If you don't have your grail pen yet...

[jor412]

...What's your benchmark pen? If you don't have your grail pen yet, which of your pens would you use as a basis for comparison to evaluate other pens and why? Do you have more than one?

I have to admit this may change but right now, I have three, for different reasons:

1) For writing with some feedback - Sheaffer Imperial VIII touchdown filler, F nib - interesting feedback in a wet line and precise F nib; easy maintenance and servicing; understated looks
2) For buttery smooth writing - Parker 75 milleraies, M nib - a bit too much bling in terms of looks, but super smooth, even, wet writing; again, easy maintenance and cleaning
3) For looks and construction - The TWSBI 530 / 540 - I only have a 530 but they're siblings. In clear demonstrator form, the TWSBI attracts the attention of even my most indifferent friends. And the fact that it can be completely disassembled for cleaning is something that matters a lot to me since I find the cleaning aspect of using fountain pens a chore.

[fountainpenkid]

Pelikan m400. I waited for this pen, begging my dad for something like a year and a half, and then, I finally got it. It fits my hands perfectly, writes great with a bit of spring, and is well made a classy. I a m getting my real grail pen soon ( a m400 in WHITE Tortoise) but that doesn't really matter much as its the same pen, just a different color. I love to draw up my own pen designs, so my true grail pen would probably be a Piston filling snorkel pen I drew up (No, not the filling mechanism, it is kind of a fantasy ), which would be made out of vac celluloid, with a 12 sided body, and a braided (bicolor) snorkel tube. That would be my real dream pen!

[jor412]

If you get a chance, please post the drawing.

[fountainpenkid]

I will!--I just gotta find them in the piles of homework!

[Ordinal]

The best all-round pens that I have are Lamy 2000s. I know I can grab one of mine and use it at any angle and the ink will come out perfectly, for however long or short a time I want to write, and the nib will feel lovely on the paper. If I had to pick a pen to write a novel with, it would be a 2000 with an M or B nib. For general performance and responsiveness, I tend to compare pens to them.

For feel and "hold" and balance the old P51 is still a work of genius I would say.

Otherwise it tends to be based on specific characteristics of the pen and nib - fine nibs get compared to the Japanese pens, compact pens to the Pelikan M200, and so on.

[KrazyIvan]

I don't have a grail pen yet. I just want to try as many different pens as I can.

[Ordinal]

I only actually have one grail pen, which is a Clock Murex. A real grail pen should be both unavailable and pointless.

[jor412]

My friend swears by his Lamy 2000 as well.

I was asking out of curiosity more than anything else. In any case, I just treated myself to a Pelikan M400 in white tortoise, something I'm not likely to do again for a very long time. So the M400 is now among my benchmark pens.

[fountainpenkid]

I'm getting a m400 white tortoise also!

[jor412]

I'm getting a m400 white tortoise also!

It's a stunning pen. I spent some time just staring at it.

[fountainpenkid]

I don't know if any modern pens are going to suprise me much if I get them, as I have looked at sooooooo many pictures of the white torty, that I think I can imagine exactly how it is. Is this the same for you, or were you suprised at the beauty?

[fountainpenkid]

pics of my drawings.....


The ones in the black ink I drew up yesterday....I like some of the outsides, but the nib sections look crummy to me now.

The ones in the blue ink are of a pen that would be my grail pen--if I could draw the curves DSCF9895.JPGDSCF9894.JPGDSCF9892.JPGDSCF9890.JPGDSCF9889.JPG

[jor412]

I think it's cool that you're working on these. They look to me to lean toward the Italian kind of pen design.

About the white M400: I stopped looking at pictures when I thought I wasn't going to get one because I had put a price cap on my pen purchases. So when I unboxed mine, I was stunned. I also didn't know that the white was closer to ivory and that the tortoise was transparent. It is a truly beautiful pen. I like that the nib can be changed so easily and that the piston movement is so smooth. In fact, it makes me want to buy another Pelikan but I'll have to put that off until I "recover" from this purchase.

[fountainpenkid]

where did you get you tortoise from? printhardcopy on ebay?

[jor412]

I got it from a local distributor. It was only slightly more expensive than ebay prices after I factored in the cost of shipping and taxes. Plus, there were the added benefits of not having to worry about whether or not it would arrive safely and of not having to wait for it.

[fountainpenkid]

I'm getting mine from the U.K---they seem to have slightly lower prices than the ebay sellers. Luckily, the VAT tax (I don't know what that is, but it makes british things more expensive ) doesn't apply to the U.S!

Will

[jor412]

Sounds great. Enjoy your pen

[penwash]

Necropost of the day!

I think the OP asked a very good question.

I have a few pens I benchmark new ones against:

1. Parker Challenger for size, balance in the hand.

2. A no name pen with a CHI nib for flex quality.

3. A woodgrain ebonite Wahl for ebonite "coolness".

4. A Marxton with crazy beautiful celluloid for comparing other crazy beautiful celluloid. Although now I have that Diamond Point set which may over-throne the Marxton.

[KrazyIvan]

Wow. I did not have a grail pen at that point. I've had several since and acquired one. The Omas 360 Magnum became my grail pen. I acquired one in 2014.

[Amanda]

The Pilot 823 for the colour, big gold nib and filling system. I won't be getting one because I can't spend that much on a pen. Just can't. So for me it's the unobtainable grail pen, admired, but out of reach.