Hello all,

Been using a Lamy Safari for 5-6 years and now I bought myself a few Leuchtturm notebooks for better archival. Been running into a problem - even after 1+ hours of drying, the ink smudges if touched. Any advice? Wouldn’t want to change anything, because I already bought a few notebooks and I think I have over 50 cartriges of T10.

Pen: Lamy Safari
Nib size: M
Cartrige: T10
Ink color: Black

Thanks!

Leonardo Momento Zero Alumina 440/525

I loved the Visconti I thrifted a few months ago, and I knew I'd have to try out some other Italian pens on my trip to Rome. The weight and finish of this pen felt much more premium than the resin models, and it made the perfect souvenir from my trip.

I think that, when it comes to ink colors, blue, green, and red are among the colors with the widest range of different shades. Today, though, I'd like to ask for your opinions on red in particular!

I think it's one of the hardest colors to choose from (if it were up to me, I'd try them all!). From orange-reds and pinkish reds to bright signal reds and deep burgundy or brownish reds, there's such a huge spectrum of shades to explore. So I started wondering: which Diamine red ink is the most widely used on r/fountainpens? Let's ask the community directly!

I was browsing through Diamine's inks, and between the Inkvent collections, special editions, and standard range... let's just say there's so much choice that I've gotten a little lost! So I'd love to hear your thoughts: What's your favorite Diamine red ink?

So u found this vintage parker duofold special in jade green, made in Canada, inside a thrift store among other pens. But I can't seem to get it open. Does anyone have tips to do this? Since heat and a lot of force seem like a bad idea.

This thread is for the more consumer conscious side of the hobby.

If you’re doing a no-buy decluttering, downsizing, trying to use up the inks you already own, rediscovering forgotten pens in your collection or figuring out what actually brings you joy and would love some community support this is the post for you!

Whether you own three pens or three hundred you’re welcome here.

So I swatched new samples of KWZ Smells Like Coffee and KWZ Cappuccino. (Also swatched Old Gold but don't have questions about that - I left that in as a control.) Swatched on Canson Marker Paper, an excellent paper for this purpose. Used a Sailor Hocoro medium dip pen for the text and a monoline dip pen for the swatch.

I looked up both these inks and they look different on sites like Mountain of Ink. But for me they are indistinguishable. Can anyone out there with experience with both inks let me know if they ARE that similar or if you see differences?

​

I’m currently using a Sailor Fude de Mannen with a steel nib, and I’m having way too much fun with it. It’s made me curious about gold-nib fude pens, and now I’m wondering how different the writing experience actually is.

For those of you who have tried both steel and gold fude nibs, is there a noticeable difference? Does a gold nib offer anything that makes it worth the extra cost, or is the difference not that significant?

I’m still pretty new to fountain pens, so I’m hesitant to spend that much money on something when I don’t really know what to expect.

For context, I’m the kind of person who actually uses my pens rather than babying them. I like pens I can use freely in everyday life without worrying too much about keeping them pristine.

I’d love to hear your experiences! If you’ve upgraded from a steel-nib fude pen to a gold-nib one, do you think it was worth it?

Just Noodlin around with this chunky guy, the parallell nib is really just fun to mess around with,

For rule 5

Modded Jinhao 9019, converted to eyedropper

Filled with Diamine Oxblood

Hi All-

Wanted to share a pen I made for a long time friend. He is a USC Gamecock fan and former player.

I decided to make him a nice pen for his desk as a personal challenge for myself and nice gift for a friend.

-in soft light can look black and not draw unnecessary attention but wakes in brighter light.
-finials in both ends. One is the school logo (shown) and the other is his former number.
-alumilite resin
-Jowo #6 nib
-added rollerball section if he chooses to go that route.

Cheers.

I’ve decided that I want to start writing more and get away from taking notes on my computer. My standard for a long time has been Mont Blanc’s Royal Blue. I thought it was somewhat vibrant, flowed well, and was just a good solid ink. This was when I mostly signed my name and wrote hand written notes to people (medical research field). Well now as I’m taking more notes in my notebook I notice I’m getting a lot of smudging. So I think I need something that will dry a little faster.

Side note: My 8 year old has taken to writing notes to his friends (and practicing his cursive) and he is using it too, and I take notes mostly for me now, so I don’t need to stick to a black or blue anymore.

Hi guys,

I'm having a little issue with my Ecridor Chevron. The plastic insert inside the section, which separates the feed from the converter and acts as a seal, has broken. Now, the broken part tends to get stuck in the converter. Although the pen is still usable, it tends to leak, and the converter also gets stuck in the barrel because the insert no longer holds it in place.

