For the #RedWings to regain control over their playoff destiny tonight, they need a win over the #Pens and a #Caps regulation loss. Time is running out. #LGRW#HNOM#NHL
HongDian sure seems to love putting cats and birds on their pens. And from what I'm told, they also have a bunch of other designs out there including rabbits, and various shapes and drawings
For inexpensive fountain pens (~$10-26) they look, feel, and write great. These are metal, too, which means they can put up with a fair amount of banging around, though that does increase the weight.
@ottocrat If anyone remonstrates just point them to https://ukfountainpens.com, a rabbit hole I got trapped in for a while recently, and which could be regarded as validation of the old usenet era saying
If it exists there's a porn version of it.
You'll empathise, hopefully not too much. I did. But long since hardened by loss to limit my indulgence to 2.
The urge to hoard nice things seems innate & not obviously rational - - a desire for a means of exchange?
Figured out a slightly better way to compare fountain pen nibs but it takes much longer!
Most interesting new bit is that I grabbed a four pack of cheap Yongsheng 3008 EF which makes it possible to see the difference between inks in the "same" pen.
Also realized it would help to try nibs both forward and reverse (upside-down) as that tends to produce an even thinner line.
@paradoxmo Good to know about how Wing Sung handles their models/brands. I'll be sure to stay far away from anything Paili/3000-range!
And yes, the Kakuno EF is the best price/performance in EF out there, it's near the top of my image there. Followed closely by Jinhao's UF/03 nib and Asvine EF.
The Platinum UEF is the best all-around but so expensive it's not a fair comparison to $10-30 pens.
I have a couple more pens on the way already but now trying different size/shapes/colors not nibs.
@jimp ah, right, I remember now that you did a whole round of “finest nibs OOB”. Btw, if you like the Lightive (best feature is the sealing cap), it takes the same nibs as the Kakuno and you can just swap the nibs directly.
Still working through fountain pens trying to find the finest of the extra fine w/o custom grinding. I think I've reached a satisfactory conclusion for now.
Platinum Century 3776 UEF wins by a (very thin and costly) hair but the Kakuno EF is not that far behind. The Jinhao EF#08 is decent but a tad thicker. All of them are better than the Platinum EF02 which is significantly thicker.
tl;dr: 3776UEF is best but expensive, Kakuno EF has best price/perf @ ~1/20th the cost.
@jimp I have the gold nib version, the KDP-3000. It’s so good. Got it NOS from a tiny stationery store online. I think I saw a DP-1000AN there too, let me confirm and if they still have it I’m happy to send it on to you.
Recently renewed my interest in fountain pens and found stub/italic nibs I liked right away but now am in search of the EF-iest EF-ing nib I can find reasonably priced. So far the Extra Fine nib on the Pilot Kakuno is the best and the Jinhao 9019 w/#8 EF nib is very close. I have a couple more on the way to try, but the Kakuno will be hard to beat.
The 9019 is on the larger side (not my preference), Kakuno is smaller but not overly so. They are both ~$12-15USD each.
@jimp bulb syringe isn’t necessary, it does make it easier, but you can do the same thing with a converter. a drop of dish detergent in 200 ml water, 6-8 cycles of fill and then expel with the converter, 3-4 cycles with clear water. You should be good to go.
