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Fountain pens and ink?
mcnicks | Apr 30 2006
Another pen question! I have been experimenting with rollerball type pens and I just cannot settle with them. I have a terrible tendancy to squeeze my pens and place too much pressure on the paper, and anything that encourages me to do that is out. So I have decided to experiment with fountain pens. The first major stumbling block I have is being left-handed. That means I am likely to encounter issues with writing angle and with smudging. However, at least I know that fountain pens require much less pressure to write with, so I am willing to give a few a go. So far, I have unearthed an old fountain pen of mine and some even older ink. After a bit of a clean, it is writing fairly well and, as long as I keep my wrist rotated, I can write legibly without smudging everything. The main problem is that the profile of the pen, where the cap fits, requires me to hold it a bit too close to the nib, which pulls my posture in and brings my hand round to smudging territory. Its still nice to write with, though. I am now on the lookout for fountain pens that write well at different angles, and that are not averse to being pushed across the page by left-handers. I am also hoping that fountain pen inks may have improved over the past 20 years (yes, the last time I dabbled with fountain pens was when I was a teenager). Do any of you have any suggestions? David 72 Comments
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 Excellent! Another FP lover....Submitted by a11en on June 21, 2006 - 10:53pm.
Excellent! Another FP lover. :) They are joys to use. With the water - I've always heard it's best to use RT or cool water... not warm/hot... reason being the close tolerances in the plastic/metal and/or mis-matched plastic types fittings. This may be more important for older pens, but you may wish to use room-temperature water to ensure nothing weird happens to the pen. Honestly, though I don't think it's going to be much of a problem. Ink- if you can't seem to get it out, you can also soak the tip in water over night most likely... if you place just a bit of 409 into the water (actually, you can use a lot of 409 if you really want to), it should speed up the process a bit. I tend not to use cartridges, so if I have this problem, I just suck up water, and expell it in the sink, suck up more water... ad nauseum until the water runs clear... then I dry the pen out (usually by centrifugal force inside a paper towel) and suck up the color of interest. If you have the converter for the pen, you should check out Noodler's inks. I love them to insanity. Favorite so far is the Legal Lapis avail. through pendemonium, a nice strong blue-black that is permanent on paper. Very very glad you love the pen, Michael!! :) Excited for ya. I still remember when it all clicked for me and my m150. :) » POSTED IN:
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