New to fountain pens

[psfred]

My favorite pens are Sheaffer Snorkels and Parker "51"s. Parker 61 is also great, but none of mine are still usable, they all have cracked hoods by now.

I also usually carry a Hero 100 -- used to be easy to find, not not so much. Nice pen, holds a lot of ink, but suffers from the fragile barrel of the Parker 61 of which it's really a copy.

The main points of a good fountain pen for me are proper nib width (in my case, accountant nibs are perfect, extra fine is acceptable, medium is too fat) and hand fit. I can't use very thin pens, my hands are pretty big, but if you have smaller hands some of the really big pens may be uncomfortable.

Other than that, so long as the pen is well made nothing else really matters much. Properly sealing caps and decent ink capacity are necessary, but for actual looks, I don't care a whole lot.

 

[EB Newfarm]

Look into Shawn Newton pens if you want to buy American. I bought a custom made fountain pen that was perfect and his customer service was top notch. They are not cheap, and there is a wait list, but the pen was perfect.

Hard to go wrong with a Parker 51 that has been cleaned up as a daily user. It will keep its value as well.

 

[Wrong Place]

The Penboutique in Maryland might be a good place to start also. Should be able to find them online. One caveat with Noodler's ink: I've read complaint's where the bottles were overfilled. Exercise caution where and how you open the bottle the first time and all should be good.

 

[tankerjohn]

Noodlers inks are made by Nathan Tardiff in his family home in Massachusetts (which is why a lot of the ink names are related to Massachusetts and New England, i.e. "Bay State Blue", "Mass 54th", etc). Brian Goulet did a fantastic interview with him a couple years ago. Definitely worth looking up on Youtube, if you want to know more about the guy behind Noodlers. BTW, the bottles aren't overfilled; Nathan purposefully fills them to the brim to ensure that consumers are getting maximum value for their money. But, yeah, be careful opening them, especially the ones that stain. Last I checked, Noodlers pens are made in India, not China.

For American-made pens, you're pretty much looking at boutique brands these day. Edison and Franklin-Cristoph are very popular. There are several other penmakers that offer custom pens. The most affordable American-made pens that I am aware of are Karas Kustoms, which machines their pens out of the aluminum. Unfortunately, the great American fountain pen brands of yesteryear are all made overseas now - Parker, Waterman, Cross, Shaeffer, Conklin, Esterbrook. Parker and Waterman are French companies now and their high-end pens are made in France. Most are made in China. I have a Conklin Duragraph, which claims to have been "assembled" in California. Okay, whatever. It was made in China. But I figure it at least got a better QC check than the pens shipped directly from Chinese brands. In any case, its a great turned-acrylic pen, and an equivalent pen from F-C or Edison would cost at least three times as much.

 

[Wrong Place]

Thank you, lot's of good information.

 

[jar_]

Thank you, lot's of good information.

And yes, the bottles are overfilled despite Nathans idiosyncrasies. I'd gladly pay more if he filled them a little less.

 

[captp]

And yes, the bottles are overfilled despite Nathans idiosyncrasies. I'd gladly pay more if he filled them a little less.

Patience, Grasshopper, patience. Be gentle, it will work.

 

[Ryanshh]

I don't have much to add. Many fine suggestions here. Just wanted to say welcome and enjoy your time with fountain pens. I feel deep in this hole a while ago and am still enjoying the view from down here.

 

[Wrong Place]

Noodlers inks are made by Nathan Tardiff in his family home in Massachusetts (which is why a lot of the ink names are related to Massachusetts and New England, i.e. "Bay State Blue", "Mass 54th", etc). Brian Goulet did a fantastic interview with him a couple years ago. .

I watched the video and it was pretty good. Seems as if Mr Tardiff is big into creating forgery resistant inks. He makes over 50 different inks with partial or high resistance to various methods of forgery. Gave me a reason to go shopping again.

 

[Clayw]

So many great suggestions and some rather cool background info to! Well, my intention was to go with the Pilot Metropolitan and some varsity 's as suggested a few above. I got the Metro Wednesday and love it. That's as far as my plan got. On order currently I have 2 Diplomat Magnums (1 fine and 1 medium) , a Nemosine Fission and a Nemosine Singularity both in medium as well as a bottle of Nemosine moon crate black ink. I'll probably pick up a bottle of Noodlers Ink in blue black.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[Wrong Place]

Check out the properties of the different Noodler's inks before you buy. Some of them have some fraud safety characteristics and water resistance that others in the lineup do not. The"Russia Series" are all good security inks. There are others - more than 50 in fact out of the more than 200 varieties.

Noodler’s Ink Properties – Noodler's Ink

 

[Clayw]

Annnd that didn't take long. My pen feel on the floor, the call popped off and the nib is bent. Can I repair it replace that?

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[Wrong Place]

Ouch. Nibs are replaceable. Look for them where you bought your pen. Available in different sizes.

 

[Clayw]

Well prefect timing, my Nemosine Fission came today. I also very much like this pen as well. Easily double the weight. Both are very nice pens!

 

[Wrong Place]

3

Well prefect timing, my Nemosine Fission came today. I also very much like this pen as well. Really double the weight. Both are very nice pens!

Photo please?

 

[Clayw]

.

 

[Wrong Place]

Wow!

 

[r0ckrat]

Parker and Waterman are French companies now and their high-end pens are made in France.

Waterman has been a French company since the 1920's... The heritage - Waterman

(Corrected)

 

[tankerjohn]

Waterman has been a French company since the 1920's... The heritage - Waterman

(Corrected)

That was the French subsidiary, Waterman JIF. The original American Waterman Pen Company, founded in 1884, went out of business in 1954. The French Waterman later bought the rights and now is the only Waterman.

Waterman pens - Wikipedia

 

[Wrong Place]

Good video on YouTube: "The 7 Biggest Fountain Pen Mistakes".
Worth taking a look at before maybe destroying a good pen accidentally. It's short.