What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[essayfaire]

2 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

And yes, I have a Sheaffer Snorkel that I bought at an antique show a few towns down-river from me which still has the nib sticker on it.

Is it fun?  I have no snorkel pens. 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Thanks everyone, I feel a bit better about inking it up now.

[inkstainedruth]

8 minutes ago, essayfaire said:

Is it fun?  I have no snorkel pens. 

I like my Snorkels a lot.  But you definitely want to get one checked out by a pro BEFORE inking it up the first time -- because if the sac is leaking, you can rust the spring out -- and that's a $20 US part right there....

Also, be advised that while the extended tube makes it easy to fill without getting ink all over the nib and feed, flushing the pen out is a different matter -- because of course with use you will get ink in the feed and on the nib.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[essayfaire]

19 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

all over the nib and feed, flushing the pen out is a different matter -- because of course with use you will get ink in the feed and on the nib.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Hadn't even occurred to me!  So how do you flush?  Or is it permanently inked with a single color?

[amberleadavis]

22 hours ago, sirgilbert357 said:

 

Agreed. And yes, pens are for using! I would have replaced the sac and used it too.

 

Not only do I totally approve of rejuvenating the pen,  I am personally tired of stuff that owns me.  I've been decluttering. If I don't use it, I'm sharing it.

[carola]

+1 for using pens!

[inkstainedruth]

4 hours ago, essayfaire said:

Hadn't even occurred to me!  So how do you flush?  Or is it permanently inked with a single color?

You flush it by cycling water and/or pen flush (followed by more water) repeatedly till it runs clear, and also soak it nib down with the nib and feed submerged for a while.  Some people use a shot glass, but I have a cheapie votive candle holder that I use for that because it's got straight sides and isn't tippy/top-heavy, and use a plastic clothes pin clipped around the barrel so that it rests along the top of the holder (the side walls are about 3/8" thick) to hold the pen straight up and down.

If it's really gunked up, an old toothbrush can be used to brush the feed and nib as well, dipping it in water and or the same pen flush.  I've never tried any of the commercial flushes out there -- I just make my own, based on recipes I found on FPN.  Basically it's about a 9-1 ratio of water (I use distilled water because I have very hard water where I live) and either clear ammonia or -- for iron gall inks, which are acidic -- white vinegar; and with a drop or two of (regular blue) Dawn dish detergent (the British equivalent is a brand called Fairy -- don't know for other countries).  There was a guy on here who is a chemist, who said that doing a regular ammonia solution rinse after doing a white vinegar one (with flushing with water in between ) is good.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

[essayfaire]

2 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

You flush it by cycling water and/or pen flush (followed by more water) repeatedly till it runs clear, and also soak it nib down with the nib and feed submerged for a while.  Some people use a shot glass, but I have a cheapie votive candle holder that I use for that because it's got straight sides and isn't tippy/top-heavy, and use a plastic clothes pin clipped around the barrel so that it rests along the top of the holder (the side walls are about 3/8" thick) to hold the pen straight up and down.

If it's really gunked up, an old toothbrush can be used to brush the feed and nib as well, dipping it in water and or the same pen flush.  I've never tried any of the commercial flushes out there -- I just make my own, based on recipes I found on FPN.  Basically it's about a 9-1 ratio of water (I use distilled water because I have very hard water where I live) and either clear ammonia or -- for iron gall inks, which are acidic -- white vinegar; and with a drop or two of (regular blue) Dawn dish detergent (the British equivalent is a brand called Fairy -- don't know for other countries).  There was a guy on here who is a chemist, who said that doing a regular ammonia solution rinse after doing a white vinegar one (with flushing with water in between ) is good.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Maybe I want to re-think that whole snorkel thing after all...  Thanks for the explanation.

[ParramattaPaul]

6 minutes ago, essayfaire said:

Maybe I want to re-think that whole snorkel thing after all...  Thanks for the explanation.

Having once considered buying a vintage snorkel pen and contemplated what I decided was its complicated mechanism, I decided to say thank you but not thank you, and back away.

[jmccarty3]

On 5/28/2022 at 5:01 PM, essayfaire said:

Is it fun?  I have no snorkel pens. 

