I began collecting ‘serious’ fountain pens in 1995, starting with a brown lacquer Parker 75 with a medium Italic nib. Very soon I progressed to the Duofold range, which was immediately attractive to me because of its traditional design (harking back to the Duofolds of the early 1920s), beautiful acrylic models, and most importantly the wide range of Italic nibs — a real bonus to Italic handwriting enthusiasts.
The Duofold was never the best writer, however: inkflow was always on the dry side, and the capacity of the piston convertor (bottom right in picture) was quite limited. However, to a certain extent I got round the first problem by widening the channel in the feed (top right) using a box cutter — not for the faint of heart! Still, my Duofolds never wrote as effortlessly as my Lamys and Pelikans: big-capacity German piston-fillers which lay a very wet line, perfect for rapid everyday Italic handwriting.
Well, I believe we share the same interest. I love and learned calligraphy when I was a school kid, and fountain pen collection is my hobby as well. Not all of them from “Parker” family, as long as it functions smoothly. Haha, Cool!
ReplyDeleteI never had to widen the feed channel(s). Instead, widening the nib slit and cleaning the feed channels was more than enough. But if it worked for you, that's great!
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