Articles
Best Gifts for Pen Collectors in 2022
Finding the best gifts for pen collectors can be a challenge, particularly since most people don’t want to take the risk and expense of buying a pen. Fortunately, there are a lot of gifts for pen enthusiasts they are sure to enjoy, you just have to think about it for a minute. You don’t even have to search for fountain pen shops as all these items can be easily found online.
The first thing that pops into my head when I think of the perfect gifts for pen collectors is something to write on and there is nothing finer to write on than a Clairefontaine Triomphe tablet. These tablets come in a small (5.75″ x 8.25″) which is perfect for lists or short correspondence, and large (8.25″ x 11.75″) which is great for taking class notes or longer letters.
The paper is smooth, easy to write on, and made specifically for fountain pens guaranteeing that whoever the lucky recipient is, they will love it. Virtually no feathering or show-through makes sure their writing is sharp, clear, and allows them to use both sides of the page even with darker inks. Short of dedicated fancy stationery, this is the paper they want, guaranteed.
Hard to go wrong when the best gifts for pen collectors are under ten dollars!
Of course, how can you think of the best gifts for pen collectors and not think of ink? The problem is that there are so many colors of ink out there, how can you possibly pick one that they will like? That is actually the easy part, choose Noodler’s Apache Sunset.
So why this ink? Because I know of no one who doesn’t love it. This way, even if your recipient already has a bottle, they will love getting a second.
It is just fluid enough that it flows amazingly well without bleeding through or feathering, and dries fairly quickly. The colors are just mesmerizing and seem to change when drying. The ink has a good amount of water resistance but is not really considered tamper-proof but is an excellent permanent ink. It is just a good all-around beautiful ink. The color chart in the image above does not begin to do this ink justice. One of my favorite fountain pen gift ideas.
So what if you like the idea of ink as a gift but know they have a ton of Apache Sunset? Try Navajo Turquoise, Ottoman Rose, or Cayenne, three more of my favorites from Noodlers.
So let’s be different in our choice for the best gift for pen collectors and try a wax sealing stamp kit. Fountain pen users who belong to snail mail lists will be particularly fascinated with this one.
Many years ago letters and scrolls were sealed with wax and imprinted with a stamp. One would close the envelope, melt wax into a small spoon-like object, then pour the hot wax onto the envelope between the flap and back of the envelope, and finally use a metal stamp to press the wax into the paper while at the same time imprinting an image, letter, or other symbol into the wax to ensure the letter arrived unopened.
Now your pen collector can do the same with their very own kit! It’s fun and inexpensive, and yes, you can send them through the mail. I have had a few come off over the years but probably 90% or more have arrived intact.
I particularly like this kit because it comes with everything you need to get started and allows you to choose the letter that comes on the stamp. These make simply amazing gifts for fountain pen lovers.
This little gem is not just one of the best gifts for pen collectors out there, but for anyone who does research, writes books, is a student, etc. These Adjustable Elastic Band Pen Holders are just simply fantastic. I usually carry a highlighter, a gel ballpoint, and a small ruler very similar to the picture they use to demo the item in the image above.
I have seen people complain that they don’t work on paperbacks but I disagree. Most paperbacks are smaller so I just loop it over the entire book instead of just around the front cover, works fine. Where it does have a problem is with larger soft covers, in which case I tend to take the first 20 pages or so and loop it around that. Once I get where I am going I just slip it off and set it on the desk. This way everything is in a nice neat package when I leave instead of carrying several items.
This is another of the best gifts for pen collectors that are under ten dollars and is excellent for students.
This next item, Fountain Pens of the World by Andreas Lambrou is when you have a very special someone and you want to buy a very special gift. This book is widely considered one of the penultimate books on the subject out there and is on the bookshelf of probably every serious collector around the world. No, it isn’t cheap at well over $100, but it is the only expensive item on this list and I wanted at least one item for people who wanted something above and beyond the typical best gifts for pen collectors.
The description on Amazon reads:
“The authoritative and comprehensive text features countries not previously covered in other books, a new chapter on limited editions, and a chapter on materials from 1833 to the present day which defines processes such as lacquering, guilloche engraving and plastic identification. The development of design and logos is illustrated by specially produced line drawings. The text is complimented by many period advertisements.”
I hope this article has helped you find the best gifts for pen collectors.
What is a Fountain Pen and Why Should You Use One?
Many of you are too young to know the answer to the question, what is a fountain pen, but that’s alright, it is never too late to learn about these fascinating writing instruments!
The short answer is that a fountain pen is a writing instrument that has a reservoir of ink stored internally and uses a combination of gravity and capillary action to draw ink from that storage on to the tip of the device and create a nice even line of ink on paper.
While there is evidence that fountain pens were at least being designed and constructed by Leonardo Da Vinci in the 17th century and maybe even earlier, we are mostly concerned with either modern fountain pens constructed in the 20th century or maybe a rare possibility of ones from the very late 19th century. Anything earlier than that would most likely be in a museum or well out of the price range of most typical collectors.
Fountain pens came about as a solution to the problems of the dip pen. These dip pens were nothing more than a nib (the piece of the pen that deposits the ink onto the paper, sometimes nothing more than a pointed end with a slit in it) and a handle. Quill pens, or pens crafted from the quill feather, are a type of dip pen.
When you wanted to write with a dip pen you typically dipped the nib of the pen into a bottle of ink and then started writing on a piece of paper. As the pen started to skip or sputter, you dipped it into more ink, reloading it so to speak. While this was effective when you were sitting at your desk it was not very practical for traveling and could be messy when in a coach, train, or on a ship.
A fountain pen solved these issues by moving the ink needed from a bottle on your desk to internal storage. Early models, stored ink in a chamber sometimes sealed with cork gaskets or in a rubber bladder. These could be refilled by unscrewing one end and using a dropper to put more ink in, or by inserting the fountain pen nib into a bottle of ink and using a piston or lever to draw ink into the pen’s reservoir.
Once full, the pen could then be taken away from the bottle of ink and used throughout the day just like some people use ballpoint pens today. Once the pen was low on ink it would start skipping or be hard to start and you could then refill the pen and continue.
Fountain pens were not perfect, they could not write upside down (pencils and later the Fisher Space Pen solved those issues), could not write in the rain or underwater (the pencil again), and of course, required you to carry a supply of ink with you in fear of running out. They also tended to leak more than they should have but ballpoints and rollerballs continue to do that to this day.
