TWSBI makes pretty amazing pens imo they *don't* work with cartridges though because they don't work with cartidges though, they can do a super cool thing where the ink reservoir is the whole fucking barrel which a) makes for a much less fiddly experience imo, messing with ink converters is always kinda fiddly cause they are smaller and b) means they hold a lot more ink they're also (generally? always?) clear-barreled, so you can see ink levels which imo, those things together really limit how much the no-cartirdges affects you
oh! if youre gonna buy pens btw AVOID GOULET they give money to homophobic christian shit I would rec Vanness or maybe Atlas or Goldspot. I tend to shop from Vanness. JetPens also has great stuff but they are broader-focused so their fountain pen stock is less expansive - they are more generally stationery
edit to add: also if you're gonna buy inks avoid noodlers they've had some weird antisemitic bs
re: TWSBI, it's kinda gonna be sticker shock regardless (sorry), but they have a $37 pen called the Eco which is a beaut. Their lowest priced pen is $22 and looks a little cheaper and potentially more breakable imo but likely a decent intro still If you want a cheaper intro pen, Pilot has some good ones. The preppy iirc is SUPER cheap, and the Metropolitan is around $10? I think? Let me fact check that Ooop, wrong, I think the preppy is maybe the $10 one. Metro is $22 (on Jetpens at least: jetpens.com/Pilot-Metropolitan… ) I think I also might have an old Metro from college around, and I have a few other intro pens incl a SHARK PEN if you ever wanted to just try for free! I don't use the Metro or the shark, so I would be happy to pass them along w/ a bottle of ink or some cartridges And I might have another 1 or 2 intro pens around but idr Re: preppy, it has a plastic body, I would generally avoid plastic bodies as they have a tendancy to break pretty quick Oh! And regarding places to buy, Kinokuniya (international district seattle) has some great stock, incl. Pilots No TWSBI to my knowledge tho
(uh commentary on above: 1. the offer for a pen and ink is not valid lmao sorry 2. originally aimed at some seattle friends thus kinokuniya ref 3. i realize later in the thread that it is the PLATINUM Preppy)
hmm.... Lamy also makes some great pens if you're ok with proprietary cartridges. You can always use a converter instead of a cartridge though, and just put bottled ink in The Lamy Safari (slightly cheaper, prettysturdy plastic body) or Al-Star (slightly more expensive, aluminum body (edit: someone in comments mentions it is aluminum over plastic)) and Kaweco sport are both about the same price point as the TWSBI eco - Lamy has a triangular grip which can be quite polarizing - Lamy uses proprietary cartidges as mentioned - Sport is a pocket pen, which means ifyou don't post it (aka put the cap on teh back of the pen) it is quite short - Sport uses standardized short international cartridges
Starter Fountain Pens ← Menu Top Picks Country of Origin Pen Accessories / Brands This section consists of fountain pens under 50 dollars. Fountain pens are a unique and interesting writing instrument.
nothing over $50 which again, kinda sticker shock, but that's fountain pens for ya OH WOOPS NOT THE PILOT PREPPY THE PLATINUM PREPPY Got that mixed up Pilot has the Kakuno which is similarly plastic bodied I had a Preppy once and it broke on me so again not super fond of plastic bodies
TWSBI for the record is not a cheap plastic, I am not sure what material their clear parts are but it is very sturdy ummmmm what else besides the fact that i seriously should have threaded this Oh my actual favorite pen is a pocket pen from Tom's STudio but that was a gift, they are pretty pricy like $100something pricy 😬
ummmmm if you get into pens there's a neat website to track your pens and inks - incl. which ink is in which pen fountainpencompanion.com/ another nice thing if you get into em is an ink swatch book like this one vanness1938.com/products/col-o…
With the combined efforts of The Well-Appointed Desk and Skylab Letterpress, we put our heads together to create THE PERFECT INK TESTING BOOK, The Col-o-ring.
