Not buying any more pens mail order

[Newtonslife]

Im not happy.

The last few pens I bought were dry and scratchy , they include :TWSBI Diamond 540 Smoke Fountain Pen a Platinum #3776 Century, a Noodler's Nib Creaper and Lamy Accent.

all of these have been unusable on receipt and the hassle of sending them back and waiting for a replacement ,is mind numbing ,I cant be bothered sending the nib creaper back, I ordered a new nib for the twsbi that was better and the Platinum is still waiting for a new nib from japan.The lamy has a new nib, which is much better, Over all a very poor experience here in the uk.
Frustrated, annoyed, disappointed, luckily I bought a Sheaffer 300 , in a pen shop and tried it out before i took it away,that's a nice pen ,but no more mail order pens for me until I can find a way to make sure they are good writers before they are sent out

[goldiesdad]

I feel your pain ... I am learning how to smooth and adjust my pen nibs just for that reason. Seems most have some sort of issue and I now "tweak" all my pens some I oblique some I make smoother based upon what I like.

Good Luck ...

[The Follows]

Don't give up! Most of my pens have been purchased through the mail and they worked fine. The funny thing was that as I started changing inks a papers I found that they made an impact to the writing experience. Lucky for us there are these forums to lend a hand 😃 and sometimes a well crafted google query will lead to the answer! I had great out of the box writing with my Noodler's Ahab and Creeper until I dismantled them for cleaning. It took some searching to find out how to set the nib and feed but now it's like butter again!

[snedwos]

My first mail order pen should be arriving tomorrow or soon after that. My last shop pen started acting up once I had it back home with me, rather than at the shop when I tested it. Probably because I had smoother paper at home, and it showed up the baby's bottom.

[outbackpengeek]

It's nice to have the choice I guess. All my pens are mail order because the nearest shop likely to sell a fountain pen is 1600kms away in any direction.

[KrazyIvan]

Most of my pen purchases are made over the internet. Anyone looking to get into fountain pens should consider learning to adjust their own nibs and basic smoothing techniques. If not, make friends with your closest nibmeister.

[Newtonslife]

Here in the UK, Im yet to find anyone who would be a nib expert and in any case, its not as if Fountain pens are new technology,I think Im more disappointed with the quality of pens being sent out/made in the 1st place,on the nib creeper Ill have go at smoothing the nib and in fact Ive ordered some dip nibs to experiment on grinding and smoothing,so,the dremmel will be unleashed and some experiments done,wish me luck

[KrazyIvan]

I would stay away from the dremmel until you get the hang of it by hand first.

[Newtonslife]

Sorry .. the dremmel comment was irony ( English humor

[KrazyIvan]

I thought so but I just wanted to make sure.

[pajaro]

Most of the pens I buy are used pens, mostly vintage 1940s to 1970s. There's more bang for the buck, but there are exceptions. I think the Lamy Safari is an excellent pen, and it offers the chance to try out italic nibs relatively cheaply.

Just lately I have been using NOS Reform 1745s. They are a nice pen, but narrow, small circumference in the barrel. The nibs are surprisingly good. Esterbrooks are also a good value. Several sellers who sell in the Fountain Pen Network classifieds offer them resacked, polished and with very decent nibs in the $30 to $40 range. I just bought two, from different sellers and the pens are quite nice. I am not buying new pens because I don't see the value in them, and I grew up in the 50s and 60s with the older pens. Parker 51, Sheaffers and Wearever. I heartily condemn Wearevers as the Leakmeisters.

[Saintpaulia]

It's nice to have the choice I guess. All my pens are mail order because the nearest shop likely to sell a fountain pen is 1600kms away in any direction.

+1 on that

[Saintpaulia]

Just lately I have been using NOS Reform 1745s. They are a nice pen, but narrow, small circumference in the barrel.

Granted they are small which is why I ordered mine in the first place. But like the O.P. when it arrived I found it not quite as I might have liked. A bit too much on the fine side for me. But they are great for small hands. My current favorite in that department is the lowly but venerable Parker Jotter!

[pajaro]

Granted they are small which is why I ordered mine in the first place. But like the O.P. when it arrived I found it not quite as I might have liked. A bit too much on the fine side for me. But they are great for small hands. My current favorite in that department is the lowly but venerable Parker Jotter!

I have liked the Reforms, but the medium nibs were too much -- too wet and too broad. I replaced one with a MB 144 fine nib, the feeds being the same diameter, and I found one Reform had a cracked section, kaput. Today I received another 1745, this one with a fine nib -- perfect!

[ddustinn]

If I get a nib that's not to my liking, I fix it. Tine adjustment and smoothing not difficult. There are plenty of videos and forum posts describing how to do these things.