In an effort to keep my penmanship from deteriorating further, I purchased a fountain pen and have been using it for a little more than a week.  I went with a fairly decent starter pen, the Lamy Safari, with a F (fine) sized nib.  In the spirit of writing by hand, I even wrote down part of my review.

For those who can’t read my writing, it says:

This is my first fountain pen that I use on a regular basis. The F nib is more of a medium than fine. It came with Lamy blue ink that I did not care for, so I put some Noodler’s Ink Bulletproof Black into a converter and now it’s much better.

It writes wet & smooth on this paper and never skips.  There is some nib creep with this ink but no drips & no mess.  It starts immediately and doesn’t clog the nib. Drying time on paper is okay, but not super fast.

One reason I chose this pen was because unless you’re looking directly at it, it just looks like a normal pen.  It’s utilitarian. I don’t feel like I’m writing with a gigantic quill dipped in an ink pot when I’m holding this.

Another reason is the price. Sure, $25 is a lot to pay for a pen when you think about an every day, normal pen, but it’s much cheaper than a lot of other fountain pens out there. And based on the reviews, it writes almost just as well.

I like the fact that the pen’s section (where you normally would grip the pen) is indented to be ergonomic for my fingers. This works for me since I have a standard pen grip, but I imagine it would be uncomfortable for anyone who holds their pen differently.

I’ve read that some people feel the pen is too heavy while posted (with the cap on the back), but the balance feels just right in my hand. Maybe all the years of mouse maneuvering has strengthened my hand muscles, who knows.  I do think most of the weight of the cap comes from the metal clip on the pen. It’s substantial and solid feeling. I can rest easy knowing that whenever I clip this pen on something, like the pocket of my messenger bag, it stays clipped.

One other useful feature of the pen is the ink window on the body of the pen.  I’m not sure if it’s possible to see the ink level with the included cartridge installed, but with the converter, which is clear, it’s easy to see the ink swishing around there and I can tell when it’s time to refill it with more ink.

A little nib creep with Noodler’s Ink, but good thing the nib is also black.

The Lamy Safari is such a pleasant pen to hold and write with that I’m sorry I didn’t look at it sooner.  Maybe my journal would have been filled with many more pages if I had gotten this sooner.