On Entry-level Fountain Pens
I’ve promised a few people on Facebook some words on fountain pens for beginners, and I’m putting it here because I don’t like how FB handles long posts and links. I'm not an expert on fountain pens, but here that may be an advantage. I also have some biases when it comes to pens, but I’ll point them out as they come up so that the reader can allow for them.
I’m going to start by explaining a bit about how fountain pens work. I’m not going to say a lot on this because other people have already done it better, in exhausting detail. If more information is needed, I highly recommend the Fountain of Knowledge section of the Goulet Pen Company website. (Bias: I have a mad pen-crush on the GPC and have bought many of my pens and most of my inks from them. Knowledgeable people, excellent service. There are other online businesses I use, but Goulet is my first stop when I am shopping for pen-related supplies.)
The ball-point pen that everyone is familiar has a ink in the form of a paste that is laid down on the paper by the ball in the point of the pen. (Hence the name.) This takes effort on the part of the writer, though admittedly some brands of ball points are less of an effort to use than others. In a fountain pen the ink is water-based, and it uses capillary action to get the ink from the reservoir in the body down on to the paper. One does not need to press the pen against the paper when using a fountain pen (indeed, pressing a fountain pen is bad)-physics does all the work for the writer.
I started using fountain pens a few years ago because I had been writing my fiction and rpg freelance work in a combination of long-hand on paper and word processing, and I had gotten tired of fighting bad ball points. My first fountain pen (a Lamy Safari, see below) was a revelation in how easy writing could be, and I was in love. However, I think it’s important, especially when talking to the fountain-pen-curious, to be realistic about what the pros and cons of fountain pens are.
PROS:
-Smooth writing experience (This is a really big pro, imho.)
-Huge selection of ink colors
-Most are refillable, so you don’t keep throwing disposable pens in landfills
CONS:
-Worthless when trying to fill out carbon forms
-Some inks are not water-proof
-Actual writing performance depends on a combination of pen, ink, and paper, and cheap papers are notorious for making fountain pen ink feather on the page
Another thing to consider is that fountain pens cost more than ball points, especially when you consider that a lot of business give ball point pens away for free. On the other hand a fountain pen can last for years (decades, even) so it’s a one-time cost, and when you average the cost of a bottle of ink over how many pages it can write the money invested is quite small. Another side of the cost issue is that fountain pens vary a lot (A LOT) in price. There are fountain pens that cost thousands of dollars, though at that point you aren’t paying for writing quality, you are paying for bling-essentially some pen-shaped jewelry. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, if that’s your thing, but if you just want a pen that writes well you don’t need to spend that much. The general rule of thumb I’ve seen bandied around is that up to around $150 USD the more money you spend the more quality you get, and after that you are just buying more pretty. (The exact threshold is up for debate, but this gives you some idea of where the range is.) HOWEVER, there are some very, very nice-writing pens at much lower prices, and these are ideal for the person who is trying fountain pens out for the first time, or the person who (like me) really isn’t interested in the pretty. (The most money I’ve spent on a pen went for the Lamy 2000 I bought new; I don’t regret it but I have no particular desire to get anything more expensive than it.)
The following list of suggestions is not exhaustive; it’s based on my experience or that of people I know. If you are considering buying a pen and want more info I recommend checking out the review sections of the Fountain Pen Network and/or Googling for reviews.
Pens I’ve Used:
Pilot Varsity: Available all over the internet and can even be found in many of the big-box office supply stores, usually in packs of three or seven. Cost is a few dollars per pen, and it works mind-blowingly well for what you pay. Very smooth nib and it never seems to dry up, no matter how long it sits around. Pilot sells it as a disposable pen, but fountain pen people being what they are some folks have figured out a few different ways of refilling and reusing them. It is very much not a pretty pen.
Platinum Preppy: A step up from the Varsity, in that the Preppy is meant to be refillable. The plastic it is made of is fairly fragile, however, and while it looks nicer than a Varsity that isn’t saying much. That being said it is another smooth writer that is available in two line widths (medium and fine, basically) and multiple colors of ink cartridges. After you use up the cartridge it comes with you can refill it with the ink of your choice.
Pilot 78G: This one is getting a little hard to find; I’m unsure if Pilot has discontinued it or simply stopped distributing it outside of Japan. Regardless, it is worth searching out. At a cost of less than $20 USD (and I’ve seen it for around $10) you get a nice-looking, lightweight pen made of a plastic that will not crack if you look at it funny. Needless to say, it’s a smooth writer.
Nemosine Singularity: This costs a little more than a 78G, but it’s easier to find in the US. It also has a lot of color options, including a clear-bodied model (called a ‘demonstrator’ in fountain-pen-lingo) that allows you to see the insides of the pen. Another nice light plastic pen that writes well. A few months ago I gave mine away to a budding young writer and I’ve missed it ever since. I’ll probably get another once I decide what color I want.
Pilot Metropolitan: In spite of my deep and abiding love of the Lamy Safari/Al-Star (see below), this is probably my top choice for a new user. Made of metal yet light-weight, classic styling, comes in a variety of body colors, writes well (honestly, if a pen is made by Pilot you can assume it writes well), and available for around $15 USD.
