I spun up a couple of docker containers with mediawiki as a test, willing to host, or we could also use something like fandom (?) - IIRC they are free, and… Well, we’re as rabid about our fandom as their usual users are about theirs.
Quality of knock-off brands like Jinhao and Wing Sung is going to be pretty universally shit. You can usually buy a handful and one will be at least decent though.
One thing you could check - any moisture present in the cap can tend to draw more moisture out of the pen. You could dry rinsing and then thoroughly drying (Q-tip, compressed air, whatever) the inside of the cap, dab the section and nib to make sure it's fully clean, let it dry for a bit (you can shield the nib from air with a cloth to keep it from fully drying out) and then try writing with it and capping it again to see if it sorts itself. If not it might just be way too wet and dumping ink in the cap, or you're knocking the pen around too much causing ink to leak from the feed. This is all of course assuming it's otherwise properly tuned.
Hmm, that’s not been my experience. I have probably 15ish pens from Jinhao and Wing Sung, and only one had a (minor) QC problem. They write well, for the price, and you certainly don’t need to buy a handful to get a single good one (at least of the ones I’ve gotten). Sure, you should be prepared for the possibility that you might get a lemon, but I do think that that’s the exception, not the rule (at least these days).
Quality of knock-off brands like Jinhao and Wing Sung is going to be pretty universally shit. You can usually buy a handful and one will be at least decent though.
That’s just not true. I have 35 Jinhao’s, and ~25 from other Chinese brands like Moonman/Majohn, Wing Sung, Hongdian, Lemon, Asvine, Kaigelu, & more. Out of all of them, only 2 have been duds; one was a Kaigelu which had a bad nib that I was later able to fix, and the other from a no-name gamble which was horribly unbalanced because they added brass to the finials to make it feel more substantial. The nib was pretty decent though, and it at least looked pretty. Everything else has been fine to excellent. Are they all going to be 5 stars? Of course not, but considering the majority of them were under £20, and around 75% of those were under £10, they’ve been great. Definitely no worse than Lamy, Kaweco, or any other western brand in that price point. The more expensive ones have all been fantastic.
Granted, there are still some that aren’t good and should be largely avoided. Generally, pens that you can’t find a brand name for will always be a gamble, as are the 4-digit model number Wing Sung’s. They’re a different company than the 3-digit ones and I’ve only ever heard bad experiences about them. But on the whole, Chinese pens have come a long way. Don’t be so quick to dismiss them completely.
Wow, that’s pretty. I’ve been flirting with the idea of buying a fountain pen but I found the good ones expensive considering I rarely even write on paper anymore.
Take notes on paper with fountain pen, take a picture, OCR it, shred the paper.
Otherwise there’s literally nothing special about using a fountain pen for any task a pen can do (other than situations involving particular kinds of paper, like carbon paper or thin scratch pads).
If the convenience of doing notes digitally works better for you, then it is. You can still take out a fountain pen for a variety of other tasks (writing letters, calligraphy work for greeting cards), or recognize that for the time being there’s little in your life that a fountain pen fills practically and just enjoy using one as a hobby
Truth be told, I am actually pretty new to fountain pens and have to go pretty cheap. This is the first pen I have that’s actually got parts and inks available to purchase online. Plus it’s perfectly sized for my tiny baby hands. It looks adorable when I clip it through the rings of a notebook.
I apply the Getting Things Done methodology my personal task management. Additionally, I employ the Zettelkasten method, as described by this: www.soenkeahrens.de/en/takesmartnotes
In case that you might be familiar with those methodologies, there is a mandatory temporary or previous stage of everything that I process that I do in paper. As such, I use pen and paper for capture and for meeting notes. Afterwards, I process those into the right places using digital tools for later review. I could not fathom capturing these snippets of information using digital tools. Pen and paper is simply faster and more convenient.
I work in IT, specifically managing projects and coordinating teams. They always give me weird looks when I wipe out my notebook and pen and start taking notes. I am unyielding in this matter. Additionally, I always prefer using a whiteboard when discussing something with other people, instead of using some kind of bloated online app. It is faster, and future-proof.
Also,
There is scientific evidence that taking quick notes with pen and paper has cognitive advantages over keyboard typing.
I would say that the biggest difference between taking notes in pen or keyboard is that, using pen and paper I’m able to synthesize and draw information in a more free-form and unstructured manner. While taking notes with a keyboard feels more like I’m an stenographer, merely transcribing word by word what is being said.
This doesn’t solve the converter problem, but if modern Sailor cartridges fit, re-using empties is an easy alternative when you already have the needle and syringe for filling.
It’s shitty that we need workarounds like these. I have a Platinum Century that I bought a converter for, and the converter is juuust loose enough to be an issue. If I’d known that a converter wasn’t going to fit properly, I’d have just gone straight to an empty cart, which fits perfectly!
Sailor sells empty cartridges for syringe filling. While this sounds completely pointless given you could just buy one filled with ink and then use the empty I believe they are made with more robust plastic that prevents stretching at the neck after several uses and the potential for an unexpected leak or excess flow at the nib. Something to look into.
If you’re in the UK, John Lewis sells some great own-brand loose sheets and envelopes. I used them a few years ago for a calligraphy commission. They were slightly textured but not enough to disrupt the strokes of a dip pen so they should be fine with a foundation pen. No bleeding, see through enough for a bold guide sheet. I’ll see if I can find a link.
Unfortunately, I’m not in the UK, but I night be willing to see if they ship if I can find enough to make a big order. The slight texture sounds interesting.
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