Tanzanite is fantastic for dry nibs because it's very lubricating, but be sure to flush it well with lots of cool water or 1 part amonia to 3-4 parts of water because it can stain old plastics (celluloid, some resins). I would be careful using it in any vintage pens that you may pick up if you don't want a purple-y blue feed section. Your mileage may vary. You can also add water to any ink if it is too saturated for your tastes or if you find that it takes too long to dry.

Have fun!

Well to keep this thread popping, I haven't got any new colors, but I did get another Parker. I'm pretty sure that it's a striped Duofold, but it doesn't have the Duofold nib (with the chevron etchings on the nib) so I'll just call it a Demi vacumatic. It also has a perished diaphragm so it won't be holding any ink until I attempt to fix it myself, or more likely, send it for repair. It's only 23 bucks to have Danny Fudge of "the write pen," fix it which is likely cheaper than
buying all the parts and repair tools myself. That combined with the fact that I've never replaced a diaphragm before so there's a high chance of shattering the internal components or stripping the celluloid sections. Also, the nib is a little off-centered on the feed and these press-fit nibs are shellaced in place pretty well and are notoriously difficult to reseat correctly after heating/removing them. If I was into collecting for any length of time, I'd shell out the initial start up costs to buy the tools, but I really want writers, not fixers. My investment on this pen would only be about 45 dollars, which for a great writing, medium-ish, 14k gold-nibbed, pen is fantastic. It was a little corroded when I got it, but because the gold plated trim is so thick on these vintage pens, it polished nicely without any problems or brassing. I'll get a photo up when I get a moment. Knowing my luck, it's going to bleed and feather like crazy on my cheap notebook paper, but I've got an ink in mind that will work perfectly.

y'all still even using fountain pens?

Of course!
For a few weeks now I've been using my Safari exclusively, there's no going back to cheap bics and the like after this!

I actually convinced my friend to get into it too, the moment he wrote with my pen he started asking all about it so i sent him to this thread and some of the sites I've found. Along with his pen he got Noodlers baystate blue. It's a really nice and vibrant blue but it flows a little too easily from the pen compared to the Diamine inks I have. Then again i haven't tried his on any nice paper but it just seems a little thinner and less viscous than Diamine ink.

I've been looking into Iroshizuku series Ink from Pilot and they look really nice! I'm considering getting a bottle (or maybe just a sample) of Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo (moonlight). Has anyone here had any writing experiences with these series?

Also I've been looking into the next pen down the road, which could be a rather long road . I've been checking out Pilot Preras and TWSBI 540s, but I think I'll probably hold off and get something nicer later on. The Safari is doing it's job and then some so I think I can hold off and wait.

Any pen companies ya'll would recommend?

That's funny that you mention Moonlight because I actually ordered a bottle through a local pen shop and I'm really looking forward to it coming. The following ramble does not apply to any super expensive luxury pens. Mont Blanc is expensive new and expensive vintage.

Good pen brands will vary on whether you like vintage or not. I'm going to talk about the merits of vintage fountain pens so strap yourself in.

First off, the benefit of vintage is that they are comparatively cheap. Most all vintage pens that are widely available from just two of the major fountain pen brands, Parker, and Sheaffer such as Sheaffer Balances, Imperials, Parker Duofolds, Vacumatics, "51"s and etc. etc. are equipped with 14 karat nibs, an internal bladder or push button suction style intake which will give a fairly sizable ink capacity, and can be bought for a fraction of the price of a similar quality luxury pen. Most of them can be had for anywhere from 40-70 dollars in unrestored, but serviceable condition (sometimes, they only require a good soak and flush with water!). Keep in mind that when these pens were available for 12 dollars in the 1940s, they cost roughly the equivalent of 140-200 dollars. They were and still are some of the highest quality, nice writing, and most attractive pens available. Also, to restore a pen costs about 20-30 dollars and usually includes nib smoothing/adjusting. Thus, you get a fantastic pen for about 100 dollars, but often, much less. One that will be a better writer than something that is 200-500 dollars if you walked into a pen shop today. I have a Parker Duofold that is my smoothest writer and so far, it has cost me about 60 dollars. It writes better than all my other pens that cost as much as 3 times that amount. Not that I have a lot, but still.

Ebay is fantastic for scooping sleeping beauties. Just make sure that the nib is in good physical condition. That is expensive to fix (bent nibs will run you 40-70 dollars to straighten) and make sure that the body and cap have no cracks, that will only lead to a stained shirt pocket. The parts can be dusty, dirty, corroded, unreadable, but they should be physically sound.

Pictures are your friends. Each pen through their time period of production had all kinds of marks and notes that will make it more valuable to collectors. Different cap bands, rare colors, special marks, etc. That stuff doesn't mean anything to a writing pen because at the time that they were created, they were created practically equal. Usually the same nib, same plastic, etc. Also, many of those marks mean that there is a service guarantee against leaks which is certainly no longer valid. Personally, name engravings don't matter to me and in fact, add history to the pens. Collectors are turned off by that though, and so you can save a lot of money by getting something with a vanity engraving.

