Bought a fountain pen today.

[neilxvx]

After reading about fountain pens so much, I decided I wanted to try one out. After a lot of asking around at different stores here in Houston, I finally found a store that had a TON of pens. I bought a Lamy, refillable, 40 bucks, and 10 cartridges. I'm probably going to buy a converter soon for bottle ink.

The size is a "fine point" and looking at my receipt it says L26 is the size, if that means anything. Very cool stuff!

[DeaconKC]

Congrats and welcome to FPs. The Lamy's have a great reputation, hope you enjoy it! Drop in over at www.fountainpennetwork.com and say hello.

[neilxvx]

Congrats and welcome to FPs. The Lamy's have a great reputation, hope you enjoy it! Drop in over at www.fountainpennetwork.com and say hello.

very cool, thanks!

[Nancy Boy]

Very nice. A few months back, I saw a sweet looking Pelikan that was calling my name, but never followed through. I'm thinking January just might be the month to get me that. :biggrin:

[superbleu]

Congrats on the purchase Neil, Lamy's are very durable pens and a great pen for every day use. Don't get bitten by the FPAD, it may cut into your shaving supply fund.

[TENroaches]

I got a Lamy Safari and all it does is scratch the paper. Surely the nib was messed up when I got it. But everyone says they're great, so I'm sure my case is just rare. My Pelikans, however, write very smoothly.

[glennz]

Congrats on the FP purchase! You will be amazed how much more you will enjoy the writing experience, especially if that pen fits your handwriting style.

[jbaca]

I love the Lamy I have its my smoothest writer

[GarageBoy]

I must be one very unlucky Lamy user. (or very lucky as I seem to attract all the duds)
I love the Safari designs, but the nibs turn from smooth to scratchy to me after a week or so of use. My EF 2000 was scratchy as well. My Medium 2000 was PERFECT, but my friend pleaded for me to sell it to him, so I did..
Which reminds me, gotta pick up more Safaris as Christmas presents

[Nancy Boy]

Not to hijack the thread gentleman, but I took the plunge and ordered my pen today! Pelikan Tradition 215 Rhombus pattern. Hope to have it by Christmas. Thanks for the inspiration!

[neilxvx]

Not to hijack the thread gentleman, but I took the plunge and ordered my pen today! Pelikan Tradition 215 Rhombus pattern. Hope to have it by Christmas. Thanks for the inspiration!

right on!

[Ferannia]

I must be one very unlucky Lamy user. (or very lucky as I seem to attract all the duds)
I love the Safari designs, but the nibs turn from smooth to scratchy to me after a week or so of use. My EF 2000 was scratchy as well. My Medium 2000 was PERFECT, but my friend pleaded for me to sell it to him, so I did..
Which reminds me, gotta pick up more Safaris as Christmas presents

If you know it is scratchy due to misaligned tines, OK then. It is easy to aligne tines, you can do it yourself.
But if you didn't compare your Safari EF nib to other nibs of the same line width, you should know EF nibs ARE scratchy when compared to F or M of the same manufacturer, there is nothing wrong with them, but they just can't compare with M since extra-fine are approaching a needlepoint and meet a greater resistance by paper's fibre. EF nibs are good on Clairfontaine or similar paper with a fine lubricating ink, and they shouldn't be judged on a regular inkjet printing paper or drugstore notebooks.

[DeaconKC]

Not to hijack the thread gentleman, but I took the plunge and ordered my pen today! Pelikan Tradition 215 Rhombus pattern. Hope to have it by Christmas. Thanks for the inspiration!
I hope you like your 215 as much as I do mine. It is my favorite pen.

[Blades67]

Congratulations on the fountain pen!
Lamy makes a good pen. Whatever you do, don't go to a pen show. You'll have a great time and spend your money fast! :)

[glennz]

Of course, you really only need to find a good stationery store with a wide pen selection and great service to have a good time and spend money fast!

[Cheech]

I remember when I thought, "How much for a Pelikan 1000? I'd never pay that!"

Now I have one. And a Stipula. And a couple Viscontis. My wallet hurts just thinking about it. My heart smiles, but my poor wallet...

[neilxvx]

I promised myself I wasn't going to buy another pen 'til February or so. So far so good, we'll see! The funny thing is, I have TERRIBLE hand writing, and don't keep a journal or anything. Every now and then I write my grandparents a letter, and I write a lot at work but that's it. I do want to improve my handwriting though. I just think fountain pens are "cool" and like the idea of a long last pen that's refillable. I also think messing with bottle ink is fun.

