What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[Misfit]

@A Smug Dill that is so good of you to help the school children. I hope they enjoy the cute shark pens. 

[Gloucesterman]

A very kind gesture.

 

Actually, it sounds as if the pens are the easiest and least expensive part.

Now,who will provide all of the ink (ongoing) for them.

 

Years ago, I gave a friend of a friend a Pilot Plumix calligraphy pen with the cartridge already in place.

She later told me that she  loved it and used it constantly until it ran out of ink. Then threw it away.

My bad. in my excitement of sharing the pen, I neglect to tell her about refilling it with a new cartridge :-((.

 

So now, whenever I give a pen to someone a (new pen person) I always provide ink, instructions and a "referral" to YouTube videos on cartridge or converter use.

[A Smug Dill]

On 3/23/2024 at 11:52 PM, Gloucesterman said:

Now,who will provide all of the ink (ongoing) for them.

 

The English teacher, who was asking on Reddit for advice/recommendations on which cheap cartridge-filled fountain pens to get for her students to use in class.

 

She was specific in stating the context of the school being in Australia (in a different state from where I am), the kids being largely from low socioeconomic background and can't afford to buy their own pens and ink, and there's a distinct possibility of theft. Her kids have shown interest in using fountain pens, and often asked to borrow her Jinhao pens she brought with her to work.

 

To mitigate various risks, she doesn't want to use converters and bottled ink, and will be keeping the pens as a classroom resource as opposed to giving the pens out (and risk being stolen and upsetting the kids). Her plan was to buy the pens and ink cartridges herself, loosely one pen to every three students, who'll have to take turns using them; that's what she expected she could stretch her personal budget to afford.

 

As expected, some of the advice given didn't properly take into account all aspects of the context, and several redditors seemed keener to recommend their favoured pen models for the sake of each model's clout and/or following. There are also those who also didn't seem to have a clue that so-called "standard international" ink cartridges are not suitable for the vast majority of Chinese-branded fountain pens, or that Jinhao itself makes two different specifications of ink cartridges to suit its various models.

 

Eventually, she seemed settled on spending around AUD $60 of her own money to buy seven Jinhao 599 pens and some ink cartridges. I told her on the weekend about the then-upcoming site-wide sales campaign on AliExpress, and that she should be able to do much better than that for her proposed spend; and to be careful to order the correct type of ink cartridges. (She said she didn't know and couldn't find out which type the Jinhao 599 uses; and it seemed she was about to ordered the wrong type.)

 

I then looked into it some more, and told her an Australian consumer should be able to get 24 Jinhao pens - enough for each student in her class to have a pen to use concurrently - and a decent supply of compatible ink cartridges for $60 all up, once bulk-buy discounts, store-specific and site-wide coupons, and total spend rebates are taken into account.

 

Then, somewhat impulsively, I offered to do the ordering (since I was sure I could get better bang for the buck than she could manage on her own; and I didn't really want to waste too much of either her or my time in interactive consultancy regarding the actual deal) and pay for it out of my pocket. She stressed that she wasn't soliciting a gift or sponsor, but was truly just asking for information and advice; and I said that was understood, and gave her a choice of either just the "how" to get a good enough deal for her plan and her spend, or letting me make the initial purchase with no strings attached.

 

(For the avoidance of doubt, I did tell my wife before making that offer. I'd actually put the teacher onto a separate student literacy initiative in which my wife is participating again this year.)

 

She ummed and ahhed for a bit, but finally decided to accept our offer to arrange and pay for the initial setup. In the meantime, I worked out how to get her 52 pens and 200 ink cartridges for barely more than the originally budgeted figure. (It had to be that many, and slightly over budget, so as to trigger an additional discount.) So now she's toying with extending her plan to include a second class taught by another teacher at her school.

 

Since this is only for English class activity, I think there's a fair chance the 200 ink cartridges will last out the remainder of the school year, by which time we can review the value and success of her initiative, and the ongoing operating costs.

 

In any case, the ink cartridges work out to be approximately $0.10 each, so even if (very conservatively) a cartridge only lasts two weeks, we're only talking about about $1 per week on ink costs for her entire class.

 

Meanwhile, my wife and I have already floated the idea of offering some pens as prizes at the end of the school year for students with best handwriting, most improved handwriting, etc. I'll try to pick pen models that use the same type of ink cartridges as the class pens; but if we indeed end up giving pens that use ink cartridges of a different type, I can easily arrange for 50 or even 100 ink cartridges to be sent to the school to accompany each prize.

