I have misplaced my Vanishing Point but I think I’ll survive. I almost never need the quick access of a retractable fountain pen. I use fountain pens for planned, deliberate writing.
@jack Oh! The VP was my first expensive buy, with a super smooth F nib – really love it. Have added one with an EF nib. And it is always fun showing people the mechanism.
@hjertnes Mostly a TWSBI Diamond 580 and for special occasions a Pelikan M400. I do have a Lamy 2000 with a fine nib but being left-handed makes that one a challenge.
@hjertnes Yeah, the Lamy 2000 is a masterpiece for sure. I find I don’t use mine much, but I’m not sure I could ever part with it. It’s just such a cool object.
@hjertnes Yes, that is true. Fortunately it is fine for me, but I think the „Pen Addicts” Brad and Myke called it a problem, too. (I have no clip problem with the VP, but understand that others may have)
@hjertnes Oh. Is it the lefty nib you would need? The clip seems quite straight, so left- and right-handed should have the same problems. #thingsIshouidthinkabout
@kulturnation I don’t use lefty nibs. But it seems like there are more lefty’s that struggle with that clip. I don’t have a problem with it, for a change. It is the kind of design that is a problem for many
@hjertnes Well, good taste is seldom 😀 I would not call the VP a beauty, but the functional design.
BTW: I just saw (and subscribed to) your Ink Smudge blog: Do you know if there are Scandinavian fountain pens? Never thought about this (just enjoy the Viking pencils)
@hjertnes Do you know the Pen Addict podcast? So funny to hear them change from Gel pen to fountain pen addicts. Lately they had contact with the erasable guys and Caroline Weaver of cwpencils – will see if there is a next turn 🙂
@hjertnes Since last yr I turned into a pencil nerd. Still have a lot of fountain pens in use w/all the beautiful inks! Funny to find out that there are quite a lot of pencil users among my friends. Typewriters are my perfect „distraction free and still readable“ writing tools 🙂
@hjertnes Oh, never had that problem, the length of nib-converter unit seems quite normal to me. Maybe a small tube like they use in medical labs could help?
@kulturnation the place where the ink is sucked in is higher than normal; it probably would, but I’d rather have a nice ink well that solved this problem
@kulturnation Same here. I’m suddenly using pencils all day. An open notebook and a pencil is the fastest combination I’ve found for “capture it right now”.
@hjertnes You mean Pelikan=German? I was a pupil in the 70’s and there was the battle in class: are you Pelikan or Geha? Pelikan was mainstream, my Geha was that much smarter. They had the „extra ink reserve“. Unfortunately you don’t get fitting cartridges for old Gehas anymore.
@hjertnes As an old man I like old man aesthetics 🙂 Will not forget when I showed my wife a pic of the M800 Tortoiseshell Brown and her reaction was „YUK!“ – guess I better do not buy that beauty. I find some parallels to pipe (designs) where taste is very personal.
@kulturnation You buy a MB for the same reason you buy a Rolex. I love my Lamy 2K for the same reason I love Leica M’s quality and my favorite style of German design
@hjertnes I enjoy my Lamy Scala and Studios. I normally prefer F or EF, these have 1.1 nibs (the easy nib switch is awesome). I heard about some nib / writing problems with the 2000, guess you don’t have any. Looking online at the black 2000 that I really like: the nib is fixed?
@hjertnes I received a Meisterstruck rollerball 20 years ago as a gift and I still use it. It’s broken and kind of a mess but still one of my favorites to hold and write with. Plus as 50+ year old fella, I like how they look!
@jack Yikes. What other fountain pens do you use?
@jack That’s still a bummer. I’m the inverse. If I could only have one fountain pen, it would be the Vanishing Point.
@douglane Interesting. I would go for the Lamy 2000 if I could only have one. And it plus a Vanishing Point if I could have two.
@jack Oh! The VP was my first expensive buy, with a super smooth F nib – really love it. Have added one with an EF nib. And it is always fun showing people the mechanism.
@hjertnes Mostly a TWSBI Diamond 580 and for special occasions a Pelikan M400. I do have a Lamy 2000 with a fine nib but being left-handed makes that one a challenge.
@kulturnation I loved the pen. May get another some day. I bought it as an “always carry” and found that I didn’t really need one.
@jack And do not give up hope: I found my first Pelikan M200 years after I „lost“ him behind a sideboard 🙂
@kulturnation I bet that was a good day! 🙂
@jack That‘s for sure 🙂
@hjertnes Yeah, the Lamy 2000 is a masterpiece for sure. I find I don’t use mine much, but I’m not sure I could ever part with it. It’s just such a cool object.
