Brightman posted:

Got my Pilot Metropolitan early today. Goulet Pens threw in a Tootsie Pop with this one...okay.

Came with a Con-20 instead of a Con-50, which ain't that bad considering the 50's capacity is a bit poor. It writes really well, the line is thinner than the medium nib on my VP funnily enough, but the snap cap feels looser than my Lamy Safari, so I don't have a lot of confidence carrying this outside of a shirt pocket. Pen looks nice, writes decently, and for the price it's a great deal, quite deserving of its place in the OP.

Edit: I skimmed the page description on Goulet, the Con-50 is extra and the pen comes with the Con-20 by default.

Brightman posted:

Beezle Bug posted:

If a pen's nib is "normal when not flexed," what does that mean exactly?

Hotbod Handsomeface posted:

TWSBI is having a thing where you can get a 540 and vac700 for $100. Is it a good deal?
http://www.twsbi.com/product.php?id_product=48

404notfound posted:

TWSBI just put up a picture of the 580, the second major revision of their main pen:


Not sure if I like the metal ring around the piston knob now, though it's probably there to mitigate some of the barrel cracking issues that users have had. Other than that, it doesn't look like there's much different, so there's probably not any reason to upgrade if you already have a 530/540.

Pigasus posted:

I want to get a set of beginner's fountain pens. I'm considering getting the Pilot Metropolitan, a Lamy Safari with an extra fine tip, and an italic pen. I haven't figured out which italic pen I would get, but I have this $6 Sheaffer pen that I found at Staples and it's the worst fountain pen I have ever used. It just feels so abrasive when I write on the page. Any suggestions for a pen with an italic nib at <$30?

Audax posted:

So my Singularity came in with some more ink. So I have a blue pen and a black pen... I think it's only logical to go red pen with red ink next. I've found myself just writing a lot for the sake of how nice it feels. I like the fine nib a lot so far, and I was curious is it easy to replace the Metropolitan nib from medium to fine as well?

Is it just as simple as swapping it out - or are there "incompatible" nibs out there?

Somewhat Heroic posted:

That's atrocious. On another note: I'm wanting to get a new nib size for my TWSBI 540. I'm torn between a broad nib and the stub. I want to learn fancy writing and stuff, and love a big wet line. I have the medium now. Can anyone here sway me one direction or the other?

Hotbod Handsomeface posted:

Does anyone have any of the Noodler's flex pens? How are they? Will they write okay without flexing? I understand that they may need some fine tuning. They are just so cheap.

Vitamins posted:

So there's factories producing knock-offs of knock-off Parkers?

Has anyone here had any experience with Edison pens? I'm looking to get a custom Herald, and oh god all the combinations of colours is very overwhelming.

Synastren posted:

I'm surprised that no one mentioned that the new 580s are up on TWBSI's site!

lucifer chikken posted:

I seem to be having less-than-stellar luck with pens. New Noodler's Brush Pen dumped a cap full of Heart of Darkness on my lap, so I guess I can't leave that inked up for even a couple hours. But more troubling, I noticed that my handwriting sucks especially bad with my new Lamy Safari because the nib itself is wiggling and slips off the feed very easily. It writes like those really lovely pencils with loose lead after you sharpen them write. Not good.
I checked the Lamy Nexx I have, the nib is very snugly seated, and reading around suggests that's proper and that it should take some effort to get the nib off. Is there any way I can get the nib on the Safari to grab on a little more? I don't want to take a pair of pliers to it if that's going to be the worst idea ever.

Vitamins posted:

I don't get the Noodlers pen hype either. Sure some of his inks are great, but why would anyone bother buying a $20 pen that may or may not work rather than a more expensive on that's almost guaranteed to work? They seem pretty poor quality for what they are, but I guess trying to make an affordable flex pen is pretty cool. Maybe it's because there's a lot of people that seem to like the Noodler dudes attitude?

PaganGoatPants posted:

I think I'm going to get a Lamy Safari as a starter pen, but should I get a medium or fine nib...nub...tip?

Yoshi Jjang posted:

I've been reading this thread for a while, but I've never actually had an interest in fountain pens until now. Don't know jack all about them. I haven't gotten one yet, but I do recall doing calligraphy back when I was in 3rd grade or so. Thanks to this thread, I just bought a Pilot Parallel to see if I can still do it, and well...



The middle character was a mistake. It doesn't even exist. The bottom is my friend's name in Chinese, 鑼鋼. Never done blackletter in Chinese before.

Are there any recommendations for special kind of paper for fountain/calligraphy pens? I'm just stealing printer paper from work at the moment.

Yoshi Jjang posted:

I have no cap and I must post.

The real reason I post my caps (also, I just learned what "posting caps" meant as of today) as much as possible is because I wouldn't want to get the cap dirty from the oils of my palms. I obviously have no choice with my Pilot Parallel, though, so I just stand it up on the desk when writing.

This thread is so fascinating on a topic that I thought was completely mundane and unassuming. And now I'm going to get my first fountain pen in the mail soon. What's up with that?

evobatman posted:

Well I just ordered a glossy black Lamy Safari with fine nib from eBay. Look what you made me do, thread!

