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Recommendation for my Son

I read a recent thread in the Nib about someone's purchase of the Jinhao X450 with great interest. My son (18 year old) has expressed a desire to experiment with using a fountain pen. He really hasn't used one before. I thought I might pick one up for him as a Christmas present. Would folks recommend this particular pen or is there something else that I should look at for a beginner like him? Also, do you have any specific recommendations for inks or other things I might need? Thanks for your thoughts and recommendations!
 
I read a recent thread in the Nib about someone's purchase of the Jinhao X450 with great interest. My son (18 year old) has expressed a desire to experiment with using a fountain pen. He really hasn't used one before. I thought I might pick one up for him as a Christmas present. Would folks recommend this particular pen or is there something else that I should look at for a beginner like him? Also, do you have any specific recommendations for inks or other things I might need? Thanks for your thoughts and recommendations!

A Jinhao x450 or x750 would be good (at $4-10), but if he's really interested, you might bump up to the Pilot Metropolitan or Platinum Plasir (or, cheaper, a Platinum Preppy).

You could also check out Kaweco or Diplomat brands, but a Pilot Metropolitan is an excellent starter pen.

Consider ordering from Goulet Pen Co. They have excellent customer service.

The steel nibs on any of these pens should stand up to mild misuse as he learns, but they are easily repaired or replaced as well. Consider a Fine nib in any of the brands.

The Jinhao should take Standard International Short cartridges or a Standard International converter (to fill from a bottle of ink), and probably comes with a few cartridges.

Noodler's ink is always a good choice if branching out from cartridges, and Goulet sells a cheap refill/cleaning kit for converters (bulb syringe, blunt fill syringes). The converter probably comes separately, and is cheap.

Pilot and Platinum both use proprietary nibs and converters.

Don't forget good paper! Fountain pen paper runs anywhere from 70gsm to 240 gsm, but in a pinch, any off brand notebook made in China or India is probably suitable. Think Walmart house brand. Why? They have fountain pen cultures. Goulet also sells the fancy paper, as do other retailers. If you look at numbers ... aim for around 100gsm for most papers. Japanese paper is the exception.
 
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Thank you for your suggestions. I have an additional question or two regarding the paper. First what is gsm? Secondly, will he be able to use the pen on a standard no big paper? If he's taking notes for a class or something does it provide acceptable results?
 
Some great advice so far.

Jinhao pens offer very good value for money, they are well made and write just as they should, you need to spend quite a lot more money to buy a pen that is significantly better.

The 450 and 750 use the same nib and are similarly styled, perhaps a greater range of finishes on the 750.

When the pen arrives, flush the pen with the converter using warm water with a drop of dish soap, this is to give the pen a good clean of any engineering oils that might be present.

Personally, I dont rate the Jinhao cartridges, I find that the ink is not the best.

If you are buying from Goulet pens I would also order some ink from him, he has 700 to choose from. Personally I would keep it simple with Parker and Waterman inks. Goulet also sells ink cartridges, Parker and and Lamy cartridges will not fit the Jinhao but you will be fine with brands such as Visconti, Monteverde, Diamine.

Finally, dont forget a good notebook, vast numbers to choose from but one brand that most people like is Clairfontaine/Rhodia.

Please feel free to come back and chat

Edit, sorry BB, I have just read your post and we seem to have given very similar advice.
 
Gsm means grams per square meter. It's a measure of how heavy the paper is.

I use a fountain pen on regular copy paper pretty much all the time. I can definitely tell the difference between good and lesser paper, but the regular cheap paper is still pretty decent. I can get some bleed through, and it's certainly not as smooth writing as with nicer paper. And, every once in a while, I come across some really nice quality paper in a cheap notebook, and I can immediately tell the difference.

Pilot makes some really nice pens and, more importantly, some really nice quality nibs. It's the rare Pilot that you'd have to play around with just to get it to write, and not all fountain pens are like that. My most recent acquisition, which is an Indian made pen, took me a few weeks of experimentation to get it to write consistently at all. Then it took another few weeks to get it writing the way I wanted it to write. I'm happy with it now, but it took me a month of experimentation to get there. The Jinhao pens I've used have been better than that, but they still required some messing with to write the way I'd like. A Pilot is probably going to be good to go right out of the box. As long as the step between the front section and the body of the pen is OK with your son, I'd say a Pilot Metropolitan is a great pen to begin with.
 
Another thought is that an 18 year old might want something that looks cool, the pens suggested so far are quite traditional.

The Platinum Preppy might fit the bill and is only $5 from Jet pens

preppy.jpg
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I did read about the Pilot Metro on Goulet and came across the Preppy. I lean a little towards something that is nicer than the Preppy, so the Metro probably is more in line for a Christmas present. I also came across the Lamy Vista. What do you guys think about that? As for ink (either Pilot or Lamy), I'm leaning towards a cartridge for convenience. Is that a good idea or am I really missing out?
 
Also, does anyone know if Goulet offers any discounts for Black Friday? Have they done that in past years?
 
With cartridges, it somewhat limits the type of ink that you can use, simply because most inks are not available in cartridges. But if you use an ink syringe, you can refill cartridges with any ink you'd like. Although, refilling cartridges is probably more likely to cause leaks over time just because they're meant to be disposable. And ink in cartridges is usually very expensive compared to the same volume of ink just sold in a bottle.

