Hello from Hereford, UK

[HoarderHoarder]

Hello one and all,

Just starting out (again, perhaps?) in the FP world. I'm currently in the the early tween years of moving on from a score of Chinese pens to those pens that Brian G. and the Sabre would call entry-level/beginner pens. I'm not too heavily invested into inks, paper and nibs as yet, but I'm quietly confident those bugs will bite me too.

As a warning: If I can't find the answer using a forum search, I won't go away - I WILL ask. You hef bin varnd :)

Again, greetings to one and all, and stay safe.
RKJ

[Wahl]

:welcome:

[HoarderHoarder]

Btw, can I just point out how refreshing it is to be able to use a website, let alone a forum, without an insane number of javascripts wanting to run in the background.
My newly discovered pen man has an equally lean and clean website.

RKJ

[topcat666]

Hello and welcome.
You live in a nice part of the country.
I hope you enjoy your time with fountain pens and this forum.

[Chrissy]

Welcome. :)

[Fermata]

Hello and welcome.

A very comfortable problem that you have is considering the next step.

It was not that long ago when the majority of pens bought from China were just rubbish, bought and then thrown away. Chinese pen makers have improved the quality, Jinhao in particular with their 450/750/159 pens all costing less than the price of a cup of coffee. The next step may be for you to spend 10X what you have spent on a Jinhao, a natural thought would be 'what extra do I get for my money' and that sometimes takes some careful consideration.

You will enjoy your pens even more when you start to explore the world of inks and notebooks, Write Here in Shrewsbury would probably be worth a trip out when they are open again, they stock a good range and are helpful.

https://www.writeherekitenow.co.uk/

[HoarderHoarder]

@Fermata

Many thanks for your 'commiseration' (A very comfortable problem ...).

Thanks also for the heads up on WriteHere, I've already taken up browsing their website, as they are about as local to me as any of the pen sellers with an online presence. I've also used Andy's Pens, as I used to live down the road from where he operates.

My 'strategy' currently is to use a wide variety of 'cup-of-coffee' pens to best work out what kind of nib (F, M, hooded, open) and what shape pen (sleek, ergonomic, classic torpedo, etc) I seem to be happiest with.

UKFountainsPens blog made a couple of interesting and thoughtful points as regards not blaming myself if the pen doesn't suit me; not taking it for granted that each pen needs to have it's nib tuned after I've received it; and using a retailer dedicated to pens and customer service in case I do want to have a mis-aligned, untuned nib replaced etc. I think that's where shops like WriteHere come into their own.

As a left-hander, it's already become clear to me that sampling and choosing inks and writing paper will also feature prominently on my journey of discovery.

Again, many thanks all for your welcomes, and I look forward to picking your collective brains, and perhaps hopefully one day being able to contribute to the font/fount of knowledge that this forum promises to be.

RKJ

[countrydirt]

Welcome! I look forward to hearing about your journey!

[topcat666]

WriteHere hope to open next Monday.
Good luck and enjoy the hobby.

[azkid]

Welcome from Colorado, USA.

[VertOlive]

Welcome from a former resident of Hereford,......Texas!

[jar]

Welcome home. Pull up a stump and set a spell.

[welch]

Hello and welcome!

My suggestion for a "starter" pen is the immortal Parker 45, which was my starter pen in 1961. I had written with a Sheaffer school pen, the translucent cartridge pens, and they were scratchy. Got a P-45 and wrote with it every day until I was in my second year of college. The Parker 45 is a simple and beautiful pen, streamlined, with not glitz. The look just says, "I'm here to write for you", while other pens nowadays say "Look at me!"

What makes the P-45 great? All the parts unscrew and can be replaced or swapped. The medium nibs, even now, sell for about 10 USD for a steel ("octanium") nib or maybe 15 USD for a medium gold. Fine points are about the same and broad points more expensive. Back in the early '60's, the market expected several nib-types that are not considered exotic, and they show up on EBay now and again.

The 45 wants any Parker converter or Parker cartridge. Best is a converter, which gives an in-out flush whenever you refill.

Normal price on EBay is around 25 USD, which makes the Parker 45 less expensive than almost any new pen. The 45 will last and last. Long ago, I dropped mine while riding a bike on a winding park road in Washington, DC. Nib up, luckily. It was not damaged.

Ink?

The 45 is friendly to almost any ink. My suggestion, since you are in the UK, is to try Parker Permanent Blue, a purplish blue that is tougher than their Washable Blue, but will wash out of your clothes. Waterman inks are good. You live in the home country of Diamine inks, and they are nearly all trustworthy and colorful. Try their Sapphire Blue. Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue is another trustworthy ink.

[Anne]

Welcome:)

[Morgaine]

Hello and welcome from Wales.

[HoarderHoarder]

Hello and welcome from Wales.

Bore da, diolch yn fawr. And that about sums up all my cymraeg.

[Morgaine]

Not bad at all!

When things get back to a normality, perhaps you should journey into Wales, to Hay-on-Wye. There's a lovely little stationers that has pens downstairs, I hope the shop will survive the lockdowns. I bought a 1.1 (?) Lamy nib.

[HoarderHoarder]

Not bad at all!

When things get back to a normality, perhaps you should journey into Wales, to Hay-on-Wye. There's a lovely little stationers that has pens downstairs, I hope the shop will survive the lockdowns. I bought a 1.1 (?) Lamy nib.

I've just had my P800 tax refund form come through, so you MUST tell me about that stationers :)

[Morgaine]

Not bad at all!

When things get back to a normality, perhaps you should journey into Wales, to Hay-on-Wye. There's a lovely little stationers that has pens downstairs, I hope the shop will survive the lockdowns. I bought a 1.1 (?) Lamy nib.

I've just had my P800 tax refund form come through, so you MUST tell me about that stationers :)

I think the shop is called Bartrums.

[Bisquitlips]

Welcome!!! :welcome: