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Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

by toymachine on 2/9/20, 2:10 PM with 110 comments

• by danShumway on 2/10/20, 2:14 AM

  If you currently use a ballpoint pen, switching to a rollerball will be a huge jump in quality to your writing experience. However, if you already use rollerballs, and you're looking at this and thinking you'd like to try it out, but you haven't ever tried a fountain pen, I would heavily advise giving one a shot. If you know you need a rollerball, then a stick with a rollerball. But don't dismiss a fountain pen out-of-hand -- the cheaper brands will be the same price as the pens listed here, and will be a big jump in quality for a nontrivial number of readers.

  In particular, I've used a Fine nib Twisbi Eco (~$30) for multiple years now as my main pen, and I consider it to be one of the better purchases I've ever made. It's cheap enough that I can throw it into a bag or my pocket alongside my keys without worrying too much about it getting scratched or stolen, but it still looks reasonably nice, writes beautifully, holds a ton of ink, and is just a joy to use. There are cheaper pens out there, but I really like having a piston-fill pen, and I think it's just a really good quality, versatile, fun line -- there are even a lot of different color options.

  I can describe mechanically why a fountain pen feels good, but I can't really convey how it feels. The best thing I can say is that it takes something that's very mundane (writing) and it makes it feel a tiny bit more pleasurable and 'extravagant' (for lack of a better word). I write a lot, I fill notebooks with handwritten notes. With a fountain pen, it just feels good to write. My handwriting has improved a lot, particularly my cursive -- I suspect in part because I pay more attention to what I'm writing. It's easy to take care of, but it feels good to occasionally wash it out and switch to a new ink color. It feels nice to use permanent things.

  I've seen a few people talking about avoiding fountain pen ink even in the rollerballs because they dissolve in water. On that note I will swear by Noodler's Black Waterproof ink. I've completely submerged and soaked pages that I wrote on with that ink, and not only does it not dissolve, it does not even smudge. It's really crazy. One of the really nice things about fountain pens is that there's such a wide variety of colors and styles and glitters, and it just adds to this feeling of making your handwriting feel more expressive and personal. It makes total sense to me that rollerball users would want to be able to use the same ink.

• by filleduchaos on 2/9/20, 6:33 PM

  As someone that still fills a notebook roughly every three months, these pens are actually pretty nifty. Most regular ballpoints aren't ergonomic at all (I don't know how to describe it, but they take way too much force to write with and that leads to hand cramps in a long writing session). Rollerballs are way easier on the hand, and I tipped over to buying refillable ones because someone introduced me to J. Herbin ink and now I hate writing with anything else.

  I'm still very much a pen noob though - I just like vivid ink and not having a cramp after half an hour of steady writing.

• by chrisseaton on 2/9/20, 5:20 PM

  I work in a job where I have to sign things with a fountain pen for etiquette reasons. I wonder if this will give the same effect as a fountain pen but be more practical.

• by thom on 2/9/20, 6:09 PM

  Yes! If there's one thing I always wanted out of good pens that don't leak or cause a mess, it's a way to make them leak and cause a lot of mess. Finally!

• by ThePhysicist on 2/9/20, 5:24 PM

  Nice, I was looking for something like this. I currently use a Lamy Al-Star with an ink converter (to use ink from a bottle instead of single-use cartridges). Really great for writing but sometimes I miss the speed and fluidity of a rollerball. Lamy also offer rollerball pens but only with single-use cartridges that are ridiculously overpriced (I think around 3 € for a single cartridge which might last a few weeks to months) compared to normal ink, which costs around 3-5 € for 30 ml and will last several years. My writing fills roughly one 100 page notebook per year, in addition I write down a lot of things on scrap paper as well.

• by raintrees on 2/10/20, 8:15 AM

  I went all the way to a fountain pen that I put a refillable cartridge into, currently a Cross silver beauty with Blue-Black ink from Japan - Gorgeous color.

  Originally I studied and trained as an Architect - A lettering sheet a week to practice my hand lettering skills.

  Rather than go into Architecture, I went into IT, eventually being a phone jockey providing tech support for half a decade. While trying to keep up (somewhat) with the conversation, my note taking speed meant my lettering quality went out the window.

  So I bought my first fountain pen to force myself to slow down and spend more time lettering better. If I forget, my ink stained hands serve as a reminder. :)

  I have only changed pens when I lose the previous (like once to the TSA along with a pocket knife, another time while using a shopping cart as a skateboard back to the market). Hopefully someone found that one and put it to use...

  Although I do not like fat pens, the cartridge style cannot get too thin, which also means they are more pleasant to hold in the hand. That turned out to be important to me if significant time is spent using it.

  Of course, YMMV.

• by randomcarbloke on 2/10/20, 2:16 PM

  I much prefer a ballpoint to rollerball or fountain, I grew up using a fountain pen and still have a couple of nice ones but they are just don't do it for me, rollerballs sacrifice the practicality of a ballpoint and the style of a fountain, why not just pick one or the other.

• by jonrx on 2/9/20, 6:48 PM

  I went a little overboard with fountain pen ink a few years back and stopped using fountain pens until recently. I'm left handed, but my wrist placement (underhanded) doesn't cause any problems with ink smear. I found that using them for notes and summaries "slows me down" and I process information better. YMMV.

