Fountain Pens: I said NIBS! And I will not be taking off my shirt.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Fountain Pens: I said NIBS! And I will not be taking off my shirt.

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Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Oh loving rad. I am so glad I found this thread because the discord for the local stationery shop I�m in is way way way too cliquey and fairly uninviting for newbies

I have been having issues with a specific ink. Birmingham Pen Company�s Saltmarsh. I more or less decided to get into fountain pens as an excuse to get into ink because I randomly found BPC�s website. And this ink is just�really not working for me and I do not understand why or how to guard against it in the future. As a liquid it seems *so* thin, and it often feels like my non is none letter ahead of wherever the ink is, if that makes sense? Like it�s out of sync and barely leaves a trace

I vaguely get the idea of wet versus dry inks, but how do you know if that�s gonna happen so you don�t wind up in a spot with an ink that just doesn�t work for you

# ¿ Sep 30, 2024 05:03

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# ¿ Jan 14, 2026 19:24

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

HolePisser1982 posted:

I feel like your problem might be that the ink is a pretty thin transparent mix of light green and rose colored dyes that only settle into that darker brown color where they're really saturating the surface. Paper will make plenty of difference here, as will a wetter broader nib, adjusting your handwriting so you're depositing more consistent pools of ink on each letter, and possibly writing with a heavier hand to abrade the paper fibers a little. I personally like to pair em with pentel's brush pens to bring out that dual-color aspect or weird-shaped nibs with wet expressive footprints that can move large amounts of ink around. You could also try mixing it with another ink of theirs but that's another, bigger ymmv.

Oooo ok this clicked and made sense for me. I was curious why it didn�t seem to be all that weird when swatching or even when using a dip pen. It�s. It necessarily the ink it�s just the ink through the pens that I have PLUS my writing style that�s just a bad combo

But also, on advice of thread, I picked up some Iroshizuku today, and I�m excited to get that into something

# ¿ Sep 30, 2024 21:36

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

HolePisser1982 posted:

These are some Sailor Manyo inks that I assume have sort of the same legibility issue where there's a huge jump in value between areas where it's spread thinner and thicker. Even in super wet nibs like below that'll still be there, but at least the lighter parts are easier to see

Only registered members can see post attachments!

Is there a tactile difference in lighter inks? I suppose there must be if there�s not as much stuff there to lubricate the nib on the paper, right?

# ¿ Sep 30, 2024 21:44

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

I just can�t believe I randomly picked a hobby that sets off so many OCD rabbit holes because of all the variables involved. Like I have black ink in a pilot metro <m> right now and everything about it feels so good and part of my brain is just screaming at me to not look at or consider anything else. Just use this

# ¿ Oct 1, 2024 21:39

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

SixteenShells posted:

Is your black ink ... black enough?

�no *sobbing*

# ¿ Oct 1, 2024 22:18

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

SixteenShells posted:

another thing i really like about jetpens, how they organize information. like: https://www.jetpens.com/blog/The-Best-Black-Fountain-Pen-Inks/pt/20 it's chart heaven. it's so well organized

I use atlas for all my purchases since they�re near work, but I love jetpens information

# ¿ Oct 2, 2024 03:20

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

I keep a notebook of quotes I like, and I cycle through the colored inks in that book. All my actual work and writing is in black or blue and it starts to feel silly having seven pens inked up just for a once a week sentence or two

# ¿ Oct 3, 2024 16:22

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Oh I�m pretty happy! I picked up a Visconti mythos mirage for half price like a week after getting my first FP (kaweco sport, naturally) but it had a broad nib and I just never quite liked writing with it as much as I wanted to. It was fine but not enjoyable

Someone said you could just swap it out with a Schmidt nib unit and I picked a couple up but must�ve fouled something up because I hated it. Cut to a few months later and I try the nib swap again and it feels great. Exactly what I wanted out of the pen. Not as purely surgical as writing with a <m> pilot metro, but god it�s so much better. Just the right amount of feedback

