Nibs & Knives ; Do you love fountain pens too ?

Japanese Knives - by Tokushu Knife
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Bought quite a few fountain pens years ago but the packaging for the limited editions took up so much space while the upward increasing prices ran away from my budget so I stopped collecting them. My favorite pens back then were the limited edition Namiki Emperor maki-e fountain pens with the wonderful lacquer paintings. Much much more refined compared with Montblanc limited editions.
 
Ochazuke said:
Yes! I love my Pilot e95s
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that's what josh has been writing with here. Right now, I've got a lamy studio with a 1.9mm stub and R&H Salix, a Lamy Joy with a 1.9mm stub and pilot iroshizuku yu-yake, a sailor pro gear imperial black with sailor kiwaguro, a platinum 3776 with a music nib and R&H Sepia, and a Pilot Justus 95 with sailor sei-boku, an opus 88 with a custom feed and housing for a zebra g nib and noodles liberty's elysium all inked up right now... and a bunch of others taking a break at the moment.
 
I have too many to list .
Been a fountain pen fan for years and just getting into cooking knives .
Of course we love J pens and knives most . :)
A few of my current faves are :
Nagasawa Pro Color Fountain Pen - Sumaura Sand Beige - Medium Nib
Nagasawa Original Profit Jr. Skeleton Fountain Pen - Gold Trim - Medium Fine Nib
Love the Nagasawa "Kobe" inks too !
Franklin Christoph Model 55 Pentium FP (IPO) - Black & Antique Glass - 14k Extra Fine
ystudio Resin - Red -Fine
 
Here are some pictures of one of the last expensive pens I've ever bought, the Namiki Yukari Royale Peacock Limited Edition Maki-e Fountain Pen. I bought it in 2005. It was expensive then and when I saw one recently on Ebay, the price blew me away.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Namiki-Yuk...ted-Edition-Maki-e-Fountain-Pen-/222230878045
Definitely can't spend that type of money nowadays.

Anyways enjoy the pix and I hope you guys will share some of your pen pix as well.
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Nice to see a pen thread in here as well. This used to be one of my main hobbies 🙂

Have a couple as well, but no Japanese ones to be honest.
I had a Nakaya on my list for a long time, but there was always some other limited edition that came first...
At a certain point I just decided I had enough pens, and am kind of happy I broke free from always wanting to buy more.
 
This is the one that started, and ended it all for me.
I remember seeing it in real life, and it sparked my interest in pens, however it was beyond reasonable as a first proper 'daily user' pen in all aspects; way to expensive to even consider buying, and way to gaudy to use out in the open. However, as 'art' I really loved everything about it, I still don't know why.
A few years later I had the funds, and wanted it, but couldn't find one anymore...
I lost interest in pens for a while, and then out of the blue got an offer to buy it, and I jumped on it.
So it was one of the first I laid eyes on, and the last I actually bought.

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These are my most used daily drivers:
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Chopper88 said:
This is the one that started, and ended it all for me.
I remember seeing it in real life, and it sparked my interest in pens, however it was beyond reasonable as a first proper 'daily user' pen in all aspects; way to expensive to even consider buying, and way to gaudy to use out in the open. However, as 'art' I really loved everything about it, I still don't know why.
A few years later I had the funds, and wanted it, but couldn't find one anymore...
I lost interest in pens for a while, and then out of the blue got an offer to buy it, and I jumped on it.
So it was one of the first I laid eyes on, and the last I actually bought.

View attachment 109239

These are my most used daily drivers:
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our taste in daily pens seems more or less in line.

I worked at a company where note taking was done with pen/paper and my M800s did the vast majority of the daily duty.

nowadays everyone takes notes on computers so...
 
Depending on surroundings I either use my 149 when amongst people I know well, the m800 when I don't want to draw too much attention, or just the computer or a cheap rollerball when I don't want any attention at all.
 
I am just starting to discover this hobby for myself. Fountain pens and mechanical pencils, as well as writing on high quality paper.

I just got myself a Kaweco Classic with a fine nib, now I'm already toying with the aluminum version.

And the Parker IM really appeals to me, I've been a Parker fan since I was a kid ..

But I deliberately take it very slowly ... I already have 3 expensive hobbies that I want to spend more money on than would be reasonable.

In the meantime, I am enjoying the rediscovered fun of handwriting !!
 
come to the dark side with your first nakaya and before you know it you will be wondering if you can get a urushi with raden and gold powder wa handle on your favorite gyuto.
 
This reminds me in 1970's was between jobs taught myself how to write calligraphy with special pen.

Wrote my application for job at Sheraton Waikiki in fancy script. First large hotel job. I knew they had ice carver wanted to learn.

Got my first MontBlanc black resin with gold accents from eBay 25 years ago. Soon after bought another fancy Silver also off ebay. Both were used pens paid 90.00 for black & 140.00 for silver. Used the black pen at work for years everyday. It's little beat up scuffed up clip micro scratches years in production kitchen. Don't know how many refills. The Silver used much less it gets tarnished as Silver does, drop of silver polish makes her shine again. Took to MontBlanc at Ala Moana they confirmed authenticity. So many sold on ebay now are high end counterfeits.
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Looking good Keith!

