Montblanc 146 with broad nib. Admittedly, I am not the world’s biggest user of broad nibs, but my favorites are those made by Montblanc. Not than just wider, the Montblanc broad nib is stubbish, with a thinner cross-stroke and wider down-stroke.
I have it inked with Kaweco Ruby Red, a color I like a lot.
Kaweco Dia2 with extra-fine nib. This is another pen I have been using on loan from Kaweco. And it’s another Kaweco pen with an excellent extra-fine nib.
The Dia2 I’m using comes in chrome trim, which I love, but gold-colored trim is also available. I really like some of the design flourishes, like the knurled trim on both ends, and the shape of the clip.
This ink is Kaweco Royal Blue, which of course appeals strongly to the blue fan in me.
Kaweco AL-Sport with extra-fine nib. This Kaweco Sport is made of raw aluminum in a high-gloss finish. It is captivating. According to Kaweco it will show marks of use, but the overall impression is just “shiny.” Not to mention, “gorgeous.” This is a pen that makes me want to write more.
The ink is Kaweco Black Pearl, which is a very dark black. It flows beautifully in the extra-fine nib.
Montblanc LeGrand Platinum with fine nib. Sometimes when you’re using a lot of colorful, new or exciting inks, you just need to decompress and pick up an old reliable. I went for my LeGrand with platinum trim and fine nib, and Rohrer & Klingner Blau Permanent ink.
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Pelikan M600 Pink with fine nib. Okay, I’ve talked about this pen before, and again, and again, but it hasn’t actually been pen of the day. So, good excuse!
Also, Fountain Pen Follies is neither so foolish, nor so loaded, as to be able to buy two new pens a week.
Am I the only one who not only doesn’t mind seeing a little ink on the nib, but likes it? Because I do. Ink drips, no, but a hint of ink, yes.
I’m using Pelikan Edelstein Ruby this time, which is a softer red that I adore and that I think really works with the raspberry color of the Pink Pelikan.
TWSBI Eco with 1.1 mm stub nib. I picked this up recently because it’s reasonably priced and should be fine for ink testing. Mostly because it’s a demonstrator, and I can watch the ink slosh around. Cheap thrills.
This one has the 1.1 mm stub, which has nice line variation. The ink is a mixture of two green inks. Seeing the ink in the section? Sweet.
Pelikan 300 with OBB nib. This is one of my few not-so-common fountain pens, a black-striped Pelikan 300. Pelikan made the 300 in green or black stripes, for export only. It’s the size of a 400 but the cap and barrel ends have the lovely curved shape of the 140.
A real 300 will say so, both on the end of the barrel and on the cap ring.
This 300 has an OBB nib, which lays down plenty of ink. Today it’s inked with the beautiful Pelikan Edelstein Mandarin.
Aurora Optima 365 with medium nib. Yes, this was Pen of the Day two weeks ago, too. It’s so worth the repeat.
But it has a new ink this time. My friend sent me a sample of Conway Stewart Kingsand, which I think is a really lovely ink, perfect for the pen and for the time of year.
Conway Stewart is out of business, unfortunately, but a number of stores still have the inks in stock. Moreover, Conway Stewart inks were made by Diamine, and to me, Kingsand looks very much like Diamine Ochre. I hope to put on my ink detective hat and investigate it. That hat? It’s a deerstalker. Of course.
Pelikan 400 Tortoise with oblique medium nib. This is a vintage Pelikan. The oblique medium nib offers line variation with a fairly narrow nib, since a vintage Pelikan medium is close to the width of a modern Pelikan fine nib.
I think the tortoise binde looks beautiful against the brown cap and piston knob.
The ink is Waterman Absolute Brown, formerly known as Havana Brown. It’s a reddish brown with nice shading.
Parker Duofold Centennial with medium stub. You might have guessed by now that I am a Parker fan. This is the gorgeous Black and Pearl Duofold Centennial, which is about the size of the original Big Red.
I just recently got this back from the nibmeister. I was never perfectly happy with how it wrote, so I asked Dan Smith to decrease its over-enthusiastic ink flow and make the stub smoother. Thanks to Dan, it finally writes as beautifully as it looks.
It’s inked with Caran d’Ache Saffron, my all-time favorite orange ink.
Fountain Pen Follies 