My favorite pen

[mikbone]

 

[askandanswer]

As much as I dislike writing by hand, if writing by hand somehow becomes unavoidable, I would have to say that a bic pen is the least bad way to write. 

[askandanswer]

ps

If you scroll down from the homepage you will see on the advice board that @Carborendum likes BICs so much he is thinking of adopting one as a child

[zil2]

BIC, filling landfills everywhere.  The villain of my ink review story is Marsell, the Oily Sorcerer of Bicbiro.  If that means nothing to you, you clearly don't know your BIC history nearly well enough.

[Carborendum]

1 hour ago, askandanswer said:

ps

If you scroll down from the homepage you will see on the advice board that @Carborendum likes BICs so much he is thinking of adopting one as a child

That isn't too far from the truth.  As a kid, I simply liked the way a BiC performed beyond other ball-points.

But then I learned about felt, porous, roller ball... BiC fell out of favor at that point.  

[mikbone]

1 hour ago, zil2 said:

BIC, filling landfills everywhere.  The villain of my ink review story is Marsell, the Oily Sorcerer of Bicbiro.  If that means nothing to you, you clearly don't know your BIC history nearly well enough.

Do tell.

I hear that the orange ones made in France are the best.  Where can I find some?

I love the reviews on Amazon.  “cap is perfect for removing ear wax”.  “writes 2 miles but poorly over asphalt”

The ‘for her’ pastel color reviews are out of control.

[zil2]

3 minutes ago, mikbone said:

Do tell.

BIC and other ballpoints were brought to you courtesy of Marcel Bich (whose name morphed into BIC) and László Bíró (in Europe, they call ballpoints "biros").

You can read about Marsell, the Oily Sorcerer of Bicbiro in The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh. (Marsell appears in Part 1: Quintus, the Fifth Wizard. He plays a major role in Part 2: The Oily Adventure.  He's mentioned in passing in Part 3: The Old Goat Adventure and Part 4: The Quest to Find Happy Silkworms.  Part 5: The Quest to Heal the Source of Magic is not yet complete, so I have no comment - you'll just have to read.  New episodes posted every Tuesday morning, Utah time.)

[mirkwood]

My favorite pen.

 

 

 

 

 

[mikbone]

1 hour ago, zil2 said:

BIC and other ballpoints were brought to you courtesy of Marcel Bich (whose name morphed into BIC) and László Bíró (in Europe, they call ballpoints "biros").

Just read the Wiki entry about him.  Sounds like the hero.

I’ll give the e-book a go.  Thanks for the pronunciation guide.

[zil2]

BIC have managed to redeem themselves, slightly.

[zil2]

25 minutes ago, mirkwood said:

My favorite pen.

 

 

 

 

 

It's hugely popular.

[mikbone]

6 minutes ago, zil2 said:

BIC have managed to redeem themselves, slightly.

Oh the humanity!

[zil2]

Here's a fountain pen you can appreciate:

[zil2]

And some more:

 

 

[Carborendum]

16 minutes ago, zil2 said:

I got my wife a Fude Nib pen with a purple finish wrapped by a golden dragon. 

Japanese nib, made in China.

She wouldn't take it up to Colorado with us for vacation because of elevation difference.  But when we got back, she found that it came with a pumpy thingy (I forget the name -- converter? siphon?).  So, she couldn't fit the ink cartridge into it -- non-compatible size.  Now I've got to get her some ink for the pump.

Oh, the drama!

Edited January 2 by Carborendum

[zil2]

1 hour ago, Carborendum said:

I got my wife a Fude Nib pen with a purple finish wrapped by a golden dragon. 

Sweet!  The Jinhao dragon pen.  As I recall from online reports, it weighs a ton.   This pen rates between fabulous and "most obnoxious" depending on who you talk to.   I've never seen it in purple before and I have to say, of the colors I've seen (just black and red, I think), I like this one the best.

1 hour ago, Carborendum said:

Japanese nib, made in China.

The concept (fude nib) is Japanese, but that nib is made in China by Jinhao (and despite what's stamped on it, there's no gold in / on that nib).

1 hour ago, Carborendum said:

She wouldn't take it up to Colorado with us for vacation because of elevation difference.  But when we got back, she found that it came with a pumpy thingy (I forget the name -- converter? siphon?).  So, she couldn't fit the ink cartridge into it -- non-compatible size.

It would have been fine if you drove (elevation change should not be fast enough to change air pressure and push ink out of the pen (only airplanes taking off should be enough to do that)).  The pumpy thingy is called a converter.  (Anatomy of a Fountain Pen (and its accessories).)

It will take Jinhao cartridges or any that say they have a 2.6mm bore diameter.  Some Chinese brands use that same 2.6mm bore, others use 3.4mm.  Standard international is 2.4mm.  I've noticed a tendency in Amazon listings for them to say the bore size (or to say standard international for non-Chinese brands; all Japanese brands, and some European, are proprietary).  Bottled ink is cheaper anyway, and you get a wider variety.

You can use a blunt-tip syringe or tiny pipette (these have a small enough tube) to transfer the ink out of the cartridges you have and into the converter.   The syringe will open the cartridge for you, the pipette is too soft to do that - you just have to push a nail or some other stiff thing against the ball that's sealing the cartridge opening.

1 hour ago, Carborendum said:

Now I've got to get her some ink for the pump.

Tell me the color and I'll happily give you recommendations for good-performing inks.  Or you can visit https://inkswatch.com/ and pick a color and it will suggest inks.  (If you like the look of a Noodler's ink, we should talk before you buy - a few have special, um, concerns. )

I foresee visits to Dromgoole's in your future (they're in Houston and I'm jealous).