That said - super cool story.
Sadly, the plastic lining of the reservoir had perished, so the pen wouldn't suck ink up. I tried a replacement reservoir, but it didn't work. So I tried a different type, with a screw based impeller mechanism, and got ink all over my fingers and desk. Some of the ink went up into the reservoir, but wouldn't flow back down through the nib for the purpose of writing.
I don't like disposable fountain pen ink. The plastic is bad for the environment, and the experience is half of what I am trying to get away from by returning to the mechanism of the refillable apparatus.
I tried buying a new fountain pen, for $50 from Officeworks. It has a screw based impeller mechanism that has the same shortcomings as the one I tried with my Parker 45.
Has anyone seem a replacement reservoir for Parker 45 that works?
Can anyone recommend a non-refill fountain pen?
I'd love to return to using a fountain pen! Not just for ergonomic reasons. The writing looks better too.
If I ever use a disposable cartridge again I'll try reusing it instead.
Do use luer-lock though, because the other kind of syringes suck. Just ask your local pharmacy -- they usually carry them and they can be used for all sorts of non-illicit-drug reasons.
In the US/Canada Lee Valley sells a set of blunt tip syringes for inks and glues.
On another note, I came across the Platinum Curidas pen. It's a clicky fountain pen! I'm very tempted to buy one, but I've never spent anywhere near $80 on a pen before.
You can also use a syringe to clean and refill disposable cartridges from an ink bottle.
Also, as much as I'm a fan of fountain pens, they do have some downsides. The ink tends to smear/smudge easily (even quick drying ones) on normal paper, which makes them less suitable for scribbling marginalia on paperbacks. And even their extra fine nibs aren't that fine, so one can't squeeze as many words into the margins. Therefore, I use a different pen for marginalia: a Pilot Hi-Tec-C 0.3mm (~$3). It's a gel pen with a very very fine nib (0.3mm is finer than Western F fountain nibs). Fountain pen inks are also usually water soluble so they're less suitable for use cases that require permanence, like say signing the back of a credit card, so I find myself having to switch to a cheap ballpoint in such cases.
To me, fountain pens optimize for one experience and one experience only -- the pleasure of writing on good paper. It trades off versatility to achieve this optimization.
I used to use Staples Sustainable Earth notebooks, now I've started using their TruRed series. I also use Rhodia notebooks, but am switching to TruRed because they're easier to find, cheaper, and handle my other inks better (the rhodia stuff actually performs terribly with all my other inks -- no idea what the deal is).
Combined with a 0.3mm Platinum nib I never have any issues. If you've tried Parker Quink it's significantly faster.
Shaking them before use is a habit I have, not sure if that helps or is just a placebo tho.
I think I paid 1000 JPY for it, but these days it's around $10-$20 on amazon.
You can certainly go deep with ink and pens and whatnot, but you can buy a Lamy for cheap on Amazon and just stick with cartridges and still get a far superior result.
If anyone feel like their writing is sloppy and avoid writing because of it, try a fountain pen.
There's a post here on Imgur [0] regarding an individual's experience after receiving a fake on Amazon if you want to compare the fake and original.
More making the point that the barrier to entry is low considering Pilot makes a $3 disposable fountain pen. I suppose that would have been a better example.
She has lupus, so holding and writing with a ballpoint pen is agony for her and her hands on bad joint days. She can usually do okay with a gel ball roller, but one day I let her try my fountain pen and it was the least painful writing experience in her life.
She emailed the Goulet Pen company for suggestions on good pens for lupus/arthritis and got a detailed response with suggestions. They were fantastic and helped her place an order for a less expensive pen that fit her hand better to test the waters for future orders.
Their YouTube pen videos are good too.
Fairly sure mine was from an official reseller but I'll have to double check
But you might have a local shop (most cities seem to have at least one -- either catering to artists or catering to the wedding/cards types).
The Lamy Safari is a great starter but I found the Platinum Plaisir and the cheaper Platinum Preppy to also be great introductions. The Plaisir also comes in finer tips, down to 0.3mm, which helps for those of us with angry writing :) It's also quite a bit cheaper, and the piston refill is cheaper.
(although these days I just use a syringe to refill as drawing ink up any other way seems to never work right...)