The eternal charm and the eternal LOL of fountain pens: this pen LOOKS empty and indeed there is just the barest GLEAM of inke left I've been writing with it for two days like this - ThreadSky

premeemohamed.com • 24 days ago

The eternal charm and the eternal LOL of fountain pens: this pen LOOKS empty and indeed there is just the barest GLEAM of inke left

I've been writing with it for two days like this

Comments

starshadw.bsky.social•24 days ago

I want to write with fountain pens SO BAD but as a lefty, I have had mixed results at best. Fountain pens just really want to be pulled, not pushed. :(

purrceyz.bsky.social•23 days ago

I'm a lefty underwriter (my hand is below the writing) & have used fountain pens for many years & prefer them to ballpoints. (Underwriting is easiest for fountain pens). Check the nib is in the correct position & use a very light pressure. I recommend trying a Platinum Preppy; they less than $10

starshadw.bsky.social•23 days ago

Ahh, see, I'm not an underwriter. My hand slides right along with the writing, so the side of my pinkie goes right over it (which is another problem, of course). But I will give that pen a try!

starshadw.bsky.social•23 days ago

Oh, and I should probably also say I'm not one who was taught to tightly curl their wrist so as to approximate writing as though right-handed. My wrist is not curled compared to my arm, 'tis straight. :)

purrceyz.bsky.social•23 days ago

I originally wrote that way (it's called side writing). My hand smudged my writing & I failed printing the first 3 yr of elementary school. (In the 60s, they didn't punish lefties like they did with my dad but they didn't help them either.) I taught myself to be an underwriter in grade 4.

premeemohamed.com•23 days ago

(Jumping back in here to say that I *love* the Preppies -- SO comfortable, nice nib, just an all-around great pen for very very few dollars.)

purrceyz.bsky.social•23 days ago

They are a great pen for people who want to try fountain pens and I carry around several in my purse. I reuse & refill the cartridges with a blunt ink syringe.

tallastro.bsky.social•24 days ago

A fountain pen can have a bias for left or right hand side strokes. It's not a difficult nib tine adjustment to make. If you're having trouble going up the page with a stroke, you're probably pushing down too hard. Fountain pens only need the lightest of pressure to write.

purrceyz.bsky.social•23 days ago

I've a long term fountain pen user who's a lefty underwriter. I have never found it necessary to adjust my nibs for my handedness. I agree that fountain pens need much less pressure than ballpoints. (I prefer them for this reason.)

jackbinds.bsky.social•24 days ago

Have you tried a hooded pen. They put out less ink, but seem to work well. The trick with fountain pens is to let them learn how to be "your" pen.

robertmacanthony.bsky.social•24 days ago

Have you tried any with left-handed nibs? I don’t know how good they are but they make them.

starshadw.bsky.social•24 days ago

I tried one without much success, but that was a long time ago. Maybe I should try again!

donnaehm.bsky.social•24 days ago

I'm not surprised to see it's a TWSBI because the one I had ran exactly like that. I'd find myself peering into the barrel thinking, 'But there isn't any ink there?'

There's some kind of sorcery going on in that nib, I'm convinced of it.

caorthannach.bsky.social•24 days ago

I’ve got that pen! I love TWSBI Ecos.

jlkaufmann.bsky.social•24 days ago

TWSBIs I swear have a tiny Dread Portal in the section, connected to an unimaginable parallel dimension containing a wilderness of ink, possibly demons.

farex29.bsky.social•24 days ago

Are you pushing the piston down while writing as the ink empties, or was that an attempt to squeeze out the remaining ink?
I’m still new to TWSBI and not sure what the proper procedure is; I’ve seen it done both ways.

premeemohamed.com•24 days ago

I push the piston down now! I started initially doing it for my own amusement but now it's a habit. :D (It's all the way down now, there SHOULDN'T be any more ink being squeezed out, AND YET.)

sfmayer.bsky.social•24 days ago

Yes, but will you being refilling with the same ink or a new one? One of my favorite choices. ;)

premeemohamed.com•24 days ago

New one I think! :D (I am still trying to work my way through ONE MILLION BILLION TRILLION tiny little bottles!)

ludibriumventis.bsky.social•24 days ago

Livin' on the edge!

hestiah.wtf•23 days ago

I really love my TWSBIs so much.

premeemohamed.com•23 days ago

Seriously

True, faithful love

premeemohamed.com•24 days ago

I'm like "Hey are you okay, aren't you running dry" and it's unironically like "No no I'm good!"

