Fountain pens

[ChristopherB]

Was rather surprised not to find a thread on this topic. Basically, I'm just after a decent fountain pen to handwrite characters. Right now I'm using an ink-based pen that has a width of about 0.4mm, but it's not the greatest quality and turns out quite thick lines.

What pens do you guys use to write? What thickness do you prefer, especially when it comes writing complex characters like 邊 that can be hard to fit on a line? Any recommendations would be appreciated.

[anonymoose]

I use a pencil. Characters always come out looking better with a pencil.

[skylee]

Personally I like thin strokes, and my favourite pens are Zebra Sharbo gel ink ball point pens (with mechanical pencil; I have several of them and have used them for years and I absolutely love them). But I don't think pens/pencils matter much. And 邊 is not really that hard to write. If you practise a lot, and preferably also practise with ink brushes, your handwriting will improve.

Talking about pens, I recall walking past a smart looking pen shop in Florence a few months ago. At its window there was a very handsome/elegant pen. Behind it was a photo showing President Obama signing something using it. I guess it is a good pen. It costs 8000 euros. (PS - I've just searched and it seems that it was a Visconti G8 limited edition pen).

When I saw the title of the topic all Chinese terms for fountain pens rushed to my mind : 鋼筆, 墨水筆 and even 自來水筆.

A clearer photo of my favourite pen -> http://www.flickr.com/photos/70603712@N00/3489379822

[xiaocai]

Pilot Hi-Tec-C. It is cheap, comes in various colours and at least four different thickness, and the most importantly, the rollerball tip is very smooth and the ink flows fluidly on most paper types. Personally I'd recommend 0.4mm for writing Chinese, 0.3mm is fine as well if you prefer writing in smaller fonts. There are also 0.5mm and 0.25mm Hi-Tec-C available but I rarely use them.

[gerri]

Pilot Hi-Tec-C. Maybe we should make a poll ;-)

I have fountain pens from Pelikan, Lamy and Caran D'Ache and find that they all don't work well on some strokes.

Lamy's gel ink pen is too thick and doesn't work well if the paper isn't good; Caran D'Ache has long been tempted me for they offer a fineliner filling for their gel pen - that would be the same classy design as the fountain pen - but also the price of a few hundred of the Pilot pens...

[English Erik]

When in doubt you can't really go wrong with parker (派克), dangdang.com has a wide selection and are much cheaper than highstreet prices, plus they deliver to your door. man I should be in sales!

[Hofmann]

I have a white Pelikan M100 reviewed here. Mine has an extra fine (EF) point and writes like a .3mm pencil graphite. I also have a Pelikan M600 reviewed here (but mine is black, with an 18K nib) with a fine (F) point, which writes like a .5mm pencil graphite. Actually I have two of them but I'm going to sell one. Anyone want one?

[ChristopherB]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'm having a look at the Pelikan and Pilot ones mentioned. I'm mainly just after a good, solid, everyday pen.

Just out of curiosity, what stroke widths do you prefer? Right now I'm using a 0.3mm, which seems good for writing complex traditional characters with 22 or more strokes on basic 7mm lined refill paper.

[anonymoose]

If I write in pen, then I usually use 0.5mm. I write simplified, so 0.5mm is suitable for most characters except the likes of 赢, 羹 and so on.

[周易Joey]

I like the MG Gel-up 0.7, I think Chinese looks better thicker, even for the more complex characters.

[Yang Rui]

I'm another Pilot Hi-tec C fan. I like the 0.5mm. A lot of people tend to favour the 0.4mm, but I find the 0.5 provides a nice balance of smoothness and fineness. The thinner the point, the scratchier the pen will be.

In general, I think Japanese gel pens are best for writing Chinese characters. I've tried fountain pens, but unless you have a quite well-practiced, open type of handwriting, they usually seem too thick. Certainly for a beginner who is not into cursive script, I would have thought that a gel pen would be ideal.

If you want more pen reviews, there are a lot at www.penaddict.com.

[Hofmann]

I don't think you really need anything finer than .5mm. If you run out of vertical space, write vertically. That could be my new mantra.

Write vertically and your handwriting will not suck...as much.

[ChristopherB]

That's actually a very good idea, Hofmann! Is it still common for Chinese to write vertically?

I would need a 0.4 at most. 繼 is just impossible to write with a thicker pen, the four reduplicated components just look like messy scribbles.

Edited January 24, 2010 at 10:24 PM by ChristopherB

[Hofmann]

繼 is just impossible to write with a thicker pen, the four reduplicated components just look like messy scribbles.

Turn the bottom two 幺 into 儿 (with no hook). It's legal.