Do you use a fountain pen?

[Jim the Sunderer]

I like my knock off Meisterstück. Not enough to spend 700 quid on the proper article.

Writing shopping lists feels like signing death warrants.

[Robbo 27]

Jim the Sunderer said:

I like my knock off Meisterstück. Not enough to spend 700 quid on the proper article.

Writing shopping lists feels like signing death warrants.

149s are a lot of money, and the price is going to be climbing even more soon.

About 10 years ago a friend was in Shanghai, MB copies were everywhere, he bought 4 for $6, 2 fountain pens and 2 roller balls, the paint on the brass barrels came off within a week, the roller balls still look ok.

If you want something with the size of a Montblanc but without the £700 price tag get a Jinaho 159, £7 with free delivery from Amazon.

[Jim the Sunderer]

That's the one!

[dapprman]

If you want the legit thing and new, keep an eye out for special deals at The Pen Shop. Even after the recent take over they still have the occasional 10% and 15% off all pens Including Montblancs (MB normally bar resellers from doing this by contract agreement). Still going to be ~£580 with the bigger discount though. Now if you're after a MB Expression Flex 149, I know a nearly new one going for £650 - legit seller and pen blogger (though he's now said he's stopping that part - 3 posts a week with a full time job and the result he finds himself buying pens to review rather than him wanting them) who openly takes a hit on what he paid (I've bought a couple of pens from him and also know him well).

[BigGingerBob]

I am off to see my Grandparents after work who I remember using a lever fill pen after reading a comment earlier in the thread about lever fill Parkers bing rare I asked the question.
Apparently it wasn't a Parker but Swan. Unsure if this is a good make, is there interest from the thread on this?

I bought one of the brushed brass fountain pens for £3.50 off Ebay a week ago and it's fantastic! I will get some pictures up later.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

BigGingerBob said:

Apparently it wasn't a Parker but Swan. Unsure if this is a good make, is there interest from the thread on this?

Swan was a brand name of Mabie Todd who were active from the 1860's through to the 1950's

See http://www.mabietoddpenlists.co.uk/page14.html

As such, it is probably going to be an interesting pen not least for having age.

[Robbo 27]

BigGingerBob said:

I am off to see my Grandparents after work who I remember using a lever fill pen after reading a comment earlier in the thread about lever fill Parkers bing rare I asked the question.
Apparently it wasn't a Parker but Swan. Unsure if this is a good make, is there interest from the thread on this?

I bought one of the brushed brass fountain pens for £3.50 off Ebay a week ago and it's fantastic! I will get some pictures up later.

Mabie Todd pens are highly sought after for lots of reasons, not least of which is that the nibs are usually very flexible allowing for some line variation, something that modern pens dont really offer.

The Mabie Todd Swan was top of the line, other models were named after birds, Blackbird, Jackdaw and Kiwi, perhaps others.

The nibs are what these pens are all about going up in size from 1,2 (the most common) 4, 6 and 8. I haven never seen one but I think that there was a 10, must have been the size of a garden spade.

Most of these pens will be 50 years old, some could be 100 and may be fragile.

You need to think what you would like to do with this pen, some people want parents pens to look brand new, others want to keep the pen looking like it was been loved for 60 years but have it in working order, entirely your choice. I think that there is a similar dilemna in restoring old cars, there is no right or wrong answer to that one.

I wouldnt try and sort this pen yourself unless it is not much more that shining it up and away you go. I wouldnt put it anywhere near water until we can establish what the pen is made of, if its black hard rubber then it will absorb the water and be ruined.

If the pen has one of the larger nibs then it will be especially valuable, a #8 nib could be £200+ on its own.

Assuming that the pen is complete then it is not a difficult job, I can suggest someone who would be perfect for the work, lets see a pic and we would be pleased to help and advise.

[BigGingerBob]

He misplaced the key to his bureau so i didn't see the pen but he gave me a Watermans lever fill pen and a Sheaffer with a sort of siphon refil action that I haven't seen before.
I will post pics tomorrow because my phone browser won't let me post pics!

I wasn't fishing for valuable pens btw I was just interested to look!

[Clockwork Cupcake]

BigGingerBob said:

Sheaffer with a sort of siphon refil action that I haven't seen before.

Sheaffer snorkel?

https://www.penaddict.com/blog/2016/9/28/the-sheaf...

Edited by Clockwork Cupcake on Monday 25th November 21:07

[BigGingerBob]

Clockwork Cupcake said:

BigGingerBob said:

Sheaffer with a sort of siphon refil action that I haven't seen before.

Sheaffer snorkel?

https://www.penaddict.com/blog/2016/9/28/the-sheaf...

Edited by Clockwork Cupcake on Monday 25th November 21:07

Thats the boy!
Pen addict is a suitable website. I'm very new to this but I can feel myself getting sucked in. Bought some Quink thats coming tomorrow and asked for pens and ink for Christmas too, haha.
Thanks for your post Robbo, I will post here when I see it!

