Do you use a fountain pen?
Discussion
I had a dig around and found a couple more old ones. This website has been handy to identify them.
https://parkerpens.net/apis.html
My late father's 1970s Parker 45 Harlequin "shield" and a Parker 15 Jotter, which I bought about 5 years ago when I thought it would be nice to try a fountain pen and only used it once before the unbranded cartridge leaked.
The converter is missing from the 45, but I am sure it was knocking around at some point. Can anyone recommend a replacement if I don't manage to find the original or it's damaged?
https://parkerpens.net/apis.html
My late father's 1970s Parker 45 Harlequin "shield" and a Parker 15 Jotter, which I bought about 5 years ago when I thought it would be nice to try a fountain pen and only used it once before the unbranded cartridge leaked.
The converter is missing from the 45, but I am sure it was knocking around at some point. Can anyone recommend a replacement if I don't manage to find the original or it's damaged?
SystemParanoia said:
I love how the fine nib on the Jinhao 126 writes.
Unfortunately i think the pen is just too thin for me.
At-least ive discovered i prefer the Fine nib over the medium
I'm still waiting for my 126 to arrive! Unfortunately i think the pen is just too thin for me.
At-least ive discovered i prefer the Fine nib over the medium
Jlock said:
Another lefty here, I'm glad Robbo started the thread and that I found it! My handwriting has always been terrible, to the point I changed to writing solely in capitals during high school for it to even be legible. I'm 27 now and my writing is still as poor as ever, to the point I've recently been getting quite annoyed about it.
I'm an engineer so the main writing I do throughout the day is taking meeting notes and a rough daily log. I was recently given a black Mont Blanc starwalker ball point as a best man gift from my father, it's extremely expensive (IMO for a pen) but my notes are so poor it hardly seems worth it! That and I'm scared of losing it.
Anyway, I think having a crack with a fountain pen could be a good way to force myself into changing that. After browsing I'm undecided between a lamy safari with a left handed nib, or the larger jinhao 159. Would the left handed nib give much of a benefit or should I just save a few quid and stick with the jinhao?
I'm a lefty. The jinhao x750 ( metal) and x450(plastic) feel realy good.I'm an engineer so the main writing I do throughout the day is taking meeting notes and a rough daily log. I was recently given a black Mont Blanc starwalker ball point as a best man gift from my father, it's extremely expensive (IMO for a pen) but my notes are so poor it hardly seems worth it! That and I'm scared of losing it.
Anyway, I think having a crack with a fountain pen could be a good way to force myself into changing that. After browsing I'm undecided between a lamy safari with a left handed nib, or the larger jinhao 159. Would the left handed nib give much of a benefit or should I just save a few quid and stick with the jinhao?
I've only ever had bad experiences with flat end nibs
I thought it worth mentioning that some schools are still teaching and encouraging cursive writing, with the use of fountain pens from age 8 or 9. My daughter started with my ancient Parker 45 before wanting a Lama thing (that doesn't write as well) but I also bought her a Dunhill AD1000 mini fountain pen in sparkling pink that will NOT be going to school ever.
AlexC1981 said:
I'm still waiting for my 126 to arrive!
I hope it fits you better than it does me.I squeeze it too hard and where the lid clicks onto the barrel hurts my finger.
Also my fingers slide down the pen towards the nib.Its a beautiful pen... Ill just have to watch the kids enjoy using it ( I purchased 4 of em
)I have
x5 599
x4 126
x3 250
x3 x750
1 old parker with a bent nib somewhere
Jlock said:
Another lefty here, I'm glad Robbo started the thread and that I found it! My handwriting has always been terrible, to the point I changed to writing solely in capitals during high school for it to even be legible. I'm 27 now and my writing is still as poor as ever, to the point I've recently been getting quite annoyed about it.
I'm an engineer so the main writing I do throughout the day is taking meeting notes and a rough daily log. I was recently given a black Mont Blanc starwalker ball point as a best man gift from my father, it's extremely expensive (IMO for a pen) but my notes are so poor it hardly seems worth it! That and I'm scared of losing it.
Anyway, I think having a crack with a fountain pen could be a good way to force myself into changing that. After browsing I'm undecided between a lamy safari with a left handed nib, or the larger jinhao 159. Would the left handed nib give much of a benefit or should I just save a few quid and stick with the jinhao?
Whilst I have not tried a Lamy Safari fountain pen, I would expect the feel to be very different from a Jinhao 159. The 159 is huge, wide grip, all metal, heavy, very inky and super smooth. It makes my writing big and spidery.I'm an engineer so the main writing I do throughout the day is taking meeting notes and a rough daily log. I was recently given a black Mont Blanc starwalker ball point as a best man gift from my father, it's extremely expensive (IMO for a pen) but my notes are so poor it hardly seems worth it! That and I'm scared of losing it.
