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Hi everyone! February's pen club will meet at the Panera in Aspinwall (942 Freeport Rd). I hope to see you all there on February 19, starting at 6PM (roughly). Joshua Sasmor

The June meeting of the Pittsburgh Pen Club will be held at the Panera Bread in Penn Center East, on Route 22 (https://locations.panerabread.com/pa/pittsburgh/400-penn-center-boulevard.html) from 6 to 9 PM. I hope to see you all there! Joshua Sasmor

It's October (Inktober!)! The third Wednesday of the month is the 17th, so let's set a pen club meeting for then, at 6:30PM at the Panera in Bakery Square! I hope to see you all there, and we can talk pens, paper, the Pelikan hub, and anything else of interest! Joshua Sasmor

The Pittsburgh pen club June meeting will be on Wednesday the 20th at 7:00 PM at the Panera in Bakery Square. I hope to see you there! Joshua Sasmor

It's a new year, and a new start! So if you got a pen/ink/paper related holiday present (even from yourself), come to the January meeting on Wednesday January 17, 7:00 PM at the Panera in Bakery Square, and show it off! I look forward to seeing you there! Joshua Sasmor

The Pittsburgh Pen club will be having its September meeting on the Third Wednesday - that would be the 20th - at 7PM at the Bakery Square Panera! I look forward to seeing all of you there! Joshua Sasmor

The Pittsburgh Pen club will be having its September meeting on the Third Wednesday - that would be the 20th - at 7PM at the Bakery Square Panera! I look forward to seeing all of you there! Joshua Sasmor

Pittsburgh - since August first was a Tuesday, that means the third Wednesday is early in the month! The tentative date for the Pittsburgh pen club meeting is the 16th, and we're going to be at the Bakery Square Panera at 7PM again. I hope to see you all then! Joshua Sasmor

The next meeting of the Pittsburgh Pen club will be April 20 (the week after Easter) at Fourth Presbyterian Church - 5450 Friendship Ave. in Pittsburgh. A big thank you to Eric Amundson for arranging this venue. There is parking in front of the Montessori school on Friendship on the opposite side of the street from the church. I hope to see you all there around 7PM on the 20th! Joshua Sasmor

xfountainpen.com's new Pittsburgh retail store is open and is called Birminghampens ****** So I have no affiliation with xfountainpens or their new store Birminghampens but I just came home from my first visit and I wanted to let everyone know that they are now open and tell you about my experience there. So the details for those that don't want to read my whole post and just want to know about the store: The website (looks like its still being working on though) is http://www.Birminghampens.com also his facebook is https://www.facebook.com/BirminghamPens/ The store is in Shadyside (I think that is what the area is called? it was my first time in that area of town) at: Birmingham Pen Company, 813 Copeland Way, Pittsburgh, PA 15232, USA Birmingham Pen Company, 813 Copeland Way, Pittsburgh, PA 15232, USA Their email address is nicholas@birminghampens.com this is the owner's personal email address. He told me to let anyone I talk to know that you can email him even if the store isn't open that day and he will try to come down and open it up for you, how many people would do that? Personally, I wouldn't make him do that but that he is willing is pretty nice. Currently there temporary hours for their "soft launch?" are: Wednesday: 1:00PM - 7:00PM Friday: 1:00PM - 6:00PM Saturday: 12:00PM - 5:00PM If you are not a local or don't go to that area much it might be important to know there is no parking lot for the store since its in town. There is however a parking garage 1 street down that is about $4 to park at. I had been waiting for this place to open for months now because there just really isn't any fountain pen shops in Pittsburgh and I wanted to have a place to see things in person and touch the pens and feel if I liked the weight and section diameter etc. So when I heard they were open I went down there today after classes. The person tending to the shop was the owner and I have to say he was really nice and we talked for quite some time about my adventures in vintage pen restoration. They have a wall full of Noodler's and Diamine inks with some other brands here and there. They did just open however so they only have that 1 bottle of each ink color in stock until they get on their feet more and see what they need to order. They also have I think the full range of Nemosine pens there and they have quite a few Noodler's pens and some Parker, Cross, Sheaffer, Conklin, Aurora, and Pelikan I think. They also have a good amount of the A5 size Leuchtturm hardcover 1917 notebooks and some rhodia pads and other paper products. Their prices were actually really fair for a brick and mortar store. The pens might have some prices off while they try to nail down what to sell them for but if you think the price is not fair just look the item up online let the owner know so he can fix it ifs a mistake as he is still trying to figure out the prices. The ink prices were great as they are inline with online prices which is rare at a retail store. The parking issue is kind of a bummer for someone from a more country area like me its bad enough driving in town let alone not knowing where to park. You have the benifit of knowing since I told you though that there is a parking garage which is here: 714 Bellefonte Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15232 THis is a picture of his wall of ink at the moment, so for now what you see there is the ink he has on stock. Just one of each ink, but he said he will be getting more once he fully opens. http://i.imgur.com/8IfuACkm.jpg

I'm sorry for the late notice, but the Pittsburgh pen club will meet this Wednesday, the 15th, at 7PM at the Panera in Bakery Square. I hope to see you there!

