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Thread: Use and Usability

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    Default Use and Usability

    This is a follow-up from something I mentioned in an earlier post this year about finding FPs to be a little impractical at work, despite being in a mostly academic office environment.

    Perhaps I’m not the only one in this kind of position, but if so, here goes nonetheless.

    It occurs to me, on reflection of that previous remark, that perhaps I would be served better by having two ‘toolkits’ as it were.

    1. Work: where only fine and extra fine nibs come into play, or could be interchanged with a ballpoint/rollerball/pencil.
    2. Home: where most usage is for personal diaries and correspondence, and where broader, more flexible or other interesting nib shapes can be deployed.

    The work part is easy enough to satisfy: a Decimo, 823, L2K, and perhaps a 912/742 PO should cover all requirements. Plus, I frequently use a multipen (gasp!).

    At home though… an ideal solution for me would be to have dip pen holders that took fountain pen nibs with their feeds. To be sure there are some out there that will fit Jowo units, but that would mean missing out on a number of interesting other brand nibs, which unfortunately are not always available without buying the whole pen. Obviously, I could buy the pens entire, but it’s always nice to reduce costs if possible.

    What would be cool is a universal adaptor that would allow any nib/feed unit to be mounted on a dip pen handle.

    The other reason for considering this is that I, like many others, have a multitude of inks, and I don’t always like being tied to one ink in a pen until it’s been used up (I’m not going to waste stuff), and cleaning an FP is a lot slower than pulling a nib from a holder rinsing an refitting for its next dip in another colour.

    Anyway, just some musings on how I actually find uses for FPs in real life, and I really like the idea of the Universal Adaptor.

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    Default Re: Use and Usability

    A universal adapter would also be really useful for nib grinding. It's a neat idea, but I think you'd need to have a series of adjustable intermediary collars to fit different nib/feed units. And that would bulk it up a bit.

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    Default Re: Use and Usability

    I was thinking of a collar that fits a holder, and inside the collar a relatively soft constricting sleeve that can be tightened/loosened by the application of a radial lever extending laterally from near the insertion end of the collar. Not sure if that's the best way of describing it, but I'm sure I've seen a similar device used in a different context. Something in essence like a Chinese finger trap?

    Anyway, regarding the OP, I'm looking at my paper usage too. At present I use a Hobonichi as a day list, and a crappy paper A4 hardbound notebook as a project manager. Projects generally only take a smallish portion of a book, they don't need a new one each!

    For consideration is whether to invest in project books with nice paper, or go with what I get for free from the Uni and use a ballpoint.

    At home of course I can indulge in paper that suits my personal tastes.

    Looking for meaningful and efficient changes going into 2021.

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    Default Re: Use and Usability

    I also maintain subsets of work (potentially lousy paper) and noodling around pens, the former including (gasp) some nice ballpoints ...

    While not a universal adapter, Flexible Nib Factory offers a range of housings to fit Bock or Jowo threads.

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    Default Re: Use and Usability

    David, good topic for discussion as always.

    I agree with your way of dividing the "sphere" of usage for fountain pens.

    The "work" sphere is satisfied with consistent flowing EF/F nibbed pens that are usually filled with a type of ink and used until empty. At the moment, I'm enjoying my Sheaffer Skripsert collection which fit the bill nicely. I even took one to the voting place.

    The "home" or "leisure" or "expressive" sphere is where the fun starts. Where you and I deviate is when it comes to dip pen or pen holder.

    Even if a single universal adapter existed, I wouldn't want it.

    I love the different look, size, style, and materials of fountain pens too much that I'd be sad not to be able to enjoy them in my hand.

    Plus for certain pens that I like to use sparingly and for a short amount of time, I just dip them (not fill them full of ink) anyway.
    - Will
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    Default Re: Use and Usability

    I use mostly vintage pens at home and at work. Work is an office environment, including travel around the area for meetings, site inspections or interviews for cases, hearings etc. I usually have a ballpoint and an old fountain pen in my shirt pocket. I have a second vintage fountain pen that will be in a cup on my desk. I adapt to cheap paper using ink. Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black is great on cheap paper. For better paper I might use Waterman or Akkerman because feathering is less of an issue. The pocket pens tend to be 1930s and later era pens, whereas the 1910s-20s stuff stays at my desk to limit the exposure of hard rubber to sunlight somewhat. But vintage pens have performed just fine for me on a daily basis. The nibs, for the most part, are better than modern pens.

