Comment by polygotdomain | Hacker News Reader

Comment by polygotdomain | Hacker News Reader

I always feel that fountain pens should come with bigger caveats than they're typically presented with. I absolutely love them (more than you'd even guess), but if someone is just going to "pick up" a fountain pen and just start writing they might be in for a bit of shift. Writing with a fountain pen isn't really the same as writing with a ball point, and there will be some adjustment that goes along with it. If you're just starting out, I'd say to stick with it for a while.

Here's a couple of pointers when it comes to fountain pens...

+ Paper matters... a lot! A lot of feathering and bleeding issues are because of the paper

+ Ink is a whole avenue of exploration in and of itself. Inks have different properties and come in just about any color imaginable.

+ You have far more of a choice of _how_ your pen writes with a fountain pen. This first one is line width, commonly referred to as nib size or point size. If you think about it a little bit before you purchase your first one, you'll be well served.

+ You can use significantly less pressure when writing with a fountain pen. Relax your grip as much as you can.

+ Many in the fountain pen hobby use their pens for more than just utility (notes, forms, etc.) Having an avenue to write for pleasure can help you connect with fountain pens.

+ Your penmanship doesn't need to be good in order to use a fountain pen, and while it may improve with use, it also may be exactly the same. You don't have to do calligraphy or have that be your end goal.

I see a lot of tech people in the fountain pen hobby, and there are cross over hobbies with mechanical keyboards, headphones, watches, and EDC gear.

Also the cons.

- Traveling and shaking a vessel filled with ink doesn't end well.

- Getting ink on your hands when refilling the pen becomes annoying, quickly.

- Your notebook choices now become limited to ones that don't bleed. I already have notebooks that I've been using for years and don't want to change.

- Not all pens are suited for every language. If you get a pen with a wider nib (like a parker or american ones in general), it's very easy to blur on Chinese/Korean/Japanese etc. This is fixable with a smaller japanese nib but not really an issue with ballpoint pens.

--

Whenever I'm in Japan I usually stop by a store like kingdom note and I've picked up some pilor & sailor pens. I'm happy to use them at my desk, but I just stick to ballpoint pens like the Calme 0.7 when out and about.

I don't disagree that those are potential cons, but it also highlights how much versatility you can have with a fountain pen. For instance, there are ones that travel very well with shutoff valves to prevent ink leakage. There are options for filling that can all but eliminate getting ink on your hands. Nibs can be tuned and ink choices can align with what paper you write on, so you don't absolutely have to change the notebooks you use.

You highlighting the language issue is interesting because it makes the assumption that one can get the line width they'd like from a ballpoint pen, which personally, I didn't. Ultimately you need to choose what works best for you, and the language you write in is certainly a consideration. I'd much rather have the option, than be stuck with "one size fits all" of most ballpoints. So saying that's a con is a misnomer for me.

All that being said, a fountain pen is not a tool for every use case. I was a lot happier when I realized that a ballpoint or rollerball is far better suited for tossing in a bag or having at the ready when traveling.

Wow! I've never heard of a pen with a shutoff valve. Could you please share some recommendations?

The filling mechanism of the pen is what tends to dictate whether there is a shutoff valve, and there two mechanisms that have this feature; vacuum fillers, and Japanese eyedroppers.

Vacuum fillers are generally higher end pens, but the best, cheapest option is a PenBBS 456, which is a Chinese pen. The Pilot 823 is very well loved pen in the community, and a good "next level" pen if you're looking for one. Viscontis are high end luxury pens that feature a vacuum filling mechanism, although their marketing calls it a power filler.

Japanese eyedroppers aren't really a "filling mechanism", per say, but can be thought of in that manner, even though you have to fill them with a syringe or pipette. Unfortunately far fewer pens make use of this, and tend to be very high end pens. The one exception are pens from Opus88, which pretty much all feature this mechanism, and are very reasonably priced. Then there's a big gap until you get to the high end urushi pens like the Pilot Emperor.

There's other one offs, like the bulkfilling mechanism from Conid and used on the PenBBS 355. The Diplomat Nexus uses an integrated shutoff valve that's engaged when capping the pen.

> Paper matters... a lot! A lot of feathering and bleeding issues are because of the paper

And paper doesn't have to be expensive either. You can find good paper even at walmart if you are willing to look up some reviews or try some various brands.

Paper that mentions that it's fountain pen friendly is usually helpful. My go to "cheap" paper is Black & Red Notebooks. I tend to use Rhodia a lot, but that may be pricier for some. In general, a lot of the Japanese papers are great for fountain pens, and Jet Pens has a ton of options at different price ranges.

One con: Pens dry out! If you're not regularly writing with them, the vast majority of pens (minus the Platinum ones) will dry out.

Yes, my 20 year old ballpoint pen has dried out. But the vast majority of my ballpoints, gels, etc pens can all be picked up and written with without any regularity. My fountain pens have to be used daily, otherwise they cannot be used.

If you have to use a fountain pen daily, there might be something wrong with the sealing mechanism on the cap. I've had fountain pens that sat unused for a week but still wrote fine.

But if the fountain pen stops writing, it can be cleaned and refilled with ink, and they're as good as new.

The gel pens that I haven't used in several years and have dried out - they're mostly fit for the trash can.

I've had the same problem with other pens, and have found that the TWSBI Eco always seals perfectly -- I once uncapped my Eco after several months, and it instantly wrote, flawlessly!

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