r/fountainpens

Um how do I get ink off of my floor I accidentally spilled some.

I was journaling some emotional debrief stuff and realised my nib was expressing its opinions on my writings 😦

Funny accident of ink splotches on the pen. Now I have to carefully cap the pen to see how long I can retain these "eyes."

RULE 5: Fountain Pen is Conklin Hippocrates with a Stub Nib and the black ink that comes with the pen.

Pilot Kakuno is so great that i dont think i need an upgrade. But Lamy pens are so pretty too. Im just afraid it doesnt perform as well as Kakuno.

Splurged on Pink Lemonade and grabbed Fluorite when it restocked last week. Wow, TWSBI ships SO fast.

I’m not a pink girl, but felt I would regret it if I didn’t get it (knowing I could sell it), but I REALLY like it.

Fluorite—never took the plunge because I was afraid of getting a pattern of colors I wasn’t happy with. A little more white on the bottom than I would have preferred (like I wish ALL the purple or pink), but seems minor to complain about.

(Yes, I wrote New Pens Day on the wrong page haha.)

A few years ago, I had a work trip to Japan. I had no interest in fountain pens at the time, and hadn't owned or used one since middle school (about thirty years prior — a simple Hero sac filler). I hadn't written in cursive for probably a similar length of time. My partner likes stationery, but pens weren't her thing either. There was no particular reason to swing by the Itoya store at Narita Airport before my return flight other than time to kill.

I'm glad I did, though, because I saw a pen that simply took my breath away. Google Lens said the sign translated as "Royal Pavilion." The price in yen didn't need translating, nor did anything need to be said about the beauty of the pen. I didn't know anything about maki-e, but I used the wi-fi and the flight back to read everything I could, and learned that the correct name was "Night Scene of the Pavilion," and that the Royale came with a Yukari attached, from a company called Namiki.

It had me dreaming, so I got... a Lamy Safari. And then an Asvine V800, and then a Pilot 823, and then a Nippon Art series pen from eBay, and a Nakaya Dorsal Fin 2 from the Chicago Pen Show... You folks know how this goes. So now there's too many pens, but I hadn't forgotten the one at Narita.

And I finally found one from Appelboom at a price I could live with. Two-day shipping and three mini stroopwafels later, I'm done.

Well, for now. I suppose I should ink it, but for just now I'm happy looking at it.

This spring in my cabin

Absolutely nothing

Absolutely everything

So I finally bought my first Pilot Custom 823, and I’m just going to say it: I feel kind of stupid for waiting this long. And yes, i do own other Pilot fountains pens.

I’ve been collecting fountain pens for a while and the 823 has obviously been on my radar forever. Everybody talks about it. Everybody recommends it. But I kept passing on it for one very simple reason: I never really liked the demonstrator/translucent look on the 823.

Nothing against demonstrators. I own some from other brands. But when it comes to my nicer pens, I tend to like more traditional, classic-looking pens. That’s just where my taste normally goes.

Then I found the transparent black/smoke 823. It’s obviously still translucent, but it’s dark and discreet enough that it doesn’t scream “demonstrator” to me. So I finally decided to give it a shot. Well… I should have done this a long time ago

The balance is fantastic. The weight and size feel right in my hand. The ink capacity is ridiculous. Everything about it just feels incredibly well thought out.

What surprised me the most is that I recently got a Montblanc 146, which has been one of my grail pens for a long time. I absolutely love that pen. But sitting here with the 823 in one hand and the 146 in the other, I’m honestly amazed at how well the Pilot holds its own.

I’m not saying they’re the same pen. They aren’t. But purely as a writing instrument? The 823 is playing in that league for me. No question.

And considering what I paid for each one… that’s pretty remarkable.

For the other 823 owners here, did you have that same “oh… NOW I get it” moment when you finally bought one?

Just gorgeous.

And for those who saw my updated 22-pen Kakuno/Iroshizuku collection - this set makes things tricky, because I've obtained 3 new inks from from this set. Which means I'm now I'm at 25... <facepalm>

Most old hands know this but for the novices out there: just because flushing your pen returns clear water doesn’t mean it’s truly clean.

