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Lewis Cooper

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I've bought an Ackerman classic pump pen.  It came with three nibs.  The cost, if you're interested, was £45 and change.  A big chunk of this was postage from the USA, it took about 5 days to arrive. First impressions...the leaflet said it takes a while to get the ink to flow.  And it did, I was thinking 'I hope it won't be like this every time I use it.'  Here's some scribbles I made...I don't normally show stuff like this... Top left you'll see me trying to get the ink flowing...shaking pen...and pressing the pump.  For brief moments I was thinking I shouldn't have bought it.  The pen came fitted with a manga nib.  It looks very flexible, maybe too much.  The head to the right of the pen strokes was drawn with this, but I had to pump the pump to keep the flow going.  Then I switched to the sketching nib supplied.  Very quickly the pen sorted itself and I drew everything else without having to pump the pen.  This was a novelty.  The ability to use a real nib without having to dip into an ink pot. These are just thoughtless scribbles, now I'll start using it properly.  Not all nibs will fit the pen, but many do.  Amazon sell some of the nibs, and I can, of course, get more from Ackerman pens. So...pleased, and looking forward to using it.

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by Lewis Cooper

Alan Bickley

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Well done Lew, you’ll love it and a worthwhile purchase in my opinion! Whilst it says that you can use any ink, I do find that some inks work better than others… trial and error! I like the Manga G nib personally, that’s the one I’m tending to use for the series of Rembrandt drawings that I’ve been working on. I have two pens, different names including the Classic, but actually they are identical, just come with different nibs.  I haven’t really had cause to use the pump feature myself… I can leave either pen for days, or a week or so, and to get the ink flowing properly, I immerse the nib and feed into a jar of water, several shakes and I’m away! A free flowing dip pen…what’s not to like!
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Lewis Cooper

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That's a good tip about the water, Alan.  Should have thought of it myself.  I liked that the instructions said you don't have to clean it each time it's used.  I will clean it occasionally, after using it yesterday I just wiped the nib.  This morning, with a couple of strokes on a scrap of paper it started drawing normally, but I'll dip it in water next time.  So...looking good at the moment.  I will try the manga G nib again, but at the moment I'll stick with their own 'sketching' nib.

Alan Bickley

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I’ve got their sketching nib, it isn’t as flexible as the Manga as you’ve established Lew. So, that one is ideal for when I’m drawing say a more detailed architectural study, when I’m not looking for that variation of line thickness, as I am when drawing a Rembrandt style sketch!
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Lewis Cooper

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I tried the Manga nib again in a quick drawing... Lovely variable line.  You'll see I managed to smudge it.  It's odd, I'd imagined  I would much prefer the manga nib, but at the moment I'm happier with the sketching nib which allows some line variation...at least with the heavy-handed way I use it.  Another oddity was that I found myself about to dip the pen into an ink pot, and the ink pot wasn't on my desk.  Absolutely no need for that, the pen kept going.  Habit or muscle-memory,  whatever they call it.  Anyway, that's enough of this...I like the pen very much.

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Rikard Lindby

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Not an answer to your question about brush pens. But I have come to find that the permanent inks from De Atramentis never clogs my pens, even when left for a couple of months. Carbon Black did give me problems though. Oh and I just remembered that I did actually use one of these water brush pens, the cheap ones, with de atramentis without problem.
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Robert Jones, NAPA

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I've found that the carbon black ink will clog a bit, and you need to wash your pens out now and then.  I'll have a look for the de Atramentis inks; I may have heard of them before, but I do forget things.  I've stuck to the Sailor ink cartridges for my Sailor brush pen: it's a water resistant ink - i.e. marginally soluble, but nowhere near as much as the Hong Dian cartridge ink; and I think is the safer bet than carbon black would be.  
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