Yoshi Jjang posted:

Also, how do I clean the nib if it has ink on it? I guess it doesn't really matter, but with something so new, I can get pretty anal about keeping something clean for as long as possible. If I even lightly touch the nib with any sort of cloth, the ink will totally bleed all over it. It kind of sucks being so new and clueless at everything!

Vitamins posted:

Finally putting in an order for the custom Edison I mentioned a few pages ago.
However now I have the agonising wait for it to be made. I might have to buy some new inks to fill the void.

iostream.h posted:

You (and everyone) should try out some of the ultra-cheap Chinese pens off of eBay.

A good friend who I got interested in FPs has been buying them up as he's on an extremely tight budget and while I've been supportive I've been a little bit suspicious until he gave me a couple. Some of them write rather well, and I'm talking $5 pens! They're obviously hit or miss but still, I think I'm going to expand my shopping horizons a bit.

Synastren posted:

I was going to ask if there were any sort of facilitation for filling with the TWSBI bottles. I was considering picking up a bottle to mix a couple of inks (a bulletproof color + bulletproof black) together, and to keep it at the office... but if there is a real benefit to having one, I'll definitely pick one up.

shadysight posted:

Frig, I was just washing my Noodler Ahab out and knocked it onto the floor. Now the tip has a nice bend in it.

What are my options at this point?

Yoshi Jjang posted:

My collection so far is missing a flex pen. Does anybody know the differences between the Noodler's Nib Creaper, Ahab, and Konrad flex pens? The Fountain Pen Network seems to be offline, so there goes looking there for comparisons.

Platypus Farm posted:

I manage to justify it every time I need to fill out another permission slip from my kid's school. Speaking of, he's got two field trips coming up. Guess that Vac700 deal is timed juuuuuust right.

edit - actually what are people's experiences ordering direct from TWSBI? I've had a terrible time with HK/Taiwan sellers on ebay and amazon marketplace and the like. Do they get your poo poo to you quick?

Brightman posted:

Hmm, the one in the pen seems to be pretty drat smooth as it is, but okay, I'll keep that in mind.

Edit: Would I be able to switch nibs on this with it inked up, or would it being a vac make that a terrible idea?

Xovaan posted:

shadysight posted:

I'm glad to hear someone else has had better experiences. Searching for a solution to my problem was a little like searching through WebMD. I got to hear all about the things that had gone wrong with Konrads.

delpheye posted:

Is there a resource out there for learning about said adjustments? I have no problem tinkering with a thing. In fact, I like it. I build everything I can from parts, so having to learn about the parts of the pen and how they interact with each other is ok with me.

The preppy looks like a solid choice, but I'm after something a little more refined, if that's really the right word. I'm sort of trying to adopt a buy it for life lifestyle but that has it's own pitfalls so I figure 8 bux for a pen is good enough to figure out the whole fountain pen thing.

Trigger pulled!

kim jong-illin posted:

Arse, I got my Lamy 2000 today and I'm not happy with the nib

I usually write with a 1.1 italic nib so I got a broad nib for the 2000 because the sampler on gouletpens.com made it look closest to the line thicknesses I get with an italic nib. Now the 2000's arrived and I hate the broad nib - it leaves way too much ink on the paper so the drying time is excessively long and it makes my handwriting look very sloppy.

Looking at a two to four week turn-around time to get the nib changed to a fine by Lamy as it has to go back to Germany for a nib change.

In some positive news, I'd recommend Noodler's Walnut Brown to anyone looking for a good brown-black ink. It starts off as a light black colour but rapidly dries and fades into a rich, dark brown that looks very slick and smart.

Viper_3000 posted:

Bought a Lamy Vista/Safari (whatever, same thing it's just clear) and some Quink off of amazon thanks to this thread. (Quink since none of the Noodler's I wanted shipped with Prime)

Then I saw and started reading about Bay State Blue and I know if I like writing with the Lamy I'll be dropping another $40 on a Metropolitan and that ink since I've heard bad things about using a Safari/Vista/Al Star with it.

Rodney Chops posted:

Got a Lamy Al-Star as a gift from the wife. I wanted somethign like my plumix but just better, and I got that. Except it's a 1.5mm broad nib. It writes much easier, but its too wide of line. Going to order the smaller italic nib for nit next I guess. Really happy with it so far, and I don't mind the ink in the Lamy cartidge it came with.

laertes22 posted:

I recently got a Pilot Metropolitan when I ordered that last batch of Noodler's Heart of Darkness. They were on sale, and I wanted to see how they stacked up against Lamy Safari/Vista as a "starter pen". My Lamy Vistas will always have a special place in my heart as my first FP, but in retrospect, I would have definitely gone with the Metropolitan. Being a lefty, that Lamy triangular grip kills me. For a $15-20 pen, that Metropolitan is just a pleasure with which to write.

All the place that I checked only had it in a medium nib. Do they only come in medium? If so, can you change the nibs on a Metropolitan (and what brand/model nib can you use in them)? I normally write with a fine nib, and was wondering it is feasible on the Metropolitan, or if I am just going to have to suck it up and get used to the Medium.