Against the Flow
Irradiated by Stingray
I’m not particularly fussy about my writing implements, but I do have a few simple requirements. My handwriting is so god-awful that I really do need a super-fine line to have anything legible appear on paper. Thicker lines tend to blur things together into a giant mess that looks more like it was scrawled by a retarded dolphin trying to use the tip of a flipper wrapped in typewriter ribbon.
That said, I was moderately intrigued to see some noteworthy praise for the Pilot Varsity line of disposable fountain pens. My mother has written with a fountain pen for as long as I can remember, and thanks to the nanoscopic nature of her handwriting (I once enlisted her aid in crafting the crib sheet I was allowed on some test or other, and wound up with three chapters of material on one standard notecard), fountain pens have been pretty well affixed a “this will make a fine line” status in my head.
After keeping my eyes open in the beyond anemic office supply sections of our local economy, I finally caved and just ordered a few online. While Ms. X, The Dog, and Marko are spot on about a great number of topics, their taste in these pens is in my opinion highly misplaced, and calls much of their character into question as they are clearly sympathizers of the retarded-dolphin-with-typewriter-ribbon steno pool.
The first batch of three arrived, and I promptly took pen to paper in a test drive. I was immediately aghast to find a line thickness best measured in meters. Hoping for a fluke, I tried the next of three to similar results. The line flowed out smoothly, if a tad wetter than I’m used to from the pico-point ballpoints I normally stick with (for reference, I prefer uni-ball signo micro-points), but again with a thickness normally seen in paving operations. I tried the third, which I have since concluded is the defective pen, and found a line thickness of a svelte nature appropriate to my tastes, but sadly marred by the fact that it otherwise behaves like a ten year old bic disposable in its capability to produce a continuous line.
Digging a bit further, I managed to convince myself I’d simply wound up with a set of “medium” points, and went in search of “extra fine.” The latter arrived today.
All I can say now is that if you hear some clicking and squeaking and see a bucket of fish sitting around, that’s my secretary, and the reason that memo looks the way it does.
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Best. Review. Ever.
FWIW I have much the same problem with my handwriting. If I am even in the slightest bit of a hurry when writing a note by hand, it tends to look like a constipated baboon had a brief but frenzied bout of Tourette’s afterwards…
I prefer using mechanical pencils whenever possible for the finest point. Other than that, I’ve been known to use a gel pen just for the sheer unholy mess it creates…
July 22nd, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Sakura Micron 0.005″ markers. Archival ink, and I’m confident that the line width is either on spec or very close to it. I could produce a photomicrograph of a line from one of those and a 0.010″ marker I have here if you like. I don’t like the idea of living without mine, for I look at handwriting the same way you do.
Jim
July 22nd, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Well, yeah. If you like extra-fine lines, the Varsity pens aren’t exactly the top pick. For EF nibs, you have to go with a decent quality pen of the non-disposable variety, because the cheap fine nibs are scratchy as hell due to the reduced ink flow.
If we’re ever in the same zip code, I’ll let you try out my Lamy 2000 with the extra-fine nib. It’s like writing with a stick of butter on a mirror that has been hosed down with FP-10, and it puts down a line first time, every time, even after leaving the pen sitting on the desk for a few days.
July 22nd, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Interesting. While the Varsity pens I used produce a bit heavier a line than I usually prefer, I found them acceptable. Since I have destroyed the nibs of excellent pens by dropping them (I had a supernice orange Parker Lady Duofold from the ’20s), the notion of a disposable fountain pen is appealing.
Using the Pilot Varsity, any color than black, blue or violet required very good paper to avoid serious spreading. There’s something amiss in their color inks. So if you went with, say, red, green or light blue, that would affect your results.
July 22nd, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Roberta: somehow I always pictured you as having the kind of penmanship that does not require superfine tips.
As for me, I find writing with the Varsitys so much fun despite my handwriting being even worse than Stingray’s that they’re likely to all default to being my pens. I’m fine with the retarded dolphin effect; it gives me perverse pleasure to know that no one will be able to decipher my scribbled recipes but me.
July 23rd, 2009 at 8:13 am
Some time ago I just said “fuckitall” and switched to Crayola.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:19 am
When I was an undergrad, shortly after stone tablets and bronze chisels fell out of vogue, I tried writing with a Parker cartridge pen. One of my instructors accused me of attempting to write with a spider (species not stated) dipped in an ink pot and slapped vigorously upon the sheet.
I soon went back to the stone tablet method, alternating with Bic fine point black disposables until electronic means became more portable.
Regards,
Rabbit.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:37 am
My handscript falls between Parkinson’s and Tourette’s, but I do like a nice pen. FWIW, a Pilot G2 will accept refills for Cross if you snip about 2mm off the plastic reservoir seal. Heap big cheaper than buying full boat Cross.
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:37 pm
My writing also requires a fine point. I use the Zebra F-301 ballpoint pen. It has a 0.7mm fine point. Everyone I show it
to loves it.
July 24th, 2009 at 5:09 am
I use either a drafting pen (Knor) for notes and the like or a Papermate Flexgrip Ultra when I have to deal with multiple copy paper (or have run out of ink for the Knor pen)
.
July 24th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Here ya go ….
July 24th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
I have one of those Townsend portacrayons, and it’s great.
But then, I’m a historical re-creationist…
July 24th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
I alternate between a Lamy EF and a Pilot Uniball micro, when the archivists are not breathing down my neck to ensure that I only use pencil. I have a Pilot retractable fountain pen that I dearly love because it has a Japanese EF nib but 1) it requires an inkwell and 2) it got dry once and I’ve not been able to get it to a shop for rejuvination/repair.
July 24th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Technical pen?
July 25th, 2009 at 1:08 am
Ken :
They are pens that are designed for drafting/technical drawing. They have very specific ink thicknesses… from 1mm down to .01mm (or smaller). They are odd to use at first, and aren’t cheap… but they are consistent, and work like a charm if you keep the ink well full and clean ‘em occasionally.
July 26th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Dano refers to what I know as capillary pens. I used a Rapidograph for years — they are majorly drop-sensitive, though, so it only took one time having a pen slip while doing a multi-page set of transmitter readings to get me to try something else for that task.
LabRat: my handwriting has “character!” My signature has devolved to a scrawled ideograph, I copy radio code by block-printing at high speed and my everyday handwriting is a Chancery Cursive variant that can resemble Arabic. (I retrained to Chancery from utterly illegible American cursive when I was in my 20s and can’t recommend it strongly enough, though examples I am finding on the web are overly fancy). I don’t need superfine points but I like ‘em, as I don’t write very large unless I am in a hurry.