The parts of the fountain pen are pretty straight forward and include the nib (broken down into the tip, nib material, slit, and feed), cap, clip (optional, to hold it in your shirt pocket), barrel, and other pieces that vary from pen type to pen type.
Filling systems include an eyedropper filler where you unscrew the rear cap on a pen and use an eyedropper filled with ink to reload the pen, a lever filler where you stick the nib of the pen into a bottle of ink and operate a level on the side to pump ink into the bladder inside, a piston filler which is like a level filler but uses a twisting piston instead of a lever, a button filler which is a level filler that uses a button instead of a lever, a snorkel filler which uses a tube that extends from the feed under the nib to suck in ink but otherwise is pretty much a piston filler, and several other types of filling systems that all perform the same functions.
The next most interesting thing about fountain pens is the nib. This usually gold or silver colored tip is responsible for placing the ink on the page and as such has several characteristics that you may not have thought of. The first thing most people worry about with a nib is the width of the line that it draws. This typically ranges from fine (F) to medium(M) to broad(B). Certain manufacturers will also include extra fine(XF or EF), and double broad(BB), and some even more options.
Wilder variations include nibs that write differently when traveling in different directions (broader lines when moving up and down and thinner lines when traveling to the sides) and nibs with more than one ink slit.
Then there is nib flex. Flex is something you will find predominately in vintage pens although some modern manufacturers will refer to their nibs as flex or semi-flex when the amount of flex in them is minuscule compared to their vintage counterparts. What flex does is allow the writer to vary the width of the line with the amount of pressure they use pressing down on the page with the pen. This is how some of that beautiful calligraphy was done back centuries ago.
A word of caution; true flex nibs are not easy to find, not inexpensive for what they are, and can be difficult to use properly as they flex to a point, and then are permanently destroyed past that point. Many a newcomer has purchased a true flex nib, used it once, and destroyed it. Don’t be that guy. You can learn to use flex nibs properly by purchasing inexpensive modern semi-flex dip pens. Destroy one? Who cares, they are cheap and disposable.
So why use a fountain pen today? That is an excellent question! Today we tend to use our finger more than any actual writing instrument. From typing in our pin number in a grocery store for our debit card to signing a phone or tablet with our finger for a purchase at the hair salon, pens and pencils are quickly becoming something our parents used. Even schools are starting to no longer teach cursive writing which personally is pretty horrible (you don’t want your children to actually be able to read the Declaration of Independence and Constitution?).
The simple answer is that there is no simple answer. I personally love the fountain pen because it forces me to slow down, think about what I want to write and to make sure it is correct before I write it. There is no erase no backspace and no spell checker. If you misspell something or write something you don’t like, throw that paper away and grab another sheet to do it all over again. Yes, that sounds hard, but it is amazing how relaxing fountain pen writing can be to take your time and spend half an hour writing a page of a letter to someone.
Speaking of writing letters, that is an amazing part of using a fountain pen. We all love to be able to send a text message to someone and get an instant reply, or if we have a little more time or need to convey a lot of information, send an email which we expect to arrive within a couple of minutes at the most. There is something special about opening your mailbox (your actual mailbox, on the outside of your home) and seeing a hand-addressed envelope. That means someone cared enough to take the time to sit down and actually think about what to write.
Maybe I am old fashioned but sometimes I prefer getting a birthday card instead of just a text, an actual gift instead of a gift card, and a handwritten letter instead of an email. This is particularly a lot of fun when the fountain pen ink they use is a wild color, or even better, they used several different colors of ink! That tells me they actually put some time and effort into what they were doing instead of having their phone automatically send me a happy birthday text at 10:21 am (have to use an odd time so it doesn’t look like an automatically scheduled event).
What if you don’t have anyone to write letters to? Sure, it is possible all your friends are right there in town with you and it seems silly to physically mail a letter down the street. In that case, you can join what is called a snail mail list. These are lists of people who want to send and receive physical handwritten letters and are open to new people writing them.
Snail mail lists can often be found on forums catering to people who collect writing instruments such as Pentrace and Fountain Pen Network.
Another interesting reason to use fountain pens is that they are fantastic conversation starters. I have had people ask me what type of pen I was using because they had never seen a fountain pen (then ask what is a fountain pen), or start reminiscing about when they used fountain pens in their youth, or just complimenting me in such a cool pen having no idea what it is. It doesn’t even have to be a fountain pen; once my wife and I were in a cafe and I pulled out my Visconti Van Gogh Starry Night ballpoint and almost immediately a server stopped by the table and asked: “is that a Visconti?”
So should you get a new or used fountain pen? Vintage or modern? That’s entirely up to you. There are a ton of options for every taste and every price range. Contrary to common belief, right now in 2020, there are probably a hundred manufacturer’s around the world making fountain pens, and probably a thousand different models to choose from. I personally have vintage pens that cost $20 up to many hundreds of dollars, and modern pens that go from $7 up to a couple thousand.
Price in the fountain pen world usually denotes how rare the pen is, what was used to make it, quality of the piece, or a combination of the three. A limited-edition Mont Blanc Ramses II LeGrand Fountain Pen will set you back a few thousand dollars and is a jaw-droppingly beautiful pen made of 18k gold and Lapis Lazuli. It is also a very good writer but is too heavy to use posted, and too heavy to carry in your breast pocket so it may not be the right choice for you. While certainly not the most expensive fountain pen, it certainly is only for those who really want something unique.
On the other end of the scale, the Pilot Varsity is an amazing disposable fountain pen that you can get for a few dollars each.
Want a cheap fountain pen that is also vintage? Nothing better than the good ole Esterbrook J that you can get for as little as $30 in good working condition. Keep in mind however that vintage pens may need work or may work fine right now and need work the second time you fill it because the fifty-year-old rubber sac that holds the ink finally tore.
Next, since I am talking about a vintage pen needing work, can you get these pens fixed? Absolutely, although maybe not locally. Most people either send off their pens to someone like Danny Fudge at The Write Pen, or to Greg Minuskin. I have personally used both of these people and they have always done excellent work. You can also find Danny and other repair people at most larger Pen Shows.
