» What’s your Favorite Pen?
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I’m guessing that everyone has to have at least one… The one you go reaching for every single time that inspiration strikes. Someone recently asked me about my own favorite pen and I had to chuckle because it seems as though it changes every hour. I am primarily a fountain pen user with about 18 in my collection. I think 14 of them are currently inked, (all with a different color) and while each gets at least some occasional use, there are a few that I return to again and again. 2 to 3 of my brightly colored Lamy Safari’s and my Sailor Sapporo probably see the most use, though I’m learning to love my new Auroro Ipsilon shown in the photo above. For extended writing sessions, I find it extremely helpful to have a well balanced pen in my hand. To date, the Sapporo is my #1 pen to fit the bill, with the Ipsilon coming in a close second.
If I’m not using a fountain pen, I enjoy using Uniball Signo gel pens and Pitt Artist Pens. Both come pretty close to the oh-so-smooth writing experience that my fountain pens provide.
Will you tell me about your favorite pens?
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Lately it’s been my Pelikan M800 and Pilot V5 RT
I have 2 favorites: a Recife Demonstrator that I have had for around 18 years. It feels good in my hand, I love how much ink it holds (I use a medicine syringe to refill it), and the nib is just right. Then my best friend gave me a Pelikan 200 demonstrator for Christmas and it has been my first choice for a while now. These two — I just love them!
My Parker 51s are my typical go-to pens. I can always rely on them to be inked, appropriate, and ready to go. Great writers for any circumstance.
However, for pure sentiment, I have a pair of 1995 Parker Duofolds, an International and a Centennial. I bought the International new. It became our “signing pen”–all the documentation for our house purchase, wedding, and birth of our daughter were signed with that pen. I would often go to it when I wanted something nice. It writes well, too.
A pen collector died, and willed his collection to a guy he knew who was looking to pay for college. The local pen store sold them on consignment. One was the matching Centennial piece, which my wife gave to me on our tenth wedding anniversary. She’s the best! As luck would have it, they have matching date codes.
My Rotring Core Balium is my favorite fountain pen; I am never without it. Now discontinued, it is well-balanced, flows easily, and is downright wonderful to look at; it’s orange and hot pink and has all sorts of fun and indecipherable markings on it. It even holds an extra cartridge. When I have to use something else, I’ll go for a Pilot G-2 every time; it’s very reliable and refillable (except the miniature version). Then there are about 50 more, but I’ll leave that for another time . . .
I have lot’s of favorite pens since I make my own. It seems like I am always finding a new kit or some special piece of wood or acrylic that will make that perfect personal pen.
I am still not very proficient with a fountain pen but my best writing pen that I have now is a Lamy Safari with a medium nib.
However my current favorite all around pen is a Apollo Infinity Rollerball turned with Bethlehem Olive Wood. The wood smells so great and it is a nice thick and heavy pen.
My Pelikan m215 has to be the best one of bunch I use every day. Huge ink tank, writes smooth and has a great balance and comfort. I am looking to add to my collection with the Visconti Homo Sapiens. I saw wonderful potential with this pen at the Philadelphia pen show. It will probably cause me to put most of my pens on the shelf.
Definitely my orange Lamy Safari with a nib that was adjusted by Richard Binder. It quickly became my daily writer.
I prefer Pilot PRELA to Lamy Safari. Both pens are cute and inexpensive.
In my small collection, I have two favorites. One is my Varuna Rajan, a handmade (in India) ebonite ED pen. It has a medium steel JoWo nib that is very smooth. This pen has been filled for some time now with J. Herbin Perle Noire, which it plays very nicely with.
The second is my one-and-only Parker 51, a teal aerometric model that was given to me by my father when I was a kid. I’ve had the pen for over 40 years but it sat neglected until last year, when I got interested in fountain pens and sent it off for restoration. It has a fine nib and writes great, with just a little bit of tooth. It wasn’t even really my Dad’s pen; it’s got sumgai’s name in it. But it has a bit of sentimental value nevertheless.
Five different Pelikans are filled with various inks, a MonteBlanc Noblese with Racing Green, a Sailor 1911 J. Herbin Vert Empire, and a 1948 Parker 51 J. Herbin Bleue Nuit, but the one I’ve been reaching for the most for the past week or two is a vintage lever filler Conway Stewart 85 with a sweet stub nib filled with Diamine Prussian Blue. And of course the paper is always Rhodia or ClaireFontaine!
