Greetings

**Voodoo** · January 24th, 2018, 09:57 PM

Good evening all,
Been thinking of trying a fountain pen out for a while and finial have the time to do some research and try to educate myself prior to taking the plunge. I've look through some sites like Mr. Binder's web page and a few others.

Look forward to absorbing everyones advice and knowledge.

Any suggestions some choices to research for my first purchase without breaking the bank?

Jer

**jar** · January 25th, 2018, 04:49 AM

Welcome home. Pull up a stump and set a spell. How big is the bank?

**Anne** · January 25th, 2018, 01:13 PM

Welcome

Have you narrowed any choices down to styles or filling systems at all?

**KrazyIvan** · January 25th, 2018, 01:16 PM

Welcome, what kind of budget do you have to work with?

**FredRydr** · January 25th, 2018, 01:17 PM

Originally Posted by Voodoo

Any suggestions some choices to research for my first purchase without breaking the bank?

Ummm.... https://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread...t-the-cheapest

My suggestion is a modern pen with easily swapped nib unit, e.g., a used Pelikan M200 for less than $100 or a Franklin-Christoph for less than $125. Get extra steel nib units of different types to introduce yourself to what's out there. Or go vintage with an Esterbrook for less than $30 and get extra nib units. In fact, Esterbrook is about the best value out there. Google images of any of them.

**Hawk** · January 25th, 2018, 02:05 PM

Welcome.
I agree with FredRyder. on the pens. TWSBI also makes excellent, inexpensive pens. Some models have interchangeable nibs.

**Bold2013** · January 25th, 2018, 05:00 PM

Indian pens with Jowo or bock nib units and converters.

**Voodoo** · January 25th, 2018, 08:36 PM

Thanks for the suggestions folks.
I'm looking to try an keep it around $30. I'm pretty paranoid that I'm going to loose/misplace the thing. I'm always leaving my pens in one of my rooms in the clinic, and there's a lot of traffic. I also want to fool around with different nubs, styles, and filling systems.

Vintage is differently a plus. Not sure that I'll find something in my price range (just don't know enough yet), but I'm hoping it's like straight razors...you can find good quality vintage razors that shave like a dream at reasonable prices just as well as dropping 2-3 months pay for one.

Any recommendations for fillings systems is appreciate, too. Right now i'm leaning toward something that will take cartridge/converter. I've got plenty of syringes at work.

Thanks all and cheers,
Jer

**Marsilius** · January 25th, 2018, 10:47 PM

Welcome. For that amount, and Pilot Metro is a great choice. And you can even get switch out nibs to try a stub nib or something else.

**Wahl** · January 26th, 2018, 10:21 AM

Hi Jer

**Scooby921** · January 26th, 2018, 11:39 AM

Welcome!

Once you choose a pen you'll likely get lost in the depth of ink choices. For that reason I recommend buying something which uses a converter. Buying cartridges usually means you're forced to buy 5+ of any given ink. If you don't like it you end up tossing the cartridge and are stuck with 4 more you don't know what to do with. With a converter you can clean and reuse. This goes well if you buy sample vials of ink. They are just enough to fill the converter 1~1.5x. You spend a little more per mL of ink vs. buying a full pack of cartridges, but you can try it before you invest in full bottle of a specific ink. To be honest I keep questioning why I bother buying full bottles of any ink. I like variety and with so many different inks out there I could use a new one every day and still need multiple years to try them all.

You can just as easily clean out a piston filler, but there is some benefit to having a second nib unit and second converter for some pens so that you can clean one set while changing inks and installing the other back into the pen. You're not slowed down by waiting for the water to dry up so it' doesn't affect the ink color. But even that only lasts until the pen habit latches on and you suddenly own enough pens to simply rotate the next one in while the previous one gets cleaned and dried.

Pilot Metropolitan is a great pen at an affordable price. One of my co-workers really likes his Pilot Prera. I also really like TWSBI for stuffing features and quality into an affordably priced pen. That might be the best option if you are looking to buy one pen and a bunch of nibs. Their replacement nibs / nib units are commonly available from multiple sites. I think they are also just a standard #5 nib, so you could buy the stand-alone steel nibs from Goulet Pens, Anderson Pens, or Franklin-Christoph and they'd fit.

**VertOlive** · January 28th, 2018, 12:42 AM

The go-to first pen is usually the Pilot Metropolitan. The nibs are great, they come in both sober and brights colors with a cartridge/converter filling system. They are a very lightweight metal pen.

That said, I prefer the Lamy Safari for all the same reasons, the difference being the unique triple sided grip and the fact they are made of ABS (Lego quality) plastic, with a slightly larger girth. I believe there are also more nib choices.

Both obtainable for under $30.