Anyway, I think having a crack with a fountain pen could be a good way to force myself into changing that. After browsing I'm undecided between a lamy safari with a left handed nib, or the larger jinhao 159. Would the left handed nib give much of a benefit or should I just save a few quid and stick with the jinhao?
I have a Lamy Safari ball point pen and I can't get on with the three sided grip at all.
Of the pens I have tried so far the Parker 15 Jotter has been the best all rounder, though the grip is narrower than I like. I am thinking about getting a Jinhao X450 as it looks like it has a nice grip.
SystemParanoia said:
I hope it fits you better than it does me.
I squeeze it too hard and where the lid clicks onto the barrel hurts my finger.
Also my fingers slide down the pen towards the nib.Its a beautiful pen... Ill just have to watch the kids enjoy using it ( I purchased 4 of em )
I have
x5 599
x4 126
x3 250
x3 x750
1 old parker with a bent nib somewhere
How do you find the 250? I was thinking about ordering one since it has a nice looking grip and is available in orange...I squeeze it too hard and where the lid clicks onto the barrel hurts my finger.
Also my fingers slide down the pen towards the nib.Its a beautiful pen... Ill just have to watch the kids enjoy using it ( I purchased 4 of em
)I have
x5 599
x4 126
x3 250
x3 x750
1 old parker with a bent nib somewhere
Jlock said:
Another lefty here, I'm glad Robbo started the thread and that I found it! My handwriting has always been terrible, to the point I changed to writing solely in capitals during high school for it to even be legible. I'm 27 now and my writing is still as poor as ever, to the point I've recently been getting quite annoyed about it.
I'm an engineer so the main writing I do throughout the day is taking meeting notes and a rough daily log. I was recently given a black Mont Blanc starwalker ball point as a best man gift from my father, it's extremely expensive (IMO for a pen) but my notes are so poor it hardly seems worth it! That and I'm scared of losing it.
Anyway, I think having a crack with a fountain pen could be a good way to force myself into changing that. After browsing I'm undecided between a lamy safari with a left handed nib, or the larger jinhao 159. Would the left handed nib give much of a benefit or should I just save a few quid and stick with the jinhao?
A left handed nib slopes like \, I havent seen a nib like that for a Safari but if this is smothing new I would get that, the Safari doesnt lay down too much ink which for a left handed writer could be a problem, the 159 is a bigger tougher pen but the nib can be too wet for some left handers..I'm an engineer so the main writing I do throughout the day is taking meeting notes and a rough daily log. I was recently given a black Mont Blanc starwalker ball point as a best man gift from my father, it's extremely expensive (IMO for a pen) but my notes are so poor it hardly seems worth it! That and I'm scared of losing it.
Anyway, I think having a crack with a fountain pen could be a good way to force myself into changing that. After browsing I'm undecided between a lamy safari with a left handed nib, or the larger jinhao 159. Would the left handed nib give much of a benefit or should I just save a few quid and stick with the jinhao?
Good luck with your purchase.
AlexC1981 said:
I'm still waiting for my 126 to arrive!
The upper pen is a Parker 15, good reliable pen, originally intended for the school market but nothing wrong with that.The Parker 45 is very attractive and the unusual pattern will make it sought after, best guess is around £40+. Before you use it I would unscrew the nib part and wash it under a tap, then leave it in a glass of water for a day to dissolve any ink solids. In terms of a converter, I would suggest that you only fit a Parker converter such as this:
There is a cheaper all plastic version which doesnt work so well and rattles in use. The metal converter should cost around £6.
BryanC said:
I'd like to stand up and thank Robbo for starting a really interesting thread.
I've taken his good advice, flushed my Parker given to me by my mum 48 years ago and brought it back into use, so using it for what it was made for after a long rest. Thanks chum. Once again trying to put some pride back into my note writing. Parker for handwriting, Lamy for sketching.
The OP was bI've taken his good advice, flushed my Parker given to me by my mum 48 years ago and brought it back into use, so using it for what it was made for after a long rest. Thanks chum. Once again trying to put some pride back into my note writing. Parker for handwriting, Lamy for sketching.
hstewie Bryan, my grateful thanks to him for starting the thread. I have learned a lot and enjoyed hearing of the experiences of others, I hope that others feel the same.
williredale said:
If you want to swap a fine nib for your medium I'll have a look at what I've got. I much prefer mediums and have a couple of fine nibbed 45s. I don't know if they're steel or gold but will have a look if you're interested?
That's a very kind offer - thank you. I think I will look into buying a nib outright, though, so that I have the option of changing back to the medium again if I don't get on with the fine. Plus I still haven't found my second Parker 45 fountain pen yet. But thank you very much for the offer - much appreciated.
Robbo 27 said:
The Parker 45 is very attractive and the unusual pattern will make it sought after, best guess is around £40+. Before you use it I would unscrew the nib part and wash it under a tap, then leave it in a glass of water for a day to dissolve any ink solids. In terms of a converter, I would suggest that you only fit a Parker converter such as this:
There is a cheaper all plastic version which doesnt work so well and rattles in use. The metal converter should cost around £6.