# ¿ Oct 17, 2024 01:30

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

SixteenShells posted:

i did not expect plain twsbi black to go that hard

Goulet Pens put out a video a couple months ago and essentially said the exact same thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afjLTQ40xvM

# ¿ Oct 22, 2024 17:47

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

For all of the trouble that I had with Birmingham Pen Company�s Salt Marsh, I have their Down Bubble inked up right now and it�s such a delight. Wet but I never feel like I�m losing control of it. It�s a dark bluegreen for me on Midori paper, and it shades in a really pleasant way

# ¿ Oct 24, 2024 02:08

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Abyss posted:

I emailed Birmingham Pen Company today to see if they'll ever restock Jade Inferno. It's a nice, dark green ink with a hint of red sheen on higher quality papers. It's been out of stock for quite a while, and I only ever picked up a 30 ml bottle. I asked if the formula would ever be released to make, if they didn't decide to restock. Josh answered (1 of the 2 brothers on the team) and said the colorants didn't work with their formula system, but that he'd let me know if they ever restocked. Also, he wanted to confirm my address. A follow-up email revealed he was sending me a rogue bottle of Jade Inferno that he had on his desk, free of charge, and just asked that I keep them in mind for future ink purchases.

I really didn't expect anything from the email exchange, but they definitely know how to make and keep customers. Not all of their inks are hits, but I really enjoy the saturated ones that I've picked up.

Oh! That�s really interesting! Truth be told, looking at their insta ads and their website and remembering things that used to be up there, I kind of just got the impression that they renamed stuff. Like there�s something up there now that looks *mostly* like Down Bubble. I assumed it just got a new name

# ¿ Oct 24, 2024 03:41

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Sankis posted:

Oh, wow. They weren't really on my radar but I'm looking at their inks and they have some really cool, unique looking stuff. I'm gonna need to try a few.

It�s just a two-man operation as far as I�m aware, so their shipping times are pretty slow sometimes. But they are so nice in emails

# ¿ Oct 26, 2024 12:52

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

mortons stork posted:

So, I decided to try pelikan blue-black and I may have gotten a bad batch of cartridges. Beyond it being as dry as the sahara, making even my wettest pens feel like they barely keep up, it seems to dry closer to a blue-ish gray which I think looks awful, and also not blue-black. On finer nibs it is that color but deathly pale, which looks even worse. Just an unpleasant experience all-round. Is this how the ink normally behaves or should I just throw out the remaining cartridges and maybe hope not to get burned again?

I do want a standard everyday blue-black that I can kind of just throw into a pen and not worry too much about. I had read it was kind of the gold-standard with basic water resistance thrown in but ehhhh

This ink is gorgeous and terrifyingly wet. It does work very well in F and EF nibs, but I made the mistake of putting it in a broad and almost drowned

https://www.birminghampens.com/products/cold-steel

# ¿ Oct 27, 2024 22:48

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

mortons stork posted:

That swatch does look incredibly promising. Wonder if they have any presence here in Europe. I know a shop who does a ton of faraway ink imports.

As far as I know they are direct to consumer only. But they are super friendly and responsive if you want to shoot them an email

# ¿ Oct 28, 2024 13:28

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Doctor Hospital posted:

The 823 is sort of where the writing experience plateaus and paying more than it won't get you a better pen per se. It's got a huge capacity, basically never dries out (at least mine never seems to), and it's got a gold nib to boot, so you get that sort of bounce that you don't get with a steel nib. Sure, for more money, you can get something made with fancier materials, but it will, at best, only write marginally better than the 823 for a pretty hefty chunk of change more.

Sure, I would still like to get a Homo Sapiens or King of Pens, but I'm in no hurry for them now.

I truly appreciate how clear and straightforward this is

# ¿ Oct 31, 2024 04:51

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

I have a Pilot Metro and it�s genuinely one of the nicest things to write with. It�s like a scalpel. I love the feedback, I love how it just glides along paper.