[N1003U]

What lovely ideas: both the teacher, to encourage her students who have taken an interest in writing with a fountain pen, and you @A Smug Dill, to encourage the teacher  to step more boldly into the idea!

[inkstainedruth]

8 hours ago, Gloucesterman said:

A very kind gesture.

 

Actually, it sounds as if the pens are the easiest and least expensive part.

Now,who will provide all of the ink (ongoing) for them.

 

Years ago, I gave a friend of a friend a Pilot Plumix calligraphy pen with the cartridge already in place.

She later told me that she  loved it and used it constantly until it ran out of ink. Then threw it away.

My bad. in my excitement of sharing the pen, I neglect to tell her about refilling it with a new cartridge :-((.

 

So now, whenever I give a pen to someone a (new pen person) I always provide ink, instructions and a "referral" to YouTube videos on cartridge or converter use.

I just got a Plumix as a freebie at the B/W show a few weeks ago, at the talk on the history of Vanishing Points.  Everyone who signed up for the talk got either a (presumably NOS) Plumix or a box of Pilot cartriges, courtesy of the Pilot USA table.  I haven't had a chance to try it yet (I was waiting for an order from Vanness, which included a Con-B converter; plus, I was trying to get a couple more pens flushed out before adding too many more into rotation (including several I got repaired at B/W).

But now that I have the converter, I really should see about getting any residual manufacturing gunk flushed out (it's just that it's been a really crazy week).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[jchch1950]

11 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

The English teacher, who was asking on Reddit for advice/recommendations on which cheap cartridge-filled fountain pens to get for her students to use in class.

 

She was specific in stating the context of the school being in Australia (in a different state from where I am), the kids being largely from low socioeconomic background and can't afford to buy their own pens and ink, and there's a distinct possibility of theft. Her kids have shown interest in using fountain pens, and often asked to borrow her Jinhao pens she brought with her to work.

 

To mitigate various risks, she doesn't want to use converters and/bottled ink, and will be keeping the pens as a classroom resource as opposed to giving the pens out (and risk being stolen and upsetting the kids). Her plan was to buy the pens and ink cartridges herself, loosely one pen to every three students, who'll have to take turns using them; that's what she expected she could stretch her personal budget to afford.

 

As expected, some of the advice given didn't properly take into account all aspects of the context, and several redditors seemed keener to recommend their favoured pen models for the sake of each model's clout and/or following. There are also those who also didn't seem to have a clue that so-called "standard international" ink cartridges are not suitable for the vast majority of Chinese-branded fountain pens, or that Jinhao itself makes two different specifications of ink cartridges to suit its various models.

 

Eventually, she seemed settled on spending around AUD $60 of her own money to buy seven Jinhao 599 pens and some ink cartridges. I told her on the weekend about the then-upcoming site-wide sales campaign on AliExpress, and that she should be able to do much better than that for her proposed spend; and to be careful to order the correct type of ink cartridges. (She said she didn't know and couldn't find out which type the Jinhao 599 uses; and it seemed she was about to ordered the wrong type.)

 

I looked into it some more, and told her an Australian consumer should be able to get 24 Jinhao pens - enough for each student in her class to have a pen to use concurrently - and a decent supply of compatible ink cartridges for $60 all up, once bulk-buy discounts, store-specific and site-wide coupons, and total spend rebates are taken into account.

 

Then, somewhat impulsively, I offered to do the ordering (since I was sure I could get better bang for the buck than she could manage on her own; and I didn't really want to waste too much of either her or my time in interactive consultancy regarding the actual deal) and pay for it out of my pocket. She stressed that she wasn't soliciting a gift or sponsor, but was truly just asking for information and advice; and I said that was understood, and gave her a choice of either just the "how" to get a good enough deal for her plan and her spend, or letting me make the initial purchase with no strings attached.

 

(For the avoidance of doubt, I did tell my wife before making that offer. I'd actually put the teacher onto a separate student literacy initiative in which my wife is participating again this year.)

 

She ummed and ahhed for a bit, but finally decided to accept our offer to arrange and pay for the initial setup. In the meantime, I worked out how to get her 52 pens and 200 ink cartridges for barely more than the originally budgeted figure. (It had to be that many, and slightly over budget, for me to trigger an additional discount.) So now she's toying with extending her plan to include a second class taught by another teacher at her school.

 

Since this is only for English class activity, I think there's a fair chance the 200 ink cartridges will last out the remainder of the school year, by which time we can review the value and success of her initiative, and the ongoing operating costs.

 

In any case, the ink cartridges work out to be approximately $0.10 each, so even if (very conservatively) a cartridge only lasts two weeks, we're only talking about about $1 per week on ink costs for her entire class.