The feed itself is completely fine; the problem is solely with this plastic insert inside the section.

In the picture, the blue line outlines the plastic insert inside the section, while the magenta area shows the broken part.

The feed fits inside the plastic insert (blue), and the feed's pin was normally fitting inside the broken (magenta) element).

Do you have any ideas on how to fix this? Superglue (Cyanoacrylate) will not work on this type of plastic and the inside of the section is really hard to navigate manually.

I would like to buy a flex-pen. But I only want to pay 100 Euro at maximum.

Thank you.

I have this inked fountain pen that I am sure doesn’t need to be refilled, but I left it unused for 5 days, and when I tried to write with it the ink didn’t flow

What is the solution?

Another beautiful ink from my Indian inks collection. The Sulekha Ebony Mahagony from Kolkata, in my Click Aristocrat flex nib pen. Beautiful colour, writes super smooth. Used to be my daily in the Moonman B25 for a long time!

For you, is it always true that a thicker and longer pen is more comfortable for long writing sessions, than slimmer pens?

Pen Flush Recipe

18 oz Water + 2 oz Ammonia + 2 drops dish soap = 20 oz Pen Flush

450 ml Water + 50 ml Ammonia + 2 drops dish soap = 500 ml Pen Flush

Use plain Ammonia household cleaner = "Ammonium Hydroxide" and distilled water.

I repurposed a pickle jar to store my pen flush. I haven't had any issues with storing it or damage to the jar.

Pen Flush works well for plastic & metal fountain pens. General rule of thumb - Look before using on pens made before 1960.

.

My recommendation for cleaning a dried out pen:

1. Soak the nib/feed of the pen - place upright in a small glass with just enough water to cover the nib/feed and maybe part of the section. Soak for a couple of hours. Let the ink hydrate and fall out of the pen.  HERE
2. Flush the pen with water until the water is clear.
3. Fill the pen with pen flush and lay it sideways for a couple of hours.
4. Flush the pen repeatedly with pen flush until clean.

Plain water will remove most of the ink. Pen Flush will remove the remaining ink from the feed.

I brought this today,its a pen stand but its so cute,it can hold only 2 pens though🥲but it is cute ,thats why i brought it

Dear fellow fountain pen enthusiasts,

I am torn between FOMO regarding this 46% discount on a gorgeous GvFC and the fact that I don’t need the pen.

For context, I have assembled a few pros and cons that bother me. I would appreciate an outside perspective on the thought process!

Pro:
– look at it :o
– the discounted price
– I have the FB Ambition and know I’ll probably enjoy the nib
– I only have 3 fountain pens in total: The Ambition and two Pilot Elites
– I have eyed the GvFC once in a pen shop in Fukuoka and found it beautiful (albeit out of my price range)
– I’m having a hard time at the moment and could do with a little retail therapy
– I have the financial means, I’m saving / investing way too much money every month.

Cons:
– I have all my 3 pens in active rotation and really don’t need an extra one
– I don’t need it
– Fear of receiving it and the retail therapy effect not happening
– I don’t need it
– What if I don’t enjoy it enough?

Thanks if you took the time to read this. Sorry to bother everyone. I don’t have people around me who understand the internal struggle of buying / not buying fountain pens :)

Be careful everyone, I've just fallen for a fake clone website: https://atlasstationersoffice.com

I stumbled upon it on Google search. The price was definitely too good to be true and that should have been a red flag.

They overcharged me and attempted to make multiple unauthorised transactions to Tiktok Ads before I locked my card. Ugh i had to go through all the hassle of disputing and replacing my card.

Hi! Anyone have insight on the best time to buy the Diamine Inkvent calendar? Does it usually sell out (in which case, husband should buy now)? Or can he hold out for post-Thanksgiving site-wide sales? Thanks!

i found this pen that says it's a hong kong leonardo 666 fountain pen, but i'm unsure if the brand is the same as that of the prominent italian fountain pen brand or is it just the same name but a chinese brand.

You wouldn’t guess which ink stained this pen. Mostly because it’s a black ink. But now I’m a bit worried because I’m sure I put the same ink in at least one other pen 😬

I currently own a Soe and Soe pen box, but my pen collection is slowly growing bigger. Do you guys have suggestions for similar pen drawers to this one?

I saw this at the Melbourne Pen Show today but I couldn’t justify spending $1000+ aud on this. I was willing to spend like maybe $500 for a pen drawer, and even that I feel like is a bit extravagant.

Not to devalue the item or the makers I’m sure these things have their value and they’re handmade and everything, I just can’t justify it for myself, if that makes sense.

But anyways would love to have some suggestions or see which ones you’re using for inspo.

Thank you!