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My two pilot metros came in from Amazon Prime... after a week and a half. So you can imagine the fire I had under my butt to try them. I opened them up and crammed the cartridges in. It took some effort, then nothing happened. I figured out later I had just crammed the cartridges onto the converter, which I should have removed first. Hey, the instructions were to cram the cartridge on and that was that. Nothing looks broken, but I think I completely depleted the cartridges in the process, so now I can't even try them until I get more ink. Sad Rocko. Somebody tell me in 164 pages of this thread that they've done this too.
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Jan 22, 2016 17:29
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I'm trying to own it as my own original contribution, but yeah. There was some ink left, so I was able to try them for a little bit. However, I had made quite a mess with that. I fixed it in the utility sink while wearing some latex gloves, washed and wiped everything down, but there's some stray ink here and there. I'm assuming it's from inside the cap during all this goofiness.
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Jan 22, 2016 22:39
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Zenostein posted:I dearly hope you at least took a picture before fixing it. I'd love to see how, exactly, you jammed that in.  Edit: Let us just take solace in that I did this to very inexpensive pens, and that I got the Metros in case I did something really dumb like this. On the other hand, mods are free to change the thread title to "Ask me about fountain pens: Rocko Bonaparte should stick to crayons." Rocko Bonaparte fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Jan 23, 2016 |
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Jan 23, 2016 00:56
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It looks I really did completely obliterate the cartridges... or at least one of them. The pen I was using today was leaking out the seam because I think the cartridge inside was completely blown up and oozing everywhere. It eventually stopped, at which point I discovered the pen was dry anyways. It would take me 1-2 months to get new cartridges on Amazon, and other stores were not too promising, so I just went ahead and got ink. I ordered some Pelikan 4001 black, and I will be trying some Noodler's Burma Road Brown. Let's see how I screw this up.
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Jan 23, 2016 05:35
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FAUXTON posted:Every time I think about that it makes me laugh. I keep imagining this Curly-looking guy getting increasingly frustrated until he manages to get the cartridge "seated" on the converter and then he's like "yeah, job well done, me" I have no basis for fountain pens in real life. These Pilot Metros were the first fountain pens I've ever even picked up. So I see the diagram about shoving the top into the cartridge and just think, "Well, there we go." After reading about how the cartridges have this small plastic bit that releases the ink, I know those cartridges are completely wrecked.
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Jan 23, 2016 06:40
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Apparently the ink I bought, I did not actually buy, but rather just left it in my Amazon cart where my wife moved it to Save For Later.  On the bright side, I found out there's a fountain pen supply place... in the mall on the way to work, of all places. So I should be able to just get some cartridges for now. If they have some of that interesting ink, I might get it there too, but I did not see it listed on their site.
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Jan 26, 2016 05:14
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grack posted:This may seem like obvious advice but make sure you ask for Pilot cartridges Yes it is, but given my track record, it's worth repeating anyways. I figure I'm looking for something matching what I see online for them: a rather drab box with catridges that fan out on one side instead of in like just about every other cartridge out there. I'm wondering if I should just bring one of the pens with me, although I'm pretty sure it will erupt in a mess if it's opened.
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Jan 26, 2016 07:33
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GoodBee posted:Just bring your pen to the store and wave it around while yelling "Help!!" Given what I did with the cartridge, this might end with me jamming it into my forehead . . . inside the case, no less.
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Jan 26, 2016 08:45
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. . . is there crazy juice in his ink or something? I wanted to try the Burmese Road Brown once I knew what the hell I was doing. My wife saw the package and assumed it was hipster as gently caress, but now I can tell her it's just crazy as gently caress. The staff at the pen store in the mall were really helpful. I got a 12-pack of black-blue cartridges and they volunteered to clean out the pen and install a cartridge. I asked to get a blue one so I knew all the black ink was out. It was a good call because despite all the washing, I somehow have black ink on my fingers while the pen is clearly writing in blue.  They were using one of those baby ear cleaner things to pump a little water inside the pen. Is that normally a good thing? It looked gentle enough, but now I second-guess things.
