The workhorse fountain pen

After mild dabblings in buying a luxury fountain pen or two, I quickly found that those do not fit what I need from a pen. I need a reliable, relatively cheap, easy to replace workhorse pen that I can carry with me.

For me, that always-on workhorse pen is the Lamy Safari with an F nib, in the color Umbra.

Why that one?

They always write. Immediately and cleanly. Quite fundamental, no? Still, I have used Twsbi, Diplomat, Pelikan fountain pens that I never got to consistently clear that lowest of barriers.

I strongly prefer the umbra color ones. Not for the aesthetics, but because this is one of the few (only) colors that result in an ever so slightly grainy surface on the pen body. A much more comfortable and pleasant feel than the smooth and shiny red, yellow, black, etc. ones.

After a few occasions of black stains in weird places I found a small leather sleeve in the second-hand store. It fits two pens and an extra cartridge. I carry two so that I don’t have to switch out a cartridge before I can continue, just grab the other pen.

Writing and drawing

My left-handed grip is high: thumb on the sealing ring between barrel and section, index finger resting in the half-round ending of a flat part of the section. Uncapped of course because why add ballast.

Easily replacable nibs is a handy feature. I mostly use F-nibs, but have one with a broader nib for that chunkier line that I need in some specific cases. The black nibs look better in my opinion. The nibs have only neglible flex, so no line width variation available. Not a bad thing at all, just a defining characteristic. You can always rotate the pen, with the feed instead of the nib on top to produce a thinner line.

It’s quite good to draw with as well. Not only because it always works right from the start. It also keeps up. Long and fast strokes still produce even and uninterrupted lines on the paper. All that in any direction as well. Draw some big loops, fast, and it keeps up.

So, mostly cured of the fiddling with and spending on. The Appelboom story is only a short bike ride away from where I live. A trip every two years or so to buy a hundred black ink cartridges and I’m good.