE mixed-color (in each pen!) Jinhao 82 for about $22. One was defective. Sad! But Amazon sent a whole new set as replacements, and the defective one in that new set works. (I guess that's not a total Woe.) But a Platinum 3776 Soft Fine is SCRATCHY. Unacceptable in a pen at that price. So it's a probable return.

Just flushed two pens last night using nothing but their converters. And I have the blue fingers to prove it.

Ooo, another Nakaya. I always admired the (I think it's called) tamenuri finishes, where one color shows through another.

That would put me right off bulb flushers! I hope I don't sound like a know-it-all, but these disposable plastic pipettes… when you cut the tip, they work as pen flushers. And they're clear!

The secret is out: I hate cleaning pens. Of course it takes forever just running a section under water. If you have any sort of bulb-flusher it speeds up the tedious process somewhat. Or my Lazybones method is to leave the section/nib in a glass of water overnight. You will see a lot of ink in the morning. Repeat as often as needed. With orange or red inks this can take days.

Sorry, I was punchy last night; Pilot disposables are definitely fountain pens, but disposable. It would help, knowing where you live, which will tell us where you can buy and how much. For now let's assume you're in the USA. For around four or five bucks you can get a Pilot Petit, or a Platinum Preppy. Their cartridges are sturdy enough to be refillable with bottled ink (using a pipette or eyedropper). You can buy a bottle of Monteverde ink for eight bucks or so. This is one of my favorite ink brands. A few steps up in pens would be any of the Chinese piston-fillers. You can get these on Amazon, but they make you buy them in sets of four. About $15 is the usual price. Piston pens have an internal filling system and don't need cartridges or converters. Disposable Pilots are pretty good pens if you wanted to stick with those. But refillable fountain pens are fun. By the way, a friend of mine uses her fountain pens for coloring too.

It's refillable in some way (without having to go through the contortions of refilling a disposable) with either ink from a bottle, or ink cartridges.

I've just recently refilled a Pilot vPen... the ink gets quickly concentrated and sticky. Not for me either.

Oh, disposables! I've had a few. Some are better than others, like Zebra and Pilot. I've also bought refillable cheapies at 5 Below, two or three pens and ink cartridges for five bucks, that write very well.

What brand/kind of pens do you now have? What filling systems, and have you got any available fountain pen ink for them (NOT India or drawing ink, you'll wreck the poor creatures).

Soak 'em and re-ink 'em. Just DON'T take them apart to clean!

Could be far messier! This morning I was writing with a Parker 21. The ink level was so low it was concentrated, got sticky on the page, and all over my hand

Thanks, everyone. Hope it works out! 1. Do NOT ever use Rapido-Eze in a piston-filler (ask me how I know!). For anything else, it's great. 2. Noted pen repairman of my acquaintance says 'Don't take pens apart just to clean them.' I agree. @Slowswift and @Kasimir … thanks again. It worked this time.

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?)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Who is the buyer? Geha, I remember, sold school-level pens way back. Don't know about Herlitz, though.

Lol, thanks.

Or online. I think Reddit has a swap group, and also any other fountain pen forum would have a sub-forum for trades and giveaways.