Scribe Sword fountain pen - any thoughts?

[aodenkou]

Gentlemen,
I have been a member of B&B for a number of years but have decided to improve my penmanship. What prompted me was killing time in the airport in Munich. I picked up some Lamy pens for my daughter in laws, and a couple for myself. I ended up with a Lamy for myself.

Playing around with the pen got me thinking I would like to buy a pen that looked a bit better than a plastic pen and so I started looking at Amazon. Not knowing what to get I settled on a Scribe Sword with a medium tip. It was around $40 with some Waterman black ink. So I thought I would give it a try. Has anyone used this pen? I have used it a bit and it seems to work fine. I did not see a review, and I don't really have much to compare it with. Sort of like when I started with DE shaving

Any comments or thoughts would be helpful. I have been going through YouTube videos on penmanship. Again, any thoughts on what might be helpful for improving my cursive handwriting would be appreciated. I am leaning to the Spencerian cursive to copy. I don't want a cursive that looks like I am in grade school again. However, I do want to emulate a more adult style even if it does look a bit old fashioned.

Thanks in advance!

 

[kcore]

I would say if the pen is working for you that is great! Congratulations on deciding to work on your penmanship I really haven't tried to improve mine but there are plenty of books and tutorials out there so I'm sure that someone will chime in soon with some suggestions. Let us know if you have any questions or need any help with anything there is a lot of knowledge here in the nib

 

[Mullen88]

Pick up a dip pen with an assortment of nibs and a Calligraphy book. It helped me learn some tricks to get my writing in tip-top shape. Cheers.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I've also been looking at vids for the same reason, and just ordered my first fountain pen in many years. I can't comment on that pen, as I'm less experienced with what's on the market than you are, but I thought this was a good video...

 

[Slivovitz]

There's something to be said for just diving in. If you'd asked for pen recommendations here ahead of time, the sheer number of suggestions might have been confusing. I've never heard of the Scribe Sword, but there are plenty of good pens in that price range, and if it works reliably for you, that's all you need for now. The Lamy, though (I'm guessing you got a Safari or Vista?) is an often recommended pen that might actually be a better writer despite the plasticky look. Another advantage is that on most of the lower end models it's possible to swap out the nibs quite easily if you want to experiment with different line thicknesses and other characteristics. Mullen88's suggestion of dip pens is another good way to do this. Just don't put your dip pen ink in a fountain pen.

As for your penmanship goals, I rather liked the way that individual but still legible adult styles would gradually evolve from the uniform copybook styles that one learned in grade school. That's basically what my writing is, and I don't have the motivation to learn more. But I respect the desire to learn more ornate styles such as Spencerian, for those willing to put in the work.

 

[aodenkou]

Pick up a dip pen with an assortment of nibs and a Calligraphy book. It helped me learn some tricks to get my writing in tip-top shape. Cheers.

I am a bit of a clutz.....in large part from an injury to my right arm that has left my hand slightly numb. Not fully, but enough that I sometimes do things I would not otherwise have done. So keeping an open source of ink is just asking for problems I will have to rely on fountain pens and similar writing instruments. It would be interesting to try dip pens but it's not an option I am comfortable with. The book idea is good and I have a few, plus what I have been able to source on the web.

I just need to be careful not to get the addiction of buying pens, ink, and lord knows what else.....when I started back using DE ( what I started with as a youngster) I went a bit crazy buying all kinds of things shaving related.

 

[aodenkou]

There's something to be said for just diving in. If you'd asked for pen recommendations here ahead of time, the sheer number of suggestions might have been confusing. I've never heard of the Scribe Sword, but there are plenty of good pens in that price range, and if it works reliably for you, that's all you need for now. The Lamy, though (I'm guessing you got a Safari or Vista?) is an often recommended pen that might actually be a better writer despite the plasticky look. Another advantage is that on most of the lower end models it's possible to swap out the nibs quite easily if you want to experiment with different line thicknesses and other characteristics. Mullen88's suggestion of dip pens is another good way to do this. Just don't put your dip pen ink in a fountain pen.

As for your penmanship goals, I rather liked the way that individual but still legible adult styles would gradually evolve from the uniform copybook styles that one learned in grade school. That's basically what my writing is, and I don't have the motivation to learn more. But I respect the desire to learn more ornate styles such as Spencerian, for those willing to put in the work.

I think it's a Safari and I have their calligraphy pen. I do like the shape and feel of the gripping area (don't know what it's called). It's easy to index, my fingers are a bit numb. I think that's a great design feature. I went with the scribe sword on looks and how I expected the weight to be a bit more substantial than the plastic feel of the Lamy. I may have to look and see if there is a Lamy that is stainless....