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Some EFs are just not that F. So I got something thinner, a Franklin-Christoph Needlepoint, which I believe they grind down from a Jowo. Thing is way scratchy buy hey, it's thin.

Well done video, sir! I mainly use Japanese Fine-Mediums (Pilot Custom Heritage 912 soft-FM, CH92 hard-FM, and Sailor Profit Jr MF), as well as Western fines (Lamy Safari F and Twisbi Eco Jowo #5 F), as the 0.4-0.5 size is perfect for me. I also have a Platinum Century with the 14K Fine nib, which is super satisfying to write with, but it’s a bit finer than what I need from a nib. I recommend that anyone who wants to try out an extra fine nib with pencil-like feedback give the Platinum Preppy 02 Extra Fine a go. It’s an absolutely superb writer for how affordable it is. I also snagged a Lamy Safari with an extra fine black coated nib for peanuts, and it writes superbly.

Which is the smoothest?

I travel with AT LEAST three to five fountain pens, a full color set of Bic Gelocitys, one notebook, and one book in pretty much any given situation. In addition to all of that, I carry two or three cheap-o pens that I don't care about in order to loan to others (because let's face it... We would be devastated if we loaned out a good fountain pen that the borrower never ended up giving back) and one fairly inexpensive pen that I let others use so that they can see how a fountain pen feels/writes if they're curious. I love gifting fountain pens to people who seem genuinely interested in wanting to try them out. And yes, Jinhaos are a great choice for gifting to beginners... much better than Preppy or Varsity in my personal opinion.

OMG all the Asvines and then the one "odd man out" Pelikan all by himself over there 🤣

So, oddly enough, I was at a yard sale with my dad when I was 15, and out of all the things that caught my eye, it was a calligraphy set that had 1 pen, 3 nibs, 5 cartridges of ink, practice paper, and a manual. I begged my dad to get it for me and, you guessed it, he did. I studied the manual, loaded my ink, and was actually doing calligraphy by the very next day. I'm convinced I must have done it in a past life because there's no other thing that explains how I picked up the art of calligraphy so quickly. I was the only 15 year old that I knew who could do so, much less, I couldn't find any adults that did it either until a few years later in art class, calligraphy was our module for that month. When I told the teacher I already knew how to do it, she asked me to show her. When she saw I actually could do it, she gave me Carte Blanche to turn in whatever form of art projects I wanted to do that month instead of having me turn in assignments on something I could already do. lol it was so awesome. Fast forward to just a few years later when I was out of high school, I went to Hobby Lobby and found a standard fountain pen set, and of course I was hooked again, because I love pens in general, but there's honestly just nothing in this world that beats pen on paper, especially when that pen is a fountain pen which drove me even further down the rabbit hole of the Penverse. Let's be honest.. although this can be a very expensive addiction.. erm, I mean hobby.. at least it's at the top of the healthy end of the spectrum rather than the unhealthy ones. 😉🫶🏻

There are times for a Medium and times when only an EF will do. A Medium shows off our beautiful ink, but I tend to use EF in business writing. I just used a stub in all my Christmas correspondence. A time and a place for everything.

Great list! The Sheaffer 100 Coffee Edition is also one my favorites from 2024. I absolutely love that pen. Other pens on my list for this year are the Visconti Homo Sapiens Bronze Age, Pilot Custom 912, TWSBI Eco special edition Year of the Dragon Maki-E from Bungubox, and Conway Stewart Churchill Heritage “Meeting Jaw to Jaw Is Better Than War.”

I love the look of Syo-Ro and it's on my short list of next purchases. Great list and it's good to see a somewhat unconventional color make it to the top of your list. I too like teals and turquoise inks and have been enjoying Diamine Eau de Nil and Troublemaker Opon Channel Blue a lot this year. Other ones that have been used frequently have been Diamine Ancient Copper, Deep Magenta, Meadow and Aqua Lagoon. Can't beat a large order from Cult Pens with their cheap prices on Diamine inks! I'm glad I found your channel and look forward to more videos.

I’m a huge fan of EF because I write small. I have a Lamy 2000 F and needed to have it ground down to an ef. I even had my Sailor KoP adjusted to a finish size. May even go thinner, but haven’t decided.

Some cool stuff for new comers. TY. I gravitate towards m nibs as they start showing shading properly. For that's one of the reasons to love fountain pens😊

Nice video

Pilot Iroshizuku Yu Yake, a terrific orange ink whose name sounds much like my own; Diamine Writer's Blood, which, depending on nib and paper, can be dark red to maroon, or brown, or even purple. It had been a favorite for some time. I was given a big bottle of the stuff at the Chicago pen show earlier this year. Having fractured my skull a few weeks earlier, my face was all the colors the ink becomes. I am not making this up. Also blue, purple, green...Noodler's Inks Bay State Blue, the ink we love to hate. Consistent, reliable, intense, but does not play well with other inks. I love the stuff, and have kept it in my edc for years with no trouble at all. Monteverde Valentine red. True red, not pinkish, not orangish, just red. Waterman Serenity Blue, well-behaved, safe. Diamine Ancient Copper. That's enough. There are more, lots more, but it's enough.

Nice, comprehensive comparison! Thanks. You discuss the differences among papers and EF nibs from different pen makers, but what influence does ink have on line width? Some inks are described as "dry", oxymoronic as it seems. Nathan Tardif made some inks formulated to dry quickly and named them for a Federal official, whom he pictured as a horned animal on the label. Haters condemned Nathan as a Jew-hater, though that was far too excessive a leap, as well as untrue and insupportable, imo. But back to the subject, what do you think about ink and its influence on line width?