I spent a lot of time finding a pen / ink / paper combination that I can commit to.
Current favourite:
Lamy LX with an after market M (rounded point not oblique) 14k gold nib (not my most expensive pen, but smiles per line are disproportionately high, it’s nigh on indestructible, and easy to disassemble and clean)
Clairefontaine 90gsm paper (I’m currently rocking that paper in a Rhodia Webbie notebook)
Pilot Iroshizuku bottled ink (by far the best flow that I’ve had with the above combination). Some of the colours are just stunning. I’m a blue boy so asa gao, kon peki, shin Kai and tsuki yo are high up in rotation (in that order), but others like momji and fuyu gaki are stunners too. I really wish they made a ox blood / rust brownish red, but alas not as yet.

Used multiple times daily.

I’ve been trying some interesting Japanese Awagami papers this week. Damn expensive but really interesting in their behaviour with the ink, given their very different ingredients in the pulp blends (like hemp, kawa, cotton, etc).
 
Troopah_Knives said:
I don't have much of a collection. But I do have a couple of Caran D'Ache Fountain pens that I have used pretty much every day for the last 4 years. Much more enjoyable writing experience than a roller ball IMO.
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Nice! Which nib are you enjoying?
Have you had to play around with the tines at all?
I found tuning my tines so they were proper straight was a night and day performance improvement (a bit like thinning a knife behind the edge). There’s such a small amount in it, but in my case it drastically changed the flow of ink.
I’m guessing a combination of violent couriers / shipping knocks out to Australia can compound what would probably be a minor manufacturing variance.
Anyone in the USA use Goulet Pens for purchases?
I was a big purchaser before the Aussie Dollar tanked….
 
NameAlreadyTaken said:
Nice! Which nib are you enjoying?
Have you had to play around with the tines at all?
I found tuning my tines so they were proper straight was a night and day performance improvement (a bit like thinning a knife behind the edge). There’s such a small amount in it, but in my case it drastically changed the flow of ink.
I’m guessing a combination of violent couriers / shipping knocks out to Australia can compound what would probably be a minor manufacturing variance.
Anyone in the USA use Goulet Pens for purchases?
I was a big purchaser before the Aussie Dollar tanked….
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I use the medium stainless steel nibs they came with. But could certainly see upgrading them. I just don't really know what sort of compatibility they have. I have never looked into playing with the tines. IDK how I would even do that. Sounds like an interesting idea though!
 
Troopah_Knives said:
I use the medium stainless steel nibs they came with. But could certainly see upgrading them. I just don't really know what sort of compatibility they have. I have never looked into playing with the tines. IDK how I would even do that. Sounds like an interesting idea though!
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Depends on how hard the stainless nib is. The Lamy stainless was a bit too hard for the paper I was writing on and it would go all scratchy on anything other than glass smooth paper. The gold nib I got because it’s softer and has slightly more flex, hence better responsiveness on paper.
It’s pretty easy to play around with tines. You just need a loupe and straight edge for reference (can be a piece of copy paper). You don’t want to try and bend / flex with your fingers as that’s kind of too much force / too imprecise. In my case my gold nib had converging tines, which were only visible with a loupe, but that explained why I had to press down hard on the paper to get good ink flow and saturation. All I ended up doing was progressively threading increasing thicknesses of paper through the middle of the tines until they lined up parallel. It took a bit of fine tuning / dialling in to get the right separation (you don’t want too much otherwise you end up with spotting), but it was just me playing with the nib, writing with it, playing a bit more. Kind of like deburring, where I’m checking the cutting performance dragging through paper towel to see how clean the edge is, then going back and doing it all over again because VG10 is a pain? 🤣
 
I started journaling recently and bought myself a Pilot Metropolitan and a Lamy Studio AL, both with fine nibs. I didn't get on too well with the Lamy and gave it to my brother (who's the one who encountered me to journal). Now, a few weeks in, I'm mainly writing with TWSBI 580 (fine and extra fine nibs). I also have a Pilot Prera at my office and use it quite frequently there.

What gets me more excited than the pens, though, is the ink. I just filled my TWSBI with Robert Oster Thunderstorm and my Metropolitan with Carbon Black. I own about 10 inks now and imagine that the number will double within a few weeks.
 
MrHiggins said:
I started journaling recently and bought myself a Pilot Metropolitan and a Lamy Studio AL, both with fine nibs. I didn't get on too well with the Lamy and gave it to my brother (who's the one who encountered me to journal). Now, a few weeks in, I'm mainly writing with TWSBI 580 (fine and extra fine nibs). I also have a Pilot Prera at my office and use it quite frequently there.

What gets me more excited than the pens, though, is the ink. I just filled my TWSBI with Robert Oster Thunderstorm and my Metropolitan with Carbon Black. I own about 10 inks now and imagine that the number will double within a few weeks.
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Awesome! How do you find refilling the TWSBI? It looks pretty cool.
If you haven’t tried any Pilot Iroshizuku ink yet, I can thoroughly recommend it. Way better than the alternatives that I can get here in Australia, although I should note that we don’t get Noodlers or the more interesting alternatives out here. It’s performance is better than the Mont Blancs, Diamines, Lamys and Pelikans that I own.
 
The only fountain pen I currently use now out of my Waterman's and Parkers is my Pilot Vanishing Point. Smoother writing than all my other pens but with the reliability of a ball-point.
 
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