New User - Not Sure What to Think About Fountain Pens

[CRG]

Hello All -

I recently got into fountain pens, purchasing both a Pilot 78G and a Lamy Safari. In addition to the pens, I purchased some Rhodia and Clairefontaine notebooks and pads from Goulet. So far, only a few days into using the pens, I'm not as impressed with them as I hoped I would be. I like the whole concept, the history and the craftsmanship of the pens, but I'm honestly not thrilled with how they write. I hate to admit it, but it's the truth. Prior to FPs, my favorite pens were the gel roller ball types. I like the thick, consistent lines that they produce. In contrast, my two FPs seems inconsistent in terms of line width, and they seem to bleed and feather easily even on good paper.

Perhaps I'm judging too soon, but I really wanted to be blown away by the writing experience, and I'm just not. Anyone here have a similar experience when they started out? Should I expect things to improve over time as I get used to writing with an FP? Should I be doing something differently? For reference, both pens I'm using have a medium nib and I'm using the ink cartridges that pair with each.

Thanks!

 

[SmoovD]

Much like shaving, there is a great deal of YMMV with pens, inks and papers. I am not thrilled with the 78G nor with the Safari but many like them. Could be the carts giving you problems? Did you score a converter with the Lamy? Maybe give it a try? After that, a good flush/clean might help the flow? Also, you might want to take a close look at the nib to make sure the times are jacked.

However, from the sound of your issues it might be your inks? What are you using? I can't imagine your notebooks not handling most inks quite well. Only my wettest inks in my wettest pens give the Clairefontaine paper a go.

Give the pens a chance. Some pens require a proper matching with the ink and paper. Just a matter of time and patience.

Good luck.

 

[CRG]

Much like shaving, there is a great deal of YMMV with pens, inks and papers. I am not thrilled with the 78G nor with the Safari but many like them. Could be the carts giving you problems? Did you score a converter with the Lamy? Maybe give it a try? After that, a good flush/clean might help the flow? Also, you might want to take a close look at the nib to make sure the times are jacked.

However, from the sound of your issues it might be your inks? What are you using? I can't imagine your notebooks not handling most inks quite well. Only my wettest inks in my wettest pens give the Clairefontaine paper a go.

Give the pens a chance. Some pens require a proper matching with the ink and paper. Just a matter of time and patience.

Good luck.

Thanks for offering your perspective. It's likely that I'm just not using the right combination of things, as most people seem to be pleased with the results they're getting. In terms of inks, I'm using the Pilot cartridge for the 78G and the Lamy cartridge that the pen came with for the Safari. I did get the converter with the Lamy and have some black Lamy ink to use with it. Maybe I'll give that a go and see what happens.

 

[ChefJohnBoy-ardee]

Some carts write drier. Other work fine.

I haven't been blown away by the colors in the carts. I know the first time I inked up a pen with Five O Clock Shadow I was blown away by the richness and darkness of the black (with the slightest hint of green). To each their own.

 

[Mendel]

+1 to flushing the pens beforehand. BTW, what size nib did you get on each pen? I found the 78g with a fine nib to be scritchy, it would be much better with a medium nib. What ink did you say have? Did you prime the pen after filling it with ink?

 

[Legion]

I use gel roller ball pens at work, but once you get your pens and ink sorted, writing with a fountain pen is a much nicer experience. To me a roller ball is like a cartrige razor. It works well enough to get the job done, and that is about all you can say. A nice FP and good ink is like shaving with a straight and getting BBS. It takes a while to dial it in, but patience is rewarded.

I say stick with it. Try a few bottled inks, and a couple of vintage pens. That is my preference.

 

[Slivovitz]

Depending on what you're looking for in a writing experience, I actually wouldn't guarantee that a fountain pen will be better for you than a decent gel rollerball like a Pilot G2 or Uniball Vision. Rollerballs are certainly less finicky. Here are some thoughts, though.

It seems odd that you'd be getting bleeding and feather on Clairefontaine or Rhodia paper. Unless both your pens have way too much ink flow, which seems unlikely, is it possible that you are pressing too hard while writing slowly? A fountain pen nib should just glide over the paper, requiring almost no pressure.