Are the nicer nibs closer to feeling like that? Or are they a different thing? I�ve been wary of committing to an 823 just because I�m second guessing what the feel difference would be

# ¿ Nov 4, 2024 02:06

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Oh my. I picked up the Iroshizuku take-sumi as I didn't really have a black ink that I liked. It's so lovely. I've got it in a Visconti Mythos with a fine nib, and this is just a pleasure to write with. I had previously been using the yama-guri from them as well, and that's still beautiful, but it is nice to have, like, a run of the mill black that I can trust, too.

# ¿ Nov 7, 2024 17:35

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

I really want to snag a pen from this guy as my next one. The varieties in material are so cool

https://www.desideratapens.com/pens

# ¿ Nov 10, 2024 17:54

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Fearless posted:

I got extremely lucky recently and found this one locally:

It's a Parker Duofold Senior. The official colour name is Lapis Lazuli, and it is mercifully free of discolouration from a fossilized ink sac and ink residue. The Lucky Curve feed is fully intact, though I had to install a new ink sac and pressure bar. The replacement sac is a large silicone sac that I had on hand and which will not off-gas and discolour the barrel as the pen continues to age. The date is likely 1927, as it has a lot of comparatively early features but the colour was introduced fairly late in the run of those early models. It has a medium nib, which is very slightly wet but not overwhelmingly so and has a little feedback while remaining decently smooth. The end caps were quite pale brown from oxidation and I was able to darken them with an enzyme bath and the blind cap that protects the button (on the end of the barrel) still featured a store sticker indicating the nib type. This was carefully removed and saved and will be re-attached with some archival glue in the nearish future. I have one other Duofold Senior, a similar flat top, Chinese Red model of a comparable age that was the first fountain pen I ever restored. Despite their size, they are quite light and usable (for my big hands at least) and so far I am really impressed with both for how utterly silly they are.

Oh man. I just saw one of those on Etsy earlier today. I thought it was absolutely gorgeous but there�s no way I was going to trust myself to put the effort into restoring it / being comfortable with vintage tech. I am a wee baby and want things to be plug and play as much as possible

# ¿ Nov 28, 2024 00:04

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Can someone check my logic on this. I am definitely a baby-brained, just-started-using-foundtain-pens sort of guy so a lot of time I don't even have the right words to google an answer (also Google sucks).

I have a bottle of Iroshizuku yama-guri. It's a brown ink. if I put a drop on a piece of paper and swatch it around, it's definitely brown. If I put it on a dip pen that I have, it's kind of heavy and looks black. If i put it on a much much finer dip pen, I can kiiiiind of see the brown.

In my Visconti Mythos, it looks indistinguishable from black; in my Nahvalur Horizon, it looks sandy and brown.

Would I be right (or at least on the right path) in thinking that when the ink is wetter, it is darker. So the Visconti being a wet writer, even with a finer nib, the ink appears black. And the Nahvalur, being a dry writer, helps the ink appear brown?

It writes comfortably with both. This isn't like that Birmingham Pen Co ink I had that felt like I was writing with sand or anything. It's just that I am staring at what I'm putting on the page and second-guessing whether or not I inked up the pen with the ink I thought I had.

# ¿ Dec 2, 2024 03:37

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Sagebrush posted:

Ink looks darker when there is more of it on the page, and lighter when there is less, yes. It's a combination of the paper and the pen, but a pen that writes wet or with a thick line will generally appear to write darker than a fine scratchy one.

This is like the end of Usual Suspects, as the mug falls, and I am piecing together everything that I've had questions about over the last few months.