 

Meanwhile, my wife and I have already floated the idea of offering some pens as prizes at the end of the school year for students with best handwriting, most improved handwriting, etc. I'll try to pick pen models that use the same type of ink cartridges as the class pens; but if we indeed end up giving pens that use ink cartridges of a different type, I can easily arrange for 50 or even 100 ink cartridges to be sent to the school to accompany each prize.

After reading the quoted post, I will try to replicate the ideas exposed . Next week I will raise the question in a meeting of a binational club and see what will happen. Thank you for posting your thinking and planning.

[Misfit]

20 hours ago, Gloucesterman said:

She later told me that she  loved it and used it constantly until it ran out of ink. Then threw it away.

I read this, and was so disappointed that she threw away the Plumix. Here’s how I felt 😮

[Misfit]

@A Smug Dill how wonderful of you to help the teacher.  It’s so nice the students won’t have to share a pen. This is where the All Hail A Smug Dill really fits. 

[Gloucesterman]

3 hours ago, Misfit said:

I read this, and was so disappointed that she threw away the Plumix. Here’s how I felt 😮

Which was better than I felt, which was "definitely" dumb.

[A Smug Dill]

11 hours ago, jchch1950 said:

After reading the quoted post, I will try to replicate the ideas exposed .

 

Thank you so much! I am absolutely delighted to hear that. That is quite the best reward for my efforts in trying to contribute to the momentum of such initiatives, which hopefully may grow into a movement one day.

[AmandaW]

A Midori MD 70th Anniversary pen and ink set. The blue one. It comes with a clear pen with metal cap and a converter. It was the last one and a reduced price which did nudge the purchase  (there are orange sets left, but no grey which was my first choice). What I'm really keen on is the curved beak nib.

 

I'm still interested in hearing about any other pens with that style of nib.

[Armo]

I've just purchased a Sheaffer 440 Long Stylist. I'm not overly enamored by the pen so just why did I buy it? Well I noticed it was fitted with a button converter and at £11.50 that sounded to good to pass over.

[Karmachanic]

NOS Kaweco V16N OF nib.  Because OF, piston and shiny.

[Penguincollector]

I ordered the Wancher PuChiCo in Penguin Black, and a Young Sheng 618 in blue with gold trim. 

[PAKMAN]

Home from the Arkansas pen show and here are my impulsive pen purchases!

- Grifos Sterling Silver Guilloche Gaudi with the Fibonacci sequence pattern fine nib

- Classic Pens CP5 Parker Duofold in Sterling Silver Guilloche LE 72/1888

- Grifos pocket pen

 

[A Smug Dill]

 

Yesterday:

• two LAMY cp1 with titanium oxide finish and Z50 polished steel F nibs
• a LAMY Joy calligraphy set with Z50 polished steel 1.1, 1.5, and 1.9 nibs, each supplied fitted onto its own feed, in three separate grip sections to fit one barrel
• a LAMY Safari Umbra with Z50 black PVD coated steel EF nib, primarily to harvest that black EF nib as it is the only common (excluding the Z58 rose gold) LAMY EF nib I don't have; the Safari Charcoal I got over ten years ago has a pen body that looks just like this one, but came fitted with a polished steel nib

Today:

• Sailor Profit Light in Shining Red with a 14K gold B nib — which completes my ‘library’ of Sailor's standard nib range (of seven different types and width grades) in ‘medium-sized’ 14K gold nibs, even though I've resisted for a long time getting a B nib just for the sake of completeness, when I have no expected use for it in real-life applications, and am no longer interested in doing nib comparisons that include broader width grades I don't personally like writing with

[senzen]

Greenish gray Mabie Todd Swan number 2 nib, apparently a 3230, at a very reasonable price... Couldn't resist.

 

 

 

[Junebe]

A Majohn A1, a Majohn A2 and a Pilot Cavalier.

 

The Pilot was not that impulsive, I have been tempted by it for a while and I expect to love it.

 

My excuse for the Majohn's is that I have a Cross ATX inked, and when closed it kind of resembles a Pilot Vanishing Point, and after toying with it a little I thought, "hey, I think I could write with this".😀

And so these two are coming home. (the Vanishing point is out of my comfort zone but could become a grail pen if I enjoy these two)

[Claes]

Ho-hum... a few days ago, my Amazone Prime membership would run out (and I did not feel like renewing it),

so I ordered four Wing Sung 3008.They have arrived, and yes, I like them...

Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden

 

[Doug C]

I have been waiting for the price to go down but it hasn't so far so I ordered a Uni Dive MP.