I am a very naughty fountain pen owner.

July 6, 2016 7:22 AM

Zen and the Art of Fountain Pen Maintenance - "Some fountain pen owners are fastidious about cleaning their fountain pens. They keep an ongoing record of which pens are inked, the date of inking, the color, when the pen needs to be cleaned, and the date the pen moved out of rotation. They typically have only a small number of pens inked at any given time. Then, each week or so, on an appointed day, they clean out their inked pens, dry them carefully, and choose a new set of pens to ink and use. I am not one of those people."
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome (55 comments total)

That....is a staggering amount of pens.
posted by agregoli at 7:23 AM on July 6, 2016

You don't know fastidious, obsessive pen cleaning until you've owned a set of technical pens.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:25 AM on July 6, 2016 [7 favorites]

There's something oddly pornographic about some of the water shots in that article.

Watching joseph conrad is fully awesome geek out over pens on YouTube makes me totally want to start collecting pens and ink....just as an aside.
posted by xingcat at 7:37 AM on July 6, 2016 [2 favorites]

...this is (yet another reason) why I stick with ballpoints I can buy in bulk from the office supply store. Uniball Visions FTW
posted by SansPoint at 7:38 AM on July 6, 2016 [2 favorites]

Fountain pens really are fun and comfortable to write with, and I've got at least one that needs cleaning... but I don't write enough to make it worth the trouble, and when I do, my handwriting's so intractably awful I wonder why I bothered.

If you want to use a fountain pen but don't want to maintain it, the Pilot Varsity is your friend.
posted by asperity at 7:43 AM on July 6, 2016 [7 favorites]

Goulet's Pen Flush
Goulet Silicone Grease

ROBERT GOULEEEEET
posted by radicalawyer at 7:44 AM on July 6, 2016

set of technical pens

Is this the kind of thing you are talking about? guide to technical pens
posted by poe at 7:47 AM on July 6, 2016

If you want a pen that won't dry out, get a Platinum Carbon Fiber Desk Pen. I filled mine with Diamine Sepia and left it in a drawer for two months and when I used it again it was link I had re-inked that day.

Lamy Safari is good too but everyone always says that.

Or a Pilot Metropolitan.

Oh god I need more pens
posted by Elementary Penguin at 7:55 AM on July 6, 2016 [9 favorites]

I have a Pilot Metropolitan that I got for Secret Quonsar. I use cartridges because I am intimidated by the bottle of ink and squeezy thing.

I'm ... supposed to clean this?
posted by kimberussell at 8:04 AM on July 6, 2016 [6 favorites]

I think one of the cruelest things we've ever done is stroll over to admire and test-write these amazing pens at Fortnum & Mason one UK vacation. (We were dressed pretty decently, IIRC.) The salesman positively fawned over us, hearing us talk about "well, maybe one of us should have a fancy pen", and then we abruptly decided no fancy pens today.

He looked so dejected.
posted by Kitteh at 8:06 AM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

I hate these posts like I hate book posts because they make me covet pens I don't actually need and then I buy them.
posted by chavenet at 8:06 AM on July 6, 2016 [8 favorites]

Lately I've been doing a lot of writing with a Delta Dolcevita Oversize Oro stub and a Pelikan M1000 customized by John Mottishaw with an architect point grind. Both are thankfully easy to clean. Pelikan is especially good for a piston-filler because the whole nib unit is easily unscrewed, allowing me to simply rinse out the barrel under the tap and flush the nib unit with a bulb. I have a Visconti Homo Sapiens Oversize that is a joy to use, but boy is that vacuum filling system a pain in the butt to clean out. My best method thus far has been to fill/dump water and pen flush out of a Visconti Traveling Ink Pot. Still takes forever.
posted by slkinsey at 8:09 AM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

Watching joseph conrad is fully awesome geek out over pens on YouTube

No link?
posted by slkinsey at 8:12 AM on July 6, 2016 [2 favorites]

I wanted to try some fun pens but was completely overwhelmed by choice. I ended up subscribing to iPenBox from the iPenStore. Every month, they sent a little box with a fountain pen, an ink sample, some other pens and pencils, a little notebook, and so on. My kids and I loved opening it and experimenting with everything, and we learned a lot about how fountain pens work and how fun it can be to write with fancy pens. We only subscribed for about three months but it fun and educational.