Actualy, a funny story, was yesterday at work I asked a customer to sign their name and I handed them my fountain pen without thinking, and he looked at it with a very strange face. :)

[Ferannia]

Actualy, a funny story, was yesterday at work I asked a customer to sign their name and I handed them my fountain pen without thinking, and he looked at it with a very strange face. :)

Funny for now maybe, but never hand them a fountain pen again; not once people would press against a paper as much as they used to press down with a ball point, or even turn the nib upside down and apply a pressure again so I had to re-aligne tines under loupe each time they return the pen.
A pen, a horse, a shaving brush and a wife are things not to be given out to anyone, ever.

[GarageBoy]

If you know it is scratchy due to misaligned tines, OK then. It is easy to aligne tines, you can do it yourself.
But if you didn't compare your Safari EF nib to other nibs of the same line width, you should know EF nibs ARE scratchy when compared to F or M of the same manufacturer, there is nothing wrong with them, but they just can't compare with M since extra-fine are approaching a needlepoint and meet a greater resistance by paper's fibre. EF nibs are good on Clairfontaine or similar paper with a fine lubricating ink, and they shouldn't be judged on a regular inkjet printing paper or drugstore notebooks.
The EF Lamy 2000 is not the same as a Safari nib and writes like American fine/medium nib. I use exclusively Rhodia paper and still scratchy. Oh well

[chickpea]

Funny for now maybe, but never hand them a fountain pen again; not once people would press against a paper as much as they used to press down with a ball point, or even turn the nib upside down and apply a pressure again so I had to re-aligne tines under loupe each time they return the pen.
A pen, a horse, a shaving brush and a wife are things not to be given out to anyone, ever.

Yeah, I handed my Lamy Safari to two clients of mine now to sign documents. They inevitably look at it as if I just handed them a big steaming turd and immediately commence to engrave the paper with the nib. :eek: I have just purchased a few ballpoints to give to clients.

(PS I hope that list is in ascending order of importance :lol:)

[Cheech]

If you know it is scratchy due to misaligned tines, OK then. It is easy to aligne tines, you can do it yourself.
But if you didn't compare your Safari EF nib to other nibs of the same line width, you should know EF nibs ARE scratchy when compared to F or M of the same manufacturer, there is nothing wrong with them, but they just can't compare with M since extra-fine are approaching a needlepoint and meet a greater resistance by paper's fibre. EF nibs are good on Clairfontaine or similar paper with a fine lubricating ink, and they shouldn't be judged on a regular inkjet printing paper or drugstore notebooks.

+1 I've been amazed at what a slight adjustment to the tines can do for feel.

[superbleu]

I remember when I thought, "How much for a Pelikan 1000? I'd never pay that!"

Now I have one. And a Stipula. And a couple Viscontis. My wallet hurts just thinking about it. My heart smiles, but my poor wallet...

Cheech which Stipula do you have? I've been eyeballin the Saturno crescent filler in red ebonite.

[Cheech]

I have an Etruria that is an absolute dream. The clip is a little bent, but the overall package is hard to beat.

Maybe I got lucky. I've heard of people having problems with their Stipulas, but mine has been pretty good so far (knock on wood...).

[superbleu]

One of my friends loaned me her Novocento on Saturday when I met with her. Another friend had their Euturia and I got to use it for a bit. Very nice pen also.

Yeah, the Novocento had 2 very long trips back to Italy to get fixed, they do things on a different time schedule than here in the states, but it's a fantastic pen now that it's fixed.

[DeaconKC]

Cheech, love the Casey Stengel quote. I'm waiting on an Idian eyedropper to get here. Hope it makes it today!
http://www.allwritenow.net/guider.html
The brown Guider Marala1 in the display pic!

[zangler]

After reading about fountain pens so much, I decided I wanted to try one out. After a lot of asking around at different stores here in Houston, I finally found a store that had a TON of pens. I bought a Lamy, refillable, 40 bucks, and 10 cartridges. I'm probably going to buy a converter soon for bottle ink.

The size is a "fine point" and looking at my receipt it says L26 is the size, if that means anything. Very cool stuff!

i am also in Houston...what is the name of the store?

[RoyalKooparillo]

I recently got the fountain pen bug as well! It funny, so many of the same principles that go into razor use and collecting can be equally applied to fountain pens--the craftsmanship, the artistic functionality, the vintage rarity, the old-world charm...Now if only you could shave with them! :biggrin:

I stepped in over at FPN and was really impressed with the site. The community seems very kind, and the pen reviews (etc...) are really addicting reads!

So far I've decided that some day I must own both a Nakaya Decapod Heki-Tamenuri and a black Visconti Divina. But before I get there, I figured it best to start small and simple...

I just pulled the trigger on a Lamy Vista Extra Fine with a converter, and some J Herbin Perle Noire ink. I'm really excited to try them out!

[whitecrane7]

If you thought choosing a DE blade was hard, just try choosing a black ink!