Fountain Pens!

Inspired by the favorite pen thread (as I am rather particular about my pens), I dove headfirst into the world of fountain pens. Turns out I really like how they write and its a fun experience. I picked up a cheap Pilot Kakuno just to try out, and it felt great, so of course I bought an Explorer, swapped nibs, and got some ink. Shame I have terrible handwriting...

Thank you for starting this and, yes, what are some good novice fountain pens? 

Fountain pens are great! (So are straight razors, fwiw.)

David, to your question, I have a fountain pen I've been using for 25 years; it was sold new as a "Jaguar," though I don't know if that's still around. It's a fairly wide carbon-fiber barrel with a screw-on cap. Quite nice. It's what I used all through college.

These days I often reach for my Waterman, which has a more traditional profile and a brushed-stainless body. It's my go-to for writing cards and letters.

One of these days I would like to own a Mont Blanc Meisterstuck. That's very much a luxury, though! 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

If you know someone in France you can get a moderately decent fountain pen for like 5 euro in Carrefour - they're required for students. A Lamy Safari writes much better and is only about 25 bucks. Add a few for a refillable ink cartridge and you're good to go 

Thanks for the tips and, when I have a few, I’ll have to start poking around online. 

A lesson learned from too many art classes in school, you probably have bad handwriting because you are thinking of the idea of the letters.  It's much the same as people saying they can't draw, because they do the same "shorthand" imagery they've have done since they were told it was good enough.  Houses with a square and a triangle roof on top, people that are just a stick figure with facial features, etc.  You need to focus on the actual parts of the letters, not writing.  Don't try to write a word. 

Look at the curves and the straightaways of each letter form like you are memorizing a new trackmap for the first time.  A fountain pen is going to behave just like a racecar if you are making full use of its abilities.  You load up the gees in the long corners, letting the nib spread and leave the line thickest at the apex.  On the straights, you can "activate DRS" and align the nib with your direction of travel, leaving the cleanest and slenderest line possible. 

David S. Wallens said:

Thank you for starting this and, yes, what are some good novice fountain pens? 

The Lamy Safari is a great go-to.  I suggest a medium nib until you figure out how you like it.

They are stylish, relatively inexpensive, comfortable in my hand anyway, and durable.  They take cartridges and the Lamy ink is pretty good, but there is also a bladder insert you can buy if you want to use your own ink.  Plus if anything happens you can send it in to get refurbished pretty cheaply.

I have the grey one and an aluminum-skinned one that I think is NLA.  At this point they are 30 years old at least.

I would start here and see what you think.  At this sale price you could probably get a couple different nib size / color combinations to experiment with.

Ahh, the aluminum one is the AL-Star and apparently it is still available:

Staedtler also makes decent fountain pens.  I can't seem to track down a picture, but they used to make a billet aluminum one with a hexagonal barrel that was wonderfully solid in the hand.  Maybe that was not Staedtler, but I'm pretty sure it was.

[edit]  Ah, my mistake, it was Rotring, not Staedtler.  The Rotring 600, which apparently is discontinued and bit spendy on the vintage side.  I always wanted one of these but I guess I missed my chance:

I'm a bit of a nerd for good pens, and flashlights.  Now I'm thinking I need a fountain pen. 

In reply to Duke :

It looks like Lamy pens take proprietary cartridges. Bummer, as I was ready to buy one but I don't feel like stocking multiple types of cartridges and I quit doing bladder-style pens a long time ago. Right now all of my pens take a standard cartridge and I generally favor Waterman ink. 

In reply to brandonsmash :

I want to say that you can jam a standard cartridge in there as well, but I just use the Lamy ink.

[edit]  I guess not.  I used to use somebody else's cartridges (I think Levenger), but maybe they are discontinued.  Lamy does make a decent bottle-fill convertor, but I understand not wanting to go that route.

In reply to Duke :

I've had one for about 15 years.  It's very nice.