That’s right, there are pen shows! These are events where vendors, collectors, and repair people get together and put on a show. These are often sponsored by some of the larger vendors and generally cost a few dollars to get in. Some of the larger shows include the yearly ones in Los Angeles, Dallas, and Washington DC.
If you have decided to go shopping, looking for where to buy fountain pens locally could be a challenge. Vintage pens can be found at flea markets and antique dealers but more often than not need work before they can be used. New modern pens can be found at many office supply stores, large malls, and stationery stores. Other than that, take a look online.
Once you have some pens, then it is time to get ink and all the cool things that go with the pens to make it just a ton of fun.
Browse around the site here and you will find a lot of articles including topics such as fountain pen reviews, how to fill a fountain pen, and how to use a fountain pen.
I hope this article has helped you understand not only what is a fountain pen, but the culture around them as well.
Best Cheap Fountain Pens You Can Get in 2022
Today I want to talk about the best cheap fountain pens you can buy because too many people seem to think that fountain pens are all these expensive collector’s items that no one actually uses. This list is also perfectly good as the best fountain pen for beginners list. While there certainly are pens that fit into that category, fountain pens are just like cars. Yes, there are the Bugatti Veyron Super Sports (which costs more than every house on my street, both sides, combined) of the pen world, but there is also the Toyota Yaris.
Following that logic, I don’t want to talk about best fountain pens under 100 because to me, that is almost midrange. You could say the best fountain pen under 50, but then even that is a little too expensive for me to call cheap. This will be the best fountain pens under about $30 and would be my first fountain pen recommendations to someone wanting to try them out.
Personally, when I am thinking about the best cheap fountain pens I think modern. While I love the inexpensive and reliable Esterbrook J, they cost substantially more than the other pens in this roundup and very often are in need of repairs as soon as you get them.
First on my list when I think of the best cheap fountain pens is the Pilot Varsity. These are available in fine (sometimes called small) and medium in a nice selection of colors and are good and reliable writers that can be had for under $2 each when bought in packs.
Do they write as well as my $2,000 Montblanc Ramses II? Well no. but if you do the math you get a pen that writes 75% as well (better than a Bic ballpoint ever will), is just as reliable, and you don’t worry about losing for about $1,998.20 less money. For this price, you can buy several packs and have them stashed everywhere just like most people do their ballpoints and still make a down payment on a car.
I have bought a lot of these cheap fountain pens over the years, as have many people I know, they never disappoint.
Next up for me is the Zebra Fountain Pen which for some reason seems to be one of the most common cheap fountain pens offered at many pen shows. I find this odd not because the Zebra is a poor pen, it is not, but because the Pilot Varsity is much more of a household name in fountain pen collector circles than the Zebra, and Pilot also makes a lot of really nice higher end pens in addition which I do not believe Zebra does.
But how does it stack up against the Pilot Varsity? Honestly, I have a hard time picking one over the other from a reliability or performance standpoint. I have had the Zebra seem to run out of ink or dry out so I could not use it a little more often than the Pilot but not enough to say it is a problem. I like the grip of the Zebra just a tiny bit better than the Pilot. The colors of the ink are also a little different so it gives you a little variety.
The Zebra pens are also a little more expensive but we are talking literally pennies here so take that with a grain of salt.
If I walked into an office supply store would I buy these over the Pilots? Probably not, but I have to admit that the main reason for that is because the Pilot Varsity is so popular that it is what I look for first strictly out of habit. What if I saw a display of the Zebras right at the front of the aisle? Then I would not hesitate to grab the Zebra instead of looking for the Varsity or other cheap fountain pens.
One of the really nice things about fountain pens is that for many of them you can use bottled ink and that means you have an absolutely amazing array of colors to choose from. There are probably several hundred colors currently in production, and of course many out of production and even some vintage inks are perfectly usable. Unfortunately, most of the inexpensive disposable cheap fountain pens are not made to be filled from a bottle.
The good news is that maybe you don’t need to fill a cheap fountain pen from a bottle, you can buy ones that already have the color ink you want in them. These Thronton’s Art Supply disposable fountain pens come in a 12 pack which includes 12 different colors. These are fantastic little fountain pens that write well and seem to hold a reasonable amount of ink.
I really have no complaints about these pens but I feel they are more aimed at artists (hence being from an art supply store) than daily writers. Where this becomes evident is that the ink seems more translucent than either the Pilot or Zebra. While this is fine for coloring, it is not so much for actually writing. It makes me think of painting with watercolors as opposed to acrylics.
Overall if you are more about the color than serious writing and reading what you wrote, these will do an excellent job. If however, you are a serious writer, use them for writing checks (yeah, who does that any more), or taking notes, then the Pilot or Zebra might be a better choice.
The last disposable I want to talk about is one I have not actually used but I keep getting people telling me to include them in the list, so here they are. I need to make time to order some and try them so later versions of this article may include first-hand information.
The Chinese Jinhao Shark Pens are unique in that they are quite cheap fountain pens coming in at less than $2 each in multi-packs, but do not contain any ink. Instead, they are converter fill allowing you to use any bottled ink you want. I have a lot of people telling me they love these pens for that very reason. I have heard, and see in some reviews, that some people have a hard time getting them to write but this could be more a problem with the ink they bought than a problem with the pen.
Over the years I have found that some ink is better than others and that some pens want a specific type of ink. Yes, I know that sounds crazy and if I had not seen it myself I would not have believed it. I have an Omas Paragon that will write with Omas ink and Aurora Black, but nothing else. It went back to Omas three times and went to two other high-end pen repair techs who all told me the same thing, use Omas ink. Great except Omas isn’t around anymore.
Fortunately, these pens are cheap enough that if you want to try some nice fancy ink you can try some of these. If they work, great. If they don’t, no big loss. Overall, I have to say the Jinhao fountain pen looks interesting.
Lastly, I wanted to include one cheap fountain pen that is not disposable and that costs a little more. The Parker Jotter is a stape of fountain pen users for their ballpoint pens, now, they make a fountain pen. Currently, you can get one of these for under $20 and it comes with a couple of ink cartridges to get you started.
I have never been a Parker fan personally, just not my style, but even I owned and used a vintage Parker Jotter ballpoint and now, a modern fountain pen. They write well, are very light, and if anything happens to them you are not crying about the loss. Sure, they are a lot more expensive than a Pilot Varsity, but they are reusable whereas the Varsity is not.