Oh! And I personally really like a flat tip nib, either an architect or a stub nib - architect nibs are harder to find and more expensive whereas stub nibs are a little easier. They look more calligraphic with broad and narrow strokes vs a consistently sized stroke......lemme get you apic of that actually
my stub nib pen isn't inked rn but it's basically the opposite of an architect with narrow cross strokes and wide down strokes and i already have 3 pens inked so sorry i will not be inking another
there's more that another friend chimed in with, fae are on fedi so i am gonna ask faer if they want to contribute directly or if i should paraphrase, so hold pls (for an indeterminate amt of time)
Wait, do you mean that unlike pen nibs, subjects like weather, sports, food, wine, gifts and fashion aren't genuine special interests, but a subtly coded protocol around social and economic class and status hierarchies?
you might enjoy the east asian long knife nibs (japanese term is different i forget it tho) they’re kinda like a reverse architect from what i understand. i think i like the fude nibs a bit better tho their line variation is depending on the angle—very versatile for drawing!
i’m a big fan of the cheap chinese brand pens lol. not so cheap with tariffs these days but all metal bodies and interesting nibs the west doesn’t have.. only one of my like 8 hongdian pens didn’t work right out of the box. i just swapped out my long knife today otherwise i would show an example 😅
idk how I missed that! I am not super knowledgeable about fountain pens but am trying to make sense of stuff. I got two with proprietary cartridges and I don’t like them. I want to choose the ink!
@gretared I also really recommend getting a syringe with a long but fat needle and use that to clean out and refill cartridges with whatever ink you want.
@silhelm @gretared Or you buy one of those (or similar). The snorkel also fits on syringes. I purchased mine at "octopus inks" and it seems as if they also sell the snorkel separately.
@gretared yea! lamys are the main fountain pen we sell at work (though theyre slowly expanding... will make a 2nd post on that). theyve got some Very loyal fans. i always recommend people get the converter bc its only slightly more expensive than a pack of cartridges ($6-7ish vs $5 where i work lol) but you can use you own ink
we have the safari (which is plastic body.. ive personally never had one break on me and i had one for a while before losing it, but ymmv. mine was one of their annual limited edition colors, a matte purple that i really liked), the al-star (exactly like the safari but with a metal body, a lil more expensive), the vista (exactly like the safari but with a transparent plastic shell which i think is cool but it's a lil cheaper than the safari), and the 2000 (which is like $200 and is piston-filled instead of having cartridges). plus some roller balls, ball points, and mechanical pencils.
i accidentally took on the mantle of "lamy expert" after a fountainpenhead coworker left a couple years ago, lol. theyre in a lock case near the registers so i end up talking about them a lot
@gretared i have a safari pencil and its not rlly worth the price imo, i hate the eraser + refill system and there's just better options out there. i do like the xevo (ballpoint) though, we've been using one on our calendar for loke 2 years now and it hasn't need refilled
anyway
(oh we also have the copic fountain pen (which i Hate, it's very very unreliable ime), and the pilot varsity (which is disposable and cheap but good for what it is imo))
new pens we got recently: platinum prefounte: our new least expensive refillable fountain pen at under $15. i like it just fine, i use it for sketching sometimes. idk im not very picky, nor am i a huge fountainpenhead, but its suited my purposes fine
platinum plaisir: metal body. haven't tried one
sailor tuzu: a $60 pen. haven't tried it. its main gimmick is that, i guess the nib is on a swivel or something? so you can write at any angle apparently. ive never struggled w this with fountain pens so, shrug?
I got a lamy AL STAR and it's ok. tbh I thought the body was entirely aluminum but it's actually plastic with an aluminum shell. it's ok. im not sad. I am actually sad though
@turgon oh huh, i never would’ve guessed that! not a metal pen fan myself, but despite that i’ve been considering one of the aluminum liliputs as a purse pen…
edit: ignore my dumb ass, my brain completely misinterpreted the al-star as the aluminum kaweco sport
People who want a fine or extra fine nib I always point at the Pilot Kakuno to try out, Pilot's xf nibs are the smoothest ones you can get in cheap steel. If you want a better xf nib you'll be spending a LOT more on one made of gold. Kakuno nibs can be pretty easily swapped into a Metropolitan body for a classier look if desired.
@neckspike On the subject of fine nibs: Platinum's UEF is the finest I've found so far. Not on the budget end, but worth knowing about for those who like it lean.
It's worth mentioning in this thread that Japanese nibs tend to be a half-size smaller than their European equivalents.
Also worth knowing that many/most pens can be written with the nib upside-down, to get a finer line. Yes, I do this with the aforementioned UEFs, and that's how I finally got the line I wanted :)
Kinokuniya is the tits! I'd never heard of them before landing here in Bangkok, there are a few in the malls. Such a great bookstore. I'll miss just browsing around them. I wonder if there are any in the northeast US?
@lee here the preppy is still at less than 5 EUR, except for the limited editions with prints that are around 10 EUR, about the same price as the prefounte (plastic body, but with a different plastic), and the cheapest aluminum body from platinum is the plaisir at 16 EUR.
