This is The AK-47 of Fountain Pens
I finally made a frankenpen that I love.
If you’ve been reading my stuff, you probably know I love a good fountain pen. My now-wife got me into them when we were dating, starting with some pretty awful Parkers but, as you’d expect, I’ve gone crazy with it and I am firmly down the rabbit hole with a collection that needs its own special storage.
I love pens with character. Sometimes that character is a filling system, like my Conklin Mark Twain, or my late father’s weird 1971 Mont Blanc that takes cartridges. Sometimes it’s because the pen as a really cool nib grind, like an oblique cursive italic, or an architect grind. Sometimes it’s the feel of the metal of the nib against the paper, giving 14k gold nibs their smoothness, or steel ones their toothiness. Sometimes it’s just the overall pen makes me feel a certain way. As a result, sentimentality can interfere with my practical need to have a pen on me that will work and that I don’t worry about hurting because it can be easily mended.
My favorite kind of filling mechanism is the vacuum filling method because it holds a lot of ink and allows me to travel without worrying about the pen leaking on airplanes. My favorite nib type overall is the flex nib. What I want more than anything is a satisfying flex nib like the FA, but on a vacuum filler. In theory…
