What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[Penguincollector]

5 minutes ago, 51ISH said:

I've emptied my 'Money Box'  on a 'Previously Owned'  Parker 45....... 🤣🤣🤣

 

I know what you're thinking.....  😴 🥱.....

 

I've owned quite a few Parker's over the years....and they have all had good smooth nibs.

 

But wait, there's more.... the Parker 45 comes with a Stub nib  😈

 

I don't own any 'High End' pens...but I do have some 'medium priced pens'  Lamy 2000, Pilot Custom 74, Parker 75 that kind of thing.... I also have quite a few Chinese pens.

 

One thing I have learnt is, you don't necessarily have to spend a lot of money to have a pen that is a pleasure to use. My most used and permanently inked pen is a Chinese pen that cost me less than £15.

 

 

I agree. I love all my pens equally, and of al, the brands I have-Parker is the most consistent.  That 25 has been in constant use, by the way. It fits so nicely in the hand.

[51ISH]

18 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

It’s not *my* impulsive purchase, but my husband’s for me- a Kaweco Kalligrafie twin nibbed Sport. It was in my browsing history. 

 

Sounds like He's a keeper!  Whether you like the pen or not!!    🙂

[MarcoA63]

I might be a 'taliban' when it comes to fps 🙂

classic shapes with varied filling mechanisms. Novelties are not for me. I work in front of a monitor, I always have two hands available so the needs doctors may have do not occur to me. This said doctors used fps in the 20s 30s and so on and used to cap/uncap them and were not bothered about it. I too think the simpler the better. This is a 'gadget' for me. Instead of buying another piston filler, Jinhao, I got this one that is way cheaper than a similar Pilot and if I don't enjoy it I'm not going to be too bothered 🙂

[jhataway]

I bought an Eversharp Estie.  Very pleased with this pen.  Smooth writer, very pretty acrylic body, excellent inner cap design, reasonably priced, good size, no hard starts.  Makes me sometimes wonder why a paid a lot more for some pens that are not really better than this pen.  Good job Eversharp!  I have two old Eversharp pens that I don't use much, and now will probably not use again in favor of the new Estie.

[51ISH]

3 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

I agree. I love all my pens equally, and of al, the brands I have-Parker is the most consistent.  That 25 has been in constant use, by the way. It fits so nicely in the hand.

 

I'm glad to hear you are enjoying it!  I only used it for a short while but it behaved impeccably for me. The P25 I'm using at the minute seems to write a little 'wetter' and ink seems to collect on the nib and at the bottom of the section, which can lead to some ink in the cap.  Which as soon as it happened reminded me of why I wish I had a Sheaffer when I was in school. 🙂  Just keep an eye out for it.  A car repair shop would say something like 'They all do that Sir'  🤣 🤣

[inkstainedruth]

5 hours ago, MarcoA63 said:

I bought, out of curiosity, a Majohn A1 Capless pen. A Chinese copy of the Pilot Capless. It isn't as cheap as the usual Chinese pens, Jinhao, but for trying this pen 'style' the price isn't as high as for the real Pilot. What can I say? I've had it a few hors so I'll refrain, not enough time to make my mind up.

Want to understand what is the hype for a push button fountain pen. Screwing/unscrewing a cap vs pushing the button at the back like any 'rotten' ball point? Puzzled!!!

Actually, I like mine a LOT -- they're convenient if you want to take quick notes (say, at an antiques mall or pen show when you're trying to keep track of what you saw where).  
The Capless/Vanishing Point is too big a pen for me, but my husband likes the one I gave him (although someday I need to teach him how to flush/refill the converter instead of me having to do it for him -- he wants to switch inks only I don't know what the pH of the inks are or whether there will be a bad interaction between them).  I have a couple of Decimos (a better size for my hand) and -- if they ever came out in a wider range of colors other than the standard eight, or the LEs for Japanese pen shows so I could afford one -- I would happily buy another Decimo.  And of course the advantage over "any 'rotten' ball point" is that I can decide what color ink to use, just like with pretty much any other fountain pen.

Of course, I like a variety of fill systems, depending on my mood and usage -- everything from c/c pens to Snorkels, from vintage lever fill pens to modern piston fillers, from Vacumatics to capillary fill Parker 61s (some day I'd like to find a vintage crescent filter that doesn't cost an arm and a leg...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

[inkstainedruth]

16 hours ago, Misfit said:

I need to test the bent nib on the Jinhao 82s I got.