@hjertnes Ah, I see, heard this quite often.
@kulturnathold It is a design not very compatible with people holding pens differently
@hjertnes Yes, that is true. Fortunately it is fine for me, but I think the „Pen Addicts” Brad and Myke called it a problem, too. (I have no clip problem with the VP, but understand that others may have)
@kulturnation i don’t get why Pilot don’t make a lefty version of it
@hjertnes Oh. Is it the lefty nib you would need? The clip seems quite straight, so left- and right-handed should have the same problems. #thingsIshouidthinkabout
@kulturnation I don’t use lefty nibs. But it seems like there are more lefty’s that struggle with that clip. I don’t have a problem with it, for a change. It is the kind of design that is a problem for many
@kulturnation As a lefty, I didn’t have a problem with the clip. I worried that it would be terrible but it was fine for me.
@hjertnes Well, good taste is seldom 😀 I would not call the VP a beauty, but the functional design.
BTW: I just saw (and subscribed to) your Ink Smudge blog: Do you know if there are Scandinavian fountain pens? Never thought about this (just enjoy the Viking pencils)
@kulturnation I haven’t found any. The closest would be German companies
@hjertnes Happy to own a Swedish typewriter, the Facit 2 is one of my best 🙂
@kulturnation I use fountain pens if I write on paper. I never “got” the pencil and type writer thing 🙂
@kulturnation I did for some strange reason think that Pelikan was Swedish.
@hjertnes Do you know the Pen Addict podcast? So funny to hear them change from Gel pen to fountain pen addicts. Lately they had contact with the erasable guys and Caroline Weaver of cwpencils – will see if there is a next turn 🙂
@kulturnation I know it very well 🙂
@kulturnation It was where my addiction started, and Brad was nice enough to mention the ink smudge when I started it 🙂
@hjertnes Since last yr I turned into a pencil nerd. Still have a lot of fountain pens in use w/all the beautiful inks! Funny to find out that there are quite a lot of pencil users among my friends. Typewriters are my perfect „distraction free and still readable“ writing tools 🙂
@kulturnation they can be distracting to the people around you 🙃
@kulturnation there is one thing I hate about the VP: how hard it is to fill it when you reach a under half full ink bottle
@hjertnes Of course. Though my wife likes the sound, I never type at night or early in the morning. There is a Gentleman’s Codex of Typewriter 🙂
@hjertnes Oh, never had that problem, the length of nib-converter unit seems quite normal to me. Maybe a small tube like they use in medical labs could help?
@kulturnation the place where the ink is sucked in is higher than normal; it probably would, but I’d rather have a nice ink well that solved this problem
@hjertnes Ah, that is why the name sounded familiar 🙂
@kulturnation Same here. I’m suddenly using pencils all day. An open notebook and a pencil is the fastest combination I’ve found for “capture it right now”.
@kulturnation well, it’s German.
@hjertnes You mean Pelikan=German? I was a pupil in the 70’s and there was the battle in class: are you Pelikan or Geha? Pelikan was mainstream, my Geha was that much smarter. They had the „extra ink reserve“. Unfortunately you don’t get fitting cartridges for old Gehas anymore.
@kulturnation I think Pelikan has too much of the old man aesthetics
@hjertnes As an old man I like old man aesthetics 🙂 Will not forget when I showed my wife a pic of the M800 Tortoiseshell Brown and her reaction was „YUK!“ – guess I better do not buy that beauty. I find some parallels to pipe (designs) where taste is very personal.
@hjertnes (while I do not care for any Mont Blanc)
@kulturnation You buy a MB for the same reason you buy a Rolex. I love my Lamy 2K for the same reason I love Leica M’s quality and my favorite style of German design
@hjertnes That is well said!
@kulturnation And the MB Meisterstruck or what’s it’s called looks very presidential
@hjertnes I enjoy my Lamy Scala and Studios. I normally prefer F or EF, these have 1.1 nibs (the easy nib switch is awesome). I heard about some nib / writing problems with the 2000, guess you don’t have any. Looking online at the black 2000 that I really like: the nib is fixed?
@kulturnation The nib is fixed, unless you get Lamy to sell you a replacement. You can unscrew it. I prefer broads; pun intended.
@hjertnes I received a Meisterstruck rollerball 20 years ago as a gift and I still use it. It’s broken and kind of a mess but still one of my favorites to hold and write with. Plus as 50+ year old fella, I like how they look!
@jack I hope to have the cash to buy the fountain pen version by the time I’m 40