Please HELP me! I bought my wife a new pen! Need advise.

**Alaskan Snowmonkey** · 05-02-2012, 08:10 PM

Hello Everyone,

One day several months ago I was showing my wife all the different forums on B&B, like THE CAFE and THE NIB. She said "I'd like to have a fountain pen" and I left that thought in the back of my mind.

Fast forward to my current situation...

Mother's Day is around the corner and I bought my wife a nice English made satchel that she's been wanting. I thought I'd fill the new satchel/bag with other items including a new pen and some ink, so she is extra surprised. I looked around The Nib and was browsing WCS and saw that John had some Noodler's pens and Noodler's B&B ink. After looking at the review on WCS, reviews on Amazon, and even a YOUTUBE review. I bought the Noodler's Ahab (Pumkin) and B&B blue ink.

Here is where I need help... I've seen several postings recently that make me think this may not be the best choice for a noobie's first fountain pen. Some people just didn't seem to enjoy it or it just didn't work for them, etc. Should I consider a Lamy Safari with a converter instead? I will not return the Ahab to WCS and will keep it, but I just want her to have a good experience with her first fountain pen.

What do you think? Give her the Ahab? Get her a Lamy Safari instead?

I'm not wanting to spend a ton of money, since the bag was really the main gift. She is a great wife and mother. A stay at home mom that really works her butt off. She makes my lunch every day, loves me, makes us nice meals, etc. I could go on and on.

I usually don't have second thoughts or buyers remorse, but advise would be appreciated.

Thanks,
James

PS- Don't forget to make Mother's day special for the ladies in our lives.

**jwhite** · 05-02-2012, 08:21 PM

Best bet would be to flush the pen with sudsy ammonia water dry it off and ink it up. If it works well great set it aside and try it again the next day if it still writes fine and no leaks it should be fine empty it clean it with more solution and you're good to go. If you don't feel you have time or want to take the risk get a Platinum Plaisir, Great colors, good pen, $20, $27 with converter for bottled ink, should get it in plenty of time.

**Price** · 05-02-2012, 08:23 PM

Originally Posted by jwhite

Best bet would be to flush the pen with sudsy ammonia water dry it off and ink it up. If it works well great set it aside and try it again the next day if it still writes fine and no leaks it should be fine empty it clean it with more solution and your good to go. If you don't feel you have time or want to take the risk get a Platinum Plaisir, Great colors, good pen, $20, $27 with converter for bottled ink, should get it in plenty of time.

+1

I have zero experience with the Ahab, but the Plaisir is a great starter and is pretty much idiot-proof.

**JapanDE** · 05-03-2012, 02:45 AM

Whatever you do, if you decide to give her the Ahab, FLUSH AND TEST IT BEFORE she gets it. Maybe it's just me, but every Noodler's pen I've ever bought required fiddling before first use.

If you do get a Lamy, it WILL work right out of the box, because Lamy inks up and tests each and every pen they sell. In fact, there is still some residual blue Lamy ink in the nib and feed that you have to rinse out if you aren't using the supplied blue ink cartridge.

**Mr5x5** · 05-03-2012, 06:32 AM

I like the Ahab but in my experience it does require fiddling with. Sounds like you have a gem of a woman. Congratulations.

**gobeavs** · 05-03-2012, 07:49 AM

I have a Safari and love it. It's also the first fountain pen I've ever had. Have had zero problems with it, or its converter.

**redbike** · 05-03-2012, 09:31 AM

Some Ahab's work write well out of the box. Some don't and you get very inky fingers trying to adjust them. I know what wouldn't work in my house.

**oc_in_fw** · 05-03-2012, 02:51 PM

Having both, if you want a pen guaranteed to work out of the box with no fuss, go with the Lamy.

**Dave258** · 05-03-2012, 04:20 PM

You can get the Safari from Todd at http://isellpens.com/lamy.html for $27 with a free converter. I have never had an issue with my Safar, Al-star or any of my Lamy pens for that matter!

**Alaskan Snowmonkey** · 05-03-2012, 04:22 PM

Thanks everyone, the responses are genuinely appreciated. I ended up going with the Platinum Plaisir. They were on sale at isellpens for $16.88. Todd already sent me an order confirmation and I placed the order about 3 hrs ago. I actually decided to buy two, one for myself and one for my wife. So she will get two pens for Mother's Day (Ahab and Platinum), but the Ahab will be a project for the two of us to work on together. We will make it work! My next personal pen will probably be a Lamy.

Fountain pens are new to us so I'm looking forward to it! Thanks again everyone.

**Alaskan Snowmonkey** · 05-03-2012, 04:25 PM

Originally Posted by Dave258

You can get the Safari from Todd at http://isellpens.com/lamy.html for $27 with a free converter. I have never had an issue with my Safar, Al-star or any of my Lamy pens for that matter!

I actually had it in my basket! Next time! Although I'm not sure how long that free converter offer will last. Maybe it will be much sooner than later!

**Dave258** · 05-03-2012, 04:30 PM

I've never had a Plaisir, but have heard good things from guys on here. Hope you and your wife enjoy the pens!

**Yanks27** · 05-04-2012, 09:36 AM

I did exactly what you did with the Noodler's Ahab, for myself (first fountain pen). While the pen is a looker it will never be written with again. I had so much problems with the pen, that I finally flushed it and put it away as decoration with some of the other non user pens.

**Alaskan Snowmonkey** · 05-04-2012, 05:18 PM

Originally Posted by Yanks27

I did exactly what you did with the Noodler's Ahab, for myself (first fountain pen). While the pen is a looker it will never be written with again. I had so much problems with the pen, that I finally flushed it and put it away as decoration with some of the other non user pens.

I hope we can still use the Ahab, but I'm glad I did a 180 buyers remorse and got a different pen for the occasion.

**Ray Settanta** · 05-04-2012, 06:01 PM

Originally Posted by Alaskan Snowmonkey

I hope we can still use the Ahab, but I'm glad I did a 180 buyers remorse and got a different pen for the occasion.

The Ahab can be a problem. Some people did not have any problems and some did. I have two and one is perfect but the other took some time and trouble to get going properly.
There are some excellent threads on the major pen forums dealing with how to make the Ahab write correctly. Check them out if you have problems.

**Blooze** · 05-04-2012, 06:24 PM

Go with the Lamy. I got an Al-Star a while back and my wife quickly decided she liked it better than any of my other pens (vintage or new). Wrote right out the box after a rinse of the blue ink residue. She likes the section most of all for its "ergonomics". FWIW, she also carries a Kaweco Sport Classic in her purse because it's very short and she can stand it upright in one of the side pouches.