You are correct about pigmented inks causing problems with fountain pens because the pigment particles would settle out an clog the passageways, but some of the modern ink manufacturers have gotten around that by making the pigment particles much smaller than was historically possible. The particles are so small that they don't settle out because they are constantly buffeted by the water molecules. I have not used them, but it seems they work quite well.

Fountain pens are the king of writing instruments! I love them and use them everyday. Glass pens are fun to use as well.

I love all these writing instruments and have used all of them. I still use quills, metal and glass dip pens, and fountain pens, which are my favorite. I own a bunch of fountain pens, including a few that cost more than I ever thought I'd pay for a pen. But you don't have to stick to dye-based inks. Pigmented inks work just fine, and won't clog your pen, assuming you don't leave the ink in the pen for a year. Even if they do clog your pen through lack of use, it's pretty easy to clean one out. The inks you have to avoid are acrylic inks, and shellac inks, such as waterproof India Ink. Shimmer ink has a ton of pretty large particulates in it, and it works fine in fountain pens, so there's no reason pigmented inks won't work. India Ink with no shellac in it is really just a carbon ink and can be used in fountain pens. A number of companies make carbon ink for fountain pens, as well as other types of pigmented ink. You do have to be careful, but I haven't found any companies that mislabel ink. If it says it's for fountain pens, then you can use it in your fountain pen. But for those who want to try fountain pens, be carfe, it's a very deep rabbit hole. I've owned hundreds of fountain pens opver the year, and still own around fifty. Some cost many hundreds of dollars. A handful cost a LOT more. I am far from rich, but somehow I still manage to find money for ridiculously expensive fountrain pens because, well, they're fountain pens and I love them. The expense just kind of sneaks up on you. Once upon a time, before I got as old as the moon, I earned a living as a writer. For twenty years I averaged writing somewhere around seven to eight hours per day using a fountain pen. Or more. Many days went to twelve or fourteen hours. Even though I'm long sinece "retired", I still write at least five hours per day with a fountain pen, and usually three or four hours with a dip pen of some kind. You'd think I'd be sick of fountain pens, but I love them more than ever. And ink? I gave away two hundred bottles of ink not very long ago, which was half my collection. I'm back up to akmost three hundred. I use a LOT of ink, around four hundred Ml per year, but at my age I won't live long enough to use more than half of what I have, and even that is unlikely. But it's ink. It's a rabbit hole, and the deeper you go, the deeper it gets, and side tunnels start popping up all over the place. It's the old joke come true. My biggest fear is that when I die my wife will sell all my pens for what I told her I paid for them.

I love fountain pens!

In June 2015, made and shape a _sort of_ reed dip pen, and it work quite well. In the last 2 years or so I started _"collecting"_ fountain pens - mainly *Lamy Safari.* It all started way back in the Ye olden day _(1995)_ when I brought my first two _(bladder reservoir system)_ it perished over time! Now my preferred system is the converter!

Big fan of the Goulet Pen Company, especially Brian Goulet.

Two months in the fountain pen collecting and I have more than twenty pens. It reminds me of when I started painting a long time ago ( 🤔 i should start again ), i had so many brushes. Thanks for the history lesson. I read the his of plumbing and toilets. That was interesting. Thanx again and have a happy 2023. ✌️

I have loved fountain pens for decades. In retirement I have gotten into cutting quills, and do workshops for children, Garden Clubs, and my local Museum. And I, too, am an inkaholic.

Loved this video, just got myself a pretty cheap drip pen for drawing and for whatever reason I got curious about its history.

Very cool video. I came here after seeing how incredibly hard it was to whittle a quill or reed pen and started down a mental rabbit hole of how much it took to have all the materials just to start writing. Not to mention the learning process. Man. Really makes you think a lot harder about recorded history.

She needs more subs!

Well done! Thank you! I've always loved writing instruments, went through undergrad using a Cross pen and pencil set, then in graduate school, started using Rapidograph pens and eventually the line of Rotring. When I'm not lazy, I use my Rotring fountain pens. But the roller balls are seductive for lazy folk such as myself!

I loved this video, thank you! It would be so cool if you made that video on only fountain pens!