  I use the Herbin ballpoint for quick notes and I really like it. For longer sessions, I'll whip up a Pilot Vanishing Point as I find that the added flex causes less fatigue. I also ordered Yookers felt tip pens that takes FP ink (https://yookers-shop.com/). I love the Sharpie pens, so if they feel the same, I might just hoard them and slowly empty my ink collection.

• by Pamar on 2/9/20, 6:49 PM

  There is also a small scale producer that is not listed in the article: Kakimori (Tokyo).

  https://kakimori.com/english

  I own one of their ink pens but I use it rarely so I can't say much about durability.

• by joecool1029 on 2/9/20, 11:40 PM

  I'm an ambidextrous and writing by hand tends to be a tedious experience for me. Where many in this thread are enthusiasts or writing professionals, I rather want to convey a more utilitarian mindset. My goals are to have people understand what I write and not be in pain. For whatever reason, ballpoint pens and I can't mix with legibility. I believe it's the pressure and dragging that kills it for me. Pencil is also not great when writing with my left (because it smudges, using a #2.5 pencil helps a bit, but then I'm using more pressure to get the lines dark).

  I found I could write much more legibly using a fountain pen, so I've been using them since 1st or 2nd grade. There's a ton of drawbacks to using fountain pens for everything daily. First, while rare, I'd still get leaks and ink on my hands. For instance, if I dropped the pen. Second, there's a bit of a maintenance burden on fountain pens, the nibs need to be cleaned from time to time. Finally, pretty much all of these inks will wash out if the paper gets wet, so it's super bad for legal documents. I like the Pilot Metropolitan fountain pens as they strike the right balance of affordability and quality. The Fine nib for me (correlates to EF from American/European companies) seems to be the sweet spot, Medium feels imprecise for me. Noodler ink seems great, I was previously using Schaeffer ink and it was just ok.

  The latest pens I've come enjoy using are Pilot's Frixxion line. I grabbed on a whim awhile back and feel like every student of mathematics should know of these pens. They are a gel pen with fine point options but they can be 'erased' by rubbing a plastic nub on the back against paper. This heats up the paper and causes the ink to disappear. The effect can be reversed by throwing the paper in the freezer if erasure was unintended (or if a notebook was left in an extremely hot cat). I wish I had known about these pens when I was in school. Gel-type pens seem a bit more practical than fountain for daily carry or occasional use, not as good as a fountain but the ink seems to flow better than ballpoint and the tips don't get messed up like a felt pen.

  EDIT: More on topic though, I have tried rollerball pens and did not like them. They seemed even less precise than ballpoints for me and skipped more. Terrible writing experience all around, would not do again.

• by throw0101a on 2/9/20, 10:40 PM

  Accompanying video with some writing samples:

  * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lBPfSTC_p8

• by odiroot on 2/9/20, 6:27 PM

  Hah! I use exactly the same model as pictured. It's just so pleasant to write with. And even works for lefties like me.

• by ryanobjc on 2/9/20, 6:35 PM

  I guess I don’t quite get it. The inks are the least good thing about fountain pens - the ink drys slow and often doesn’t well on cheap paper.

  I personally love fountain pens. The style, the tech, the aesthetic, everything. So this to me seems like a step back - and the writing end breaks every 20-30 fills!

• by ianai on 2/9/20, 9:33 PM

  OT but on topic of choosing writing instruments. My personal go to are the pilot G2 rollerball gel ink pens - preferably 1 mm tip. They feel very smooth. Look more authoritative somehow too. Can be bought by he dozen.

• by itronitron on 2/9/20, 9:12 PM

  If anyone knows of a 1mm rollerball that can handle acrylic (pigment-based) ink please post it here. While Molotow has several nice pen nibs they are plastic and wear out sooner than I would like.

• by ittan on 2/10/20, 5:23 AM

  I use a western broad for most of my writing. I would also recommend Lamy Safari as a good beginners pen because of its ease of use and wide variety of nib choices.

• by m0zg on 2/10/20, 5:24 AM

  You can take my Uni-Ball UB-157 from my cold, dead hands.

• by crtlaltdel on 2/10/20, 12:19 AM

  this thread represents the reasons i love HN. i totally learned a lot from this!

• by SlowRobotAhead on 2/9/20, 5:22 PM

  Am I missing the point here?

  >You might be wondering, why is this a question?

  Why yes, exactly my thought, please tell me...

  >If you check out Unsharpen’s Ink Types Guide, you’ll see that while rollerball ink is great, fountain pen ink is quite special.

  Oh, ok, so I'll follow that link, and...

  >It is, of course, the ink used in fountain pens, but it takes thousands of forms. The ink can be in a bottle or cartridge, it can be iron gall or water-based, it can be handmade or produced by the vat, it can be lubricated, fluorescent, quick-drying, or any number of other qualities. [...] Fountain pen inks are a looser, more watery consistency compared to all other pen inks. This means they are free-flowing and prone to splashing, forming droplets, and doing other things that have been known to ruin countless shirts.

  Ok... So if I an to recap... The only real reason to use a ball pen with fountain ink is so I can refill it with whatever ink I like? OK, HN, I have some particular interests as well, but this is about the article of least importance I've ever seen on here.

  It's as if all my other problems in life have been solved and I can be a pen/ink hipster? Maybe for someone, but I guess I'm just not there yet!