Getting the right angle is important, much more so than with a rollerball. Experiment a bit with this.

A completely consistent line thickness is not necessarily a goal when using a fountain pen. Unless you got the broader nib options with those pens, I wouldn't think you'd see a lot of variation, but a little bit would emerge naturally. Of course, in some cases, as with a flex nib or an italic, you'd actually be trying for a wide variation.

Fountain pens give me more choices for nib types and let me use a wide range of inks. My best fountain pens are pure pleasure to write with because of the sheer ease of writing, and because they allow me to get effects that I couldn't with a ballpoint or rollerball. They also let me adopt a writing angle which feels more natural to me. From the purely functional standpoint of getting words on paper, though, it's not clear that they are actually better than a decent rollerball.

 

[CRG]

+1 to flushing the pens beforehand. BTW, what size nib did you get on each pen? I found the 78g with a fine nib to be scritchy, it would be much better with a medium nib. What ink did you say have? Did you prime the pen after filling it with ink?

It's becoming clear to me that I may not have done enough research before simply diving in to fountain pens . I didn't know about flushing or priming, but I will read up on it. I have a medium nib on both pens, which I purchased because I prefer a thicker line.

I use gel roller ball pens at work, but once you get your pens and ink sorted, writing with a fountain pen is a much nicer experience. To me a roller ball is like a cartrige razor. It works well enough to get the job done, and that is about all you can say. A nice FP and good ink is like shaving with a straight and getting BBS. It takes a while to dial it in, but patience is rewarded.

I say stick with it. Try a few bottled inks, and a couple of vintage pens. That is my preference.

Thanks. I'm definitely going to stick with it, at least for a while. After all, I can't just drop $100 on pens and paper and walk away after a few days . Plus, I still think these things are so cool.

Depending on what you're looking for in a writing experience, I actually wouldn't guarantee that a fountain pen will be better for you than a decent gel rollerball like a Pilot G2 or Uniball Vision. Rollerballs are certainly less finicky. Here are some thoughts, though.

It seems odd that you'd be getting bleeding and feather on Clairefontaine or Rhodia paper. Unless both your pens have way too much ink flow, which seems unlikely, is it possible that you are pressing too hard while writing slowly? A fountain pen nib should just glide over the paper, requiring almost no pressure.

Getting the right angle is important, much more so than with a rollerball. Experiment a bit with this.

A completely consistent line thickness is not necessarily a goal when using a fountain pen. Unless you got the broader nib options with those pens, I wouldn't think you'd see a lot of variation, but a little bit would emerge naturally. Of course, in some cases, as with a flex nib or an italic, you'd actually be trying for a wide variation.

Fountain pens give me more choices for nib types and let me use a wide range of inks. My best fountain pens are pure pleasure to write with because of the sheer ease of writing, and because they allow me to get effects that I couldn't with a ballpoint or rollerball. They also let me adopt a writing angle which feels more natural to me. From the purely functional standpoint of getting words on paper, though, it's not clear that they are actually better than a decent rollerball.

I'll work on the angle part of things, which is something else I hadn't thought much about. I may also ditch the cartridge in the Lamy and try out the converter to see if that provides a better result. Thanks.

 

[oc_in_fw]

Thanks for offering your perspective. It's likely that I'm just not using the right combination of things, as most people seem to be pleased with the results they're getting. In terms of inks, I'm using the Pilot cartridge for the 78G and the Lamy cartridge that the pen came with for the Safari. I did get the converter with the Lamy and have some black Lamy ink to use with it. Maybe I'll give that a go and see what happens.

I find the Lamy black to be a nice, solid ink. I don't like carts. I bought my Cross Century in 1986 and used the carts- I never used the converter. I only used the pen for a while before boxing it for 20 years. Now that I know better, it is a much better pen.

 

[strop]

The Pilot is a Japanese pen, and as such the nib will run small. The M nib on a pilot will be closer to F on the Lamy. I'm not a fan of the cartridges, and have always found bottled ink to be superior in most ways (other than convenience).

If you're getting feathering on those papers, I can only think that you're using too much pressure (Hey, it is a shaving forum, after all!).