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Dad Hominem posted:Congrats again! I'll have to dig out the page in Fountain Pens of Japan that covers these. I think there's a photo of the temple ritual where each of these pens was blessed by a priest. Seems to already have worked as I miraculously did not pay any VAT on it  Thanks, Kūkai!As for the Capless Saga, they've decided to swing by in person to pick up the duplicate (letting me keep the ink etc.) and mentioned an additional "surprise". Should be fun.
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May 19, 2022 11:35
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Clearly they're going to surprise you with a human scale replica of the capless but once you're inside they'll lock you in and take you away so you can never inadvertently harm customer service again
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May 19, 2022 21:36
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Argas posted:Clearly they're going to surprise you with a human scale replica of the capless but once you're inside they'll lock you in and take you away so you can never inadvertently harm customer service again  it's what I deserve.e: god it's so good. 
gschmidl fucked around with this message at 20:15 on May 20, 2022 |
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May 19, 2022 21:41
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hope i'm not too late for the Heart Sutra-posting! that's a gorgeous pen, how's the feel of it?  i have always been hard to do birthday shopping for, mainly in the sense that my loved ones always have to resort to offloading stacks of books on me. and then come in, fountain pens. i'll have to get back to my japanese studies and my barely-budding Buddhist practice before i can feel deserving of this one. the machining on the wood is entrancing, and the pen itself is so so calming to lay eyes upon. not to mention how steadying the weight of the wood is. and the smell! goodness. i'm in love
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May 21, 2022 05:55
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How do the gold nibs on the fancier Pilot pens compare to the frankly amazing one on the Metropolitan? I would love to have a pen with a nib like that that also has a piston fill, but I wonder if it would be the same experience?
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May 21, 2022 07:14
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Rand Brittain posted:How do the gold nibs on the fancier Pilot pens compare to the frankly amazing one on the Metropolitan? I would love to have a pen with a nib like that that also has a piston fill, but I wonder if it would be the same experience? Pilot only has the Custom Heritage 92 for piston fillers, and the Custom 823 is a vacuum plunger filler. Everything else has been cartridges and convertors since the late 60s.
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May 21, 2022 07:22
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Dad Hominem posted:Pilot only has the Custom Heritage 92 for piston fillers, and the Custom 823 is a vacuum plunger filler. Everything else has been cartridges and convertors since the late 60s. The Heritage is the one I mean, yeah. Are the gold nibs on those comparable in feel to what the Metropolitan is like to write with?
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May 21, 2022 08:14
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catgirlgenius posted:hope i'm not too late for the Heart Sutra-posting! that's a gorgeous pen, how's the feel of it? It's never too late! The nib is a Japanese F, so it writes very precisely but without resistance or getting stuck on the paper. Holding the pen feels super nice, the characters are slightly elevated and I hope the macro photo brings across how they seem to be "hovering". Terrible video: https://imgur.com/a/YiFzWRD Man, that looks really nice as well. I like the idea of a fragrant pen, I picked up a cedarwood goshuincho at Koyasan for that reason (not to write in, of course). gschmidl fucked around with this message at 10:54 on May 21, 2022 |
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May 21, 2022 10:49
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Rand Brittain posted:The Heritage is the one I mean, yeah. Are the gold nibs on those comparable in feel to what the Metropolitan is like to write with? Writing with a gold nib will vary wildly between manufacturers but generally 14kt gold nibs are "bouncy" compared to steel nibs which tend to be very sturdy. I've not used a heritage nib but i have used other pilot gold nibs and they seem to have a bit more of a springiness when writing. I also tend to find them a bit smoother to write with. It WILL be a different experience but it's also the kind of thing that is ultimately pretty minor and comes down to (usially) slight taste differences. The jump in price from entry level, steel nibbed pens to ones with 14kt gold nibs is not insignificant and imo you may want to start exploring other brand's entry level stuff before getting too deep with one particular brand. That said, if you do end up getting a pen and ultimately don't like it the plus side is that fountain pens seem to hold their value pretty well.
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May 21, 2022 13:01
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I may need an intervention 
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May 23, 2022 11:35
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Oh god this book was a mistake already. 
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May 23, 2022 14:30
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gschmidl posted:I may need an intervention It's a good book but intensely frustrating. The authors have all these great pens but are incapable of writing about them in an organized or systematic way. Also I heard Lambrou was last seen scamming folks out of deposits for nonexistent pens - Shawn Newton had a bit of a writeup on Instagram.