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Jan 26, 2016 22:07
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I think my Pilot Metro shenanigans have settled down, so I can ask about the ink here. It looks like whatever I'm doing, what I'm writing is coming out more faded. I thought I screwed up installing the black cartridge I'm using. Namely, I thought I did not dry it enough, and the ink get diluted by some water. However, even the blue that the pro in the store installed is less bold than what I am used to from my favorite old gel pens. Is this about right for Pilot ink? Is it time I got some Noodler's Tinfoil ink and Pelikan 4001?
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Jan 28, 2016 22:34
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I got some Hero 616s today that had been in order for awhile. They come empty, right? I popped it open and it looks like there's a visible reservoir in there, and nothing's in it. I have to second-guess myself on all this. I have ink coming next week, so I'd be able to fill them eventually. That is unless I want to hatchet another one of my cartridges.
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Jan 30, 2016 01:39
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pienipple posted:Don't those have a permanent squeeze reservoir? Ahh okay I think I get it. So it is empty. I had to verify instead of just trying, because I'm still an idiot with these things. It's a miracle I haven't sent a fountain pen straight into my eye yet.
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Jan 30, 2016 05:09
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It looks like the place I ordered my ink will be taking some time to ship it since they got nailed in the blizzard. Meanwhile, can somebody explain what I should expect from a 12-pack of Hero 616s? I am assuming one of them may actually write better than my Metro, a few to be as comparable as I can tell, and the rest will be crap that need some adjustments. I do not really even have that high of an expectation. I wanted to have some spares I can use at work and elsewhere without feeling too bad if I lost them.
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Jan 30, 2016 12:26
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I'm having a hard time imagining a gray ink since to me, black on a fine nib already comes out kind of gray. I'm trying to get a disgustingly goth black ink to compensate . . . whenever the place I order from decides to actually send the stuff out the door.
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Feb 1, 2016 16:25
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Solumin posted:When it comes to "disgustingly goth black ink", I strongly recommend Aurora Black or Noodler's Borealis Black, which is his own version of Aurora Black. They're really, really dark. Burma Road Brown Bad Black Moccasin Looking that up again, I don't think I wanted the Bad Black Moccasin...
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Feb 1, 2016 20:05
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I finally augmented my order and will be getting a nice blue and a nice black, as well as a pile of samples to figure out what earth tone and what red I'd like to use. I just didn't want to commit to a vial of something that I might use practically forever. However, I also got three Rhodia 9x11 spiral-bound notebooks with some grid paper, since that's how I roll. Do these notebooks take being shuffled around in a backpack much better than the regular gunk you might find in a supermarket? That's what I'm hoping for. I normally just get string-bound composition books because I've had bad luck with spiral-bound.
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Feb 4, 2016 19:22
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Heh, I just bought an ink syringe and some red ink samples from Goulet today. I saw similar syringes on Amazon for technically more, but the needles were thicker. Since I don't know any better, I just went with what was in their video because it's widely-shared.
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Feb 5, 2016 21:09
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My ink showed up today so I can start filling up my Hero 616s. I put some Bay State Blue in my first one and it writes pretty well. It's kind of like those more expensive roller ball pens, but a bit more consistent. It is scratchy on cheap paper; I haven't tried on better paper yet, but not any more than I'm used to. I think I can use these pens rather shamelessly.
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Feb 6, 2016 20:38
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Does Noodler's Bay State Blue saturate pages much more aggressively than, say, the Pilot blue/black cartridge ink I was using before? With the Pilot ink and my cheap-rear end notebook, I'd get spots where I held the pen down for a moment--usually at the beginning of letters and whatnot. With the Noodler's, even the lines go right through.
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Feb 6, 2016 23:05
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GoldenNugget posted:Watch out, Hero 616s leak quite a bit.
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Feb 6, 2016 23:41
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Ugh. It looks like it runs dry over a few hours, and then it rejuvenates by beading up. What's a good ratio of BSB to water? This is a little too intense for me as-is.
