Fountain Pens! Love em' or hate em'?

Writing as a lefty isn't hard. Just think about what you want to write, and write the words right-to-left in reverse order on each line.

Tonight a good buddy of mine gave me his Lamy Charcoal Safari pen, wrote a little with it and like it so far. Are they medium nibs? Its got a little M on the nib so I assume its medium. I think I'd prefer a fine one; are they exchangeable?

Yeah, the Lamy nibs are easily interchangeable. Yes, the little M means medium. Lamy nibs also run wider than other nibs (especially compared to Eastern nibs) so even the F nib will be fairly wide.

Thanks for the info! now, where can i buy replacements?

Brian Goulet of Goulet Pens Carries a wide range of lamy nibs

Thank you!! Someday I wish to have a collection as extensive as yours, those are some very nice pens you have.

Goulet and Jetpens are great.

(*sigh* ignore, server error)

(ignore this one too)

That collection looks nice, but I'll be honest, I don't understand the attraction of opaque pens. Why buy something so complex and well-made if you can't see all the nifty parts inside? Also, how can you check the ink level if light can't pass through the ink reservoir?

*shrug. To each their own. I started out really liking "demonstrator" pens. But there were some that would get stained by certain inks and so I switched to opaque ones. Sometimes the clear ones look a little "childish" (for lack of a better term) or something - it just didn't fit the environment I was in. But that's just me, personally.

I've been quite happy with my slate grey Prera. I don't think I'll get any more pens unless I magically have enough fundage for a VP Raden. I've hit the end of my road in buying fountain pens. I like the Prera too much.

I do like clear pens with piston fills though. That's awesome.

I only buy piston-fillers, or pens that can be converted to piston-fillers. Cartridge pens are boring.

I mentioned before that I'm an engineer; I guess that's why I like the clear ones, so I can see all the bits hiding inside. I don't really care if they fit with the environment, because they fit with me.

my bad. Environment wasn't the best word either. I guess it didn't fit the color scheme of the rest of my stationery.

I still do like clear ones, but I had gotten more picky over the design over time.

All three of the Pelikans have ink windows but because they were just filled with ink yesterday you cant see the window. The answer to your first question is just personal preference; some people love demonstrators some don't care for them. I just want pens that will fit my carrying habits and write well whether it' a demonstrator or an opaque pen. Speaking on a personal note I prefer my demonstrators to be vacuum filler, Ive used enough piston filler pens to get the gist of what happens. I find vacuum fillers more interesting and a clear reservoir on a vacuum filler helps in filling the pen completely.

Ok, I'm a total noob at this too. I flip my pens a lot when not writing (like this). Is that going to mess with a fountain pen?

I do it all the time out of habit. At most some ink may leak on the nib. Enough force and a few droplets might hit your neighbor.