[Pen and pad emoji]

[yvannairie]

I bought my second fountain pen... I assume this is how it starts... :'D

I haven't been using my notebook at work that much because I've been too busy, which is probably good because the cap on my Safari has gotten a bit loose from use and I've been letting it rest. Unfortunately this also meant that the ink in the cartridge had finally dried -- fortunately there was only a little bit left in it anyway so it's not a great loss. I'm also gonna try the purple ink next, turns out writing in black is simply not as much fun as Bright Colours. I was way less motivated to do my toki pona homework when I stopped using the red ink.

Comments

[palominocorn]

Ha, that IS how it starts! And bright colors do make everything better, Lisa Frank knew what she was doing LMAO.

[cimorene]

Yeah, I've thrown away more than one black cartridge due to that boredom.

Kaweco Sports are nice, reliable little pocket pens about the same price point that take universal cartridges (unlike Lamy) and have screw-on lids, but their nibs aren't as reliably good. They can typically be fixed, but that's harder. I have a number of Sport nib units, and I think maybe 30% of them arrived with problems. It's a well known issue if you search the web for fountain pen discussion. Still though... the good nib ones are some of my favorites!

I would recommend the Platinum Preppy instead, which have really great nibs but are basically disposable in quality. Also cheaper. They are a bit too easy to break compared to other entry level pens, but they make up for it by writing so well. Also Platinum makes an aluminum-body pen called Plaisir that's a little more expensive, around the Safari price, and uses the same nib units.

[yvannairie]

Yeah the pen I got is a Kaweco Sport, actually, it was cheap and I didn't want to keep taking the Safari to work because it's too nice to write with. I've been having some trouble with it, but I'm quite willing to blame the worse-quality paper I have atm.

I also dropped my Safari while cleaning it and now the nib is slightly bent :(

[cimorene]

That sucks!!

It took me... more than a year of using pens, and a LOT of reading and videos, before I was ready to adjust the nibs on my Sports. But it IS possible and I've fixed more than one of them. The most common problem with them is known as baby's bottom, and you can find pages about it googling about Sport nibs and how to diagnose the different problems you might be having with them. Also if I remember right I think Jetpens has a pretty decent video on elementary nib adjustment that I was talking to my little sister about recently when she was having issues (different issues that turned out to be the pen body tho). I got my nib-tuning materials - which is to say, mylar sheets that you gently rub the nib on at a specific angle a bit at a time - from https://www.thewritingdesk.co.uk/ , but I THINK some of the EU shops I've found since Brexit have some supplies for it, I just can't remember which ones off the top of my head.

Also a replacement Lamy nib is about 7€ or so I think? You could try a different line width if you aren't 100% that the one you already had was the best one. I think I've gotten them from penstore.fi before.

[yvannairie]

As far as I can tell, the nib is a bit bent and out of alignment now, but as far as I could tell, it still writers relatively well on the softer paper of my proper notebook. I'm gonna grab a loupe from work and check b/c I have jewellers sandpaper which I can use for repairs, most likely :|c I might just get a new nib for it, though. Thanks for the advice! :D

[cimorene]

That should be all you need, assuming the sandpaper is a good... grain? Strength? harshness? (Depending somewhat on how they're bent, of course - there are some ways that are very hard or impossible to fix, but the common ones aren't.)