Sailor sells empty cartridges for syringe filling. While this sounds completely pointless given you could just buy one filled with ink and then use the empty I believe they are made with more robust plastic that prevents stretching at the neck after several uses and the potential for an unexpected leak or excess flow at the nib. Something to look into.

You should look at kakimori dip pens. It is highly regarded in the reviews I've seen except perhaps the standard pen nib attachment which in one review was considered scratchy and stored very little ink.

Not wanting to advertise Reddit use too much, but you should look at the posts by u/bosseschreibt. He/she/they take some great pictures of writing samples with a number of Document inks, sometime side by side. One of their posts actually made me want a sample of Koh-I-Noor Document Blue. Anyway, their pictures are a great for seeing samples of various Document Inks from multiple brands.

HP Premium 32lb paper is widely regarded as the best fountain pen friendly printer paper. $15 for 500 sheets. It is really thick (120gsm).

I recall you buying it and I'm glad you like it so far. Did you get a converter in the end?

By the way, we discussed being selective about the ink used to try to protect the ion plating. Also avoid flossing the tines if you can or working on the nib with micromesh or fine grit paper as there are theories that it can weaken the plating along the edges and risk flaking outward from those points.

Sailor Pro Gear Slim Midnight Sky (Gunmetal Trim) F with DeAtramentis Document Black

Ah, yeah. They do that. Bad form.

Patient Gamers might be a community that interests you. https://lemmy.ml/c/patientgamers

My PC is over 7 years old now. It was cutting edge at the time of build (because of VR) and it can still play many of the new titles that come out with medium/high graphics, but generally, however, I don't bother with new releases. Most new releases in modern gaming are cripplingly expensive bug filled messes that are close to being unplayable for at least 6 months to a year after release. Recent games I've played/replayed are Monkey Island, and Syberia which are both over 15 years old. There is a huge library of great older games to dive into using older tech without chasing the latest shiny release that has grabbed everyone's attention or having to upgrade your hardware every year.

When I do upgrade I will again buy hardware just below cutting edge. Not the best you can get as it usually has a crushing price premium but as good as is reasonable and affordable as it provides longevity and reduced waste over constant low level upgrades (hence my 7 year old gaming PC). Second hand is of course always an option especially now the era of GPU powered crypto mining has passed and you can probably buy used graphics cards now that haven't been thrashed to within an inch of their lives.

An interesting read that confirms many of my thoughts regarding the rise of negativity and hopelessness in the modern world. It explains much of what I feel well. Thanks for sharing.

#2 or #1

Report back about how you like it when it arrives.

You will get a warning notice with this pen because it is ion plated. Sailor will advise to only use their inks in it to avoid plating damage and early reports from ion plated nib owners did suggest that the plating could be damaged, presumably from non-Sailor ink usage. There has been a lot of speculation about why this happened but a general consensus was that acidic inks could be the issue.

Both my Sailors are ion plated and I have chosen not to stick to Sailor only inks but have resiolved to be be selective about what I do put in it. Pilot Iroshizuku inks are generally neutral to slightly alkaline as are the original Herbin line and the DeAtramentis Document line. Waterman inks can be very acidic so stay clear of them despite their great reputation (Serenity Blue has an acidity similar to vinegar). There are a number of websites that have measured the acidity of popular inks you can reference. Also, a number of forum posts on Fountain Pen Network report and discuss the acidity of specific inks.

Sounds like your VIsconti experience echos my worst fears. I hadn't considered the porous nature of the material being an issue for absorbing ink but that would also annoy me greatly. Thanks for the feedback.

In terms of overseas suppliers. Ordering from Amazon Japan was no different to Amazon US or UK. I didn't even need a to create a new account. When buying from Amazon I normally ensure the seller is Amazon itself rather than a third party to avoid fakes although apparently this isn't foolproof as Amazon sometimes mixes their own stock with that of third parties (see a recent Pilot Metro post). Cult Pens have been excellent and I've use them several times. They left a Lamy nib out of one order I placed but quickly expedited it to me when I contacted them to report it was missing. Their prices are good and you can get free shipping if you spend enough. I've also used The Pen Company for one order and they were great. I've heard good things about Pensachi but have not personally used them.