I got hooked on Snorkels at an early age. My dad had a client who was a Sheaffer dealer, and when we would go to his store, I would stand in front of the display cabinet drooling over the pens. My first Snorkel was a maroon PFM I, which got lost when I disobeyed my parents' instructions not to take it to school--this would have been in '62. Since then I have been more careful.

[A Smug Dill]

Welcome ‘home‘, @amberleadavis!

 

6 hours ago, amberleadavis said:

I am personally tired of stuff that owns me.  I've been decluttering. If I don't use it, I'm sharing it.

 

Good on you! But where do you find enough like-minded people with whom you deem it's worth sharing your unused pens? (Just to be clear, I'm not putting my hand up to be considered one.) I can't even think who to give my unused Pilot MR pens to, much less the >$1,000 worth of brand new pens I picked up at bargain prices, just languishing in a drawer.

 

My Montblanc (yes, against my better judgment, and also flying in the face of what I wrote previously and maintained for a long time) 146 with Calligraphy nib just arrived this morning. I'm sticking a note on it to tell my wife to sell it should I pass suddenly, because I think it'll be worth more to her converted to dollars than as a writing instrument to cherish (i.e. not her style) or as something to remember me by, and I can't imagine her “sharing” that will-be-largely-unused pen to someone. … Actually, come to think of it, I can, if it proves to be a good enough example of a Montblanc pen in my book. A dear friend of ours, whose late father was really into Montblanc and Parker pens, was turned off by her impressions of those (and by extension, all fountain pens); and it's taken us a couple of years to convert her to fountain pens while I agreed with her that Montblanc and Parker are not worth considering. If this one is good — specifically for a user who needs no appreciation for flex, but just need a competent writing instrument that lays down fine enough lines reliably — she can have it when I no longer have a use for it.

 

[amberleadavis]

I've been on a quest to convert new users.  I start them out with Varsitys and Preppys and if they use up the ink, I upgrade them.

[essayfaire]

12 hours ago, amberleadavis said:

I've been on a quest to convert new users.  I start them out with Varsitys and Preppys and if they use up the ink, I upgrade them.

I convert newbies with these - I call them the fountain pen version of gateway drugs.  Also JinHao sharks (especially for swimmers) and Pilot Petits.  

 

@Smug, I'm sure I could help you with your problem.

[amberleadavis]

Yes gateway pens!

[enuhski]

Platinum Nice Lavande

Montblanc 145 

 

😅

[txomsy]

Not  a pen, but a Kaweco nib unit, tuned to semi-flex and EF point by Pablo of FPnibs.com

 

As usual, interaction with them was wonderful, and everything went smoothly.

 

Got it two days ago, and installed the unit on an aged Liliput pen, loaded with MB Brugundy and tried it. It behaves like the flexy nibs of my vintage pens and excels even in low quality copy paper.

 

While I am more than happy, I fear my next impulsive buy may be a Jowo #6 or Bock 200 nib unit with ebonite feed tuned to full-flex or wet noodle and a suitable pen that can take it. I'm trying to resist, though. But that's the thing about impulses, you never know if you will be able to resist.

[essayfaire]

5 hours ago, txomsy said:

But that's the thing about impulses, you never know if you will be able to resist.

But if you practice resistance, you will get better at it, like most other things!  Gives the brain a chance to wire itself to make resistance take less effort in the future!

 

When I am being good about it, I have a "Pondering Purchases" list.  If something that is already on that list come up on sale, I may bite.  If something stays on the list long enough without me reconsidering/replacing it with something even better, I'll probably buy it.  But it means the things I buy I am less likely to regret having bought.

[Penguincollector]

I picked up a black full sized Parker 51 aerometric barrel. It was $20, and will be used on a $4 51 that has a crack in the threads of the barrel. It’s going to look a little weird with a forest green hood and a black barrel, but it will work until I can find a green one, or something cool from Kullock or similar. Can a cracked 51 barrel on such a high stress area be repaired?

[Doug C]

A Mr Cypress. 

[CaptJack]

I recently picked up two Sheaffer VFMs w/med.nibs
&a Sheaffer Javelin fine nib NOStock2004

to use as gifts

my personal Javelin is my favorite pen