Do you use a fountain pen?

[Pints]

Robbo 27 said:

Thats a very nice £xxx pen there, classic design.

It was a gift to him - do we need the value to be mentioned?

[Robbo 27]

Pints said:

It was a gift to him - do we need the value to be mentioned?

Apologies if he or you were offended.

The reason that I mentionned the price was in case anyone was interested in buying such pen today, it is still in production although I interpret the posters comment that as he had owned the pen for many years and the news of the current price is unlikely to come as a surprise.

[scotlandtim]

Robbo 27 said:

Apologies if he or you were offended.

The reason that I mentionned the price was in case anyone was interested in buying such pen today, it is still in production although I interpret the posters comment that as he had owned the pen for many years and the news of the current price is unlikely to come as a surprise.

No offence taken. Indeed it was a gift -I was chatting to my Father about it only last night - he recalls wondering if spending £20 on it was too much - thinking I'd only lose it, which I never have!!

For those interested it's a second generation Rotring 600. A fabulous pen, nice and heavy, with a great grip, but writes beautifully! Value between £200 - £400 for this particular model depending where you look / who you ask etc. I still have the original box, but it's sadly covered in my teenage doodles with a broken hinge! It's a moot point as I'll never sell the pen, it holds a lot of sentimental value.

Glad it's got some admirers out there. It's long out of production, so all current ones for sale are 2nd hand.

[Pints]

Robbo 27 said:

Apologies if he or you were offended.

The reason that I mentionned the price was in case anyone was interested in buying such pen today, it is still in production although I interpret the posters comment that as he had owned the pen for many years and the news of the current price is unlikely to come as a surprise.

No offence caused.

[williredale]

That Rotring is a lovely piece of design and I like your history with it too.

Regarding Parker Sonnets, I have two one of which is a terrible and one of which is great. Both bought second hand but I'd rather have a Parker 45 or even a Vector instead.

[scotlandtim]

Here's another picture - just because I can!

[Robbo 27]

williredale said:

That Rotring is a lovely piece of design and I like your history with it too.

Regarding Parker Sonnets, I have two one of which is a terrible and one of which is great. Both bought second hand but I'd rather have a Parker 45 or even a Vector instead.

The problem with the Sonnet is that that where the nib goes into the section there is a small gold band that keeps the nib and feed in the section.

This same gold band also holds the cap in place, when it is pushed on, you hear a slight clunk. The difficulty is that when the cap is removed you are pulling the gold band away from the nib section. If it is very secure then no problem, if it is loose then ink will come out and onto your fingers or into the cap. I tried to repair mine and gave up, went back to Parker and they didn't fix it either.

Personally I wouldn't buy another which is a pity because its a good looking pen, although expensive. Many copies of this pen are for sale on ebay.

[Prohibiting]

Thanks to this thread I've bought a Lamy Safari with a fine nib. After a bit of research, it seems that this pen will accept parker cartridges so I've bought fast drying Parker Quink blue ink. I'm a left hander. Wish me luck

If I like it I'll get the Lamy converter and some pots of ink .

[Robbo 27]

Prohibiting said:

Thanks to this thread I've bought a Lamy Safari with a fine nib. After a bit of research, it seems that this pen will accept parker cartridges so I've bought fast drying Parker Quink blue ink. I'm a left hander. Wish me luck

If I like it I'll get the Lamy converter and some pots of ink .

Good luck on the Safari, I have just tried a Parker cartridge and a cartridge converter on one of my Safaris and they don't fit, at least using the limited pressure that I felt comfortable about, whereas the Lamy cartridge was an easy push fit. I have read elsewhere that some people say that the cartridge from Parkers will fit, others disagree. I daresay that I could force the cartridge into place on the Lamy but risk damage to the pen.

Edited by Robbo 27 on Wednesday 18th January 18:12

[soad]

timmymagic73 said:

Thanks to this thread I've recently purchased a JINHAO 599 in frosted black - most excellent, I had no idea these existed.

Medium nib is perfect for me, it writes beautifully straight out of the box (tatty jiffy bag from China) and is a nice weight - it's made of metal (brass?).



Total price of £4.29 including 5 blue cartridges. Now I need to try and unravel the mysterious world of ink.... too much choice.

Tim.

Haven't used a fountain pen since my schooldays, and I need one of those!

[SystemParanoia]

My old sellotaped warhorse 599
And my shiny new fine nib 126
I like em both and keep finding excuses to write nonsense.

Shame my camera sucks

[SPR2]

3 more I have found. Sadly may need some repair.

[james_tigerwoods]

I've always used a fountain pen - I've had the same one now for about 20 years. I've recently been given one for my 40th from my girlfriend.

They're not massively expensive as they're Parker Vector pens - one is Metal and the20 year old one is Black/gold trim, but I prefer them and really rather using them than any other Biro.

My handwriting is, however, appalling, but I love fountain pens and I hate anyone else using mine....

[AlexC1981]

Robbo 27 said:

AlexC1981 said:

My Jinhao Y6 arrived through my letterbox from China last week. I ordered it 29th December, so it only took a week and a half.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/JINHAO-Y6-Green-co...

It looks very smart indeed. It's a painted metal and polished steel finish. I was expecting plastic at that price. It's actually quite heavy with the lid on. The green colour is a very nice leafy green, not at all flashy.

