Hello all, I really love high quality fountain pens, but I am afraid I am still ignorant of some of the more importance maintainance and care common practices. I happen to like Mont Blanc's and their balance and nibs, but, I noticed when I went to the boutique, one of the ladies was particularly...

Hey all, While I love my pens I have, each of them fails in the same area, they are not flexible enough for real thick and thin style writing. Granted, I always try to find pens with enough flexibility to give me that right feel, I haven't found one yet that really has that delicate precision...

So, I learned an important lesson. :-) Always make sure you check your clothing for your very nice pens before washing them. See, if you don't, then it is likely that those nice pens will spill Ink everywhere on your clothes, and may or may not be damaged by the detergent. In my case, it was my...

Well, so I bought some simple, cheap new old stock dip pens with flexible medium nibs to test. Since I couldn't really find a good fountain pen with a flexible nib that I wanted to invest in at the moment, I decided to give these a try to see what they were like. Painted wood with cork at the...

What do you all think of the MontBlanc Sepia Ink? -- Aaron Hsu "No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little." - Edmund Burke

Hey all, Writing about dip pens got me to thinking about a question I have had for a while. I have a set of steel very flexible medium point steel dip pens. They work great, but I notice that over time, when using Encre Authentique, the behavior of the writing changes. That is, when I...

Hey All, I was wondering if you all take the time to figure out what papers work best for what pens? For example, do you notice certain inks and nibs work well on a given brand and weight of paper? If so, do any of you have high recommendations for a pen that writes well on Crane's...

So, I could not resist playing around with a new set of Noodler's Waterase ink. This is my first time getting a chance to play with wet erase markers instead of dry erase and especially getting to use a nice refillable marker instead of others. It's also my first time with an eye dropper style...

So, I cannot bring myself to buy one of these for myself, as it pretty much seems like a pencil, rather than a pen, but I am really curious about them nonetheless. The reviews on the website are far too small to get a real idea of how the pen works. Has anyone here actually used one? What was...

Does anyone know of any more pens that are truly flexible and resilient enough to be used in Spencerian style handwriting? I have a custom nib Namiki Falcon that I really love, and I have heard of a flex nib from Noodler, but that is about it. Does anyone else do good, quality flexible nibs...

Hey all! Long time no talk. I was wondering if anyone had purchased any of the MonteVerde Hand Painted pens and such. I'd love to see a fountain pen version, as I really like how they look, but I don't know if they are as good as they look. Any comments? - Aaron --

Hey all, What do you all think of the MontBlanc Starwalker with the brushed blue lacquer type finish? I just went to one of the boutiques and I really fell in love with the finish and the overall look. Weight with the cap twisted onto the top (nice feature) was a bit unbalanced for me, but...

Hey all, What do you think of Mont Blanc's Blue Black ink? I have been using sepia for a while, and figured that I needed a permanent ink (since I've had a few runny accidents) and I wanted a change of color. I haven't quite formed an opinion of it yet, but I thought I would ask here to see...

Hello all, Some of you requested photos of Mont Blanc's Sepia and Blue Black, both regularly and as a comparison of waterproofness and the like. For those who are interested, I've posted some photos of the process on alt.binaries.pens-pencils and below I detail what I did: 1) Wrote out some...

So, I did not know that I would be getting another pen, but as it turns out, I did. Not really for me, but for my fiancée. She needed a new pen, and I convinced her to give a fountain pen a try. We were at a paper store and they had some pens around. Budget considerations limited our choices down...

So, in the spirit of getting more discussion going here, I thought I would pose a little question that I always ask when meeting a fellow pen enthusiast in person: How do you hold your pen? For myself, I have a long history of pen grip introspection, so it is okay if you don't actively think about...

Since the reds that I wanted were out of stock from the store I tried, I gave Dakota Red from Private Reserve a try. The bottle was nice, in that the mouth was large and easy to use; not as nice as the MontBlanc bottles, but nicer than the others I get. My wife really loves the red, and thinks...

Hey Everyone, So, it's been quiet here, but I was just thinking that it would be really cool if everyone could post up pictures of their favorite pens, either their favorite no-use pen or their favorite pen that they use to write with, maybe both? It would be interesting to see what everyone...

Hey all, Does anyone have any recommendations for guides or just plain old advice for what I would need to do to maintain antique or new old stock nibs? I know that I take basic precautions, like making sure that the nibs are cleaned after use, but I was curious if anyone else had any guides...

Hey everyone, A note in the Ink Bottles thread reminded me that I have been wondering about nib cleaning paper for a while. What do you all recommend. I have seen everything from an actual absorbant cloth shipped with some pens, to people using regular old bathroom tissue. Obviously lint plays a...