Proud user of a Lamy Vista here

Ha, as someone who loves writing with a fountain pen as well, I had a chuckle when I discovered my distaste for roller ball pens is mutual. Enjoyed this love letter to traditional writing instruments :) Keep up the good work!

The yt algorithm brought me here and I have no regrets.

There are a few things you mention there that are not quite correct. First, you do not have to disassembled and clean the fountain pen EVERY TIME you refill them. Indeed, if you use a good dye based ink and you do not change the color, you can clean them extremely infrequently. I use my Parker vector pens only with dye based inks, I have had them for twenty years, and I have clean them maybe three times (when changing color). They still write fine. I do recommend to clean them when you change inks (both if it is brands even if in the same general color, or to a different color even if the same brand). Second, it is incorrect that you HAVE TO use only dye based inks. Some of the most popular brands of ink are primarily pigmented based, like Noodler's, Diamine, and my favorite ink for writing, Pilot Carbon. Now, and returning to the first point, yes, if you use pigmented inks you should clean the pen more often. But in my experience (again, as long as you keep using the same type of ink), once every three or four months is enough, even when vendors and manufacturers suggest once every two to four weeks. The problem is that the pigment particles do accumulate in the feed and nib, and they might clog your pen. But they are water soluble. Usually one hour soaking in water should do the trick. If it is still clogged, you can take a small water pump (think of those people use to extract buggers from baby noses), and use it to pass water through the feed and nib with a little pressure (little, you don't want the nib and feeder to come off). I have never seen a pen that cannot be unclogged with this methods, if it was used with pigmented based fountain pen inks. What you should NEVER DO, is to use calligraphy ink, India ink (also known as Chinese ink in some languages), or something similar. Those tend to be based on shellac or acrylic based. Both are resins, and thus, not water soluble. They bind to the feed and nib and you will never get them out. Besides, acrylic ink is somewhat acidic, and it will corrode every metal part (nib included) that gets in contact with the ink. Third, I do not use dip pens as often as I used fountain pens, but I do from time to time, and I find that it is you DO HAVE to give them some maintenance, besides simply "wiping the remaining ink off." As before, calligraphy inks tend to be shellac based (sometimes acrylic based), and they might accumulate in the nib, making it not to function correctly. The difference, and probably the reason most people don't, is because when fountain pen nib replacement usually run somewhere in the $5 range for inexpensive steel nibs, and can get to the $500 range for the most expensive gold nibs, and they are tricky to switch without damaging the pen, dip pen nibs, if you know where to buy them, cost $10 a package of 100 brass or copper ones, or 30 stainless steel, (so, somewhere in the 10 to 35 cents range per unit) and are trivial to switch. So, sometimes they are not worth the hassle. My father was an avid fountain pen collector (unfortunately his entire collection got "lost" when he passed), and I inherited the bug. I have been using fountain pens since the 1980's. People who know me, my fondness for fountain pens and particularly for inks, but maybe don't know much about fountain pens themselves, have gifted me through the years some calligraphy inks. So, some time ago I have started experimenting with calligraphy dip pens. So, you mentioned things I do know a bit about.

dip pens .... i have ordered one now with feather ... to reseemble i am writting with quill

Great video but the swaying graphics make me seasick, lol. Did you give a date for the invention of the fountain pen? Or did I miss it? Thanks.

Where are the gel ink ballpoint pens, rollerball ink pens, felt tip pens, fine-liner pens, technical wire pens, brush pens etc.?

Great informative video. However unfortunately couldn't watch the video because I was getting motion sickness from the images swaying back and forth.

UMM Hi I AM NEW HERE

The constant muving of the image made me dizzy and distract me. I don't know what is the purpose of it but was very disturbing.

You forgot about rollerball and gell pens

I like the video but please never do the sway in any other video it ruins your hard effort you put in

The moving images are annoying, couldn’t go further than 2 minutes, just made me dizzy. Your content sounds interesting but it’s of no use if unwatchable.

there's a lot of facts about quill pens you left out like only certain bird feathers can be used and back then it took weeks to make one cause you have to let them dry out in the sun. for someone who studied your leaving out a bunch of details.