I was a little concerned initially as the nib was not sitting straight. The pen disassembles quite easily (a little too easily) and I was able to reseat the nib correctly.

It's a medium tip, but it writes much finer and less wet than my Parker Vector, but not as smoothly. I think it has a mild case of "baby bottom". I'm going to order a sheet of 12000 grit micromesh. Apparently if I draw a few figure 8s on the mesh sheet it will give it a little polish and correct the problem.

The silver grip section is a bit too slippery for ideal comfort. The best part of it is the cap. As you put it on you feel some resistance, like a kitchen soft close hinge, then a magnet suddenly snaps it closed in a manner that is actually really satisfying. When writing with the cap on the other end of the pen it does not hold on particularly well.

Overall I am pleased with it and could happily use it everyday. I did not expect the quality to be this good for the ludicrous sum of £2.50, which includes postage!

If you have a loupe or very good eyes and strong glasses look at the end of the nib, the two tines should be lined up like oo, if one is out of line then use your thumb nail to ease it back into position.

Most Jinhao nibs arrive well set up but yours may need smoothing.

If you cannot wait for the micromesh then as stage 1, try the rougher side of brown wrapping paper, use very little pressure and write 88888888 as quickly as you can with ink or water in the pen.

If you have a piece of flint, a polished stone or polished aluminium, anything that is so smooth that it reflects light, these can all be used to make the nib as smooth as you want.

I used a 3000 grit sharpening block that I use to sharpen my Chinese cleaver, which fixed it, but I went a bit too far with it. Under magnification I can see that I have made a slightly flat section on the bottom of the nib and now it writes more like a medium than a fine. My micromesh pack arrived today and it's done a brilliant job of smoothing it from 3000 grit to 4000, 6000, 8000, then 12000. My sharpening block has a 1000 side, so I'm tempted to see what happens if I try to grind it into an italic stub nib.

My Jinhao 159 arrived yesterday and it writes pretty much the same as my reground Y6. The photos don't really show it, but the 159 is enormous. Even the nib is huge.

It's almost a comedy pen in the bright orange I have chosen. I have enjoyed using it today

[IroningMan]

Pints said:

I changed my order to green Waterman (and added a bottle of black too). It's not a bad ink but seeing that picture, I'm regretting my decision.

The Violet is much more subtle than you'd think from the colour of the dot on the box. I've used nothing else for the last four years that I've had the Pelikan 800. Before that I was using Parker Blue-Black in it, but that gummed it up and I'll stick to Pelikan inks from now on.

I was chatting to the nice man in the pen shop I occasionally visit in Cardiff some time ago, and naively asked if he ever sold a second pen to anybody: 'Of course.' he replied, 'You need a different pen for every colour.'

I quite fancy writing in brown...

[Robbo 27]

SPR2 said:

3 more I have found. Sadly may need some repair.

That looks inetresting, a Parker Duofold missing its jewel and clip, a Mabie Todd, and a Sheaffer No Nonesense.

[Pints]

Robbo 27 said:

SPR2 said:

3 more I have found. Sadly may need some repair.

That looks inetresting, a Parker Duofold missing its jewel and clip, a Mabie Todd, and a Sheaffer No Nonesense.

I managed to damage my fine calligraphy nib on my Sheaffer (like the one above) a few weeks ago when carelessly putting the lid back on. Gutted because I've had it for almost 30 years.

[Robbo 27]

Pints said:

I managed to damage my fine calligraphy nib on my Sheaffer (like the one above) a few weeks ago when carelessly putting the lid back on. Gutted because I've had it for almost 30 years.

I have a medium nib for a sheaffer, if you can remove the fine nib from your old pen you can have this one. Removing the nib may not be easy, I think that Sheaffer wanted you to swap the entire nib section rather than just the nib.

As an alternative, you may want to have a look at the set of three Sheaffer no nonesense pens on Amazon with a range of nibs and spare cartridges for not a lot of money.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SHEAFFER-73404-Sheaffer-C...

Edited by Robbo 27 on Thursday 19th January 08:34

[Pints]

Robbo 27 said:

I have a medium nib for a sheaffer, if you can remove the fine nib from your old pen you can have this one. Removing the nib may not be easy, I think that Sheaffer wanted you to swap the entire nib section rather than just the nib.

As an alternative, you may want to have a look at the set of three Sheaffer no nonesense pens on Amazon with a range of nibs and spare cartridges for not a lot of money.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SHEAFFER-73404-Sheaffer-C...

Edited by Robbo 27 on Thursday 19th January 08:34

It's a very kind offer but I have the set of three so have already put the medium on the pen. I just enjoyed using the fine calligraphy nib for jotting notes, etc.

[markoc]

Having spent my formative years using a fountain pen at school, I want to get back into using one in my work life.

I appreciate choice is a very personal thing - weight etc. I currently use cross rollerballs and like a slightly heavier pen. Any recomendations for something to start with, around the £50 mark so I don't take a bath if it turns out to be a folly?

I'd be looking for something that used a refillable cartridge and inkwell

Ultimately if I get on with it, I can see myself getting into pens quite a large way (well, they're cheaper than watches aren't they!)