Like I mentioned a few posts back I recently purchased from the powers of eBay for £5.45 a 3 pen set of standardgraph stano pen which was a German made set made in 1972 for technical drawing.
Standardgraph is still available but is more common as stano•professional in its newer designed pen body.
They, like every other technical pen are very easy to fill and use and the upside to these types of pens is that, if looked after correctly you never need to buy another one again. You can for newer models atleast purchase replacement parts for a fraction of the cost. And in many cases parts are interchangeable. So for instance if you bust the lid or handle you can get replacements quite easily or use another brand to substitute.
The main brands which are easily available are faber castell, rotring and steadtler. There are others but those three are the easiest to find.
You can purchase student sets and kits which come with various nib sizes but they can be costly. I'd always suggest if your interested in trying these types of pens out to begin with 0.35 or 0.25 nib. They're very fine and more durable to start off with. Starting off with a smaller nib can be temperamental to use and a larger nib can flood ink leaving your paper blotchy. A mid sized nib such as a 0.35 gives you that fine line your looking for and won't be as frustrating to start off with.
With all technical pens there are certain rules to follow. Failing that would result in your pen getting wrecked.
1. The nib is a fine metal wire which moves back into the holder and allows ink to flow to the paper. Bashing it about on paper will eventually bend or snap this wire and when that happens you need to give up and purchase a new pen body.
2. Since the nib is a fine metal wire. It will grab and snag on the fine fibres of paper which eventually gum up the nib and it starts to jump on the page. You literally have to draw scratchoff lines on a spare piece of paper to regain the ink flow after pinching out the fibres with your fingers. This is why you often see people like me with loads of black lines over their fingers, thumbs and fingertips because we've pinched out the gummy mess
3. Using better quality fine paper is better for these pens because the fibres don't fly about and gum up the nib. Remember these were designed for technical drawing so tracing paper, super smooth graphic papers and such is best.
4. Never over tighten the handle or lids you will snap the threads and the plastic will crack and you need to then replace those parts. Rotring was chronic for this and it became useless to use after the handle snapped
5. You can't hold the pen as close to the nib as other pens as your fingers will end up coated in ink. You have to hold it by the handle to prevent this or just deal with stained fingers
6. You must use drawing inks which are designed for these pens. And try using the best you can afford. I'd opt for rotring inks every time as faber castell ink dries down horribly inside an unused pen and then it becomes a nightmare to clean for reuse.
I'll no doubt make another post at some point for how to clean these pens for reuse. Especially if you purchase one from eBay or find a secondhand set from students or even charity shops.
No doubt by now you will be bored to death reading all this so down below ill post photographs of the pens, filling the ink chamber and assembly. And some doodles of the pens structure
