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I've been writing with Mitsubishi ball pens before but switched to a fountain pen - a simple Lamy with a fine feather - and I can really recommend it. The writi
by ThePhysicist 7y ago
I've been writing with Mitsubishi ball pens before but switched to a fountain pen - a simple Lamy with a fine feather - and I can really recommend it. The writing experience is very nice as the pen requires very little pressure to write and with a little practice the result looks very good. I also bought a small flask of black ink and an ink converter (a small ink cartridge allowing you to draw ink from the flask into the cartridge via the pen) to refill it, which I have to do roughly every two weeks. I've been almost exclusively writing with the pen since more than a year and went through less than a quarter of the flask so far, so it's more economic than using ball pens as well I'd say.
- Nursie 7y agoI tend to write with cross fountain pens these days, because I like the look of the Century I and II ranges mostly. I have converters and pots of black and purple ink, and I think some blue cartridges hanging around. Always liked fountain pens, they slow me down a little which makes my writing so much more legible.
- criddell 7y ago> refill it, which I have to do roughly every two weeks Why is it that a fountain pen needs to be filled in a matter of weeks and a cheap Bic Cristal never runs out of ink? I have an inexpensive Pilot Metropolitan that I do like writing with, but the amount of ink I put through it seems crazy for how much I write.
- Nursie 7y agoThe ink is very different. A Bic crystal uses a very oily, very pigment-dense ink compared to the water-based, free-flowing ink used in fountain pens. Used to use the pilot disposable fountains myself, they're pretty good.
- criddell 7y agoI guess the ink, since it is water based, would also evaporate. I keep my pen firmly capped, so that's probably not a huge factor.
- Nursie 7y agoThe ink will evaporate, yes, and leave its pigment behind. Which is one reason you sometimes need to wash out a fountain pen if you haven't used it for a while.
- tiniuclx 7y agoBallpoint ink is a lot thicker than fountain pen ink, and is presumably more heavily pigmented. Therefore, a ball point uses a smaller amount of ink to deliver its pigment, compared to a fountain pen. Which means that it uses significantly less ink. Ballpoints and fountain pen deliver ink to the paper very differently! You can't really fill a fountain pen with thick ballpoint ink because it would jam the feed very quickly. Likewise, if you were to fill a ballpoint with fountain pen ink it would leak as soon as you touch its tip onto the paper. However, thanks to fountain pen ink being thinner, you don't have to apply nearly as much pressure when writing. Like many things in engineering, it's all about tradeoffs!
- throwanem 7y agoPilot cartridges are very easy to refill with a dropper, or a syringe with a dispensing needle; you can pull out the little plastic seal with tweezers, fill the cartridge, and then push the seal back in with the back of a chopstick or similar. That way, you avoid the wastage of throwing out empty cartridges, which are effectively unrecyclable because of the leftover ink inside and also because they don't carry material markings. They also hold considerably more than a converter, and not all Pilot pens (such as my Decimo) can even take a converter in the first place; worse, even if your pen can take a converter, refilling one at work or similar is a messy, time-consuming pain in the neck, where cartridges are easy to carry and quick to swap. Whether you use a cartridge or a converter, it's also worth noting that inks formulated for Western pens often have trouble flowing in the narrower feeds and finer nibs of Japanese pens; I've had considerable trouble with Herbin and Monteverde inks in my Pilots, while they flow perfectly well in Western pens with broader nibs. Something to keep in mind to avoid the frustration of constant hard starts and other flow problems. Pilot's Iroshizuku line is well matched to their pens, and offers an extensive range of colors; for a Metropolitan, especially one with a nib narrower than M, I'd recommend starting there.
- mr_crankypants 7y agoI, too, love fountain pens. Except when I forget to take my daily out of my pencil case before flying. :(
- wlesieutre 7y agoSounds like someone needs a Conid with the sealed ink reservoir ;)
- wlesieutre 7y agoPast edit window, but TWSBI Vac Mini is another (much cheaper) one that can seal the nib off from the reservoir. Since air expansion in the reservoir is why low pressure pushes ink out the front, a seal between reservoir and the feed means they're safer to fly with.
- eb0la 7y ago> so it's more economic than using ball pens I wonder if this is also better from an ecological perspective. At first sight looks better (less waste), but I would like to be able to do the calculations just to confirm it.