I am not affiliated with the iPenStore. If I were, this would be the longest long-game spamming of MetaFilter ever, and I would deserve some kind of prize for out-maneuvering cortex. #notaspammer #takethatcortex
posted by not that girl at 8:20 AM on July 6, 2016 [8 favorites]

I own about a dozen Pilot Varsity pens.
They're marketed as "disposable" but when one of mine gets empty, I take a pair of needle nose pliers, pop off the nib, refill it with beautiful Florida Blue ink from Waterman, replace the nib and keep on rocking/writing in the free world.
I love, love, love using fountain pens, but don't feel the need to collect more beyond the dozen that came in the box.
For about $23, I have a wonderful little collection.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 8:24 AM on July 6, 2016 [9 favorites]

I bought a wooden toolchest recently to have a place to store all the pens, ink bottles, and cleaning and adjusting supplies I've accumulated. (Though the top is not tall enough for Pilot Iro or Noodler's ink bottles, which is annoying.) I need to get some pen tray liner so the bottom drawers with the pens in them are a bit neater.

Organizing and cleaning everything is a nice distraction from my disappointment that the local pen shop was stiffed by Lamy and isn't getting the Dark Lilac ink I special ordered in. Could have got it from JetPens or the Goulets or Anderson Pens, but no. And now there's not a bottle left anywhere. Unless I go the cartridge route, which is zero fun at all.

(Luckily Diamine Purple Pazzazz seems close enough if I don't shake the bottle and leave the shimmer at the bottom.)(Also I do have enough purple ink already by any sane measure.)
posted by rewil at 8:25 AM on July 6, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm a fountain pen fan and have been a full-time user on and off for many years. I prefer to sign with one.

Once though, back when rocks were soft and trilobikes rolled the earth, I grabbed what I thought was one of my fountain pens and took off to uni for an early morning written exam. Got down there, into the hall, reached in my bag -- and discovered that in the half-darkness I had grabbed one of my [future wife]'s rapidograph pens. I got stuck c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y writing out answers to eight or ten essay questions with (I believe) a double-zero, which is a bit like trying to (compose and) draft the Declaration of Independence using a single strand of very thin wire dipped in ink. Nice for cross-hatching, not so good for paragraph hacking.
 
posted by Herodios at 8:29 AM on July 6, 2016 [3 favorites]

No syringes? Syringes are one of the best parts of fountain pen maintenance! Especially when you leave one on the kitchen counter, someone finds it, is like "uh, honey?" and you point out that the needle is way too big for the syringe to be for anything besides your fountain pen nerdiness. Vintage Brian Goulet YouTube, on syringes and fountain pens.

(Anyone else going to resist J. Herbin 1670 Caroube de Chypre until, well, you can't?)
posted by gnomeloaf at 8:31 AM on July 6, 2016 [5 favorites]

not that girl: " I ended up subscribing to iPenBox from the iPenStore. "

Oh great thanks now I can have a subscription to the pens I won't use while never filling in the Field Notes notebooks I also have a subscription to.
posted by chavenet at 8:31 AM on July 6, 2016 [7 favorites]

Nthing Pilot varsity, and thank you Major Matt for the tip.

I currently use a Lamy (along with varsity for daily use) with Muji notebooks. A silent squee went up recently when I finally had a longish sit down meeting with the CEO himself of current client company, and we both were using solid fountain pens with little notebooks to scribble and draw concepts for the next year of strategy and planning.

squee! its not an iPad
posted by infini at 8:31 AM on July 6, 2016 [2 favorites]

gnomeloaf: I'm going to resist it until it's available somewhere for less than $20, which seems to be the deal I've made myself on the rest of the 1670s. Stupid pretty inks. Stupid sexy ink bottles with stupid skinny necks.
posted by rewil at 8:34 AM on July 6, 2016 [2 favorites]

Pilot Namiki Vanishing Point. Love. It.