Toss up.
Parker Duofold Centennial “Big Red” w/medium italic nib and Pelikan M750 Jubilee.
Anyone use a Waterman Edson? Is it worth the price?
In terms of “pen I always gravitate towards,” it goes back and forth between my Pelikans, Sailors, and Auroras. Right now, it’s my Pelikans.
My favorite for many years has been the Pilot G2, but I think I’m over it now. Looking forward to checking out some of these other faves!
For me, my Lamy Al-Star is my pen of choice. It has an extra fine nib and filled with Noodlers Bulletproof Black. I also have a Lamy Vista in my daily planner, also with an extra fine nib but filled with Noodler’s El Lawrence. Though I prefer the transparency of the Vista, I feel safer carrying the aluminum bodied Al-Star on a day to day basis. I have found a love for hand writing everything since picking up these fountain pens. I suspect that these may become family heirlooms.
For daily, average use, Uni-ball Signo 207 Micro, Lamy Safari and Parker 51.
Such a juicy question… I am thinking about the pen/pencil case in my bag right now and what all is in there. I have favorites in categories. Ballpoint, got to go with the Staedtler stick fine point blue. Rollerball, blue Pilot V5. Gel, Pilot HiTec C .03 in a lovely royal blue. Fountain, I have a Spalding mini of which I am quite fond because it is small and easily pocketable–and a lime green Pelikan that writes as well as the color is cool.
5 Visconti Ripples, 2 Romanicas – silver and vermeil, 4 Montegrappa Extra 1930s, and a Montblanc Dumas Writers Edition would be my first grab in an emergency snatch for my pens. Nib sizes range from B, BB, and 1.3 stub.
For the person curious about a Waterman Edson, I’d try the Waterman Carene inlaid nib to see how you like it. Inlaids write differently to traditional nibs. If you think the Carenes are yummy, then go for it! I’ve got 7 Carenes, so I love them, but they’re not for everyone.
I’m a lefty, (underwriter) which is important since I’m pushing the nib more than pulling. I like Chinese pens best, they write best for me, which is great for my wallet too. Hero 100 is my favorite, yep.
A PITT pen with extra super fine nib (.1mm) is always in my bag; I draw most of my mandalas and doodles with it. I also like the Rapidograph with .35 nib for drawing mandalas.
All name my top three since I use them somewhat differently, with some overlap.
Waterman Charleston with a fine nib
Waterman Phileas with a fine nib
Waterman Phileas with a medium nib
The medium nib is my daily go with me about town workhorse, but I greatly prefer the fine nibs for journals, letters, post cards, even taking phone messages on post-it notes.
I agree with B Irwin about the Carene. It is a beautiful pen and I am the proud owner of one with a fine nib, but it is still tricky for me because I am not used to holding the pen as I really should with this particular type of nib.
I’ve just started writing in Rhodia pads/notebooks, but I’m impressed with the fact they seem to be the only paper I have that can hold up to the Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pens. My real fountain pens are in need of replacement cartridges, so, needing a fountain pen fix, in desperation I turned to the only working one I had: the Varsity. Very heavy ink flow that spiders on everything but the Rhodia vellum paper. One day I will honour the Rhodia pad with a proper awesome pen!
After a lot of experimenting, my rotation batch is very small:
Sailor Sapporo (M)
Pelikan M205 (F)
Waterman Hemisphere (F)
LAMY Vista (F)
Rotring Core (XS)
Pilot 78G (M)
Basically these have been my consistent go-to pens. I have a few I like to pull out every so often, but these get the most use.
The Rotring is not to my taste style wise, but that nib is amazing. Fortunately it’s a more conservative black color.
I’m slowing down my collecting a lot. I’d love a Pilot Custom Demonstrator, but other than that I am pretty much done with acquiring pens. I’m happy with the ones I have.
I have an Esterbrook J with a 9556 nib. The wear pattern and my hand work beautifully. I’ve tried switching this nib to another estie and it doesn’t write the same. I’ve learned not to mess with a good thing.
The current pens I’m carrying in my pocket and use most are my Lamy Vista with Private reserve velvet black ink. A Brown Pilot Petit 1 I got from jet pens and am giving a try, and a Trusty Black Fischer bullet space pen that has been in my back pocket since oct 2005. all work well with the moleskine I’m carrying.
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