It's interesting how they have evolved over the years. There is a cheaper all plastic version which doesnt work so well and rattles in use. The metal converter should cost around £6.
The top one in my pic is out of my Parker 25, the middle one is presumably from my original Parker 45 (the one I can't find) and the lower one is probably from my 2000's Parker 45. I'm currently using cartridges in that simply because I had some lying around and decided to use them.
ClockworkCupcake said:
It's interesting how they have evolved over the years.
The top one in my pic is out of my Parker 25, the middle one is presumably from my original Parker 45 (the one I can't find) and the lower one is probably from my 2000's Parker 45. I'm currently using cartridges in that simply because I had some lying around and decided to use them.
The bottom one is identical to the one in the jinhao 126The top one in my pic is out of my Parker 25, the middle one is presumably from my original Parker 45 (the one I can't find) and the lower one is probably from my 2000's Parker 45. I'm currently using cartridges in that simply because I had some lying around and decided to use them.
ClockworkCupcake said:
It's interesting how they have evolved over the years.
The top one in my pic is out of my Parker 25, the middle one is presumably from my original Parker 45 (the one I can't find) and the lower one is probably from my 2000's Parker 45. I'm currently using cartridges in that simply because I had some lying around and decided to use them.
The very useful aspect about all modern, being from mid 60s onwards, Parker pens is that they will all take any Parker cartridge or any Parker converter.The top one in my pic is out of my Parker 25, the middle one is presumably from my original Parker 45 (the one I can't find) and the lower one is probably from my 2000's Parker 45. I'm currently using cartridges in that simply because I had some lying around and decided to use them.
On the assumption that they were designed to take a cartridge in the first place.
If you were a stickler for originality you would want the correct converter for the period of the pen, frankly I don't think that is too important.
The key point is that the opening on the cartridge is standard. I know that some people have said you can put other makes in the pen but that isnt my experience unless you use a lot of pressure and risk damaging the pen, including pushing the nib and feed out of the pen.
SystemParanoia said:
The bottom one is identical to the one in the jinhao 126
the bottom one is the same one that came with my new parker sonnet.I didn't know it came with one and also bought the "parker deluxe" converter. Tried the deluxe one twice and it didnt suck up the ink, the basic one did.
AlexC1981 said:
I had a dig around and found a couple more old ones. This website has been handy to identify them.
https://parkerpens.net/apis.html
My late father's 1970s Parker 45 Harlequin "shield" and a Parker 15 Jotter, which I bought about 5 years ago when I thought it would be nice to try a fountain pen and only used it once before the unbranded cartridge leaked.
When you say unbranded cartridge do you mean a long Parker cartridge like this one:https://parkerpens.net/apis.html
My late father's 1970s Parker 45 Harlequin "shield" and a Parker 15 Jotter, which I bought about 5 years ago when I thought it would be nice to try a fountain pen and only used it once before the unbranded cartridge leaked.
Or an international standard one like this:
The harlequin pen looks great.
Decided to dig out my old pens from retirement too.
The black Sheaffer was an 18th Birthday present from my parents (I did get a car as well!) so has sentimental value so wont be used everyday.
The silver is a Waterman. Nothing special but still quite nice so will use that in the office.
Off to buy some ink at lunchtime.
The black Sheaffer was an 18th Birthday present from my parents (I did get a car as well!) so has sentimental value so wont be used everyday.
The silver is a Waterman. Nothing special but still quite nice so will use that in the office.
Off to buy some ink at lunchtime.
Davey S2 said:
Decided to dig out my old pens from retirement too.
The black Sheaffer was an 18th Birthday present from my parents (I did get a car as well!) so has sentimental value so wont be used everyday.
The silver is a Waterman. Nothing special but still quite nice so will use that in the office.
Off to buy some ink at lunchtime.
Nice notebook too, does it work well with fountain pens, without the ink bleeding through the paper?The black Sheaffer was an 18th Birthday present from my parents (I did get a car as well!) so has sentimental value so wont be used everyday.
The silver is a Waterman. Nothing special but still quite nice so will use that in the office.
Off to buy some ink at lunchtime.
I think that the Waterman model is a Hemisphere, the Sheaffer may be a Targa which is still sought after and even has its own website:
http://www.sheaffertarga.com/sheaffer%20targa%20ho...
Balmoral said:
I use cartridges in my Parker (Duofold Centennial) as the Parker converter it came with is low capacity and a bit leaky too. I think the Pelikan Souveran internal reservoir is far superior.
I really like the Pelikans, however I'm still not sure that I'm going to stick with proper pens day to day... Wouldn't mind spending the dosh as a trial on an m205, but it's not great value as you seem to be paying for the reservoir more than the nib. M405 gives both, but at more dosh than I want to spend as a trial...Gonna buy a Lamy Al-Star tomorrow with a converter, ink and notebook. If I'm still enamoured this time next month may have to treat myself.
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