Graduation Idea

[Sintini]

So I was thinking about a graduation gift for a friend of mine. She gets her bachelor's this spring and is headed off to grad school. I was thinking about getting her a journal with a nice pen for her next stage of life. I was hoping you nice folks could help me choose between a decent New or good used fountain pen. I am open to either and have a budget of around 40 dollars, so not something too expensive. I was planning to leather tool a journal cover to go along with the pen. Thus, I need to get the pen first so I can look at dyes. Earth tones make better leather dyes, so a darker colored pen would be best. Hopefully, you nice badger and blade folks can help.
Thanks.
Sintini

 

[Rockminer]

Sintini;

Welcome to the Nib, and B&B!!!

Is your budget $40 for everything or just for the pen? I would suggest a Pilot Metropolitan pen ( $15 ) and a Rhodia notepad of your choice, all available at Gouletpens.com. there are other choices as well.


EDIT; If you have any extra cash left over, get her some inks to go along with the pen.

 

[celestino]

Lamy Safaris are quite nice introductory pens.
i am sure the more experienced gents will help out with some other suggestions. Good luck.

 

[Lexbomb]

I would also go the Safari, they write great out the box and they are super tough pens made out of the same plastic as Lego; so she wont have to worry about breaking it.

 

[Sintini]

I was thinking of a budget for the pen and any accompanying ink for 40 dollars. I can get a pretty good little journal for around $10 on Amazon. I already have the leather and my target budget is $50. Then it's just a matter of finding the time to do the leather tooling. Should be really nice when it's done. I can post pictures if you guys are interested.

 

[showcattle]

Lamy safari is around $28 at goulet's and ink samples are $2ish a piece a fine nib works great for college note taking on poorish paper with mild bleed through. Ive enjoyed note taking a lot more since getting my FP.

 

[andrew98]

The Safari also looks about as nice as a Lego brick. A Sheaffer 100 looks a lot more professional if you can stretch your budget a little. Otherwise, I'd take a Pilot Metropolitan over the Safari. I had a Parker Frontier that wrote nicely. I ended up gifting it to someone. I'm not typically a fan of modern Parkers, but the Frontier was nice for an inexpensive pen.

-Andy

 

[showcattle]

There are nicer pens than the safari but in black or graphite with a black clip its pretty unobtrusive. Its also a lot nicer than a G2 or the promo pens most people end up using.

 

[Sintini]

First of all thanks for all the replies. I now have a much better idea of what I am looking for. While I like the Lamy Safari, I was thinking of something a bit sharper looking. The Sheaffer 100 was my personal favorite but I am trying real hard to stay in budget. To that end, I (after discussing it with Mrs Sintini) will be going with the Pilot Metropolitan in Plain Silver. The surprisingly low price point allows me to get my friend some ink along with her journal and pen.

Now the task of figuring out what to tool on the leather. Have to figure out some subtle ways to find out what to make. Sadly, subtlety is not always my strong suit.

Thank you all so much for the warm and helpful responses. This site has been like a soothing balm in a sea of an often acrid internet.

I will post some pictures of the fully finished product when I am done.

Many thanks from Hawaii.

Sintini

 

[strop]

I'm late to the party, but certainly glad the gents here can help. Make sure you cruise around the whole site. Who knows you might find out wetshaving to be a whole 'nuther fun thing.

And yes, please show us pictures of the finished journal. The personal touch on presents like these is always special.

 

[showcattle]

Is there anything emblomatic to her field of study that you could put on it?

 

[Katia]

I have to admit to being partial to a vintage Esterbrook for a low-budget pen. Especially the J series, or perhaps a Dollar Pen. They are pretty easy to find, worth about $30-$35 restored (re-sacced, etc.), attractive, durable, and the nib units are interchangeable. If any of my collection had been re-sacced I'd send you one, but as it is none of them have been restored yet and I never got around to acquiring the supplies to do so myself. Where are you located? Might you be near to any repairers?

Brian Anderson's the go-to guy for info: http://www.esterbrook.net/

 

[andrew98]

I think the Metropolitan is a good, user-friendly choice for a new fountain pen user. Check out Diamine inks. They're excellent value and generally well-behaved. Your budget will allow a couple bottles or a huge sampler pack. They're low maintenance when it comes to flushing/cleaning the pen between refilling/changing inks. You may want to provide your friend with a bulb syringe for cleaning, as well. They're inexpensive. I have no connection with Goulet Pens, other than being a happy customer.

Can't wait to see the finished journal cover. This set is going to be an excellent gift!

-Andy

 

[Sintini]

Hopefully I can just tack this new issue on the end of the old thread, it is all part of the same project after all.

The new wrinkle: The journal I planned to use may not work as well as I wanted. It is a good looking one and fairly inexpensive. The issue is the pages are, in my uneducated opinion, too thin for a fountain pen. I really think any writing will bleed through. I was worried this might be the case so before cutting any leather I bought one for myself to check. It is pretty thin paper, maybe 2 or 3 small steps above your basic binder paper.

So I have two choices: go with a less cool pen [shudders] or go with thicker paper.

I am open to suggestions but changing the paper seems like a good way to go to me. So I would need a journal type insert, that could be purchased again in the future, with thicker pages. I am hoping you folks could suggest one because I haven't the foggiest how thick it needs to be to not get bleed through with a fountain pen. My budget for this portion, since I am saving a bit on the pen is about $15-20.

I included a link to the old insert so you can see what I had in mind.

As always, many thanks.

Sintini
http://www.amazon.com/Markings-C-R-...e=UTF8&qid=1360983690&sr=8-1&keywords=journal

 

[strop]

It's not clear to me whether the leather cover is refillable or bound. I'd try for one that is refillable, otherwise she loses the custom part when she fills it up.

 

[andrew98]

I would build your leather binding around these Clairefontaine notebooks. I'd go with this size for ease of use. They're reasonably inexpensive, and the paper is very high quality and fountain pen friendly. Your friend will always be able to get replacements easily when she fills up a journal. That, some ink samples, bulb syringe, and a Pilot Metropolitan is still well within your budget. The Sheaffer is nice, but the Pilot is an incredible value. It looks much nicer than it's price tag, in my opinion, and they write great.

-Andy

 

[Sintini]

Andy:

That paper looks great! Just the ticket and the price difference is minimal. Couple of final questions before I go ahead and place my order with them. Why do you suggest the size paper that you do? I am using that other journal, the one from amazon that I linked, and I have to admit it seems a bit small. But a full size sheet? Seems big to me. I am definitely willing to do with your recommendation but I am very curious as to why it is better than say the 6.75x8.75 paper. The other thing I have been pondering is cartridge vs bottled ink. Is there any big difference? I am assuming there is because people keep talking about the bottled stuff and no one mentions the cartridges. Otherwise I think the plan of what to buy looks great and it is just a matter of ordering the stuff and starting the tooling process. I think I got the first part of the design hammered out, it looks pretty good.
Thanks all.
Sintini

 

[syngent]

Sintini, most of us prefer bottled inks as in the long run they are cheaper, as well as coming in a larger selection. plus you cant just change out carts on a whim because you want to try something new, without tossing the left overs
I prefer the bottles myself too because the bottles look kind of cool sitting on the desk

 

[strop]

Personally, for a journal, I prefer the smaller size, but for a notebook I like the larger size. Purpose driven. If your cover choice only comes in one size, go with that.

James summed it up pretty good on the ink. The only advantage to the carts is convenience. If I'm travelling, I'll usually throw a couple into my briefcase far emergencies.