Fountain pens ?

[Annaishere]

Can anyone recommend a brand also how much should I spend to get a good one ?

Wig and Pens are very popular on Twitter. No idea re prices but they seem pretty exclusive and loved by the legal profession.

The one posted comes with red ink

Does anyone have a none scratchy soft fountain pen in blue or black goosfor lefties ?

I have 7 Waterman pens including a fountain pen, rollerball and ball pen set. My Dad bought me a new Waterman when I passed my A level over 40 years ago and it still writes perfectly. I won't take it out of the house as I'm afraid of losing it and I have hardly anything left my Dad gave me.

I have Cross, Lammy and Preppy.

Preppy are the cheapest but are really nice to write with and the ink comes in various colours, I have a green one with green ink, a purple one with purple ink. THey are a nice weight for someone not used to writing with them.

They do some really nice designs as well. I buy from cult pens.
Preppy are about £10, Lammy £20+ and Cross, £50 - a few hundred.

https://cultpens.com/collections/platinum-preppy

Can anyone that’s ordered from pen heaven remember if it’s delivered in plain packaging ? As the person the gift is for will be the only one in the house when it’s delivered ?

It is plain but there's a very small return address on the postage label. Depends if they'll study the label closely or not.

Thanks @whatausername

Oh I'm glad Annaishere started this thread. So many brands I've never heard of and lots of temptation! I think some brands used to do left handed nibs (so the angle went with the direction of the stroke) Bemorebernard, but I don't know how common this is now.

You could have it delivered to somewhere else, work, a friend or the post office.

As for left handed pens, you only need a different nib if you use an italic nib. Yo might find it easier with a flexible nib.

The best option is probably to go into a shop (if you can find one) and try different pens and nibs.

Another thing to consider is the speed the ink dries and how you hold a pen. IF you drag your hand across what has just been written it is going to smear. If you do that it might be worth trying an oblique pen, normally used for calligraphy.

If you area 'turn the page' and keep your hand under your writing it shouldn't matter as much.

I love fountain pens and have far too many. The trouble is, you don't know how well it suits you until you've used it for a while.
I recently bought a w h smith's soft grip pen, on sale for about £2.50. It's great. I went back and bought the other 4 on display.
I'm left handed too.

I love the Diamine inks, including the shimmer inks but find they make my (Waterman) pen unhappy - the pigment seems to clog up the nib. Is that something others have found? I could try it with another pen if not, I have others around the place that I don't usually use but could do for particular jobs like Christmas cards.

I'd love a fountain pen but no idea when I would use it! What do you use yours for? Journal? Diary? Letter writing?

I bought a Lamy and it's actually stopped working. No idea why.

I always think I'm going to write my Christmas cards beautifully in ink - I usually get one card in, the nib gets stuck and I get my ballpen out.

I only use shimmer inks in my Jinhaos, as if they do fail then they only cost £2. I only part fill the converter and don’t store pens with shimmer inks with the shimmer in for long to try to stop the shimmer sticking. The other trick is to get a pen which disassembles for full cleaning. My standard (non-shimmer) diamine inks haven’t had problem in any lens I have.

I think fountain pens are a hugely personal preference tbh.

I like Lamy as an inexpensive everyday pen though.

I write my uni notes in them. I use three colours of ink for notes, examples and exercises.