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How do you choose a fountain pen? Vintage or modern? Open nib
or hooded nib? What nib size or style? What kind of filler?
How much should I pay?
Hmm, good questions! Well a fountain pen, more than any other
writing instrument is a very personal thing - get these questions right and the
pen can give great satisfaction. Get them wrong and it can be quite a
disappointment.
Why buy a fountain pen?
Many people buy fountain pens as collector's items. The history is
fascinating, the range of different makes and models is huge, the challenge of
tracking down a particular pen in a particular colour, etc. can be great
fun and following the development of ink flow controls and filling systems can
be very interesting.
At the same time, an increasing number of people are turning back to
fountain pens for every day use. In an age when most of our correspondence
goes via the keyboard, it is a pleasant change to pick up a nice pen for the
more special occasions. In fact many people find writing with a fountain
pen so satisfying that they use it for all their hand-written work - including
the shopping list!
I also find that most fountain pen enthusiasts have more than one pen in
regular use - maybe with different nib styles, different colours of ink or
simply an every day pen to carry about and a special one which stays on the
desk.
How much do they cost?
Well with fountain pens, the sky really is the limit. The most
expensive pen I've seen sold at auction was around £30,000 - thankfully you
don't have to pay such prices normally! A serviceable pen can cost less
than £10.00 - it will be simply made from cheap materials at that price, but
it'll do the job and it won't break your heart if you lose or break it.
Personally I would aim to spend a little more and have a "nicer" pen -
and I'll try not to lose it!
Quality pens start around £30.00 and by the time you reach £50.00 you
should be looking at an attractive, tough and well made item which will give
many years of good service.
That sort of price will also buy you one of a great range of quality vintage
pens. A 50 year old pen will have the advantage of a solid gold nib and
the fact that it was at least partly hand made will be obvious in its design and
feel. If the pen has been recently serviced and is in good condition it
will be perfectly able to cope with regular use. Models such as the famous
Parker "51" or Sheaffer "Snorkel" remain popular simply
because they are such good pens, a pleasure to use.
So, what will suit me, how do I choose?
Ask yourself a few questions and see if you can home in on the answer:
| Have you used a fountain pen before, if so does a type stick in the mind as particularly good (or bad!)? |
- This question might be helpful in selecting the big categories, such as open or hooded nibs, type of filler, old or new, screw-on or slip-on cap and so on.
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| Open or hooded nib? |
- Open nib - traditional pen design, where the whole nib is exposed -
often attractively decorated. The nib can feel slightly more
flexible but it can dry up quicker if the cap is left off for a minute
and it is easier to get ink on your fingers.
- Hooded nib - only the tip of the nib is exposed, the rest being
inside a plastic "nib shell". More resistant to drying
up, less easy to get ink on your fingers but arguably less attractive.
- Hooded nibs make it possible to hold the pen closer to the tip,
which can suit some people.
- Both types of nib can be equally good, smooth writers.
- There are other nib designs, such as the Sheaffer "inset"
nibs used on the Imperials and the PFM. Most of these are best
regarded as a variation on an open nib.
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| What size of pen will suit me? |
- Small pens - can be very inconvenient for big hands, while
small hands don't necessarily like small pens either. Only
select a small pen if you are sure you like them.
- Slim pens - such as the Sheaffer Slim Targa can be awkward to
hold, though they do suit some people.
- Big or fat pens - At the other end of the scale, the fatter
pens (Montblanc 149, Parker Maxima Duofold, Sheaffer PFM, etc) can be
a real blessing for folks with large hands, but can be difficult for
smaller hands.
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| What nib width shall I go for? |
- The commonest nibs by far are fine and medium, these terms referring
to the width of the writing line. For the majority of people,
either of these styles will work well.
- As a rule, the broader the nib, the better it suits large or fast
writing and the finer nibs suit average or small writing and maybe
slower writing.
- A broad nib can be irritating for smaller writers as it can tend to
fill in the spaces in the letters "o", "e" and so
on.
- A fine nib tends to produce a sharper, clearer line, but it can look
spidery with large handwriting.
- Note also that broader nibs feel smoother and can be more tolerant
of different papers.
- Extra fine or extra broad nibs should be chosen with care - they
only really suit people who really know what they are looking for.
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| What about other nib styles? |
- The term "style" is used to describe the shape of the nib,
the commonest being regular, italic and oblique.
- Italic nibs are shaped rather like a chisel - broad and flat.
Not surprisingly they produce italic writing.
- They come in different widths and as an approximation, the broader
line of the italic nib is about the same as the next size up in a
regular nib. In other words, a medium italic writes about the
same width as a regular broad.
- Italic nibs are more difficult to write with until you get used to
them and for this reason they may not make a good choice for an
everyday pen.
- Oblique nibs have their tip cut at an angle instead of square.
This means that the pen must be turned slightly to ensure that the nib
contacts the paper properly. This suits some handwriting better
and also most oblique nibs produce a script similar to an italic nib.
- Oblique nibs come with the oblique angle to the left or to the
right. The RIGHT oblique is more suited to left-handed writers.
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| What type of filler? |
- With modern pens, the cartridge filler is practically
universal. Strictly known as a cartridge/converter filler and
often abbreviated to "CC filler", these allow bottle filling
by means of the "converter" if you don't wish to use
cartridges.
- Earlier pens use a variety of systems to fill, some more convenient
than others.
- The filling system is only really likely to affect your choice if
you are specially interested in a particular design. See also
the information on filling
your pen on this website.
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| Does my choice of paper affect the choice of pen? |
- As a general rule, broad nibs and more free-flowing nibs can cope
better with different types pf paper.
- Rough paper surfaces, particularly hand-made paper don't generally
work well with very fine nibs, which can tend to catch or scratch.
- Absorbent paper can be a problem with any fountain pen and Medium or
fine nibs are probably best suited.
- Copier paper (which you are almost bound to want to use sometimes)
is not ideal for a fountain pen, but it works moderately well with
most nib styles apart from extra fine nibs. Note that copier
paper seems particularly susceptible to picking up grease from your
hands and so it works less and less well as you work your way down the
page due to your hand moving across the paper.
- Smooth writing paper works with any type of nib and pen and can be a
pleasure to use.
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| What about flexible nibs, should I consider them? |
- Flexible nibs were common in early fountain pens, but were
already becoming less common in the 1940s.
- The flexible nature of
the nib allows you to vary the width and "wetness" of the
writing line by varying your pressure on the nib. This can produce
very interesting and attractive handwriting, but you have to acquire the
skill to use a flexible nib effectively.
- A flexible nib is not for
someone new to fountain pens unless you are determined to learn to use it.
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Click here to see
the characteristics of some common vintage pens.
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