I didn’t see anything on the sidebar where this is not allowed. BUT, if it isn’t, please accept my sincerest apologies, and feel free to remove the post (or let me know, and I’ll remove it).

A little backstory:

Ever since a quill that I happened to use (without permission, might I add) at a friend’s grandfather’s house oh so many moons ago, my fascination with pens began. Up until then, all I’ve used were pencils, markers, crayons, and a couple cheap ballpoint pens.

Over the many years, I have gone from pen to pen, never really finding “that pen feel” I’ve craved since that single-digit age. Now, I understand that quills write very differently to ballpoints, and even differently to many nibs. However, price has always been an object for me, regrettably, limiting my choices, forcing me to stay on the ‘budget’ side of things.

The closest I’ve found to that feel was a 0.8mm Micron felt-tipped pen. However, it wasn’t close enough for me to stay with it, so the search continues.

(The feel: smooth, light, almost effortless glide on the page, while still feeling the tactility of the page with each stroke. The resulting line is smooth, but crisp.)

Recently (past couple years), I’ve been thinking more and more about that quill, and started searching for it again, to no avail. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if his grandfather had it custom made.

I would ask the friend or grandfather, but the grandfather has long passed, and the friend has disappeared shortly after uni (he always talked about going full hermit… I guess he did).

Yesterday, as I was aimlessly scrolling Lemmy, after, what seemed like the billionth time searching for that quill, I came across this community, filled with people searching for their illusive perfect pen; my people.

The ask

As before, price is an object (again, regrettably). Are there recommendations for budget fountain pens or quills with a few must-haves?

Must-Haves

1. non-scratchy nib
2. 0.5-0.7mm line is preferred, but no more than 0.8mm
3. it can use ink cartridges, but it needs to also handle other inks from bottles (pumps or wells, I think it’s called)
4. budget, so within the 5-10€ range (I know this might be the biggest ask here)

The original quill that started it all

The shaft looked like a thick feather, with the feathery bits removed. I don’t think it was an actual feather, though, as it was much thicker than any I’ve ever felt. The shaft held the ink, which was added by unscrewing the nib and pouring the ink in (or, as he did it, using a pipette), then screwing the nib back on. The nib was ornate; etched gold on the outside, smooth silver on the inside, split down the middle, with a small hole halfway down the split.

A preemptive thank you to everyone, for reading and considering this post.

Edit: added the last section about the original quill