As many of you likely already know, xfountainpens.com and its Chesterfield inks are no more. The store has been rebranded as Birmingham pens, but there was no replacement for the inks. Now though, it appears there is. I checked the site tonight, as it still just redirects to the new one if you type in xfountainpens.com, and found a whole line of Birmingham inks named after influential people. Here's an example of one of the new inks: https://www.birminghampens.com/collections/bottled-ink/products/birmingham-andrew-carnegie-steel-blue-30ml . I wonder if these will also be rebranded Diamene like Chesterfield were?

The next meeting for the Pittsburgh pen club (the Steel City Nibs) will be Wednesday February 15, at 7PM at the Panera in Bakery Square. I hope to see you there! Joshua Sasmor

Hello all! I am a first year graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh studying Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology. I'm relatively new to fountain pens, though I have fallen madly in love with them. My collection currently consists of six pens: * Cross Bailey in red (medium nib) * Cross Calais in blue (medium nib) * Pilot Metropolitan in silver (fine nib) * Sheaffer unknown model (medium nib) - My father gave me this one. He said he got it when he was in high school over 40 years ago. * Two unknown brands that my fiancee's mother gave me for Christmas I want to get more into this hobby, even with it being somewhat cost-intensive for a graduate student. I'm not sure what else there is to say. I hope to be a helpful member of the community and do what I can to promote the use of fountain pens within the sciences! All the best, Stephen P.S. I had to stop myself from spending $126 on a Pilot Vanishing Point last night. Excellent deal, but I don't need to spend that right now... especially since I'm holding out for the annual edition.

Greetings! My name is Nick and I recently opened a pen shop in Pittsburgh named Birmingham Pen Company. If anyone is in the Pittsburgh area today feel free to stop in and say hi :-) 813 Copeland St., Pittsburgh, PA 15232

The third Wednesday will be upon us soon, so let's have another pen club meeting! We'll be back at the Panera in Bakery Square on Wednesday the 19th of October, at 7PM, so bring your pretties and anything else you got recently! See you there! Joshua Sasmor

The next meeting for the Pittsburgh pen club (the Steel City Nibs) will be Wednesday September 21, at 7PM at the Panera in Bakery Square. I hope to see you there! Joshua Sasmor

The next meeting of the Pittsburgh Pen club will be on Wednesday August 17, at 7PM, at the Panera bread in Bakery Square (136 Bakery Square Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15206) I hope to see you there! Joshua Sasmor

Pittsburgh has been chosen for another Pelikan Hub! The 2016 hub is on Friday, September 16, 2016. I have been chosen as the Hub master, and I want as many of you as possible to come and to spread the word! I will be looking for a location in the city, preferably with a large room and parking Suggestions are welcome (and encouraged) and anyone with a large Pelikan collection who wants to be the centerpiece of the meeting, please let me know! Last year there were only a few of us (6 or 7), and we met at the Panera on Boulevard of the Allies, across from Magee-Women's hospital. Register here: http://www.pelikan.com/pulse/Pulsar/en_US.CMS.displayCMS.206789./pelikan-hubs-2016 I hope to see many of you there! Joshua Sasmor

The July meeting for the Pittsburgh pen club will be held Wednesday the 20th at the University of Pittsburgh's Hillman Library, room 406, at 7:00 PM. This is a new location we are trying out, so please let us know what you think! See you there! Joshua Sasmor

I know it's a late announcement, but the Pittsburgh pen club will meet this Wednesday, June 15, at 7:00 PM at the Panera in Bakery Square. Bring ideas for a July location, and we'll see what we can decide. Also think about timing and location for a weekend meeting that we can hold a little further east (Monroeville? Greensburg?) where we can invite the Central PA people as well. See you all there!Joshua Sasmor

The April meeting of the Pittsburgh pen club will be on Wednesday May 18, at 7:00 PM. We will be meeting in the back room at the Panera in Oakland at 3401 Boulevard of the Allies, Pittsburgh 15213 We will also be discussing future meeting locations and possible weekend meetings for later this summer again - several people have promised to report on other venues! We also hope to be taking some pictures for a website and to create a more regular schedule. See you there! Joshua Sasmor

The April meeting of the Pittsburgh pen club will be on Wednesday April 20, at 7:00 PM. We will be meeting at a new location: the Panera in Oakland at 3401 Boulevard of the Allies, Pittsburgh 15213 We will also be discussing future meeting locations and possible weekend meetings for later this summer! See you there! Joshua Sasmor

Back in February, we talked about March - well here it is! So let's have a meeting - Wednesday the 16th, at 7, in the Panera at Bakery Square. We will also discuss the idea of a weekend meeting to get the Central PA people in to the area, and of looking at other venues to get more space, so bring your ideas! Joshua Sasmor

So our next meeting of the Pittsburgh group is Wednesday February 17, at 7:00 PM at the Panera in Bakery Square! I hope to see you all there. A secondary question - would I be better off just adding on to this topic as a chain for all future meetings? That way we can all just follow this topic and have a new meeting announcement each month on here? Joshua Sasmor