Plus almost 10 EUR for a converter, or 1.50 EUR for an adapter to use international cartridges instead of the proprietary platinum ones (sigh).
I have the adapter, but I've never used it because I have also splurged on the converters for all of my preppys, because shiny fancy inks :D
And I'm very happy with the functionality of my preppys, and up to now I've managed not to fidget with the clip and not break it like I did with the clips on disposable gel pens, but yeah, it feels exactly the same plastic as those, and I don't trust them to last a lifetime like other fountain pens would.
@lee also, I've read about converting preppys to eyedroppers: I don't know if I'd trust that plastic with that much ink in my bag, but then I also use EF nibs, and with those even half a converter is plenty of ink for day-to-day writing, so it's not a big deal.
@lee I believe one would only need one o-ring, a touch of silicone grease, and a ton of liquid absorbent material to safely carry it around in case the plastic breaks, right? :D
@valhalla i did eyedropper a preppy for a bit, just used vaseline, no o-ring, no safety precautions, but somewhat careful and very regular use
it never shattered, it never leaked (i think i wrote it for ~3 fills) but it came damn close to leaking several times basically the threads had 0 friction anymore and would constantly start unscrewing, i just always cought it in time and screwed it back in @inherentlee
@valhalla at some point i just started using cartridges again but cleaning/refilling them myself, its just less mess and apart from that time when i was writing stupidly much i never needed that much volume again
one thing i loved about preppies was their japanese ef nibs (never found sth finer that wasnt a dip pen), and that they come in so many colors, was using 4-5 different color ones daily for a while (math lectures with tons of color meta information) @inherentlee
@valhalla also at least in my experience, reused cartridges hold a bit more than their converter counterparts, and they don't have a moving seal like converters do, so no chance of leaked ink in internals that makes stuff harder to clean @inherentlee
@lenchen unredeemable @lee indeed, preppy made me go back to considering fountain pens a reasonable option for writing after years of snobbishly using a dip pen because it was the only thing fine enough for my writing :)
one day I want to buy a plaisir, but I know that if I do that I'd also buy a few¹ bottles of inks and I'd better use some of the ink I have first :D
@valhalla I've managed to break a Preppy by carefully screwing it shut after filling, so yeah, they're not sturdy. But on every other count they're absolutely lovely.
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lee
in reply to lee • • •lee
in reply to lee • • •they *don't* work with cartridges though
because they don't work with cartidges though, they can do a super cool thing where the ink reservoir is the whole fucking barrel
which a) makes for a much less fiddly experience imo, messing with ink converters is always kinda fiddly cause they are smaller
and b) means they hold a lot more ink
they're also (generally? always?) clear-barreled, so you can see ink levels
which imo, those things together really limit how much the no-cartirdges affects you
lee
in reply to lee • • •oh! if youre gonna buy pens btw
AVOID GOULET
they give money to homophobic christian shit
I would rec Vanness or maybe Atlas or Goldspot. I tend to shop from Vanness. JetPens also has great stuff but they are broader-focused so their fountain pen stock is less expansive - they are more generally stationery
edit to add: also if you're gonna buy inks avoid noodlers they've had some weird antisemitic bs
lee
in reply to lee • • •If you want a cheaper intro pen, Pilot has some good ones. The preppy iirc is SUPER cheap, and the Metropolitan is around $10? I think? Let me fact check that
Ooop, wrong, I think the preppy is maybe the $10 one. Metro is $22 (on Jetpens at least: jetpens.com/Pilot-Metropolitan… )
I think I also might have an old Metro from college around, and I have a few other intro pens incl a SHARK PEN if you ever wanted to just try for free!
