fountain pen infodump incoming in this thread

[inherentlee@flipping.rocks]

fountain pen infodump incoming in this thread

[inherentlee@flipping.rocks]

i will not be editing from its original format so it's a little wandery

[inherentlee@flipping.rocks]

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

[inherentlee@flipping.rocks]

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

[inherentlee@flipping.rocks]

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: https://www.jetpens.com/Pilot-Metropolitan-Fountain-Pen-Black-Plain-Fine/pd/12075 )
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

[valhalla@social.gl-como.it]

@inherentlee 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.

[valhalla@social.gl-como.it]

@inherentlee 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.

[inherentlee@flipping.rocks]

@valhalla PREPPYS as eyedroppers???? omg! I would never 😰

[valhalla@social.gl-como.it]

@inherentlee 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

[therealkuu@chaos.social]

@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

[therealkuu@chaos.social]

@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@social.gl-como.it]

@therealkuu @inherentlee 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”