Better options for fountain pens?

[Ampera]

I use fountain pens a good deal now. I find I can draw neater and thus faster with one than a regular ballpoint pen, and I hate pencils (I break them all the time, and I would ruin all the lead out of a mechanical one)

I am wondering, is there  better ink for them? I am using LAMY pens from Germany (Sent to me by my uncle, that's how I first got a fountain pen) with blue LAMY ink, but it doesn't dry that fast. It takes several seconds in which I can smudge it, ruining that bit of paper, and getting my hand inked. Is there a better brand of ink? Furthermore, is there an erasable ink, like Pilot's Frixion ink (I know that's gel, but is there a liquid form for fountain pens)

Thanks for any advice.

[Brumby]

.. with blue LAMY ink, but it doesn't dry that fast. It takes several seconds in which I can smudge it, ruining that bit of paper, and getting my hand inked.

One of these...?

[Brumby]

That may be a bit fancy.

It's been a while since I've used pen and ink - but I was a bit more on the low tech side with the blotter...  I just had a piece of blotting paper under my left hand, held by my thumb and just rolled it over the writing.

[Ampera]

Eh, yeah. That is a bit more excessive than what I am thinking of.

[Brettj]

I also use a fountain pen every so often. I have a Pilot Vanishing Point. I use either Noodler's "The Heart of Darkness" or Platinums "Carbon Ink".
I like them both. They may take a secondition or two to dry.

[phliar]

A quick drying ink won't flow as well, and might clog your pen. Blotting paper really is great and low-tech, try it. (I wish I had a nice antique blotting roller like the picture above, but I'm also "ghetto" like another poster -- if I need to make sure it's dry I use a piece of blotting paper.)

[D3f1ant]

Me also fountain pen fan. Using the right  paper or buying right type of notebooks really helps. Not all paper is 'great' with a fountain pen.

[helius]

Rubber erasers contain grit that lightly scratches the paper surface, pulling graphite particles out of the grain. For an ink to be removed with a rubber eraser, it needs to form a film over the paper instead of soaking into the fibers. I don't think you want anything that forms a film inside your fountain pen.
Solvents will work to remove ink dyes; acetone generally works well. As you can imagine, solvents are harder to control and not widely used.

[tszaboo]

I use fountain pens a good deal now. I find I can draw neater and thus faster with one than a regular ballpoint pen, and I hate pencils (I break them all the time, and I would ruin all the lead out of a mechanical one)

Try Pilot 0.4mm gel pens or equivalent offerings from Mitsubishi.
Generally I like Pilot pens better -- cheaper, and last longer, compared to 0.38mm Mitsubishi, but I know people like Mitsubishi ones.

Yes, uni-ball signo, the ones, which are made in japan.
And Staedtler Pigment Liner, the 0.3 and 0.5mm ones.

[richard.cs]

When I was at school about 15 years ago pretty much everyone used fountain pens with generic blue ink and had an "eraser pen" which was basically pen with two ends. One end was a felt tip had a white cap and contained something that smelled ammonia based and bleached the ink, it faded away within a few seconds and worked best when the ink was fresh. The other end has some bleach-resistant blue ink.

Overused, or on cheap paper it left awful yellow marks, and the blue end would spread if you didn't wait for the bleaching end to dry, but they were reasonably effective.

Found one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ink-Remover-Eraser-Eradicator-Correction/dp/B004BTZYPC
I think the terrible reviews relate to the poor description - they only work on bog-standard blue fountain pen ink.

[frozenfrogz]

For everyday use I love the Pentel Tradio Stylo! It is very much like writing with a fountain pen, but a little more convenient on the "just throw it in the bag" side.
The Tradio comes in two flavors: Stylo and Pulaman
Please don’t ask about the differences. To me the difference (if there should be one) is very minor. The Pulaman might be a little softer, but I have not done a proper side by side comparison, because I buy the replacement ink/insert in badges when running low and pick the one that is cheapest atm.

[steve30]

I started using a fountain pen back in late 2009 and I really like it. I use a LAMY pen and I've only used their own ink with it.

May sound a bit silly, but I think the best way to avoid smudging is to simply not touch it for a minute after you've written.

What kind of nibs do you guys use? I use an extra fine nib as I write very small. Seems that larger nibs are more common. I reckon if I used a bigger nib, my words would look like big blobs.

My LAMY pen is the only fountain pen I've used, and while I've found I like it better than biros and fibre tip pens, I have pondered getting a different one to try; maybe so I can have access to two colours at the same time.

[ECEdesign]

By definition of using a fountain pen there will be some time where you have to wait for the ink to dry.  This can be especially problematic for left-handers since they often cross their writing as they go along.  There are some options for this.  One option is to get a thinner nib.  If you are using a broad or medium you might want to try a fine or extra fine.  There are also some fast drying inks around but these usually bleed into the paper more than traditional inks.  If you want to look at a ton of fountain pen stuff look at Goulet Pens they pretty much carry every ink and pen out there.

[frozenfrogz]

What kind of nibs do you guys use?

Depends a little on the purpose.
My main writing pen is the Pelikan Toledo M700 (old style) with a »B« sized nib.
Sketching and EDC is the Rotring 600 »BMW Rolls Royce AeroEngines« labeled with »M« sized stainless steel nib.
On my workshop desk I keep a set of Rotring Renaissance fountain pen with »M« sized nib and Rotring Tintenkuli (pre ball pen era stylograph).

