fountain pen

by Tony Thomas I have really big hands.  As a result, I need a really big pen to write comfortably for long periods of time.  I am always searching for capable daily writers that can serve my needs.  My Edison Collier and Noodler's Ahab have served this purpose well but I wanted to add another pen to the rotation.  I looked through my growing pen collection to see what pens would be good candidates with a bit of modification.   I finally decided to use my hand made  Ranga Duofold ebonite pen from India as a starting point.  At $35 shipped, it is an unbelievable value.  The big drawbacks are the simple ebonite feed and scratchy Wality nib that ship with it.  While you can order this pen with a Jowo or Schmidt nib, a modern feed and a converter, they add quite a bit to the price.   This pen is really big: About 14.6 cm (5.75") long when capped, 13 cm long when uncapped, a 12mm section width and 14mm wide body width.  It is very comfo...

by Tony Thomas I loaded up my Airmail 444 eyedropper fountain pen sporting a FPR flex nib with Chesterfield Archival Vault ink.  Reportedly, it is custom branded Diamine Registrar's ink sold exclusively by  www.xfountainpens.com . As it is an iron gall formulation designed for fountain pens, it can be used safely in many pens with a bit of extra care. I think that the Airmail 444 is a good choice for this type of ink for the following reasons: It is an eyedropper and there are no metal parts that can corrode other than the nib. The nib can be replaced easily and inexpensively even if corrosion occurs. It uses a very simple ebonite feed that can be cleaned easily. The pen can be disassembled completely for thorough cleaning. The 444 has ample ink holding capacity so that the pen will not dry out quickly. Even though iron gall ink is known to be very dry, it flows very well in this pen and nib combination.  The color change from blue to black is also cool to watch and the i...

by Tony Thomas I am a big fan of Fountain Pen Revolution's flex nibs. They write great with very little railroading. FPR offers these #5 size flex nibs (as well as their medium, fine and italic nibs) on many of the pens that they sell. I use the flex nibs on a few of my Airmail/Wality pens and they work great with the stock ebonite feeds. Located in the New Delhi region of India, FPR not only sources the most popular pens from India, they also sell pens and nibs that they design and are crafted by Indian artisans. They ship direct from India for only $3 and it only takes about 2-3 weeks to receive your order.  All their items are reasonably priced and you won't easily find them anywhere else.  Highly recommended! www.FountainPenRevolution.com

by Tony Thomas My current EDC includes a few TWSBI 580s, a Lamy Vista and three Airmail/Wality eyedroppers from India (69T, 444 and 70BT).   Two of the Airmail/Wality's have Fountain Pen Revolution flex nibs.  And if you look closely, you'll notice that all of these pens have something in common.  All of these pens are fairly inexpensive and good writers.  The carrying case is a Maxpedition EDC pocket organizer.