# ¿ Dec 2, 2024 04:28

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Not sure if anyone looks at fountain pen YouTube content but did something g happen at Goulet Pens? The non-Goulet YouTube face isn�t there anymore and is giving very �well I got loving fired� vibes in his videos on his personal page

# ¿ Dec 6, 2024 03:21

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Drew�s such a genuinely joyful guy. I am glad�it seems�that he has landed on his feet, though the stress of a shock firing is truly, truly awful

# ¿ Dec 6, 2024 03:48

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Does anyone in here swatch their ink? I am having the hardest time figuring out how to do it nicely. I haven�t tried a Q Tip because I buy the argument that the cotton fibers can get in the ink, but I am very bad at getting, like, a consistent swatch with a letter opener or paint brush or rocking a spoon-back over a drop of ink. And none of my swatches look like the ink-as-written

# ¿ Dec 8, 2024 00:07

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Yeah my thought was definitely that it would shed in the ink and gum up the works

# ¿ Dec 8, 2024 01:08

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

ktonastya posted:

Would a disposable eye shadow applicators like https://www.target.com/p/foam-38-shadow-applicators-24ct-up-38-up-8482/-/A-52864172 work for you?

Oh drat. That�s a clever idea. I�ve never seen anyone mention that in a video/blog before

# ¿ Dec 8, 2024 06:08

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

My first FP was a Visconti Mythos so I had the Visconti of it all while I was also just, like, learning how to use the pen. My understanding is that most of their issues can be fixed by a nibmeister and people are happy with the results. It�s just a matter of whether or not you want to pay for the fix to keep it around.

I personally love my mythos and I�ve been super tempted to snag a comedia as well

# ¿ Dec 10, 2024 17:35

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

reitetsu posted:

Ooo I actually almost got the Poseidon Mythos instead of the Comedia! I broke for the latter since I loved studying the Comedia in an Italian class. It's still so gorgeous though - which one do you have?

Bringing my Comedia to a nibmeister sounds great. The Philly pen show is next month, so I know at least one will be in town and I can see what my options are.

I�ve got a Poseidon! I was actually looking to pick up an Apollo, but I won the Poseidon in Atlas Stationery�s monthly auction, so I snagged it for 60% off.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2024 19:41

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

reitetsu posted:

Good advice, thank you! I'll work on figuring what I want before then too, beyond "can you make it write like my Diplomat please"

Nice! Especially at 60% off, dang. The Apollo's gorgeous too, but that blue and silver on the Poseidon is so up my alley.

It completely slipped my mind until I was looking at my pen today, but I had replaced the feed and nib on my Poseidon. Someone on Reddit or in a discord I'm in said that it takes the same feed as the Benu, so I went ahead and ordered that. Just a standard Schmidt nib. Absolutely no complaints with the switch.

Not sure if the Mythos and the Comedia are built the same, but I think they are....

https://goldspot.com/products/benu-fountain-pen-nib-in-stainless-steel-6 Is what I ordered

# ¿ Dec 12, 2024 05:09

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Comrade Koba posted:

I like to do most of my notes in various earthy browns, but both tsu-kushi and yama-guri look slightly too dark for my taste, guess I'll stick with my sepia Diamine for the moment.

I quite like Yama-guri but depending on the pen/nib I use, I will often think I�ve loaded up a black ink. I have to specifically make a note to remind myself

# ¿ Dec 16, 2024 20:18

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

I find myself caught up so much in appreciating the aesthetics of the pens that I forgot they are also pens. I�ve almost pulled the trigger on so many Nahvalur�s and even a really good deal on their Ikkaku urushi line, and then at the last minute I go �wait, I don�t like writing with the one that I have�

# ¿ Dec 18, 2024 22:07

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Treated myself to a kakimori dip nib for Christmas. Someone was at the register when I went to pick it up, so I wandered over to the inks. Grabbed a syo-ro based on this thread�s praise for it.