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May 23, 2022 14:49
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Dad Hominem posted:It's a good book but intensely frustrating. The authors have all these great pens but are incapable of writing about them in an organized or systematic way. Owning pens or being involved with fountain pens does not a good person make. Or a writer. I mean, read the past few pages. Also, anyone posting here is a goon, duh.
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May 23, 2022 15:18
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Those heart sutra pens are amazing, pity about the prices I'm seeing for them... I think I've accepted that I hit my limit in terms of expensive pens with the Custom 823. I've always loved the idea of an urushi or maki-e pen, or one of the silly volcanic Viscontis, but those are all purchases I probably can't ever justify cost-wise. At least ink is relatively cheap!
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May 23, 2022 15:51
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MockingQuantum posted:Those heart sutra pens are amazing, pity about the prices I'm seeing for them... I think I've accepted that I hit my limit in terms of expensive pens with the Custom 823. I've always loved the idea of an urushi or maki-e pen, or one of the silly volcanic Viscontis, but those are all purchases I probably can't ever justify cost-wise. At least ink is relatively cheap! I found the Heart Sutra for less than the Visconti Homo Sapiens Lava Dark Age's MSRP, but the price of the first one I found also made me go wtf.
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May 23, 2022 15:54
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gschmidl posted:I found the Heart Sutra for less than the Visconti Homo Sapiens Lava Dark Age's MSRP, but the price of the first one I found also made me go wtf. Yeah admittedly I didn't go hunting for very long, but really anything above about $300 usd is more than I can spend on a pen and feel okay about my sanity. Even my 823 was kind of nerve-wracking, and that was partially a gift to celebrate a new job.
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May 23, 2022 17:30
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Hm, so I actually realized that a pen I'd received as a gift long ago, before getting into fountain pens, and not thought much about was a Pilot Vanishing Point with a 14k nib, and was able to test that out. My verdict is that it doesn't have anything like the incredibly easy flow you get from a Metropolitan, which makes me less excited about trying out any other gold-nib pens. The Metropolitan is fine and the TWSBI options are very nearly as good in the nib while also having non-converter options. Thoughts on inks I've tried recently: J. Herbin Ambre de Birmanie: It's fantastic. I love it. It takes a little bit of time to dry and until it does it's a very pale shade before reaching its final amber-gold color, but the result is just perfect. Diamine Pumpkin: A very likeable orange. Diamine Sherwood: It's green. It's fine. A little dry. Diamine Monboddo's Hat: It's a decent purple on lovely paper, but on good paper it just comes out plain black. Diamine Strawberry Red: A nice bright red. Pilot Iroshizoku Asa-gao: A really nice vivid blue. I don't really feel like I need to praise it that hard because I feel like everybody knows that this whole line is great stuff.
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May 23, 2022 20:09
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Rand Brittain posted:Pilot Iroshizoku Asa-gao: A really nice vivid blue. I don't really feel like I need to praise it that hard because I feel like everybody knows that this whole line is great stuff. You should tho. And if you want to buy more ink, Diamine Ancient Copper is missing in your line up. You might think "Meh brown red who cares" but then you use it and you understand.
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May 23, 2022 20:29
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Keetron posted:And if you want to buy more ink, Diamine Ancient Copper is missing in your line up. You might think "Meh brown red who cares" but then you use it and you understand. I can understand the appeal, but right now I'm writing a role-playing game and amusing myself by taking notes in the seven relevant colors, so my most immediate need is to have one really good ink in all seven major colors. Right now I just need a good purple, so I'm looking at J. Herbin's pansy violet.
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May 23, 2022 20:45
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Rand Brittain posted:I can understand the appeal, but right now I'm writing a role-playing game and amusing myself by taking notes in the seven relevant colors, so my most immediate need is to have one really good ink in all seven major colors. Right now I just need a good purple, so I'm looking at J. Herbin's pansy violet. The iroshizuku murasaki-shikibu is a really nice purple, too!
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May 23, 2022 23:58
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Rand Brittain posted:I can understand the appeal, but right now I'm writing a role-playing game and amusing myself by taking notes in the seven relevant colors, so my most immediate need is to have one really good ink in all seven major colors. Right now I just need a good purple, so I'm looking at J. Herbin's pansy violet. I think my favourite purple is still Rohrer + Kligner Solferino 
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May 24, 2022 06:31
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I got another Safari in a nice green colour and have filled it with green Syo-ro ink. 
