fountain pen

by Tony Thomas I love Noodler's Ahabs.  At around $23 or so, they are affordable and the epitome of frugality.  They are also very comfortable in my hand (and I have large hands).   Ahabs are sturdy, hold an ample amount of ink, and they can be easily converted to an eyedropper if you need a truly massive amount of ink.  They have a unique piston cartridge converter and can also use the recently released 2.7 mg re-loadable cartridges.  Also, I find the design very attractive and they come in a wide range of colors as well as a clear, demonstrator version. Like many other pens from India, they are made of vegetal resin and have a funny smell.  The smell dissipates with time and I have found that it grows on you.  And if you throw an Ahab into a landfill, the pen body will reportedly biodegrade, making it environmentally friendly. Besides its perfect size, one of my biggest attractions to the Ahab is its easily modified ebonite feed and its ability ...

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 ordered a Ranga custom acrylic pen several weeks ago from India.  I decided on a clipless pen in "blue cracked ice" acrylic.  It is an eyedropper pen with an ebonite feed.  It is about 5.5 inches long and weighs a mere 18 grams when full of ink.  The price was under $50 with shipping. It arrived last week fitted with a Wality nib that wrote as a medium.  The nib was not terribly smooth, although Wality nibs can usually be improved by using a bit of micromesh. I decided to replace the nib with Nemosine #6 Fine nib from xfountainpens.com .  I was able to install it quite easily and it writes perfectly.  However, when I replaced the cap, I felt a bit of resistance.  As a result, I used a small pocket knife to remove some material from the inside of the cap to give the nib some extra room.  I am very happy with the pen and the way it writes.  The Nemosine nib is a big improvement over the Wality nib supplied.  (You actu...