My only complaint about them is that they are fairly thin and I prefer a thicker pen, but as long as you are just signing your name or taking quick notes, this pen will do just fine and is an excellent cheap fountain pen.
Honorable mention goes to another iconic cheap fountain pen, the Lamy Safari. Coming in only a few dollars more than the Parker Jotter (around $20 usually), having been around a lot longer (in fountain pen form), and having as a slightly thicker body makes it a clear contender. I actually think it writes better than the Parker but that may just be me. Why didn’t it make it above the Parker? Because we went from talking about under $2 pens to now talking about a pen that costs over twice that much, I had to stop somewhere or we would be discussing thousand dollar limited editions.
The bottom line here is to try a nice disposable and see how it works for you. If you like disposable and only really use a few colors, stick with that. If you want a cheap fountain pen that you can reuse, try a Parker or Lamy. I would stay away from the Jenhao unless you really need the capability of using bottled ink in a disposable, or you can buy a converter for the Lammy and use bottled ink in it.
Good luck, and I hope you find the best cheap fountain pens that work for you!
Best Ink for Fountain Pens You Can Get
When looking for the best ink for fountain pens there are some things you need to stay away from such as India ink, or ink made specifically for other types of pens including dip and ballpoint pens. Not only can these types of ink stain your pen, but they can also clog the feeds, and deteriorate the seals pretty much making your pen completely useless.
Fortunately, ink for fountain pens is very easy to find online and at many stationary stores and even office supply stores. My local Office Depot carried Parker Quink and Sheaffer Skrip bottled ink as well as a variety of cartridge ink from various manufacturers. All of the ink I have seen at my Office Depot while not the best fountain pen ink, was acceptable to use in all my fountain pens.
So what is the best fountain pen ink for cheap paper, or the best fountain pen ink for beginners? Simple, the best ink is the best for pretty much anyone and any use. Here is some of the best ink for fountain pens:
The best black ink for fountain pens has got to be Aurora Black. There are several things that make this ink special, not the least of which is the fact that it is black. Yes, I know it is black ink, but not all black inks are really black. This isn’t dark dark gray, or black unless you look at it under really bright light, this is a deep dark abyss type of black that shames others that dare to call themselves black.
This is so very dark black that it is literally used by much of the fountain pen collector community as the standard by which all other black ink is measured. Yes, that black.
Next, it is a very free-flowing ink that does not tend to clog pens. While it seems logical that all inks should exhibit this quality the truth is the inks with the most color, particularly dark colors, usually are thicker and less free-flowing which tends to lead to clogging. On the other end, free-flowing inks are usually lighter and more washed-out looking. Somehow Aurora Black manages to defy all of this.
I have pens that are very picky about which ink they use, my Omas Paragon comes to mind, even that pen writes well with this ink. If you use black ink at all, it should be Aurora Black.
While the ink exhibits excellent water resistance it is certainly not waterproof, however, unless you plan on submerging your documents in the swimming pool they should be just fine.
Years ago the second ink in this list was Montblanc Blue Black. It was an amazing ink with rich beautiful color and was made from iron gall so that color was as permanent as ink can possibly get including being a completely waterproof fountain pen ink. It was, without a doubt, the best ink I had ever used. Unfortunately, that ink is no longer made so I had to find a substitute.
While I am not as in love with it as the Montblanc, Diamine Ink Registrars Blue/Black is as close to a match as I have been able to find. Honestly, it is probably close enough that I couldn’t tell the difference unless the Montblanc ink was there to be compared side by side, and even then, maybe not.
It has a nice rich color that does not fade when wet. Even when I accidentally washed some paper with this ink on it the remnants that survived that had ink on them were only a tad lighter than the original and I would think would have been perfectly legible had the paper been intact.
Flow is good and although I tend to keep my pens a little extra clean when using iron gall products, I have had no issues with clogging.
That concludes the specialty ink section, for all other colors I tend to use ink from Noodlers or Private Reserve. Both manufacturers have some absolutely outstanding colors and make not only bottled ink, but some of the best fountain pen ink cartridges available and I will cover a few of the more spectacular below.
Apache Sunset from Noodlers is one of those inks that is just so amazing it defies words. Red, orange, and autumn brown colors all at the same time. The name could not be more perfect. When you are writing you can see the colors change as the pen moves across the page. No, not just because the ink is wet and dry in different places because even after the page is dry you can still see variations in the colors. Online color samples just do not do this ink justice.
As with other Noodlers inks, they flow well, don’t clog and have rich and vibrant colors. This one is extremely recommended. I love to use it in my Dani Trio urushi pen as it goes well with the urushi colors.
Another interesting color from Noodlers is their Red Black. To me, it seems they took the idea of the ever-popular blue-black and substituted red for blue while toning it down just a bit. The result is a dark red with way more character than you would expect given such a simple combination of colors.
This is another one of those inks I love to use in my urushi pens as it matches the colors in the urushi quite well.
Lastly from Noodlers is their Navajo Turquoise. This is an amazing blue-green color just as the name would imply however it is a far richer color than other ink manufacturer’s turquoise offerings. While I do not usually like inks with much green in them, this is absolutely the exception to that rule.
I love to use this ink in letters I write in spring and early summer.
Private Reserve, much like Noodlers, has a wide array of colors and certainly qualifies to be called a best ink for fountain pens. Far too many beautiful ones to cover here but there are a few I have found particularly nice that I thought I would share. First up is their Gray Flannel. I know what you are thinking because I had the same reaction when I first saw the name, gray ink? Yes, and it is glorious.
The name sounds weird until you see the ink on the page, then you get it. A nice medium gray that is obviously gray. It will not be mistaken for washed-out black. This is an amazing unique color because who has ever seen gray ink?
It is dark enough to be easily read yet light enough to really turn heads. It flows well and I have never had an issue with clogging. While it resists water well it is not water-proof. Do yourself a favor, pick up a bottle of this stuff.
If you are looking for a blue or blue-black that is special, Private Reserve Tanzanite might just be the color for you. It is a lighter blue than most blue-blacks, with just a tad of purple in it. The color is just different enough to really make your writing pop without the reader knowing exactly why it looks so good.
I can’t tell you how many times I have had people ask me what color it is because people seem to get stumped by it. I hear things like it being a richer blue that what they use, and it is!