I don't use the Metro or the shark, so I would be happy to pass them along w/ a bottle of ink or some cartridges
And I might have another 1 or 2 intro pens around but idr
Re: preppy, it has a plastic body, I would generally avoid plastic bodies as they have a tendancy to break pretty quick
Oh! And regarding places to buy, Kinokuniya (international district seattle) has some great stock, incl. Pilots
No TWSBI to my knowledge tho
lee
in reply to lee • • •1. the offer for a pen and ink is not valid lmao sorry
2. originally aimed at some seattle friends thus kinokuniya ref
3. i realize later in the thread that it is the PLATINUM Preppy)
lee
in reply to lee • • •The Lamy Safari (slightly cheaper, prettysturdy plastic body) or Al-Star (slightly more expensive, aluminum body (edit: someone in comments mentions it is aluminum over plastic)) and Kaweco sport are both about the same price point as the TWSBI eco
- Lamy has a triangular grip which can be quite polarizing
- Lamy uses proprietary cartidges as mentioned
- Sport is a pocket pen, which means ifyou don't post it (aka put the cap on teh back of the pen) it is quite short
- Sport uses standardized short international cartridges
lee
in reply to lee • • •Fountain Pens for Beginners Main Page
Vannesslee
in reply to lee • • •which again, kinda sticker shock, but that's fountain pens for ya
OH WOOPS
NOT THE PILOT PREPPY
THE PLATINUM PREPPY
Got that mixed up
Pilot has the Kakuno which is similarly plastic bodied
I had a Preppy once and it broke on me so again not super fond of plastic bodies
lee
in reply to lee • • •ummmmm what else
besides the fact that i seriously should have threaded this
Oh my actual favorite pen is a pocket pen from Tom's STudio but that was a gift, they are pretty pricy
like $100something pricy 😬
lee
in reply to lee • • •another nice thing if you get into em is an ink swatch book like this one vanness1938.com/products/col-o…
Col-O-Ring Ink Testing Book
Vannesslee
in reply to lee • • •lee
in reply to lee • • •and i already have 3 pens inked so sorry i will not be inking another
lee
in reply to lee • • •not a lot of other intro pens do
one more reason to love twsbi imo bc god do i love that heavy look
lee
in reply to lee • • •lee
in reply to lee • • •anyway for the time being
hashtag autism
Jeff Miller (orange hatband)
in reply to lee • • •lee
in reply to Jeff Miller (orange hatband) • • •bloo ✩°⋆. ₊˚⸝⸝𖠚ᐝ
in reply to lee • • •lee
in reply to bloo ✩°⋆. ₊˚⸝⸝𖠚ᐝ • • •bloo ✩°⋆. ₊˚⸝⸝𖠚ᐝ
in reply to lee • • •lee
in reply to bloo ✩°⋆. ₊˚⸝⸝𖠚ᐝ • • •quagga 🦆
in reply to lee • • •lee
in reply to quagga 🦆 • • •quagga 🦆
in reply to lee • • •lee
in reply to quagga 🦆 • • •gretared
in reply to lee • • •lee
in reply to gretared • • •lee
in reply to lee • • •lee
in reply to lee • • •gretared
in reply to lee • • •lee
in reply to gretared • • •StarSloth
in reply to lee • • •Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
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lee
in reply to StarSloth • • •C3Casi
in reply to lee • • •bugdog :party_wurmple:
in reply to gretared • • •Sensitive content
@gretared yea! lamys are the main fountain pen we sell at work (though theyre slowly expanding... will make a 2nd post on that). theyve got some Very loyal fans. i always recommend people get the converter bc its only slightly more expensive than a pack of cartridges ($6-7ish vs $5 where i work lol) but you can use you own ink
we have the safari (which is plastic body.. ive personally never had one break on me and i had one for a while before losing it, but ymmv. mine was one of their annual limited edition colors, a matte purple that i really liked),
the al-star (exactly like the safari but with a metal body, a lil more expensive),
the vista (exactly like the safari but with a transparent plastic shell which i think is cool but it's a lil cheaper than the safari),
and the 2000 (which is like $200 and is piston-filled instead of having cartridges). plus some roller balls, ball points, and mechanical pencils.
lee
in reply to bugdog :party_wurmple: • • •Sensitive content
@trashguts @gretared ope i totally forgooooot about the safari, i have that, not the AL-Star, i trust that plastic body mroe, hasn't broken on me yet
lemme edit what i said a lil
bugdog :party_wurmple:
in reply to lee • • •Sensitive content
bugdog :party_wurmple:
in reply to bugdog :party_wurmple: • • •Sensitive content
@gretared i have a safari pencil and its not rlly worth the price imo, i hate the eraser + refill system and there's just better options out there. i do like the xevo (ballpoint) though, we've been using one on our calendar for loke 2 years now and it hasn't need refilled
anyway
(oh we also have the copic fountain pen (which i Hate, it's very very unreliable ime), and the pilot varsity (which is disposable and cheap but good for what it is imo))
new pens we got recently:
platinum prefounte: our new least expensive refillable fountain pen at under $15. i like it just fine, i use it for sketching sometimes. idk im not very picky, nor am i a huge fountainpenhead, but its suited my purposes fine
platinum plaisir: metal body. haven't tried one
sailor tuzu: a $60 pen. haven't tried it. its main gimmick is that, i guess the nib is on a swivel or something? so you can write at any angle apparently. ive never struggled w this with fountain pens so, shrug?