Like yoyos with different colorways, I'd recommend that you not chase the unusual if you're just looking for a good writing experience. For example, take two almost identical pens, produced in the same 3 year span. On close inspection, they are differentiated only by their cap bands (gold bands around the cap) one will be worth 80 dollars bought clean, polished, and completely restored, while the other will be in the same condition, but selling for 400 dollars. To collectors, that's the difference, but to writers, both pens have the exact same stuff. You would not feel the quality translate into the page. See what I mean?

Anyway, I don't profess to know alot about pens, but give a vintage a whirl. Odds are that your granny or some relative already has a fine example of a great, smooth, gold-nibbed pen that you could use. If you find something that needs TLC, there's a guy that I use who is very cheap, but very skilled with restoration. He made my Duofold, that I posted a photo of, write like new for 23 dollars. It was pretty rough before, but now it looks great and functions perfectly. His site is: http://www.thewritepen.net/ (no affiliation)

Hope this helps. I may comment on modern pens, but I'm spent. My Alma mater (University of Kansas) just won against our bitter rivals (University of Missouri) in overtime by a single point, so I'm a little preoccupied.

Wow thanks for the great reply! I had been assuming that most vintage pens were expensive and collectors items, but that's some really good advice. Guess I'll just keep my eyes open on ebay.

Ah that's nice that you have a local pen shop, Corvallis doesn't seem to have any but that's just what a google search told me. I'll probably do some scouring at the art stores later and see what they have.

Moonlight looks like a really great blue. I'd like to read what you think of it!

Well I had a birthday get together back in Omaha with my family and I received several new editions to my ink collection.

First off, I'll touch on the Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo. It's immaculate. Iroshizuku is a high dollar Japanese ink made by Pilot. Costing just shy of $30 for a 50ml bottle, this stuff is the real deal. Despite its high cost, there is nothing that I don't like about this ink. It even flushes well. The color is a beautiful blue-gray with subtle shading that lends itself very much to flexible nibs or a wider nib. A needle point would only show one variation of its possibilities. It has a very nice flow and appears not to bleed through pages as much as more saturated inks. Definitely worth the premium cost.

Next is the Edelstein Aventurine. Edelstein, a premium quality ink made by German pen maker, Pelikan, is certainly in the price category as Iroshizuku, and I was interested to see that even though the color is a beautiful green with a slight blue tint, it has alot more saturation than the Iroshizuku. The ink sits on top of the paper for a good bit longer so of course, drying times are pretty slow. I'm not sure that this one will be a good option for my cheap school notebooks. Aside from that downfall, it is a very color and extremely vibrant. This is not my first green ink, but of the two that I own, this is certainly the most practical. Maybe not as business appropriate as some, but I think I'll keep a pen inked with it for that friendly letter with some punch.

Finally, Mont Blanc Royal Blue. This ink is fantastic. It has a more purplish blue hue that what i would consider a true blue, but it is not going to bleed through the pages or leave impossible stains. It seems to be as well behaved as Waterman Florida Blue, my favorite ink. I don't have alot to say about it yet because I haven't used it much. So far, the shading looks very muted with little line variation with any of the pens that I have inked with it. There is some, but it's very subtle. It's a solid blue, for anyone looking for a simple general purpose blue.

Wow thanks for the reviews! I think this pretty much sold me on Tsuki-yo.

I think the ink on my Safari is running low or something, because it's not writing well. I think I'll need to swap out the ink and clean out the pen, but I'm not sure I know how. I may be requiring some assistance for you pros.

buy some refills at jetpens or a bottle of ink and make use of the cartridge converter it comes with (at least my lamy's came with the converters).
--but real talk, you can buy a ton for cheaper on ebay.

my favorite fountain pen--rotring 600:



i've been registered since '09 and this is my first post, lol

Vendetta, If it doesn't need cleaning, but just refilling, simply twist the converter cap until the plunger is at the wall closest to the nib and then twist in the opposite direction, drawing ink into the pen per Ken's advice and if that doesn't yield better results, flush it thoroughly with water.

You can use the converter to draw water through the pen until the water comes out clear. Give it a minute to soak when filled with water to really liquify any ink sludge. It's all water soluble so it just needs to cycle through a few times to clean it nicely. Then let it dry nib down in a wad of tissues. The capillary action will draw the remaining water out of the pen and you'll be set to refill with ink in no time! Good Luck!

Ken, how do you like that Rotring? I've only seen a handful of them on ebay and always wonder if they are as heavy as they look? That one makes my Lamy 2000 look like a toy. Hah.

Finally, I got this.



Lamy Safari with fine nib. Feels awesome

Nice! Is that the new all-black hardware addition or is it just the filter.

It's just the filter. The ink is Royal Blue unfortunately. I'm planning to change it with some really dark black. : )

Anyway, the pen is really that black