The black enameling is wearing off and showing the brass beneath, which is giving it a nice wabi-sabi look. Have not cleaned the nib, probably should, but I use it every day.
posted by middleclasstool at 8:36 AM on July 6, 2016 [5 favorites]

The ammonia/detergent/water mix did clean out my cheap, nearly-forgotten, dried up fountain pen quite effectively.
posted by Western Infidels at 8:36 AM on July 6, 2016

This is my Lamy
posted by infini at 8:38 AM on July 6, 2016 [3 favorites]

I have also really been enjoying the fountain pen friendly iron gall inks from KWZ Ink. Really cool colors and great archival qualities, but they do require some special cleaning (flushing with a mild vinegar solution before proceeding as usual).
posted by slkinsey at 8:40 AM on July 6, 2016

I should also mention that even further back, when rocks were liquid and amoebae were in grade school, I sat at school desks -- in 1st through 3rd grades, f'sure -- that still had a little hole in the top for holding an inkwell.

We did not use them daily, but in thirds they'd occasionally pull out pens and inkwells for penmanship classes. I guess the schools were still thinking we might need to know how to use a fountain pen someday -- to sign for our flying cars or tract houses on the moon, perhaps.

Ironically, the inkwells were square and did not fit into the desktop holes.
 
posted by Herodios at 8:48 AM on July 6, 2016 [3 favorites]

Is this the kind of thing you are talking about? guide to technical pens

That's pretty much it, but they left out the tungsten and jewel tipped variations, which are supposedly even more durable than metal, and stupid expensive, especially when you start getting to the tiny 0000 sizes and smaller. Since few people use technical pens any more, and probably fewer still draw by hand on mylar, those pens might not be made any more.
posted by LionIndex at 8:49 AM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

Can't wait til I have the time/cash spare to get my foundling Parker 51 Demonstrator and a few Shaeffer Vac Fils (and others!) restored. Until then my Lamy Safari and Lamy Persona will have to carry the burden.

Seriously, never buy a box of fountain pens at an estate sale, the amazing places that lot has taken me is just insane. But if you see one, just ping me and I'll come and.... uh.... confiscate it for your safety.
posted by RolandOfEld at 8:50 AM on July 6, 2016 [3 favorites]

I have a bunch of fountain pens. My favourite is my Kaweco AL Sport. Small size when the cap is on, but comfortable in the hand and writes beautifully when the cap is on the end.

Somewhere I have a very expensive set of technical pens. The ink has probably petrified in them by now, poor things.
posted by fimbulvetr at 9:06 AM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

I studied engineering and then design before the discovery of silicon.

Rotring and razor blades,
should be a song.
Leather jackets, and t-squares,
lots of fiddly little things.
posted by infini at 9:18 AM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

I've come into responsibility for selling off a ton of old steel pen nibs from the 1910s. No idea if they are even usable now, as most all the nibs I see are gold plated.
posted by Windopaene at 11:12 AM on July 6, 2016

yet another dedicated fountain pen user here - my current favourite is a restored 1930s-ish Sheaffer Balance in striated Green Marine with a Feathertouch 5 semiflex nib (seen here.)

I don't write nearly as much as I should for the number of pens I have inked, and I'm definitely lax on cleaning - I'm looking at a Stipula Splash and another vintage Sheaffer (Imperial Deluxe II) that both need cleaning and refilling even as I type this.

Fountain pens are a dangerous thing for me - the more I have, the more I find myself wanting. My current Holy Grail pen (or just "grail pen" in the common parlance) is a 1952 Sheaffer snorkel filler in black with an extra fine Triumph nib (in fact, this exact pen), and my "almost grail" (if you will) is a Sailor Pro Gear in Imperial Black. And I need to acquire a true vintage "wet noodle" flex pen as well.

Of course with fountain pens comes a need for quality paper (which I'm sure someone could make an entire fpp about) and ink - so much ink.
posted by namewithoutwords at 11:37 AM on July 6, 2016 [3 favorites]

I will come back, namewithoutwords, after I've raided my dad's cupboards for his Sheaffers. Just happen to be here right now.
posted by infini at 11:40 AM on July 6, 2016 [2 favorites]

Nthing Pilot Varsity if you want a fountain pen fix without the fiddling and accoutrements (but to be honest, the fiddling and accoutrements are half the fun.)

Fountain pens are addictive! There was a while where I was on Fountain pen network (mostly lurking) where people post ink reviews with scans of lovely sample writing, which is how I wound up owning more ink than I will probably use in my lifetime for as little actual writing as I do. (But when word got out that Montblanc had discontinued British Racing Green, how could I not stockpile a few bottles?)