Do you mean a fude nib?  I have one on a cheap Guanleming pen I got early on, and while I don't use it much, it was the perfect nib for using the original formula J Herbin Rouge Hematite (with the big flakes of gold) -- I was afraid that the flakes would clog up any other pen with a "normal" nib -- and if it didn't work, I was only out five bucks plus tax and shipping....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[TitoThePencilPimp]

35 minutes ago, MarcoA63 said:

I might be a 'taliban' when it comes to fps 🙂

classic shapes with varied filling mechanisms. Novelties are not for me. I work in front of a monitor, I always have two hands available so the needs doctors may have do not occur to me. This said doctors used fps in the 20s 30s and so on and used to cap/uncap them and were not bothered about it. I too think the simpler the better. This is a 'gadget' for me. Instead of buying another piston filler, Jinhao, I got this one that is way cheaper than a similar Pilot and if I don't enjoy it I'm not going to be too bothered 🙂

they also did not have the knowledge of today regarding germs. but yes, if you do not like vanishing point, then you do not.

 

one other use of the vp, is taking lecture notes in multiple colors on a small desk, without worrying of dropping multiple uncapped pens nib first.

[51ISH]

13 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

Actually, I like mine a LOT -- they're convenient if you want to take quick notes (say, at an antiques mall or pen show when you're trying to keep track of what you saw where).  
The Capless/Vanishing Point is too big a pen for me, but my husband likes the one I gave him (although someday I need to teach him how to flush/refill the converter instead of me having to do it for him -- he wants to switch inks only I don't know what the pH of the inks are or whether there will be a bad interaction between them).  I have a couple of Decimos (a better size for my hand) and -- if they ever came out in a wider range of colors other than the standard eight, or the LEs for Japanese pen shows so I could afford one -- I would happily buy another Decimo.  And of course the advantage over "any 'rotten' ball point" is that I can decide what color ink to use, just like with pretty much any other fountain pen.

Of course, I like a variety of fill systems, depending on my mood and usage -- everything from c/c pens to Snorkels, from vintage lever fill pens to modern piston fillers, from Vacumatics to capillary fill Parker 61s (some day I'd like to find a vintage crescent filter that doesn't cost an arm and a leg...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

Were you giving me a poke for my ballpoint comment there Ruth? 🙂

 

I'd be happy to own a VP ....I just wouldn't want use it at work...

Some days I see 30 people a day....back to back mostly in 10 minute interviews. The very last thing I'm concerned about is my handwriting and what the ink looks like on Sh1ty 'Green' recycled paper.

[inkstainedruth]

No, sorry -- I was responding to (I think) MarcoA63, only it's been a really long day and I'm pretty fried (had to make 70 marzipan oranges and 70 marzipan peaches, and still have to make I think 20 marzipan strawberries tonight), so forgot to direct the post to the correct person.  I just got the stuff I made temporarily packed up -- tomorrow I have to run to a local cake and candy supply to get nicer boxes for some of the stuff (gifts to people) and then pack up the rest of the stuff in little tubs for a "largesse" competition (need "20" of things that will then be donated to give away as thank you tokens, etc).  

And there's been basically ONE story on the news around here all day (a rash of fake "active shooter" reports to authorities in a variety of locations at various schools) throughout central and western PA -- and now there's a story about how there have been similar calls in other states recently as well). 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

[Penguincollector]

3 hours ago, 51ISH said:

 

Sounds like He's a keeper!  Whether you like the pen or not!!    🙂

22 years in!

[Misfit]

4 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

Do you mean a fude nib?  I have one on a cheap Guanleming pen I got early on, and while I don't use it much, it was the perfect nib for using the original formula J Herbin Rouge Hematite (with the big flakes of gold) -- I was afraid that the flakes would clog up any other pen with a "normal" nib -- and if it didn't work, I was only out five bucks plus tax and shipping....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

I expect so. The listing on AliExpress called them bent nibs. I bought a pen several years ago with a fine fude nib. The bent nib seems a bit wider. 

[Misfit]

I was looking for Retro 51 replacement nibs. One nice website actually had a search for pens with stub and italic nibs. And what should be among them? The Opus 88 Picnic pens at 50% off. I could hardly believe it. Only brown was out of stock. I have coffee brown and blue. So I ordered the green with unfortunately a M nib, and a 1.1mm Retro 51 nib unit. A coupon code for 10% off worked on the pen. I thought I’d just have the pair, but wow, I’ll have three. They have the purple one, but its ends don’t seem to glow like the blue and green ones. 
 