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May 24, 2022 08:16
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Rand Brittain posted:Hm, so I actually realized that a pen I'd received as a gift long ago, before getting into fountain pens, and not thought much about was a Pilot Vanishing Point with a 14k nib, and was able to test that out. My verdict is that it doesn't have anything like the incredibly easy flow you get from a Metropolitan, which makes me less excited about trying out any other gold-nib pens. The Metropolitan is fine and the TWSBI options are very nearly as good in the nib while also having non-converter options. The Vanishing Point nib is different than most others, in that it is constrained in size and shape due to the retracting mechanism. It doesn't really offer you any feedback on your question other than "this is what it's like to write with a Vanishing Point". In any case, trying one pen and writing off gold nibs is like writing with a blue pen and then saying "that wasn't great, I won't buy any more blue pens". There is far more variation between nibs of different materials and different manufacturers than has been talked about here, and ink flow has very little to do with the material the nib is made from. I have more steel-nibbed pens than gold, and several of my absolute favorites have steel nibs. Also the Metropolitan nib has never been one of my favorites. What I'm ultimately saying is that it's all down to taste, and the only way to find out "will I like [x]'s nib" is to try one. If you're lucky enough to have a pen store nearby (like I am, with the wonderful Appointments) you can likely dip-test most pens there.
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May 24, 2022 15:17
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Also I suspect at the lower range of pens, even from otherwise pretty consistent manufacturers (Pilot, Platinum, TWSBI, etc), nib quality can vary wildly. I have a few F and M Metro nibs and no two nibs of the same size write exactly the same. One of my Metros may be the worst writer I have, though it's possibly something that could be pretty easily tuned for all I know. Speaking of pen tuning, question for people in this thread who do some pen repair stuff: I have a Karas Kustoms pen with a titanium nib (which I think they just source from Bock, though they etch or stamp them with their logo) that writes really strangely. It will vary from writing just fine, to suddenly writing very dryly or not at all, usually on downstrokes and especially if the paper isn't absolutely flat on a hard surface. I'll occasionally feel the nib sort of lightly "click" while writing which sometimes seems to coincide with it suddenly writing worse or better. I suspect that the tines might be pressing too hard against each other, and that the "click" I feel is the tines sort of rubbing or "snapping" past each other, so that I get a situation where only one tine is actually contacting the paper or something similar. I have a jeweler's loupe somewhere so I can probably confirm if that's what's going on, I just need to track it down. If that is the case, is that something that's relatively easy to fix? I've never really messed with the nibs on my pens, but if I can get this one writing a little better I'd be more than willing to try.
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May 24, 2022 15:45
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Rand Brittain posted:I can understand the appeal, but right now I'm writing a role-playing game and amusing myself by taking notes in the seven relevant colors, so my most immediate need is to have one really good ink in all seven major colors. Right now I just need a good purple, so I'm looking at J. Herbin's pansy violet. If it doesn't have to be violet (or otherwise especially vibrant), Poussiere de Lune is the correct choice.
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May 24, 2022 15:52
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Zenostein posted:If it doesn't have to be violet (or otherwise especially vibrant), Poussiere de Lune is the correct choice. I should probably specify that the colors I want are meant to be for ruby, carnelian, heliodor, emerald, aquamarine, sapphire, and amethyst, which makes the shades I want a bit more specific. I was really tempted by the actual carnelian ink in J. Herbin's anniversary line, but I decided I wasn't ready to deal with shimmer inks just yet. atholbrose posted:The Vanishing Point nib is different than most others, in that it is constrained in size and shape due to the retracting mechanism. It doesn't really offer you any feedback on your question other than "this is what it's like to write with a Vanishing Point". In any case, trying one pen and writing off gold nibs is like writing with a blue pen and then saying "that wasn't great, I won't buy any more blue pens". There is far more variation between nibs of different materials and different manufacturers than has been talked about here, and ink flow has very little to do with the material the nib is made from. I'll make a point of looking for a pen store the next time I travel.
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May 24, 2022 15:57
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Speaking of vps: If I win the lottery, I’ll have someone design me a clicky fountain pen that’s a vacuum filler with a snorkel. It’ll have to be the size of my loving arm, it’ll be amazing.
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May 24, 2022 16:09
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Rand Brittain posted:I should probably specify that the colors I want are meant to be for ruby, carnelian, heliodor, emerald, aquamarine, sapphire, and amethyst, which makes the shades I want a bit more specific. I have an amethyst pendant that matches Poussiere de Lune very well. Highly recommend getting a sample if you haven't yet! Just inked up with it again, actually.