Lamy Safari: My first fountain pen; I now have about 5 of them. Depending on your particular taste, the Safari looks weird, is horrifically ugly, or is a brilliant expression of the Bauhaus design philosophy. (It is possible to hold more than one of these opinions at once.) Manufactured to sell to German school kids, the Safari is made of a tough plastic that will take abuse and it comes in a variety of bright colors. (My first one was a fetching light turquoise, very appropriate for a Crane player.) It costs about twice as much as the Metropolitan, but it has two advantages over it. First, the shape of the Safari’s body makes it obvious to a new user how to hold it correctly. Second, the Safari has been designed to make switching out the nib trivially easy. This is useful because the nib controls the width of the line on the paper and depending on what you are doing, you may have a preference for line sizes. (When I’m writing a rough draft in a narrow-ruled comp book I need an Extra-fine, but for letter-writing I prefer Mediums. And then there are exotics like italic nibs, which give you fancy-looking handwriting with no extra effort on your part.)
Lamy Al-Star: The Safari’s more metal sibling, with a mostly-aluminum body and a different range of body colors. I have four of them, but Lamy keeps making pretty colors and I’m weak so I expect this to grow over time. The Al-Star is slightly heavier than the Safari and slightly more expensive, but still a good value. It takes the same nib as the Safari, so you can switch nibs feely between the two. If you like the Safari shape but don’t like primary or day-glow colors, this may be your pen.
Pens I Haven’t Tried, But Others Have Spoken Well Of:
Sailor HighAce Neo: I have a friend who spent about a grand on a Nakaya fountain pen and loves it, and they love their HighAce Neo almost as much. I intend to try one someday, but I also want to get some other colors of the Metropolitan and a replacement for my Singularity and save for Gencon and….
Jinhao x750: Jinhao is a Chinese brand, and they are one of the Chinese brands with a good reputation. Unfortunately, there are other Chinese pen factories that make bad knock-offs of good pens, so it is important to make sure you are getting a real Jinhao. New pen people should steer clear of ebay and get a Jinhao from an established pen shop, just to make sure. That out of the way, you can get a Jinhao for about $10 USD and it gets really good reviews on FPN and at Goulet’s.
Oh, I forgot about my biases. I like a classic look to a pen, but I don't need anything particularly elaborate. I also prefer light pens to heavy ones: I have a fountain pen that is covered with dragons that I love to look at but can't use because of how much it weighs. (I keep it on my desk to weigh down book-pages.) I am non-denominational in the area of filling systems, which is to pens what the honor vs military schism is to L5R.
I will try to answer any questions, but it may take a few days.
I’m going to start by explaining a bit about how fountain pens work. I’m not going to say a lot on this because other people have already done it better, in exhausting detail. If more information is needed, I highly recommend the Fountain of Knowledge section of the Goulet Pen Company website. (Bias: I have a mad pen-crush on the GPC and have bought many of my pens and most of my inks from them. Knowledgeable people, excellent service. There are other online businesses I use, but Goulet is my first stop when I am shopping for pen-related supplies.)
The ball-point pen that everyone is familiar has a ink in the form of a paste that is laid down on the paper by the ball in the point of the pen. (Hence the name.) This takes effort on the part of the writer, though admittedly some brands of ball points are less of an effort to use than others. In a fountain pen the ink is water-based, and it uses capillary action to get the ink from the reservoir in the body down on to the paper. One does not need to press the pen against the paper when using a fountain pen (indeed, pressing a fountain pen is bad)-physics does all the work for the writer.
I started using fountain pens a few years ago because I had been writing my fiction and rpg freelance work in a combination of long-hand on paper and word processing, and I had gotten tired of fighting bad ball points. My first fountain pen (a Lamy Safari, see below) was a revelation in how easy writing could be, and I was in love. However, I think it’s important, especially when talking to the fountain-pen-curious, to be realistic about what the pros and cons of fountain pens are.
PROS:
-Smooth writing experience (This is a really big pro, imho.)
-Huge selection of ink colors
-Most are refillable, so you don’t keep throwing disposable pens in landfills
CONS:
-Worthless when trying to fill out carbon forms
-Some inks are not water-proof
-Actual writing performance depends on a combination of pen, ink, and paper, and cheap papers are notorious for making fountain pen ink feather on the page
Another thing to consider is that fountain pens cost more than ball points, especially when you consider that a lot of business give ball point pens away for free. On the other hand a fountain pen can last for years (decades, even) so it’s a one-time cost, and when you average the cost of a bottle of ink over how many pages it can write the money invested is quite small. Another side of the cost issue is that fountain pens vary a lot (A LOT) in price. There are fountain pens that cost thousands of dollars, though at that point you aren’t paying for writing quality, you are paying for bling-essentially some pen-shaped jewelry. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, if that’s your thing, but if you just want a pen that writes well you don’t need to spend that much. The general rule of thumb I’ve seen bandied around is that up to around $150 USD the more money you spend the more quality you get, and after that you are just buying more pretty. (The exact threshold is up for debate, but this gives you some idea of where the range is.) HOWEVER, there are some very, very nice-writing pens at much lower prices, and these are ideal for the person who is trying fountain pens out for the first time, or the person who (like me) really isn’t interested in the pretty. (The most money I’ve spent on a pen went for the Lamy 2000 I bought new; I don’t regret it but I have no particular desire to get anything more expensive than it.)