It will be saved for my birthday, many months away. The nib unit, though, will be used on the Retro 51 Stealth black pen I got this year. 

[fountainpendrawing]

All my fountain pen purchases are well considered and thought out, as I only use them for drawing. But I also wanted to have a cheap and sturdy fountain pen that could be easily put in my pocket and would be indestructible. So I spontaneously bought a Kaweco Bronze Sport F. But after a day I changed my mind, because the beautiful pen was too heavy for me and exchanged it for the pleasant 7 grams lighter Steel Sport. After trying 5 different nibs, I found a perfect EF.  It is now my EDC pen with a self-extended ink cartridge that holds 1.1 ml of ink.

 

[TitoThePencilPimp]

none! my last impulse was a Pilot elite Ef (new) I purchased for around $50  irrc.

 

I now impulse buy inks.

[JonSzanto]

Send in the Clowns!

 

I have a thing for oddball, clownish pens, and one of the great repositories is the plethora of 3rd-tier pen companies from the Golden Era of the 30s-40s Wild and wacky celluloids ruled, and I snap them up on a whim, like this one.

 

So I got the pen shown below, a true "no-name" and it got to me 3 days ago. Yesterday, my artist pal, Jeff B, posted an oil he did in 2008 titled "She Dreams of Chaparral Shoes" and it floored me how similar the vibes and palettes were. I had to commemorate the serendipity, but the only way was truly quick-and-dirty: the pen is hovering over the artwork, which is being displayed on my iPad - not an easy shot. Enjoy the riot of color, and go check out the wonderwork of Jeffrey Beauchamp (also on Instagram as @jeffreybeauchampart).

 

[ParramattaPaul]

1 minute ago, JonSzanto said:

Send in the Clowns!

 

I have a thing for oddball, clownish pens, and one of the great repositories is the plethora of 3rd-tier pen companies from the Golden Era of the 30s-40s Wild and wacky celluloids ruled, and I snap them up on a whim, like this one.

 

So I got the pen shown below, a true "no-name" and it got to me 3 days ago. Yesterday, my artist pal, Jeff B, posted an oil he did in 2008 titled "She Dreams of Chaparral Shoes" and it floored me how similar the vibes and palettes were. I had to commemorate the serendipity, but the only way was truly quick-and-dirty: the pen is hovering over the artwork, which is being displayed on my iPad - not an easy shot. Enjoy the riot of color, and go check out the wonderwork of Jeffrey Beauchamp (also on Instagram as @jeffreybeauchampart).

 

While it isn't a pen I would buy, I do like it.  I think it is a visually appealing pen.  The background compliments it as well.

[Misfit]

@JonSzanto wow! That pen is truly a riot of color in a good way. And the art is a great match. I’d say you succeeded with your photo. What type of nib is on it?

 

Meanwhile, I’m weakening on the purple Opus 88 to complete the quartet. I’m scheming on how to get the price under $50. I have rewards money on a credit card.  I could add that card to PayPal, then use the rewards money on it, plus use a coupon code. I’d have to pay $4.95 shipping. With the rewards it would cost $49.74. 

[JonSzanto]

5 minutes ago, Misfit said:

@JonSzanto wow! That pen is truly a riot of color in a good way. And the art is a great match. I’d say you succeeded with your photo. What type of nib is on it?

 

Meanwhile, I’m weakening on the purple Opus 88 to complete the quartet. I’m scheming on how to get the price under $50. I have rewards money on a credit card.  I could add that card to PayPal, then use the rewards money on it, plus use a coupon code. I’d have to pay $4.95 shipping. With the rewards it would cost $49.74. 

 

Unfortunately, the nib is a pretty forgettable steel nib of the era... but I'll replace that with a better gold vintage nib if I want to ink it up. As to your fund-raising, when it gets that close I always look out on the patio to see how many aluminum cans I've saved up. If the bin is full, that usually comes in at about $20 at the recyclers!

[Misfit]

@JonSzanto oh man!  I should have saved all the pop cans my brother went through when he visited last year. They went in the recycle bin instead. I linked the credit card. When I tried to check out, it did not show the rewards money. Grrrr! Another card had $3.47, so I used that. I hate it when a plan does not come together. 
 

Now I have to break it to the first Opus 88 Picnic pen in coffee brown, that the other two Picnic pens are coming. But it’s a Quartet!