Conclusion:
Thank you, everyone, for your expertise, experience, recommendations, suggestions, and patience!!
I have decided to go with the Platinum Preppy in Blue Black with fine nib. I didn’t want to jump too far into it with an expensive (to me) one without any experience. So far, granted it’s the first day, I love it. A lot. I’m going to give it a few days to see how it feels as a daily driver, but if the few bits I wrote are an indication, it won’t be an issue.
Again, thank you all SO MUCH for your help!
Here’s a (poor quality, sorry, it’s night) picture of my new favorite pen:
Original Post
I didn’t see anything on the sidebar where this is not allowed. BUT, if it isn’t, please accept my sincerest apologies, and feel free to remove the post (or let me know, and I’ll remove it).
A little backstory:
Ever since a quill that I happened to use (without permission, might I add) at a friend’s grandfather’s house oh so many moons ago, my fascination with pens began. Up until then, all I’ve used were pencils, markers, crayons, and a couple cheap ballpoint pens.
Over the many years, I have gone from pen to pen, never really finding “that pen feel” I’ve craved since that single-digit age. Now, I understand that quills write very differently to ballpoints, and even differently to many nibs. However, price has always been an object for me, regrettably, limiting my choices, forcing me to stay on the ‘budget’ side of things.
The closest I’ve found to that feel was a 0.8mm Micron felt-tipped pen. However, it wasn’t close enough for me to stay with it, so the search continues.
(The feel: smooth, light, almost effortless glide on the page, while still feeling the tactility of the page with each stroke. The resulting line is smooth, but crisp.)
Recently (past couple years), I’ve been thinking more and more about that quill, and started searching for it again, to no avail. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if his grandfather had it custom made.
I would ask the friend or grandfather, but the grandfather has long passed, and the friend has disappeared shortly after uni (he always talked about going full hermit… I guess he did).
Yesterday, as I was aimlessly scrolling Lemmy, after, what seemed like the billionth time searching for that quill, I came across this community, filled with people searching for their illusive perfect pen; my people.
The ask
As before, price is an object (again, regrettably). Are there recommendations for budget fountain pens or quills with a few must-haves?
Would-Really-Like-To-Have Must-Haves
- non-scratchy nib
- 0.5-0.7mm line is preferred, but no more than 0.8mm
- it can use ink cartridges, but it needs to also handle other inks from bottles (pumps or wells, I think it’s called)
- budget, so within the 5-10€ range (I know this might be the biggest ask here)
The original quill that started it all
The shaft looked like a thick feather, with the feathery bits removed. I don’t think it was an actual feather, though, as it was much thicker than any I’ve ever felt. The shaft held the ink, which was added by unscrewing the nib and pouring the ink in (or, as he did it, using a pipette), then screwing the nib back on. The nib was ornate; etched gold on the outside, smooth silver on the inside, split down the middle, with a small hole halfway down the split.
A preemptive thank you to everyone, for reading and considering this post.
Edit: added the last section about the original quill
Edit: change to really like to have, since it seems I was being too wishy with them being a ‘must’ : )
What you’re describing definitely sounds like a fountain pen–specifically, an eyedropper (where the body acts as the ink reservoir), desk (long, gently sloping body coming to a point) pen–did it look something like this? https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-5ko0zosub2/product_images/description/sheaffer/sh_deskpen_greymarble_2.jpg (Sorry, can’t get images to embed)
For your thinish line requirements with a non-scratchy nib, I’d suggest a European/American fine or Japanese medium nib size (Japanese brands tend to run thinner). Most pens you can buy have some sort of cartridge, as well as a converter that would allow you to use a bottle–you can also get a cheap blunt tipped syringe or pipet and refill washed cartridges with whatever ink you want. I use a hot glue gun to reseal mine for transport, and peel it off before reinserting the cartridge.
I would recommend going to a stationary store/office supply store and trying some out! If you give us a general geographic area we can try to recommend stores near you that cary pens you could try–in Europe I’ve found this much more common than the US. If in-person testing isn’t an option, I would tentatively suggest a pilot kakuno–they look like they cost ~11€ in Europe, and come with one cartridge of ink. They’re Japanese so I would recommend a medium if you want to avoid scratchy at all costs, or a fine if you have some tolerance for a bit of feedback and want a thinner line. Any of pilot’s converters should work, looks like they cost ~6-12€ depending on refill mechanism and capacity.
A kakuno or other budget pen won’t look as amazing, but in my experience write almost as well as pens costing 10x more, and honestly if it’s your first one you probably won’t be able to feel the nuance yet.
How?
If you like that long, tapered look, check out the Platinum desk pen.
This is a great writeup, thank you!
Your suggestions look like a really good place to get started in this world without breaking bank.
The quill he had looked a little something like the smooth ones of these, but with the iconic black/white quill pattern and the ink was inside the shaft.