Absolutely lovely. Just swatched everything I have now on to exacompta index cards with the kakimori. It�s gonna take some getting used to, and even their site says that it�ll only feel good once you use it a bit, but it was a fun and easy process to do a dozen swatches in half an hour or so

Tried to take pictures for y�all, but wow the colors are tough to grab on a camera

# ¿ Dec 21, 2024 02:16

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

It is genuinely wild and revelatory when you realize there�s a very real split between between who collect fountain pens for aesthetic reasons and who sees them just as tools to write with. It�s actually really heartening and cuts through a lot of the weirdo Content-ification of it all

# ¿ Dec 21, 2024 03:22

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Keetron posted:

Bought one of those a while ago and didn't immediately like it so it went on the shelf. I will try a bunch more based on what you say here, maybe it will grow on me and it will become less coarse.

Yeah, it was a case of dip in ink > write > dip in water > dry off with a rag > dip in ink > write > repeat

Ten note cards in, it was much smoother to write with than my first ones

# ¿ Dec 21, 2024 18:05

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

I think I read that the brass will eventually feel smoother, but the steel writes a finer line

edit: I also suspect that it works a lot better for people who have good handwriting or write with a calligraphy flare. I have pretty dogshit printing handwriting, and I write very fast. So I think that�s where I had issues

Trevor Hale fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Dec 21, 2024

# ¿ Dec 21, 2024 19:58

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Y'all, I am sorry if my words convinced anyone to get a kakimori dip nib. I have done a complete 180 on it, and now, if kakimori has no haters, it is because I am dead. I am convinced there's a BIG KAKIMORI conspiracy going on with youtubers who like this thing. I would rather fingerpaint than use it. It may have singlehandedly broke my OCD need to swatch inks.

I am sure this is a skill issue and I am to blame, but I truly regret picking it up. Just a total mismatch between tool and user.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2025 03:17

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Man, I wish I could break the Pavlovian response of "oooh, that's pretty, I want it" when I look at a Nahvalur. There's a second, trailing thought that arrives several seconds later of "wait, but you hate writing with the one you have".

But I never learn. I never learn.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2025 15:43

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Keetron posted:

Depending on which model, it might fit a jowo nib... That is what I did to make those very pretty pens anywhere near usable for me.

Looking around online, do you mean you switched the actual nib itself and kept the same feed? As opposed to getting a new nib unit? I've ordered nibs from nahvalur, and they send them attached to the unit, and all of them are miserable to me. So, I know the combination of nib + feed is bad, but I'm not sure which part is the one that makes me so sad.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2025 20:10

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Keetron posted:

For me specifically it was the gummy feeling and feedback that any Nahvalur nib has that irks me. As someone who is used to Jowo (used in TSWBI) and Pilot level smoothness, anything more scratchy or resistant is disregarded.
So I just purchased various Jowo nibs from this guy in Spain who sold them individually, including a 14k nib. The Nautilus and Voyager nibs are friction fitted into the nib assembly so I just yanked them out and pushed them back in with the plain replacement and that is honestly the only downside.

Gummy is absolutely the way to describe the Nahvalur. It�s like writing with the dullest pencil

# ¿ Jan 25, 2025 18:29

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# ¿ Jan 14, 2026 19:24

Trevor Hale: Dec 8, 2008; What have I become, my Swedish friend?

Ok. So. Taking some initiative on my lovely Nahvalur pen, I ordered two Franklin Christoph nibs. After a bit of head scratching, I figured out how the friction fit worked, and, I thought, I successfully added the new nib to the old feed. Install it in the pen, looks a bit longer, but maybe I�m forgetting. Inked up. Writes like a goddamn dream

Put the cap on. Cap won�t fit. Ah. It was longer. Maybe I didn�t seat the nib correctly. Go to unscrew the feed, and the whole nib unit explodes. I rip the top half of the feed off leaving just the collar inside the section. Needle nose pliers get out the bottom half of the feed, but the collar of the unit is now 1) stripped and 2) throughly stuck

So. My usable but lovely pen has become unusable and lovely

This is�*very* me

# ¿ Jan 30, 2025 02:23

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Fountain Pens: I said NIBS! And I will not be taking off my shirt.

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