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May 24, 2022 18:13
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Rand Brittain posted:I should probably specify that the colors I want are meant to be for ruby, carnelian, heliodor, emerald, aquamarine, sapphire, and amethyst, which makes the shades I want a bit more specific. If you want gemstone-looking inks, the Pelikan Edelstein range is both very good and entirely inspired by gemstones. The Lamy Crystal inks are inspired by gemstones too, but I've never tried them. ... Diamine Lilac Night for best purple.
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May 25, 2022 02:20
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In a single week I went from “oh I’m finally out of cartridges that I got with my first pen (a safari) almost ten years ago, I should get a couple more” To “I own four pens, four ink bottles, and have three pens in the mail” Wowzers
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May 25, 2022 05:14
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I'm flying back to the UK tomorrow, is it OK to just stick my pen in my hand luggage? Kinda keen not to fill up my laptop bag with shin-kai.
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May 25, 2022 06:33
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knox_harrington posted:I'm flying back to the UK tomorrow, is it OK to just stick my pen in my hand luggage? Kinda keen not to fill up my laptop bag with shin-kai. Someone else can chime in, but air pressure could cause your pen to leak so be careful
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May 25, 2022 07:04
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I've been flying with a pilot metropolitan this month with no issues. To be safest I made sure it was filled (I've heard completely empty is also fine), put it in two ziplocks, and didn't open it in the plane and it's been fine. It's the same idea as flying with a half filled water bottle: it's the air that expands when you go from ground pressure to cabin pressure and if you've ever opened one of those at cruising altitude you know you get that little pop of air. I'd think the main thing to keep you safe is don't open it in the plane at all. I've heard other pen types might be riskier, depending on how they seal closed.
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May 25, 2022 07:11
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Yeah sounds good, I'll max fill it and ziplock.
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May 25, 2022 11:01
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I put my pens in an empty closed bottle when I fly
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May 26, 2022 01:10
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atholbrose posted:The Vanishing Point nib is different than most others, in that it is constrained in size and shape due to the retracting mechanism. It doesn't really offer you any feedback on your question other than "this is what it's like to write with a Vanishing Point". In any case, trying one pen and writing off gold nibs is like writing with a blue pen and then saying "that wasn't great, I won't buy any more blue pens". There is far more variation between nibs of different materials and different manufacturers than has been talked about here, and ink flow has very little to do with the material the nib is made from. I never really thought about it this way before, but you talking about the Vanishing Point nib being different is letting me figure out why I love my gold VP and hate the gold Falcon I got myself as a graduation present.
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May 26, 2022 02:37
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I'll post here to (mentioned them in the Ali express thread as well) These things rule for converter Ftn Pens. (you can stick the ends on standard converters too) I got one with an aliexpress moonman and use it to fill anything with a converter since I can easily get into my bottles with low ink. https://www.amazon.com/Fountain-Syringe-Auxiliary-Absorber-Converter/dp/B08SBJG8CC/ they get less looks than pulling out a syringe at work.
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May 27, 2022 13:32
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Luer-lock needles fit *perfectly* over the opening of a standard international converter. You can also get plastic nozzles with the same hole sizing that are meant for applying glue.
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May 27, 2022 17:22
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After my disappointing experience with Air Corps Blue Black I decided to try and find a similar dark teal color. Robert Oster has one called Velvet Storm that looks like it fits the bill. Can anyone comment on its quality, similarity to ACBB, or suggest a similar ink?
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May 28, 2022 11:00
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Professor Shark posted:After my disappointing experience with Air Corps Blue Black I decided to try and find a similar dark teal color. Lamy Petrol would fit the bill, but it was a limited edition ink from 2017. Rohrer & Klinger Verdigris is nice but isn't as green-- though if you're primarily using ivory paper it might come out similar. Diamine Eau de Nil is the right color but far too light. De Atramentis Plum is called that because it's supposed to smell like plums, but is actually a dark green-blue, though a little muted. Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo is a little too blue and brighter, but if you haven't tried it yet I encourage you to do so (you may like it anyway). Edit: I remembered Sailor's doing a 50 US States series and their California looks pretty close. I'd also suggest seeing if one of the many blue-green Colorverse inks works. effika fucked around with this message at 17:35 on May 28, 2022 |
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May 28, 2022 17:31
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