This is one of my favorite go-to inks when I need to be reserved (no pun intended) with my ink color choice but still want to make a statement. There is always a bottle of Tanzanite in my desk.
Now if you really want to make a statement, Private Reserve Arabian Rose is the way to go. This is unabashedly purple-infused pink. No, not plum, not maroon, in your face pink with a touch of purple. A rich, deep color that invites you in to explore. You will not mistake this for any other color under the sun from fine to broad lines, it is there to be seen.
This is another one of those inks that I don’t use often, much like my Navajo Turquoise, but when I want something that really zings, there are few alternatives. The most used reaction when someone reads a letter I wrote with it is simply “wow!”.
I hope this article helps you find your best ink for fountain pens.
Best Paper for Fountain Pens You Can Buy
While a fountain pen will write on virtually any reasonable paper, that does not mean that paper is the best paper for fountain pens. Some allow the pen to write smoother, some let the ink feather more than others, and some take forever to dry.
Ideally, the best paper for fountain pens is one that is very smooth, keeps the ink lines nice and tight and dries very fast. Unfortunately, this is not really possible. It is like saying you want your car repairs cheap, fast, and correctly. You can usually have two of the three but getting all three at the same time is virtually impossible.
I started like most other people, with a spiral binder and copy paper. Neither of these was the best paper for fountain pens although they both worked well enough to get started. My first introduction to real writing paper was at a pen show where they had a few different types of paper and I picked up some small pads of different types to take home. I really liked these papers and kept my eyes open around town while out shopping to see what else I could find.
What I noticed was that some of these brands were also available in art supply stores and office supply stores, usually in far fewer varieties than I could get at a pen show or online. It was still nice to see them in the wild. There are two in particular that seem the best paper for fountain pens.
My personal favorite is Clairefontaine which makes a wide variety of tablets, notebooks, pads, and other paper products. Of all these products I seem to like the Triomphe blank writing tablets which come in a couple of different sizes. I tend to keep both the larger and smaller ones for different types of writing.
The larger of the tablets usually runs around ten dollars which aren’t terribly expensive but it sure is substantially more expensive than the standard Amazon Basics 8.5″x11.75″ Pack of six tablets which is around twelve dollars (hint, this is NOT the best paper for fountain pens). So why so much more?
There are a lot of reasons starting with the paper being whiter with cleaner, clearer, and slightly fainter rules. This really makes your ink colors jump off the page. Why in the world would you spend money on that fancy pen, load it with Noodler’s Apache Sunset ink, and then write on a drab almost gray sheet of paper?
Clairfontaine Triomphe is also substantially smoother paper with less loose paper fibers. This allows your pen to just glide across the page with virtually no effort. It also keeps your nib cleaner since there is less of the fibers that can break off and get hung in your nib. A cleaner nib also helps with a smoother writing experience.
One thing that annoys me that may not affect you is show through. When I am selecting the best paper for fountain pens I want to see as little writing on the backside of the page as possible. First, if I only use one side of the page it looks infinitely neater when the backside is clean. Second, if I want to use both sides of the page then seeing one side on the other is just messy looking and in my opinion, tacky. Fortunately, there is very little show through even with dark inks.
Lastly is the ink tends to stay in nice sharp lines instead of feathering out much. Basically feathering is when you look closely at a line you made on the page and you can see the ink soaking into the paper on the sides of the line creating what appears to be a rough edge similar to the edges of a feather. Even looking at the page from a distance of a couple of feet you can clearly see the text is sharper on the page than with other papers.
I have tried a lot of papers over the years, and to me, the best paper for fountain pens is Clairefontaine Triomphe.
Some people think the best paper for fountain pens is one that is a little less slick, a little less in your face, something that is more of a well-rounded paper instead of one specifically made for fountain pens, that would be Rhodia. Anyone who has ever walked the isles at an office supply store or an art supply store will immediately remember seeing their distinctive orange covers.
My favorite for writing with Rhodia is their spiral-bound notebooks, probably because it is made with Clairefontaine paper and very well bound. It also has a really nice micro-perforations across the top making it really nice and smooth to remove from the tablet.
So wait a second, did I just say the Rhodia used Clairefontaine paper, was spiral bound, had micro-perforations, and yet I rank it below the Clairefontaine tablets above? Yup. Because Clairefontaine makes different papers and the Triomphe is in my opinion superior to the 80g vellum they put in the Rhodia tablets.
Now I want to be very clear here; not only is this distinction very personal, but it is also very minor. I have never, ever, been disappointed with a Rhodia product of any kind. If I needed a tablet and I happened to be in an office supply store that only had Rhodia, would I walk out and buy some Triomphe online? No. If I knew the art supply store right next door had Triomphe tablets would I walk next door to buy them over the Rhodia? Yes.
To me, the paper used in the Rhodia is just a tad less smooth, and a tad less bright. I get a better feel using the Triomphe over it. Using a ballpoint or pencil I think I can feel a difference but will freely admit that might be my imagination. Show through is about the same on either of these papers.
The next best paper for fountain pens is a little of a different type of paper altogether, Original Crown Mill Classic Laid Stationery. I am particularly fond of the White Classic Line.
This paper is a departure from what we have talked about so far as it is textured. This feels completely different and is not well suited in my opinion to those who have an extremely light touch, or those who like to write with an extra-fine point. That being said, the feeling is unusual and oddly fun.
This paper is heavier than what we have already looked at and seems very fibrous. This gives it a really nice old-world feeling.
For its heft, I see a lot more show-through than I would expect, although it still is not bad at all. In another paradox, given its fibrous appearance, I would have expected some feathering but there is remarkably little to be seen. Yes, the lines are a little less well defined but that seems due to the texture, not from feathering.
Overall this is a fun paper for correspondence, not really something I use for notes, sketches, or serious writing.
I saved one of my favorites for last, Crane stationery. I have never used anything but their stationery and envelopes and honestly don’t know if they make anything else, but their 100% cotton stuff with the kid finish is just amazing. I am particularly fond of their Crane CH3116 Ecruwhite Half Sheets which are just simply amazing. To give you an idea, you know those really fancy and expensive wedding invitations that looked like something from English Royalty? Yeah, that was probably Crane stuff.
