Hongdian, Lamy, Pilot, J. Herbin, Parker, Sailor, Strathmore

From left to right: Hongdian 1861, Lamy 2000, Pilot Custom 74.

The Hongdian is my newest acquisition, and it’s explained below.

The Lamy and the Pilot, both of which I’ve covered here before, have something in common: they have double-broad nibs that, as far as I can tell, aren’t often available as a US retail option. 1

Here’s samples — of course, not in the same order as above.

It’s okay to use ink on multimedia paper, but for fountain pens there are much better choices. Multimedia paper tends to be more fibrous than other kinds of paper, which means more risk of getting it jammed someplace where it’s hard to get out. But since I’ve been doing art stuff2 lately and you’ve seen all of my favorite fountain pen papers, I took my chances!

The lighting here doesn’t do Shirakashi justice. Here’s a better image from Yoseka Stationery that really shows off its cool gray-green. 3

A couple of years ago, I read on a fountain pen forum that using Parker Quink ink is the solution to annoyance with a Lamy 2000. It absolutely worked, so that’s all it gets.

My bottle of J. Herbin Rouge Opera is one of the oldest bottles of ink that I own — somewhere between 15-20 years. I haven’t used it up yet because sometimes I forget I have it, buy another bottle of red ink, and then end up rotating through them.

So…why a new pen?

Also, it was $20.

Something I should do more often: nib closeups. Here’s the Hongdian long blade nib, turned sideways so you can see it’s a little more chisel-y than a regular nib:

Here’s the Pilot BB, where I didn’t crop my magnifying app out:

And here’s the Lamy BB, same thing:

If I had to guess which pen will run out of ink first, I’d put my wager on the Lamy 2000. Even though it’s a piston fill and therefore has the biggest reservoir, it’s the one that I like best for long sprints and I’ve got some work like that coming up.4 At any rate, I know what pen will be next when that happens. Stay tuned for that entry!