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Feb 7, 2016 06:45
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Swagger Dagger posted:Part of the fountain pen learning curve for me has been realizing that you straight up can't use cheap-rear end notebooks anymore. You have to get used to using like the 5 for 10 campus staple-bound notebooks on amazon or Rhodia or Clairfontaine if you aren't making your own out of whatever printer paper doesn't absorb too much ink. I did get 3 Rhodia notepads, and I just started writing in one tonight. It was really great. The scratchiness of writing with this Hero 616 was gone, and it no longer bleeded through. I was very surprised with just how well it held up.
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Feb 7, 2016 09:39
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Heh, this talk about Staples paper explains why my work notebook has been taking my fountain pens without much of fuss. They're Staples brand. And I just bought these Rhodias!
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Feb 8, 2016 06:31
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I am trying to repurpose old glasses cases for my Hero 616s myself. I just need some of that gray foamy stuff that I apparently can get off of Amazon.
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Feb 9, 2016 15:56
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My Hero 616 will jam up while writing with Bay State Blue. I have to give it a quick shot under the faucet to get it flowing again. Is there something I should be tweaking? As it stands, I'm using BSB at 100% concentration, and it's obliterating my junky paper. It looks like I could dilute it all the way to 50% without a major difference in color or shade, so I was planning to dilute it anyways. I'm assuming it will flow better too if it's thinner.
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Feb 9, 2016 19:09
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How can I rapidly and efficiently test a bunch of ink samples with a pilot metro, or with a Hero 616 for that matter? I figured I'd just try them with the Heroes, but they have a hard time slurping up so little ink. I got a syringe, so I was figuring as soon as I finish off my first Metro cartridge, I'll just start injecting the samples into them. Also, my wife pointed out that massdrop has Faber-Castell Ambition fountain pens for $55 for another day, but it looks like that price is pretty normal. Edit: Actually, massdrop seems like a real evil place for fountain pen people. They have a thing also going on for 5 30mL containers of Diamine ink. You pick the colors. That actually looks like a good price and gives more ink than a vial sample to try stuff out. They also have Rhodia webnotebooks for a little less than the normal price, from what I can tell. Rocko Bonaparte fucked around with this message at 21:13 on Feb 13, 2016 |
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Feb 13, 2016 21:08
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I just reused a Pilot Metro cartridge by filling it with a sample of Noodler's Antietam. First, those cartridges really don't hold much, do they? My sample vial could probably fill 5 cartridges or more. Second, this ink really is morbid. I filled out some medical paperwork with it. Then I saw the a bloody tissue in the trash and wondered how that happened. It had been from cleaning up and dabbing the pen to get the water out after refilling. I realized I just filled out a New Patient form with something that looks like dried blood.
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Feb 17, 2016 18:42
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Well, it wasn't a coincidence when I ordered it, but then it sat in my "fountain pen stuff" bin, waiting for me to get ready to try new ink, so I forgot all the context when I finally used it. Also, the pen dried out for a moment when I was using it again. I am noticing flow problems with Noodler's ink. First, Bay State Blue was giving me grief, and now Antietam. The base pilot blue-black was never a problem. Magnus Praeda posted:Yeah, they're only like 1 mL. But A) that's more than any converter that fits in your Metro and B) you should get 8-12 full pages of writing out of one fill. I feel like there's a niche business in here making resealable cartridges and converters for them. I mean, it's fine for me to refill a Pilot Metropolitan cartridge over the sink and then shove it into the pen. It's another thing to want to pack it up as a spare.
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Feb 17, 2016 20:17
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Everything Burrito posted:Somebody upthread mentioned reusing the little plastic disc, pulling it out to refill then shoving it back in with a chopstick or something to seal it up. Haven't tried it myself -- I just keep some new ones on hand if I need to take ink anywhere. I've also seen people talk about resealing carts with hot glue and various other substances. It seems too delicate to me. I had pondered the hot glue, but I don't trust myself to transport that. I am thinking of something with a screw or pop top that you can stick on the rear end of the cartridge inside the pen while you're using it, but then can go back on top when you have it out for transportation. I might get a favor from a friend who 3d prints and just do a few.
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Feb 17, 2016 21:01
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Wow--I can't believe anybody would really be using fountain pens as a kid. Maybe my folks didn't have any faith in me. I just assumed recently I should try them because I always preferred the more expensive disposable gel pans that shat out ink like nobody's business. Fountain pens pretty much do that for me perfectly.