One of my favorite things to do when I want some nice stationery is to visit a stationery store and go play with the paper until I find something I really like. A lot of times I find stuff on sale that they are discontinuing or that they ordered too much of and get a great deal on some amazing paper.
This isn’t paper I typically “stock”, this is special stuff I go get and have fun writing letters to friends on.
If I had to use one paper for everything I did, I would honestly probably use the Rhodia spiral since the binding and micro-perforations make it more suitable for carrying around as well as easy and neat removal from the tablet. Fortunately, I can have all three and use them for different purposes.
As it turns out, the best paper for fountain pens depends on what you want to do with it!
Best Pen Repair Books on the Market in 2022
When collecting pens you absolutely will find ones that need some help, and that is when you start looking for the best pen repair books to help you get it back into shape. There are a lot of ways to learn pen repair; videos, forums, and web pages spring to mind. A book, however, allows you to put the book right where you are working so you can reference it while you work. This is personally my favorite way to work. While some fountain pen books have small sections on fountain pen repair and fountain pen repair supplies, they are no substitute for the actual repair manuals listed here.
At the top of any best pen repair books list is Fountain Pens; the Complete Guide to Repair & Restoration by Frank Dubiel, also called the Da Book. This is an old book, Frank passed away in 2003 and the current version of Da Book is the Pendemonium revised edition from 2004. What this means is that in some cases better or more modern ways to repair pens have been found, but this is the book that started it all.
One of the really cool things about this book is all the hand-drawn images. Frank took a lot of time to deliver a book that was just outstanding.
While this book is expensive, and the reprint and binding is not always that great, the knowledge in the pages is second to none. This was written by the undisputed king of pen repair in his day. His insights are worth far more than the price of the book. There is a reason this is on the shelf of pretty much every person who is even mildly interested in pen repair around the world.
Yes, pen repair professionals today no longer use flames and nail polish in their repairs, and neither should you, but the ideas behind what he was doing has not changed at all. Do yourself a favor, start with this book and then if you feel you need more, do additional research. Honestly, many of the pen repair professionals I know started with this book and expanded on their own, never needing more information.
Next is another classic, Pen Repair: A Practical Guide for Repairing Collectable Pens and Pencils with Additional Information on Pen Anatomy and Filling Systems by Jim Marshall and Laurence Oldfield sometimes just called the Marshall-Oldfield, or simply Pen Repair. I am linking to the Second Edition for a few reasons; first, it is usually available and the third edition is usually not (no idea why), second, it is the edition I learned with and so have the most familiarity with, and lastly because I have been told that although the second edition is a huge improvement over the first, the third has little to offer over the second which is why I never bothered to buy the third edition.
All of that being said, this is a great book to have in addition to Da Book. In Pen Repair, you will see a lot of color images including a lot of disassembled pens so you know what they look like inside before you start disassembling. Da Book is almost exclusively hand drawings which is some cases is better, and in some cases worse than photographs so having both is just amazing.
This book is also just jam-packed with information. Even the inside of the cover has huge color-coded sections of information.
Between this book and Da Book, I would say that Da Book has more little tidbits of hands-on knowledge and sometimes the hand-drawn images can be really helpful, while this book packs substantially more information and uses not only color photographs, but color charts and more to help convey an amazing about if information. If you are serious about pen repair, you need both. Just want one to start with? Personally, I would go with Da Book but you won’t go wrong with this one either.
One of the most successful pen repair professionals in the business is Richard Binder and he wrote a book called The RichardsPens Guide to Fountain Pens, Volume 2: Restoration. This is the newest of the books on this list and in my opinion, the one most aimed at pen repair professionals.
The book is considered to be something to work with books like Da Book and Pen Repair but I find it can stand on its own pretty well. Instructions are nice and well laid out including prefaces showing the tools and parts you will need to perform the repairs. I really like that since this is a very new publication (compared to the others) it shows the most modern tools and methods currently available.
One thing I absolutely do not like is the binding on the book which is just your typical softcover binding. Both Da Book and Pen Repair use spiral binding which makes actually using them while repairing a pen infinitely easier. I find myself wrestling with the book while trying to work on a pen and that is just a bad recipe.
Overall this is an excellent book and if you have and used one or both of the previous two and plan on restoring fountain pens professionally, I recommend you add this to your collection.
Lastly, the Parker Pen Repair Manual by The Parker Pen Company written in 1900 is a very interesting little read and perfectly suitable for someone who knows nothing about pen repair, particularly if they are dealing with Parker Pens.
If you are looking for a cheap introduction, a historical introduction, or a gift for someone that might have an interest in repairing pens but you aren’t sure, this would be an excellent choice. This was the only Parker fountain pen repair manual of the day and written by the company that ruled the fountain pen world in the day.
I hope this article has helped you pick out the best pen repair books for you!
Best Fountain Pen Collecting Books for 2022
When I started collecting pens I went looking for the best fountain pen book I could find. I purchased a lot of books on fountain pens, pencils, and related materials, more than I want to admit. The good part of that is that I have probably owned and/or read just about all of the popular fountain pen books so I am going to try to pass some of this on to you so you don’t have to buy quite as many as I did. Your significant other will be thankful.
Recommended Fountain Pen Book for beginning collectors
The first book that comes to mind when recommending books to future collectors is a pretty popular book, Fountain Pens Past & Present by Paul Erano.
This book was not the first or second book I bought, but when I finally did find it (in an actual book store, go figure) I was smitten. It has a very good selection of pens listed but where it really shines is that the first third of the book is probably the best introduction to fountain pen collecting in any book I have read.
The rest of the book, approximately two-thirds of the pages, is devoted to the pens and is broken into several sections based on age. This is quite different than most books that break things into manufacturers instead. This approach allows you to see pens from different manufacturers of approximately the same age which really helps you see how the pens evolved over time.
Most of the popular books seem to put a lot of weight on Parker, Sheaffer, Waterman, and a few others. This book includes those too but has a lot of other manufacturers too, manufacturers that I really enjoy. I know too many collectors who get into the big three and miss a lot of really cool pens in the process. This boo
Roughly 285 pages with some beautiful pen-pictures which include pretty accurate price ranges.
Looking for the classic book that everyone knows? Fountain Pens of the World by Andreas Lambrou is that book. Go to any pen show, there it is for sale. In fact, Andreas will most likely be there himself at his company booth, Lambrou pens!