I’m new to fountain pens. But I like the ef nib in my lamy safari’s. I also got a medium steel nib for the safari. Think I’m gonna use that one to start my journal. Awesome video. It was neat to see all the different nib brands.The ef nibs do skip some in my field notes note book. But that might be me being new to writing with them. Have a good evening.

loved mine until the black paint started scratching up on the body, now it looks terrible and has retired into the bottom drawer.

love it

I got the Sheaffer 100 Coffee for my birthday! The brown PVD is very pretty.

Enjoyed this video a lot

Very nice video

I'm definitely going for the blue, only maybe on the others. Thanks for a well done preview!

Thanks for sharing the whole inkvent journey, seeing this world of inks was pretty cool!

Diamine Oxford Blue featured prominently this year for me.. Iroshizuku shin ryoku and tsutsuji were new favs since I picked em up at the CApen show. Cool picks, thanks.

Love this vid. Blues always delight.. syon gyo looks great too..

Awesome, thank you!

I've been loving my bottle of Syun-Gyo but I've really been eyeing that To-Ro. I love the inspiration behind it.

U mnie zaczęło się podobnie. Wiosną 2021 przypadkowo wpadło mi w ręce stare, tanie pióro mojego syna i dla zabawy zacząłem nim pisać. Niestety pisało się nim fatalnie, bo było to jedno z tych jedno-dolarowych piór z Aliexpress. Ale przypomniało mi się, że gdzieś w szufladzie powinny być moje stare szkolne pióra, którymi pisałem w latach '80. Poszukałem i znalazłem Pelikana Pelikano P450 Modell 5 Blue... To pióro było bardzo zużyte ale pisało jak marzenie, gładko jak po maśle nawet na zwykłym papierze do drukarki laserowej. No i wsiąkłem, znalazłem jeszcze jedno moje stare pióro - Wing Sung 202 (chińskie z lat '70/80 ale świetnie piszące) i kupiłem nowego Watermana Hemisphere, a później już poszło, kolejne pióra, atramenty, notatniki z dobrym papierem etc.

Really like the cranberry. A lot of good colors.

I really like this one. Gonna have to find it

I will absolutely buy the syun-gyu. It is beautiful!

This is the best video I've seen on these inks. Thank you so much.

I got this advent calendar this year as well. It definitely had some great colors.

Those are some great inks! My favorite ink this year is Diamine Ancient Copper. I am always in the search for a perfect sepia ink! If you have any recommendations please let me know.

I started in the second grade when the class was being taught to write cursive,1957. i just bought another pen this morning!

Great vid! I agree with everything, including the honorable mentions. The Lamy Studio and Pilot Heritage are 5-Star pens. Like you, I gravitated toward Opus in 2024 but did not pull the trigger on them. Glad you enjoyed them.

I decided to celebrate 20 years of teaching back in 2012 by buying a fountain pen. It was a Parker with a steel nib. I have been using Leonardo fountain pens lately, and they are very comfortable. My students receive fountain pens near the end of the year when they meet my cursive handwriting expectations and learn the specific parts of a fountain pen.

These look really nice!!

A very inspiring story, thank you! My 1st was Charcoal Lamy Safari ef 😊 rests, waiting for its turn )

Really nice green. Will have to look for that one.

nice inks. I have a few Iroshizuku inks and might pick the swan gym in the new year. thanks for sharing 🙂

I thought it was interesting you began printing in your journal. I was a draftsman for over almost 20 years and began my journal by printing. I had almost forgotten how to write in cursive. I started mostly writing in cursive to remember how. I haven't printed in my journal in a while. My handwriting doesn't look like it was done by an epileptic ferret anymore.

I really like those new inks. I will likely purchase toro and rikka. Thanks for sharing!

All nice colors. But the to-ro is my favorite.

Really like that color.

Great selection :) I appreciated the sound effects and background music. My favourite ink of 2024: Wearingeul Frankenstein. Most used ink of 2024: Private reserve DC supershow blue or Colorverse supernova.

I write webnovels, so one day a fan commented on my writers block that I should start writing on paper, it will be more enjoyable and could take the distractions away as you are not looking at a screen with some kinds of notifications all the time. I started writing with a G2 and got tired of changing the refill every few days. Just then I saw an advertisement of a fountain pen in facebook. I bought the pen. It's a Hongdian 1861 Pro. Chinese pen. I bought one bottle of pilot black ink along with it. Soon more and more advertisement and group posts started to come in my facebook wall. Now I have over 100 pens and about 60 bottle of inks.

I know that’s right 😂!!! I do the same thing. They know better than to even ask to write with any of my fountain pens. Years ago a coworker asked to use my pen. Why did I assume she knew what she was doing? OMG! She started handling my pen like a maniac. I liked to have passed out!!! I grabbed my pen from her so fast!!! Never ever again. Coworkers get the crappy pens 😂😂😂😂

really nice video and memories 🙂 I'm of an age that here in the UK we used fountain pens (a standard plastic model) in junior school - so from the age of around 5 or 6 I was using fountain pens. Then that stopped and we had standard school issue biros. Before I did my A'levels at 18 I decided to get a fountain pen and take a bottle of ink rather than having loads of spare pens in the exam room. And that pen was... a Waterman! It was a rolled silver model called a Torsade. I still have and use it now although I have over 30 pens! Throughout my work career I always used a fountain pen which got me some strange looks, especially if there had been an ink-related accident!!

After lengthy consideration and distraction I finally ordered the L2k in makrolon yesterday. I have owned some "inspired by" aka fake L2k pens that are actually pretty good. A shootout may be in my future. Show up at a pen club meeting and see what happens....