But your question might be something for another thread...

#threadpirate

[peteb2]

I've had a selection of fountain pens within easy reach at my workbench in the repair/lab for years. There's always a spiral bound very high quality paper A4 un-lined paper notebook ready for any kind of note taking, sketching or brain storming including doodling and the pens range from Lamy to a Mont Blanc... Sometimes the dang things run out of ink in the middle of a brain storm and can be the source of momentary irritation but with plenty of pens it's a split second to change and to make a mental note to refill said certain pen...

I tried things like Waycom's Inkling which was interesting but awkward (the biro-pen marks are recorded into a .pdf).

Then i had an affair with Microsoft's Surface and pen but it really wasn't as 'connected' as fountain pen.

Then oneday i met the iPad Pro and their associated pencil. I do not want to rave on about an expensive Apple product but yeah... it works incredibly well, so well that i was sold and bought the biggest 256GB 'full-monty' and a pencil and use an App GoodNotes (that seems to be able to provide a great "interaction-connection" with the iPencil and it truly lets me crank out anything and everything when it comes to taking notes during development or brainstorming and even long calc maths....

Of course sometimes the iPad might be just too buried on the bench so it's back to the nearest fountain pen and nice paper but i always have to make sure i eventually take a jpg and put it into the page of the folder under GoodNotes for reference.

Some would say extremely eccentric and a waste of money and yes it is but it's very convenient and i know i have all my notes with me as long as the iPad isn't too far from reach!

[IanB]

I use fountain pens a good deal now. I find I can draw neater and thus faster with one than a regular ballpoint pen, and I hate pencils (I break them all the time, and I would ruin all the lead out of a mechanical one)

I am wondering, is there  better ink for them? I am using LAMY pens from Germany (Sent to me by my uncle, that's how I first got a fountain pen) with blue LAMY ink, but it doesn't dry that fast. It takes several seconds in which I can smudge it, ruining that bit of paper, and getting my hand inked. Is there a better brand of ink? Furthermore, is there an erasable ink, like Pilot's Frixion ink (I know that's gel, but is there a liquid form for fountain pens)

Thanks for any advice.

I missed this post at first, but I may have an answer for you.

Regular fountain pens with cartridges or refillable reservoirs use water based ink, whatever the brand, which will only dry as quickly as water dries. The traditional solution to this is a blotter. I think there is no better way other than to choose your paper carefully. Fountain pens are as much about the paper as about the ink.

If you want an ink that dries quickly, one (and maybe the only) solution is the Pilot Varsity disposable pen. These pens are, quite honestly, magic. They use a spirit based ink which dries quickly, and yet they will last for years when capped without ever drying out (unlike a regular fountain pen). Not only this, but they write nicely too with a smooth feel and a good line. And to cap it all, they cost next to nothing! What's not to like?

[Vtile]

While fountain pens are something rather addictive, still my all time favorite is the plain and old Ballograf Epoca.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ballograf-wiki.jpg

[VK3DRB]

We have an ink here called Quink. https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/parker-quink-ink-bottle-blue-sa18035817

Ii the 1960's in primary school, I got promoted from using a pencil to a fountain pen by a teacher who thought my handwriting was good enough. It was a great thing getting fountain pen. My first invention (not patented) was a blotting bag and many students copied by invention which saved on blotting paper which then cost a whole 2 cents per sheet.  I love fountain pens. In fact many years later I did my assignments and exams during my engineering studies using a fountain pen.

I had very nice italic handwriting. My first home computer was bought in 1979. My first job was with computers at IBM, so I lost the reason to write at a relatively early age. But my handwriting is atrocious now. I can barely write legibly. It is a case of if you don't use it you lose it. But at least I can still do most calculations in my head. These days young graduates would not not how to do primary school level long division, let alone know what a fountain pen is.

[CJay]

Depends a little on the purpose.
My main writing pen is the Pelikan Toledo M700 (old style) with a »B« sized nib.
Sketching and EDC is the Rotring 600 »BMW Rolls Royce AeroEngines« labeled with »M« sized stainless steel nib.
On my workshop desk I keep a set of Rotring Renaissance fountain pen with »M« sized nib and Rotring Tintenkuli (pre ball pen era stylograph).

But your question might be something for another thread...

#threadpirate

*drools*
The implement of choice here is a Rotring propelling pencil and a couple of Rotring Rapidographs when I remember to buy ink for them, other than that, I am a fan of the Mitsubishi Pencil company Uni pens but lately I've taken to using Pilot Frixion ballpens which feel *really* nice in my hand and write well.

I wish I could use a fountain pen daily but as a left hander it's really difficult to keep it neat


*edit* Oops, meant to add that it may not be necessary to change pen or ink, perhaps the paper choice might offer a more effective solution, a lot of modern papers have that silky smooth feel to them which is as a result of (I believe) a china clay coating, unfortunately it also seems to increase ink drying time as it's not as absorbent as it could be.

*damnit* and another edit: Quink offer a range of inks, some of which are designed for applications like recording births deaths and marriages in the various registers where they're expected to last centuries, it may be worth exploring their range and seeing if they're suitable?