This book breaks the pens down by region such as the US, UK, France, Germany, etc, and then by manufacturer. It also contains a section on limited editions and another section on materials and construction methods. It truly is the ultimate book about fountain pens.
With over 440 pages packed with some of the most beautiful images and the best information of all the books, I have ever seen. The only negatives are that the book can be a bit overwhelming to the novice and that it can be a little expensive. This book typically goes for the same price as all the other books in this section combined.
Next on my list is this book, Fountain Pens and Pencils by George Fischler and Stuart Schneider. This book has over three hundred beautiful pages jammed packed with beautiful pictures of pens.
To start with, let’s address the elephant in the room with this book, its lack of modern pens. If you are looking for a book with something newer than the mid-1980s, look elsewhere.
That being said, I still love this fountain pen book. It is full of beautiful images including more pens than most other books. The selection of pens chosen is fantastic. If you want a bo
Not the most popular, not the best selling, not the most pens, not the most manufacturers, but Fountain Pens: History and Design by Giorgio Dragoni and Guiseppe Fishera is an absolutely amazing fountain pen book and one of my favorites.
The first half of the book is an excellent introduction, history, and technical overview of writing instruments. It is almost as good as my favorite introduction in Fountain Pens Past & Present listed at the top of this page, and probably has better historical images.
The second half of the book contains about ninety-five pens, as opposed to many hundreds usually found in other books. The big difference is that instead of a picture and a price, with maybe a little description, you get an entire page of description for each pen and usually two to three pictures. This allows you to get more intimate with each pen and its manufacturer.
This approach of more detail with fewer pens I found to be an excellent companion to larger books with more pens since it really gives you a feel for each writing instrument. You can then transfer that feeling to other similar pens and have a better understanding of them all.
This fountain pen book presents an excellent selection of classic pens spread over a very nice group of manufacturers. Years later I still like to crack open this book and peruse the pages. Given how inexpensive it is, I highly recommend every new collector have a copy on their shelf.
Bonus book for Montblanc lovers
So I have to throw in The Montblanc Diary & Collector’s Guide by Jens Rosler because, well, I love Montblancs. It is considered too expensive and only covers older Montblanc writing instruments, but I don’t care. It is a wonderful book packed with more eye candy than should be legal. It is probably one of the finest books of its kind made for any manufacturer.
If you like vintage Montblancs from the days when they were writing tools first and showpieces second, you need this book.
Conclusions
While there are a lot of books on the subject, I would personally start you off with Fountain Pens Past & Present and Fountain Pens: History and Design. For the price of a large specialty pizza, you can have both books and a great start to your new hobby. After all, why spend money on more books when you could use that money to buy new pens!
I hope this article helps you find the perfect fountain pen book for you.
Best Pen Display Boxes for the Money in 2022
Looking for the best pen display boxes for the money depends on how many pens you have and what your goal is. People who collect thousands of pens say all the colors of the Esterbrook J for example, will want a dramatically larger, and different type of fountain pen storage boxes than someone who wants to keep a few pens on their desks for easy access.
My aim for this particular article is for the average pen collector who wants to keep ten to fifty pens in a nice case somewhere within fairly easy reach. I am also aiming at people who don’t want to spend more money on their display case than they do on the pens inside it, yet want something nice that won’t hurt their pens (scratchy fabric, manufacturing issues leaving sharp edges or defects where they can touch the pens, chemicals used in the manufacturing process that can leach out and damage your pens, etc).
This led me to boxes between roughly $150 and $200. Here are some of what I have on my list for the best fountain pen display case.
First up we have this Stained Mahogany 10 Pen Display Box by Lanier Pens. This is probably my favorite wooden pen display box design to keep on a desk as it is small, unobtrusive, and has a slant to it so I can see the pens without having to lean over the top too much. I would go so far as to say this is one of the best wooden pen cases I have seen for beginners at this price.
Don’t let that go to your head, it is still a lightweight product made from fairly cheap components but they did a pretty good job putting it together. No, you won’t mistake this for a $350 case made from teak, but then again it costs about $300 less and does the same job.
Eventually, you will probably want something nicer, but for a first case, this is an excellent choice.
Second, we have the Tech Swiss 26 pen box in black or burlwood. I don’t like keeping too many pens on my desk and won’t tolerate a box that has more than one drawer so this case fits perfectly holding thirteen pens under the flip-top glass and thirteen more in the drawer below.
Both the black and burlwood finishes are very nice and I particularly like the fact that the knobs on the black are not gold. This gives it a nice simple, elegant, and utilitarian look that I personally like more than the burlwood.
All the hardware feels nice as does the finish on the wood although the burlwood is obviously a fake finish it still looks reasonably well. If you want a real burlwood finish you can get it on products costing over $300. For the money, this one is fine for me. Besides, after playing with both, I kept the black as it looked more Montblanc like and that is primarily what I collect.
One thing that I noticed immediately is the hinges that are far and away nicer than the ones on the Lanier Pens model above. This alone makes it a good investment even if you discount the larger size and better build quality.
Overall, good value for the money.
Next, I like the Timelybuys 30 pen 3 drawer case. It has a slightly smaller footprint than the previous Tech Swiss 26 pen case but adds a third drawer allowing it to hold four more pens using less space on your desk.
I have to admit I was impressed with this case at this piece point, it felt like it should have had a higher price tag. It also looks a little more modern if you like that. The hardware feels good, the finish on the wood is nice, and everything works very well for a case in this price range.
One thing I should mention about this case is the drawers come all the way out, as in completely removable. At first, this may seem like a problem, you can pull it too far and have it fall out when you are not expecting it. Once you start using it, however, it is an amazing feature. I can pull out an entire drawer which then becomes a pen display tray and take it to my desk to play with the pens, or remove the two drawers that hold my really expensive pens and place them in the safe.
Timelybuys also sells this case in different sizes including 20, 30, and 60 pen capacities which are really nice if you think you might need different cases for different places. A good example is you could have the 8 pen case on your desk at work while keeping a 30 or 60 pen case at home and they match. In fact, that leads me to our next case which is….
The Timelybuys 60 pen 6 drawer case. This is basically the same case we just talked about, with three more drawers on the bottom to hold thirty more pens. Fit and finish is the same as the previous case, as is the hardware. In fact, I can find no difference between the two other than the additional drawers.