I would someday like to own a Parker 51, although my Hero 616 Parker 51 clone is quite nice. I always come back to my Lamy Vista with its 1.1mm italic nib, though. It's not fancy but it's just right.
posted by usonian at 12:02 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

I can sympathize with the author. I have a collection of very old Esterbrook pens (used to be able to get them for $10-15 on ebay with a nice medium steel nib) that I love to death and have spent time tuning... but I always want to use a pen and not clean a pen. So they tend to accumulate, grungy, in my desk drawer until I get down to zero pens. And then I have to spend a couple half-hours rinsing, soaking, and cleaning.
posted by introp at 12:06 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

1952 Sheaffer snorkel filler in black with an extra fine Triumph nib

I have that pen in salmon instead of black. It is a very nice pen.
posted by fimbulvetr at 12:29 PM on July 6, 2016 [2 favorites]

Worth mentioning that if fountain pens interest you, reddit's /r/fountainpens is completely non-toxic, pretty active, and worth following.
posted by namewithoutwords at 1:03 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

Is this the kind of thing you are talking about? guide to technical pens

Yup. In addition to the usual cartridge-based tech pens, I once owned a set of gorgeous Rapidiograph technical pens that refilled the same way fountain pens do...via a built-in syringe mechanism.

Sexy. As. Hell.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:13 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

You don't know fastidious, obsessive pen cleaning until you've owned a set of technical pens.

More time cleaning than drawing, I tell you what.

Now I've gone the opposite route and just trim down goose feathers with a quill knife. #artisanal
posted by infinitywaltz at 2:30 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

A side note, if you have an interest in fountain pens and happen to find yourself in Birmingham, UK, do take an hour or so to check out the Pen Museum in the Jewellry Quarter. You'd actually get a make a fountain pen nib, although the final stage of hardening the nib is not done. You'd get a pair of nibs, one done by you, and one that's premade and hardened.

Personally, I find fountain pens to be intrinsically fascinating, and I've had a Lamy (or two). In actual use though, I don't have the patience to keep them well maintained, and generally prefer rollerballs when I need to write.
posted by TrinsicWS at 2:36 PM on July 6, 2016 [4 favorites]

I have a nice slimline Mont Blanc that came to me somehow (I honestly don't remember), that I just recently (as in, last week) rediscovered as I was doing a spring clean at home. It has always had a problem with flow from the nib (where else?), and it comes out watery and inconsistent. I've cleaned it pretty thoroughly, leaving the nib part soaking overnight and really getting the ink out, and I also recall that I had it professionally serviced about a decade ago, at great expense, but that even after that it still wrote like crap.

It would be nice to be able to use it properly, so this is a great article, and I thank you!
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:24 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

Also, for fountain pen lovers, what is a good pen to start off with, that is affordable and appropriate for everyday use? Lamy is a name I encounter frequently...what's the consensus on those?
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:29 PM on July 6, 2016

If you're the kind of person who has trouble using inked pens quickly enough (I am also one of these people), Platinum makes a pen with a sealing mechanism that keeps the ink from drying out for 24 months.
posted by no mind at 4:48 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

turbid dahlia: The starter model Lamy is the Safari, but let me instead recommend a Pilot Metropolitan - comes in a variety of colors/patterns, is made of brass, with a surprisingly great nib for the price. It's cheaper than the Lamy Safari, doesn't have the divisive triangular grip that the Safari does, and comes with a converter for refilling using bottled ink (which the Safari does not, it must be purchased separately.)

(anecdotally: when I got my wife into fountain pens, she fell in love with the Metropolitan, and owns several now as a result.)

Here's the /r/fountainpen's "Which pen should I start with?" wiki entry with some more details on these two very commonly recommended first pens.
posted by namewithoutwords at 4:48 PM on July 6, 2016 [7 favorites]

turbid dahlia, I would start with a Pilot Varsity - can be tossed in pockets and purses like a ballpoint - and a Pilot Metropolitan or 78G. I've found that Pilot pens punch way, way above their weight class. I have pens that cost 3x as much that aren't as nice for everyday writing.

Also, you can try a bunch of different types of nibs and things too because the nibs on the cheap Pilot pens are interchangeable. For me, half the fun of fountain pens is being able to change colors and line widths whenever I want (the other half is not getting a wrist ache when writing).