A converter is pretty inexpensive and convenient, and it'll let your son use pretty much any ink he'd like. And he can also use cartridges whenever he'd like too. He can just swap back and forth.

I looked through my old emails from Goulet Pens, and last year they did have some Black Friday deals. However, they were all specific sales on specific items. Not a blanket 20 percent off everything on the site, type of sale.
 
Please keep the recommendations coming guys. Seems like some good advice and I am looking into each of your recommendations further after you give them. One thing that I did not mention that I am learning might be an issue is that he is left-handed. Goulet had a nice video on issues regarding lefties.
 
I'm just here to add another vote for the Pilot Metro. I have had one for years now, and though I now have some more expensive pens and many cheaper pens, it's still my favorite.
 
For a little more money than the Metropolitan, the Twsbi Eco is a nice writing pen. It's a clear demonstrator, which might make it not as fancy looking as the Metropolitan. They are made in Taiwan and they are a piston filler, so you won't have to buy a converter or use cartridges. The Eco pen bodies are clear, so the pen kind of takes on the color of the ink used, which your son can change.
 
Please keep the recommendations coming guys. Seems like some good advice and I am looking into each of your recommendations further after you give them. One thing that I did not mention that I am learning might be an issue is that he is left-handed. Goulet had a nice video on issues regarding lefties.


Is he a left hand overwriter? Similar to Obama? If so then I understand that fine nibs are the way to go, they put down a small amount of ink which should dry quickly. Avoid Diamine inks and any other inks which take a long time to dry.

If his writing hand is below the line then have a look on how he writes, does he rotate the pen as it touches the paper?
 
I saw overhand and under the line and such mentioned in the Goulet video. To be honest, I don't really remember how he writes. He is a college student and doesn't live at home so when he is here for the holidays I will try and be observant. I kind of wanted this to be a surprise so I may just take a chance and go with a fine nib and a fairly fast drying ink. I guess the Lamy ink is pretty fast drying if I went with cartridge.
 
The fine nib would also be the option if he's not always going to use more fountain pen friendly paper. If you do go with a bottle of ink, Noodler's X Feather in a pen with a fine nib can write very well on some super low grade paper with minimal issues.
 
Thank you for your suggestions. I have an additional question or two regarding the paper. First what is gsm? Secondly, will he be able to use the pen on a standard no big paper? If he's taking notes for a class or something does it provide acceptable results?

GSM is "grams per square meter." It is a measure of paper thickness/weight. The higher the gsm, the more ink it can hold without leaking, wrinkling, ghosting or spreading (feathering).

American notebook paper is usually pretty poor for fountain pens. I've had acceptable results from off-brand notebooks (Dollar General, Walgreen's, CVS, "Caliber" branded paper, etc), provided they are from India or China.

If you get a fine or extra fine nib, the narrower line also helps with performance. For instance, my preferred combination is an extra-fine nib with Noodler's Heart of Darkness black ink. It works well on a variety of papers (and for check writing) without feathering or smudging. It is also waterproof, whereas many inks are not.

Depending on how he writes, a fast-drying ink may not be necessary. I am an underhand lefty, so I don't need fast-dry inks. In fact, the ones I've tried have worse performance than regular inks. They soak into the paper so fast that the line feathers like crazy.
 
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The Pilot Metros have some fun prints and patterns. The Pilot ink cartridges behave well, dry relatively quickly and have some fun colors. It is my usual go to to get someone into the rabbit hole.

If you think a roller ball would be an option I've been impressed with the Retro 51's I've given to people. They accept the Monteverde refills and come in a variety of colors. I wouldn't have a problem carrying one of these if I ever worked somewhere that I couldn't have a fountain pen of if I had to travel and not have a good supply of ink with me.
 
The Preppies are great! They write very reliable and the cap is really tight, so that it won't dry up for a long time even when not used. And the best of all: They come with nice Hello Kitty! decoration.

But they have one disadvantage. At least here the cartridges are not available locally. I put in converters, so it is no problem for me. I have heard there are people who want to use cartridges, so I just wanted to point out.
 
The Kaweco Sport is my favorite pen for "dipping toes" into fountain pens. There are a variety of finishes you can get it in, from cheaper plastic models all the way up to Sterling Silver (I'd skip that one and go for the Steel or Brass if you're looking to get a more substantial model, or the turned acrylic "Art Sport" models if you're looking to get something "higher end").

What's great about the sport is that it is nice and compact, but it posts to full size. It is one of the best pocket pens on the market, and a pen that a collector is likely to keep around and continue to find use for, as a daily carry or a "beater
pen or for travel, etc., even after they have higher end pens in their collection.

The pen is cartridge only (mini-converters that fit it do exist, but hold practically no ink) but in truth there is actually a huge variety of ink colors available that fit a stand universal mini cartridge from Brands like Kaweco, Diamine, Montblanc, Faber-Castel, Private Reserve, etc.)

For a starter pen that he will still appreciate many years from now, I think one of the metal models of the sport (aluminum, brass, or steel) or the acrylic Art Sport would be a good way to go. And if you're looking for something cheaper just to test the waters, the Classic, Skyline, and Frosted models of Sport can all be had fairly inexpensively.
 
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