Just like the 30 pen case listed above, this case has completely removable drawers which I really like.
In the beginning, I talked about a collector who wanted to collect whole sets of pens, like all the colors of the Esterbrook J for example. I said they would need a vastly different solution, this U.S. Art Supply 4 Drawer Wood Artist Supply Storage Box is that solution.
What a lot of collectors looked for in the past was map drawers, typically used to store large maps, blueprints, etc. The problem is these are usually expensive and honestly too large for what you need. These artist supply boxes are just right because they are designed to store exactly what you want, sets of pens, pencils, brushes, whatever.
Simply take one of these and use some spray adhesive and felt to line the individual sections, and start putting in your pens! As a bonus, it gives you areas to store extra clips, caps, sections, whatever you want.
I hope this article on the best pen display boxes for the money helps you find your perfect box!
Best Pen Cases To Carry Your Pens in 2022
Looking for the best pen cases to carry your pens in usually starts because you have some nice pens and you are tired of the cheap cases that do little to protect your pens, look just as cheap as they were, and start to fall apart fairly quickly. You have decided it is time to invest in a nice case that will be with you for as long as you decide to carry pens, which hopefully is a very large number of years.
For those who just want something passable to get them through this month, I present the Laban Double Fountain Pen Case. This case is that cheap pen case you see at the pen shows, in pen stores, and is carried by a lot of online pen dealers. They don’t carry it because it is some awesome case, it isn’t, they carry it because it is a good bang for the buck case that has fairly consistent quality from case to case.
Yeah, I am kinda badmouthing it, but really for a sub $20 case it is pretty nice. One of the best pen cases to carry your pens? For the price, sure. But if you use it, expect to be replacing it sooner rather than later.
Now let’s take a step up to the Pelikan Fine Leather Black Triple Pen Pouch which is made by the same Pelikan that makes the legendary Souveran series of pens. In fact, just like their pens, these cases overdeliver in just about every way possible.
These real leather cases are soft to the touch yet seem like they would be very durable over the long term. While some people have reported a strange smell, probably from cleaning solutions, I have not had that experience. The case comes in 1, 2, or 3 pen carrying capacities.
Plenty of room in this case to fit a Pelikan M1000 or Montblanc 149 sized pen and since the flap simply slips under the hoop it will go down in size to fit much smaller like the Pelikan M400 or Montblanc 145 pens just as well. This truly is one of the best pen cases to carry your pen in at any price point.
Now if you want to splurge and get basically the previous Pelikan case in nicer leather (or in brown), try the Maxwell Scott Full Grain Leather Pen Case. This case is about 50% more expensive but once you hold it in your hand, you get why. The leather is just amazing. Not saying the leather in the Pelikan is bad or sub-standard, it isn’t, but this is the next level in one of the best pen cases to carry your pens in.
Handmade in Italy these come in either black or brown and will hold three thin pens, or two larger fountain pens easily. I love the brown with the slightly lighter stitching, really nice touch.
My only complaint here is that there is no divider between pens which of course is being pretty picky. The pens I carry are not ornate enough to cause damage to the pen next to it, and the lack of divider allows me to carry one really large (some Krones maybe, way bigger than a M1000 or 149), two typical pens for me like a M800 and a 146, or three small pens like Parker jotters. So I guess what I am saying is, I am used to having dividers but the lack of a divider is actually a plus.
Next up is a case I constantly hear mixed reviews about, the Montblanc Meisterstuck Siena pen case. These come in black, or black, and in 1, 2, and 3 pen capacities and runs a little over $100 for the two pen version. Yes, the repeated color was a joke.
So why the mixed reviews? First, some people just seem to hate Montblanc for whatever reason. Second, and most importantly is that these are hard leather cases.
Most people are familiar with soft supple leather, that’s what most pen cases are made out of, most jackets, purses, etc. Some of the leather in some purses and bags can be a little stiff, but even that usually pales compared to the leather Montblanc uses in their Siena pen cases. Think very thick and stiff plastic and that gives you an idea.
That being said, the leather is absolutely flawless, the stitching is perfect, everything is exact, and of course, even the largest standard Montblanc pens (149) fit perfectly. I also like the fact that it is divided into slots to keep your high end pens from scratching each other.
Even I was initially turned off by the feel of the leather. Then I thought about it. What happens when I have a Pelikan pen case with $1,000 worth of pens in it in my briefcase and I throw my 12″ tablet in there on top of them, let’s just say that could be very bad. What if I did the same thing with my pens in this Montblanc Siena case? No problem at all.
Funny, you buy a pen case to protect your pens then gripe because the leather protecting your pen is too protective?
So I bought the three pen version and actually used it, awesome sauce. It turns out this is my favorite pen case because it is simple, elegant, durable, protective, doesn’t show fingerprints, and will probably outlive me. Worth it? Oh heck yes. This isn’t one of the best pen cases to carry your pens, this is the best.
So now I want to go for something a little different, the Galen Leather Zippered 5 Slots Pen Case. This is different for two main reasons; first that it holds five pens, and second that it also holds an A6 note pad. It is also designed more like a book or binder than the rest of our cases.
While I personally have a Meisterstück medium notebook, not everyone wants to spend that kind of money, and you don’t want to take something that expensive out in the woods, or anywhere it might get hurt. That’s where this case comes in.
The quality is extremely good for the money with nice soft leather which doesn’t feel too thin, a nice soft interior to protect your pens and a really nice zipper that feels like it should be on something far more expensive. Every time I grab this thing I think I should have paid more for it, but I am glad I didn’t.
So far it has weathered everything I have thrown at it. One thing that always concerned me about carrying my Montblanc notebook was sitting it down on surfaces like the top of a brick wall, or the sidewalk while I sit on the curb talking to someone. I have no such qualms about this product and although there certainly are some scuffs and scrapes, it just gives it more character.
My only real concern is I am not a big fan of elastic loops for holding pens. They either wear out, stretch out, or they may contain chemicals from the manufacturing process that can discolor your pen barrels. So far I have not had any issues and I keep my really expensive pens away from the elastic.
Overall this is an extremely practical and useful case and probably the best book style pencil case I have come across, especially in this price range.
I hope this article has helped you find one of the best pen cases to carry your pens.