78Gs are light, all-plastic pens that come in Fine, Medium or Broad italic tips. Metropolitans are slightly heavier and nicer-looking pens that come in Fine or Medium tips. Plumix pens look kind of like squids but have very nice italic tips that can be transplanted a 78G or Metropolitan. I also find them comfortable to write with. All of these pens are very cheap for fountain pens and are also very good quality.
posted by Ahniya at 5:47 PM on July 6, 2016 [5 favorites]

If you want a pen that won't dry out, get a Platinum Carbon Desk Pen.

In a shirt pocket, the narrow end of the Platinum Desk Pen is exactly the right height to menace my wife's nostrils when she hugs me. Aside from that it's perfect.

I like my sturdy little Platinum Balance. (The solids, not the clears, as the amazon.jp reviews consider the latter a little flaky.)

Right now I'm grinding through fountain pen network's index of ink reviews, trying to find the right brown or yellow-brown ink for Rembrandt master copies and stuff. It has to be well-behaved in one way or another when you hit it with water for ink wash or watercolor, which eliminates most of them which are compounded from a few different colors and leave a blue-grey stain at the heart of a nice yellow-brown wash.

This looks promising.
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:07 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

Hey, neat! I just got a Platinum Preppy for all of about $5. After a day or two of iffy ink flow (I may not have been holding it properly) it's pretty great. Writes much nicer than a ballpoint, and when the cartridge is empty I'll give it a clean and use an eyedropper to refill it with bottled ink.

The Preppy is my first fountain pen, but it seems like a great low-cost way to get into the field. Next up are several pens for different ink colors, and something cheap with a finer line.
posted by sibilatorix at 11:01 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

My Preppy cracked nigh-instantly but I'm an old fan of the Pilot Varsities.

I think there's a valley of flakiness between the cheap Preppies and Varsities and the USD30+ pens; random $10-$20 fountain pens aren't always reliable. I think.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:10 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

My favourite everyday pen is the Pilot Kakuno. It's cheap enough to just throw in my bag, has a great nib (and so cute :), and comes in bright pastel colours (though my current one is a more demure all-gray). My only quibble is there's no clip on the lid, for some reason.

After several Kakunos, a 78g, and a Prera, I am becoming a huge fan of Pilot's nibs (though personally, I find the Metro too heavy to use comfortably).
posted by Gordafarin at 2:33 AM on July 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

sebastienbailard you have a point there. I have given up on the middle of the road. I had a few parkers in different widths, a few cheap Chinese pens through school, and it finally comes down to the Lamys and the Varsitys.
posted by infini at 5:02 AM on July 7, 2016

I have half a point; the cheap refillable japanese pens seem fairly reliable, probably because of Deming's influence coupled with the fact the Japanese still hand-write a lot of their text and that to make small kana and kanji characters legible you need a reliable nib.

But the random pen you find in a over-cute shop is likely to be meh.
posted by sebastienbailard at 3:24 PM on July 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

I always love when fountain pen threads show up on MetaFilter because they remind me to play with my fountain pens again. I just refilled a pen using a syringe for the first time today thanks to this thread and oh my gosh why have I not done this before?!

My current favorite pen is the retro pop green Pilot Metropolitan and I definitely echo everyone else recommending this as a great starter pen. I have been reaching for this $15 pen over pens that cost four times as much because it looks great, feels great in my hand, and writes well.
posted by jessypie at 10:32 AM on July 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

My current favorites are a fine point Waterman Phileas (the kind I used to buy at Staples cheap, and which are now surprisingly expensive), a flexible Namiki Falcon, and an extra fine point Vanishing Point. But I have about sixty pens, some of them vintage, and have been writing with a fountain pen since I sat at one of those desks when they actually still had inkwells (empty) in them and I wrote with a cheap little Esterbrook with the lever on the side. (I have one of those too).

But I'm not a collector. Those people are serious.
posted by Peach at 7:41 PM on July 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

jessypie, that design is so cute and fun! I have quite a few pens but that one is just adorable. I may get it the next time I'm shopping at Goulets.
posted by Ahniya at 10:44 PM on July 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

On the strength of the comments above I ordered a set of Varsity fountain pens, having never used a fountain pen before. I like it a lot! Writes very smoothly and lends itself to cursive writing. I am pleased.
posted by JDHarper at 9:16 PM on July 11, 2016 [5 favorites]