Nick
in reply to lee • • •lee
in reply to Nick • • •bri
in reply to Nick • • •@turgon oh huh, i never would’ve guessed that! not a metal pen fan myself, but despite that i’ve been considering one of the aluminum liliputs as a purse pen…
edit: ignore my dumb ass, my brain completely misinterpreted the al-star as the aluminum kaweco sport
Nick
in reply to bri • • •lee
in reply to Nick • • •bri
in reply to lee • • •A cool crab wearing shades
in reply to lee • • •lee
in reply to A cool crab wearing shades • • •Kat (post-Hallowe'en edition)
in reply to A cool crab wearing shades • • •@neckspike On the subject of fine nibs: Platinum's UEF is the finest I've found so far. Not on the budget end, but worth knowing about for those who like it lean.
It's worth mentioning in this thread that Japanese nibs tend to be a half-size smaller than their European equivalents.
Also worth knowing that many/most pens can be written with the nib upside-down, to get a finer line. Yes, I do this with the aforementioned UEFs, and that's how I finally got the line I wanted :)
Mystery Babylon
in reply to lee • • •lee
in reply to Mystery Babylon • • •@erosdiscordia i fucking LOVE that place
no idea about northeast, i never knew of em before seattle, but that doesn't mean much
coffeentacos
in reply to lee • • •the metro got a price bump some years back, I think just pre-covid? Used to be a $15 pen here in Canada, now it’s like $30 iirc.
My Eco-T is my daily driver, such a solid pen and feels like the ink never runs out
lee
in reply to coffeentacos • • •Elena ``of Valhalla''
in reply to lee • •@lee here the preppy is still at less than 5 EUR, except for the limited editions with prints that are around 10 EUR, about the same price as the prefounte (plastic body, but with a different plastic), and the cheapest aluminum body from platinum is the plaisir at 16 EUR.
Plus almost 10 EUR for a converter, or 1.50 EUR for an adapter to use international cartridges instead of the proprietary platinum ones (sigh).
I have the adapter, but I've never used it because I have also splurged on the converters for all of my preppys, because shiny fancy inks :D
And I'm very happy with the functionality of my preppys, and up to now I've managed not to fidget with the clip and not break it like I did with the clips on disposable gel pens, but yeah, it feels exactly the same plastic as those, and I don't trust them to last a lifetime like other fountain pens would.
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Elena ``of Valhalla''
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lee
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla'' • • •Elena ``of Valhalla''
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lee
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla'' • • •Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
lenchen unredeemable
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla'' • • •@valhalla
i did eyedropper a preppy for a bit, just used vaseline, no o-ring, no safety precautions, but somewhat careful and very regular use
it never shattered, it never leaked (i think i wrote it for ~3 fills)
but it came damn close to leaking several times
basically the threads had 0 friction anymore and would constantly start unscrewing, i just always cought it in time and screwed it back in
@inherentlee
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lenchen unredeemable
in reply to lenchen unredeemable • • •@valhalla
at some point i just started using cartridges again but cleaning/refilling them myself, its just less mess and apart from that time when i was writing stupidly much i never needed that much volume again
one thing i loved about preppies was their japanese ef nibs (never found sth finer that wasnt a dip pen), and that they come in so many colors, was using 4-5 different color ones daily for a while (math lectures with tons of color meta information)
@inherentlee
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lenchen unredeemable
in reply to lenchen unredeemable • • •also at least in my experience, reused cartridges hold a bit more than their converter counterparts, and they don't have a moving seal like converters do, so no chance of leaked ink in internals that makes stuff harder to clean
@inherentlee
lee reshared this.
Elena ``of Valhalla''
in reply to lenchen unredeemable • •@lenchen unredeemable @lee indeed, preppy made me go back to considering fountain pens a reasonable option for writing after years of snobbishly using a dip pen because it was the only thing fine enough for my writing :)
one day I want to buy a plaisir, but I know that if I do that I'd also buy a few¹ bottles of inks and I'd better use some of the ink I have first :D
¹ they may not be technically “few”
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A cool crab wearing shades
in reply to lee • • •Tone 🚴♀️
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Orrock LXXXVI XLVII
in reply to lee • • •ULINE - Shipping Boxes, Shipping Supplies, Packaging Materials, Packing Supplies
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