I would LIKE a fresh fill but I never do it until the pen is REALLY DONE and yet --

lynngr.bsky.social•24 days ago

My Opus88 is like that too. But it does get cranky if I don't give it a thorough bath between fillings. The TWSBI doesn't seem to care.

diane.dianeduane.com•24 days ago

You get ones like that. And then you get others that you wind up doing the Fountain Pen Palsy move with for minutes on end, while screaming at them "You're *full*, dammit, why won't you *write?!" 🤣

premeemohamed.com•24 days ago

SURE ARE

(I have a few of those and one of them, God rest its fancy little soul, is one of the most expensive pens I own)

jlkaufmann.bsky.social•24 days ago

My Waterman, bless it. I pause for one eighth of a second to remember if I mean 'its' or 'it's', and it goes drier than a rock in the Atacama. Aeons pass. A tiny lava lizard crawls pathetically over the nib and I have to find it a bit of damp cotton wool. Eventually I run it under the tap. Repeat.

premeemohamed.com•24 days ago

Meanwhile your TWSBI, with zero visible ink in the feed or barrel, run over by a battalion of panzers, bitten in half by a hippopotamus, washed on the sanitize cycle and dried in a sandstorm, thrown into Mt. Doom, lets you write six more pages before stopping considerately at the end of a sentence

jlkaufmann.bsky.social•24 days ago

*gives TWSBI Eco a little pat*

jlkaufmann.bsky.social•24 days ago

To think I did all my A-Level exam papers with that Waterman. It's becoming tetchy as it ages, like its owner.

diane.dianeduane.com•24 days ago

My KaWeCo gets moods like that. Strangely, they seem to coincide with times when it needs to be polished. (it's brass...) (snicker) Vanity? WhoTF knows.

jlkaufmann.bsky.social•24 days ago

Are you trying to tell me fountain pens have personalities?

Yes. Yes I am indeed trying to tell you that.

premeemohamed.com•24 days ago

THEY DO

karidru.bsky.social•23 days ago

OK storytime. I once tucked my Aurora Ipsilon in my nice, deep coat pocket. I actually thought to myself "it'll probably be safe and if it's not is it that big a deal?" I have no idea what I was thinking besides "oh shit I'm late."

Obviously when I arrived at my destination, no pen.
1

diane.dianeduane.com•24 days ago

@peter.petermorwood.com bought me a Mont Blanc Meisterstuck that used to behave like that. Left me penfapping every time I tried to write with it. Finally we sent it off for service (15, 20 years after purchase?) (1/2)

jlkaufmann.bsky.social•24 days ago

(penfapping oh my inky God 🤣)

diane.dianeduane.com•24 days ago

Well there has to be *some* term for it. 🤣

diane.dianeduane.com•24 days ago

"Gaskets are shot," they said. And replaced *the whole pen* except for the nib. Now writes perfectly. (A bit wet in the stroke, but I don't mind that.)

(Afterthought: is there *any* way to talk about the function of pens without things starting to come out sounding like innuendo?) 😅

roses7184.bsky.social•24 days ago

Is that a TWSBI I spy? I love nibs that just hang on to ink for ages haha.

premeemohamed.com•24 days ago

Yep! :) I have a bunch but I think this blue is one of my favourite colourways. (And yeah it's hilarious first of all how MUCH ink they hold on a single fill but then they just kind of ?? never run out ?? every time)

roses7184.bsky.social•24 days ago

This is why TWSBI and Pilot are my letter writing pens, and my Sailor pens only get used for journal entries haha. You blink and the ink is gone or (heaven forbid) dried up inside. I still love them though.

sciencerat.bsky.social•24 days ago

which pen is this?

robertmacanthony.bsky.social•24 days ago

My fine point pens will look like they’re out for DAYS.

amagicianofsorts.bsky.social•24 days ago

🤓

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