[Robbo 27]

BigGingerBob said:

Thats the boy!
Pen addict is a suitable website. I'm very new to this but I can feel myself getting sucked in. Bought some Quink thats coming tomorrow and asked for pens and ink for Christmas too, haha.
Thanks for your post Robbo, I will post here when I see it!

You are welcome, and thanks to CC for the Penaddict link, there was another link within the site to help identify your model BGB.

http://vacumania.com/website/sheaffersnorkelguide....

Incidentally, never be tempted to lift any pics from the Vacumania sites, the owner is David Isaacson and he is very protective of his copywrite.

[AlexC1981]

I bought this Delike Moonman from AliExpress. I thought I'd try the bent nib since I've never tried one before and it is the widest nib they had. The bent nib doesn't seem to make any difference, but it does write nicely and it produces a nice medium line. No blots or dry starts so far.

I went for the multicoloured/green one and it's a really attractive looking pen. It's got some scratches on the cap where they haven't finished it properly, but I can polish those out. I suppose you would call it a medium sized pen and it's light and comfortable to hold. It's a shame that it takes quite a few twists of the cap to take it off. It actually stopped me using it a few times today when I wanted to make a quick note.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000271390039.html...

[Clockwork Cupcake]

There is a pen guy at the Monthly Maltings Market in Farnham who I always chat with, and he always 'jokes' that he his going to have my gold 1930's Mabie & Todd Swan off me one day. Who knows, maybe he will.

Anyway, this month he showed me a Chinese "Parker Sonnet" he had imported.

We had a little discussion over the difference between a replica and a fake, and he intimated that it was verging on the latter rather than the former. It certainly had the Parker arrow on the clip.

[Robbo 27]

AlexC1981 said:

I bought this Delike Moonman from AliExpress. I thought I'd try the bent nib since I've never tried one before and it is the widest nib they had. The bent nib doesn't seem to make any difference, but it does write nicely and it produces a nice medium line. No blots or dry starts so far.

I went for the multicoloured/green one and it's a really attractive looking pen. It's got some scratches on the cap where they haven't finished it properly, but I can polish those out. I suppose you would call it a medium sized pen and it's light and comfortable to hold. It's a shame that it takes quite a few twists of the cap to take it off. It actually stopped me using it a few times today when I wanted to make a quick note.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000271390039.html...

Good looking pen, I havent used one of those nibs, I think that some people call them fude nibs.

I cant think of a solution to the problem of longer threads on the pen cap, apart from not tightening the cap so much of course.

[Robbo 27]

Clockwork Cupcake said:

Anyway, this month he showed me a Chinese "Parker Sonnet" he had imported.

I have seen the £8 copies against the £200 original and struggled to tell them apart.Must admit that I have never liked the Sonnet because it is an expensive pen that doesnt work as well as it should. I sent one back to Parker 3 times because it didnt work as it should, they couldnt improve it so that it worked and wouldnt give me my money back so I sued them and won.

The man who designed the Sonnet for Parker left after it went into production, he joined Shaeffer and designed the Prelude, a much better pen that works properly.

[Don1]

Still loving my MB Star walker after 12 years.

[Du1point8]

Don1 said:

Still loving my MB Star walker after 12 years.

I never got on with the star walker...

I have Le Grande rollerball for mundane stuff and carbon steel for my nice pen... then I have way too many others that are just desk ornaments and really should move on or sell to someone else to take over as custodian.

[Desiato]

Has anyone found a good paper for fountain pen use that can be bought by the ream. Ideally around the 90gsm mark and not silly expensive.
I need to print a large number of check sheets for work that will be completed by proper pen users.

Thanks,

Mick

[Robbo 27]

Desiato said:

Has anyone found a good paper for fountain pen use that can be bought by the ream. Ideally around the 90gsm mark and not silly expensive.
I need to print a large number of check sheets for work that will be completed by proper pen users.

Thanks,

Mick

Hi Mick

Harder question than it first appears. The issue is buying a ream of paper, at a reasonable price that is guaranteed to be FP friendly.

I have looked at the major brands and they all do good A4 paper but its all bound in a notebook and not loose in a ream, I was looking at brands like Rhodia and Tomoe Rover.

In terms of better quality paper and at 90gsm the best I have heard of is HP Premium which is available at Rymans for £3.99 for 250 sheets

https://www.ryman.co.uk/hp-premium-paper-a4-90gsm-...

I havent used this product myself but have asked someone else who uses this paper for pen use and they have no complaints.

[Desiato]

Many thanks Robbo,

In my searching I had found the same thing. Great options if you need a bound notebook. The paper that Filofax has always been great to write on but I can’t even find exactly what grade etc. that is.
I am hoping that a Ryman’s or similar may have some open packs I can try.
Cheers,
Mick