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Feb 19, 2016 08:40
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DigitalRaven posted:We learned to write in ink with fountain pens when I was in junior school (so pre-9 years old), and it was very common for schools in the UK for kids aged 8-9 to be writing with fountain pens in the 80s and early 90s. I think I'll ask around locally what goes on with this stuff. I know a guy from Pakistan that was using fountain pens as a kid. Meanwhile, I was in some school district running on austerity for my entire junior-to-senior high school years that I don't recall mentioning them once. I would figure at least one teacher would have ranted about it at least once.
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Feb 19, 2016 16:37
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Everything Burrito posted:A lot of the cheaper fountain pens are student pens, i.e. made for schoolchildren. Well sure, but did any schoolchildren even use them? I'm just so perplexed. I think I only ever saw a fountain pen in use once in my life. I think one kid got one was a gift in elementary school, tried use it, and it completely exploded on them. Actually, I remember a lot of exploded pens, and I couldn't figure out how you do that with a cheap-rear end roller ball. Were they all using grown-up pens and I never realized it? I have literally never handled a fountain pen until I bought some thanks to this thread. That probably goes a long ways towards explaining how I demolished the cartridges that came with it by shoving the converter into them.
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Feb 19, 2016 19:07
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I was reading about flow issues with Noodler's ink, and that seems to confirm what I see. I have been sticking to finer nibs. I won't really know for sure until I start trying some of the Diamine samples I got.
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Feb 20, 2016 22:51
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I am about finished toying with some Diamine Salamander Green because that was the closest I could get for a sample of Noodler's Burma Road Brown as possible some weeks ago. I don't really like it. It's a really dark green that comes off as a really cheap black ink. It writes really well, so it's just some misfortune in the ink's color. Does anybody other than Noodler's have cyan-magenta-yellow kits? I think I do get flow issues with Noodler's after all, but they were the only ones I saw that had raw colors for coming up with whatever you wanted.
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Feb 29, 2016 18:46
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pienipple posted:Platinum's mix-free line would be right up your alley. Almost. I think I saw that before. I was hoping for something pretty close to CMY so I could theoretically calibrate my monitor and hash out the proportions before doing the mixing. Is that unrealistic?
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Feb 29, 2016 19:53
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kim jong-illin posted:Um, Salamander Green is a muted green-black ink, Burma Road Brown is a very plain and boring brown ink. How was Salamander Green the closest you could get to a sample of Burma Road Brown? Maybe I should just blend the green with the lighter brown of the two and call it a day.
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Feb 29, 2016 21:58
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Heh, I have a pile of red ink samples for selecting a bold red, but I am inclined to just pack it in here and get a vial of that. . . . And then write a letter to Bernie Sanders with it.
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Mar 8, 2016 03:30
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I really like the Rhodia A4 spiral-bound I got, but it is too floppy to write on in any situation than a perfectly-flat table. Do they have general things to handle those pads? I wonder if I just want a really sturdy, hard-back, ring-bound notebook with good loose-leaf. I like big sheets, but I do not need many sheets at once.
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Apr 10, 2016 05:38
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Heh, that seems pretty novel. It looks like if I got an A4-sized binder, I could still toss in smaller sheets if I needed to for this or that. My one gripe with ring binders is I had a tendency to wreck the rings too easily. Then again, I think I was generally just using crap when I was in school.
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Apr 10, 2016 07:43
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I am having a hard time sorting out everything. I was getting convinced that maybe B5 is the way to go. I was thinking about what it was like cramming this A4 Rhodia into the backpacks I use now, and realized that B5 would indeed do me better. I can find plenty of great B5 Japanese binders that will take my bullshit, but it goes to hell when I get into paper. I am looking for: Grid or dot Fountain-pen friendly B5 26 hole Suddenly I am struggling on Amazon.com. It looks like I would have to source the paper elsewhere. Even getting loose, unperforated is rough. I do not want to immediately have to get a hole punch.
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Apr 10, 2016 15:37
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