The following list of suggestions is not exhaustive; it’s based on my experience or that of people I know. If you are considering buying a pen and want more info I recommend checking out the review sections of the Fountain Pen Network and/or Googling for reviews.
Pens I’ve Used:
Pilot Varsity: Available all over the internet and can even be found in many of the big-box office supply stores, usually in packs of three or seven. Cost is a few dollars per pen, and it works mind-blowingly well for what you pay. Very smooth nib and it never seems to dry up, no matter how long it sits around. Pilot sells it as a disposable pen, but fountain pen people being what they are some folks have figured out a few different ways of refilling and reusing them. It is very much not a pretty pen.
Platinum Preppy: A step up from the Varsity, in that the Preppy is meant to be refillable. The plastic it is made of is fairly fragile, however, and while it looks nicer than a Varsity that isn’t saying much. That being said it is another smooth writer that is available in two line widths (medium and fine, basically) and multiple colors of ink cartridges. After you use up the cartridge it comes with you can refill it with the ink of your choice.
Pilot 78G: This one is getting a little hard to find; I’m unsure if Pilot has discontinued it or simply stopped distributing it outside of Japan. Regardless, it is worth searching out. At a cost of less than $20 USD (and I’ve seen it for around $10) you get a nice-looking, lightweight pen made of a plastic that will not crack if you look at it funny. Needless to say, it’s a smooth writer.
Nemosine Singularity: This costs a little more than a 78G, but it’s easier to find in the US. It also has a lot of color options, including a clear-bodied model (called a ‘demonstrator’ in fountain-pen-lingo) that allows you to see the insides of the pen. Another nice light plastic pen that writes well. A few months ago I gave mine away to a budding young writer and I’ve missed it ever since. I’ll probably get another once I decide what color I want.
Pilot Metropolitan: In spite of my deep and abiding love of the Lamy Safari/Al-Star (see below), this is probably my top choice for a new user. Made of metal yet light-weight, classic styling, comes in a variety of body colors, writes well (honestly, if a pen is made by Pilot you can assume it writes well), and available for around $15 USD.
Lamy Safari: My first fountain pen; I now have about 5 of them. Depending on your particular taste, the Safari looks weird, is horrifically ugly, or is a brilliant expression of the Bauhaus design philosophy. (It is possible to hold more than one of these opinions at once.) Manufactured to sell to German school kids, the Safari is made of a tough plastic that will take abuse and it comes in a variety of bright colors. (My first one was a fetching light turquoise, very appropriate for a Crane player.) It costs about twice as much as the Metropolitan, but it has two advantages over it. First, the shape of the Safari’s body makes it obvious to a new user how to hold it correctly. Second, the Safari has been designed to make switching out the nib trivially easy. This is useful because the nib controls the width of the line on the paper and depending on what you are doing, you may have a preference for line sizes. (When I’m writing a rough draft in a narrow-ruled comp book I need an Extra-fine, but for letter-writing I prefer Mediums. And then there are exotics like italic nibs, which give you fancy-looking handwriting with no extra effort on your part.)
Lamy Al-Star: The Safari’s more metal sibling, with a mostly-aluminum body and a different range of body colors. I have four of them, but Lamy keeps making pretty colors and I’m weak so I expect this to grow over time. The Al-Star is slightly heavier than the Safari and slightly more expensive, but still a good value. It takes the same nib as the Safari, so you can switch nibs feely between the two. If you like the Safari shape but don’t like primary or day-glow colors, this may be your pen.
Pens I Haven’t Tried, But Others Have Spoken Well Of:
Sailor HighAce Neo: I have a friend who spent about a grand on a Nakaya fountain pen and loves it, and they love their HighAce Neo almost as much. I intend to try one someday, but I also want to get some other colors of the Metropolitan and a replacement for my Singularity and save for Gencon and….
Jinhao x750: Jinhao is a Chinese brand, and they are one of the Chinese brands with a good reputation. Unfortunately, there are other Chinese pen factories that make bad knock-offs of good pens, so it is important to make sure you are getting a real Jinhao. New pen people should steer clear of ebay and get a Jinhao from an established pen shop, just to make sure. That out of the way, you can get a Jinhao for about $10 USD and it gets really good reviews on FPN and at Goulet’s.
Oh, I forgot about my biases. I like a classic look to a pen, but I don't need anything particularly elaborate. I also prefer light pens to heavy ones: I have a fountain pen that is covered with dragons that I love to look at but can't use because of how much it weighs. (I keep it on my desk to weigh down book-pages.) I am non-denominational in the area of filling systems, which is to pens what the honor vs military schism is to L5R.
I will try to answer any questions, but it may take a few days.