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    Default Re: Use and Usability

    Sounds like something similar to a universal compass adapter for technical drawing where any pen or pencil is held in place by a radial screw or similar

    Faber castell make one for instance https://www.faber-castell.co.uk/prod...kaAh4DEALw_wcB

    You could design one which sort of works like an oblique dip pen which could take any diameter nib unit or even a full section

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    Default Re: Use and Usability

    Perhaps. My own thought woud be for a kind of iris collar. The issue is making sure that the bit of the feed that draws ink is isolated and liquid proof. Designing a device that will hold any nib and feed is relatively trivial. The trick is to come up with a design that can be made small enough to be practical.

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    Default Re: Use and Usability

    For laboratory work I use two Pilot Metropolitans, one with a Japanese medium nib and the other is a 1.1 Stub, along with a medium nibbed Faber Castell Loom.

    At home it is an old Swan SM1 or the Pilot Custom Heritage 912's with a BB Sharp Italic or a Post Office nib. For ink testing or for 'problem' inks I use the James Finness Serendipity Hybrid pen. The nib is a standard #6 Jowo and I get them from Franklin-Christoph as an Extra fine, fine, medium, broad, and a stub. Since the nibs are all stainless steel it doesn't cost very much. The nib and feed soaks up enough ink to write a page and a half of A4 using a fine nib.

    https://pensivepens.com.au/collectio...ity-hybrid-pen
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    Default Re: Use and Usability

    Yeah, the Finness Serendipity is kind of what I had in mind with regard to the concept, but being able to fit other nibs than just Jowo is what I am considering with regard to the universal adaptor thing.

    Intersting that you (junglejim) use medium to stub in a lab setting. What kind of lab is it (broadly, if it's sensitive) and what kind of notes do take there?
    Last edited by Empty_of_Clouds; October 26th, 2020 at 08:00 PM.

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    Default Re: Use and Usability

    Quote Originally Posted by Empty_of_Clouds View Post
    Intersting that you (junglejim) use medium to stub in a lab setting. What kind of lab is it (broadly, if it's sensitive) and what kind of notes do take there?
    It is a private analytical laboratory that specializes in metals analysis in various types of substrates. The Japanese medium (western fine) is used for laboratory notebooks, QA/QC forms, and Chain-of-Custody forms (always filled with Montblanc blue permanent ink), the Loom medium is filled with green ink [Edelsteine Olivine] and is for internal correspondence and everyone's QA/QC reviews that I have to look over, correct, and sign off on 2x each week. The Stub is for signatures and scribbling on Rhodia No. 38 graph pads to try and figure out the best way of tackling a difficult analysis (ink color varies). Also used for doodling to look busy while on boring round-table conference videos, lol.
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    Default Re: Use and Usability

    I sort of began exploring this once: realizing the Pelikan 400 is really the perfect pen for me ergonomically, I planned to pare my collection down to three of them and a whole bevy of nibs I could easily swap out depending on my needs. It was good in theory--pens with removable nibs are much easier to flush out*, and the vintage 400 feeds are especially so, and there really are a whole lot of nib options with the 400 size as a system. While I quickly realized I was too much of a sucker for design and celluloid to be satisfied with it, this idea or something like it might work for you if your dream is already an adjustable-radius nib holder--this might be a practical alternative. I would caution that some nib-feeds won't behave the same way when used dipped...the way they flow and shade will be different without ink pressure behind them. At least that has been my personal (albeit limited) experience with FP nibs and dipping.
    *with the exception of any TWSBI-like nib assembly, which I find very dumb
    As for fountain pens at work...my normal day working in an environmental medicine lab processing and managing data of human biospecimens was not hospitable to them (especially because the few I own at this point are old and valuable)...but working from home most of the time now, I have been finding a work use for them: hand-labeling hair collection envelopes we send for participants to do home collections for cortisol measurement. Here's a not-so-great example (OMAS Extra vest pocket c.1946, Iroshizuku yama-budo, greyed-out to protect PHI)
    hair collection envelope example.png
    Last edited by fountainpenkid; October 27th, 2020 at 07:14 PM.
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