As an illustration, this pen was flushed multiple times, spent time in a sonic cleaner and was “clearly” clean.

Then, when loaded up with clear water, you get this. This, by the way, was the third 24h soak.

Don’t rush cleaning. Give it time and let it soak.

This is a part of my pen customization experiments.

First try in flaming a number 5 nib. It took some trial and error to get the correct colors to show up. The final result is just the right amount of matchy matchy, 😀.

used some of my sister's nail art supplies to sticker up & uv resin coat my mellow blue kaweco & my wife's jinhao 82 (the resin's also fixing a crack in her cap and sealing a loose finial, helpfully)

i did 2 too many coats on the kaweco and it looks just a tiny bit lumpy, but i'm happy anyways 🥺
ended up ordering a bunch of deco stickers for myself to use on future pens ^_^

After years of thinking about getting a fountain pen, I finally caved and bought a Lamy Safari Umbra M in february. I loved it immediately. I love the feel of the nib on the paper and the world of opportunities that it brings (inks yay!). I even bought a converter and a couple nibs in different sizes to try them out.

Then, in june, I bought the Kaweco Lunar Sport Shadow Green F. I adore the design of the Sport and I just couldn't resist this color, I've tried my best to show the bronze-to-green iridescence in the picture. Since my handwriting is tiny, I also got the Platinum Plaisir Ice White 02 to use as my everyday pen (well, the Preppy 02 came first but it cracked immediately so I put the 02 nib into the Plaisir) and I thought that that was it.

Of course, I was wrong. I kept thinking about getting a pen that I could carry with me in my pocket without having to worry about it. So, some days ago I bought a Kaweco AL Sport EF and it's my absolute favourite of my fountain pens. It's also by far the most expensive one but for me it was so worth it. I haven't stopped using it since I got it.

Right now, I'm happy with the state of my collection and I don't think I'll add more pens in a while. If I decide to buy a new pen, it'd be an upgrade for the Plaisir. I love the EF nib and the fact that it's aluminum, but I'm not really loving the feel of the pen itself. I might go for more of a premium pen but I worry the price tag is going to keep me from using it as much and bringing it everywhere in my pencil case. But in any case, that won't happen in some time, so for now I'm just enjoying these four amazing little tools.

Sketched a cup of coffee using Sheaffer VFM Coffee edition!

Stopped by Vroman’s in Pasadena for a cookbook and discovered their fountain pen stand. The clerk was so helpful and knowledgable. It was between this Lamy dialog and a Pilot vanishing point. I love this thing, getting used to its quirks. It takes a delicate hand to not accidentally start untwisting it vs just hiding the nib. Many years to come with it

This is not going to be a request for recommendation. Instead I'd like to share my opinion and experience with pens that I tested at work for some time.

I take a lot of notes at work, especially when I have to deeply understand some problem but the important part of my note taking is that I dont usually write a lot for a long time. Instead I keep opening and closing the pen all the time and write down only little bits.

It has always bothered me that I had to unscrew the pen each time and was worried about the threads possibly wearing out.

That's why I ordered the Pilot Capless first. This was the first big upgrade to my note taking - it's super convenient to be able to "switch the pen on and off" without screwing and unscrewing the cap. Plus the nib is exactly the way I like it - no feedback, super smooth and just a little bouncy.

After some time, because someone has shared their new pen (and because I'm weak), I fell for it and ordered a Diplomat Cobra for myself too. This was the upgrade number two. I really love the magnetic cap - I can open and close the pen super quickly and conveniently without worrying about the wear. The nib is something that I had to get used to in this pen. It's very rigid and much more juicy than I typically prefer. I'm still trying to find an ink that will work best with this pen but the Sailor Studio that I'm currently testing looks very promising.

I hope it helps someone especially if you're overthinking stuff like me.

Everything about it screams quality! Inked it with Waterman Serenity Blue as I always do for the first fill of any new pen and the nib is a true delight!

I was worried about the nib size as I have heard that Souverans run wide. The F nib is about the same size as my M205 and I couldn't be happier, a true western fine nib.