What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[christam]

  On 2/15/2021 at 7:46 PM, carola said:

 

Any chance of getting pictures?

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I'll see what the iPhone can do after the pen arrives - hopefully before the end of this week 😊

 

(I've got a decent camera but *cough* seem to have mislaid its battery charger!)

[christam]

Double post.  That's a first.

 

[MuddyWaters]

Lamy Safari in white and fine nib. Cheap amazon deal.

[A Smug Dill]

Pilot Custom 742 with an FA nib supported by an ebonite feed replacement.

 

I truly hated the FA nib on my Pilot Custom Heritage 912 — not that there was anything wrong with the pen itself ergonomically, and in fact I'd say it's a very comfortable pen to hold — and in sheer frustration from it not flexing ‘right’ for my writing in Chinese and Japanese (as it was designed to do, first and foremost), infamously ripped the nib out and then snapped it in two with my fingers. While I don't think it was a problem with the feed not conforming or keeping up, I always had the nagging doubt whether it was because I lacked the motor control and light touch two years ago to use the pen properly; but I was neither going to buy another one in factory condition, nor pay for international shipping to acquire an ebonite feed from Flexible Nib Factory. I have three Pilot Elabo pens, and am pretty happy with them, so why should I bother resolving that doubt now?

 

Lo and behold, a fellow member put up an ad yesterday afternoon for a used unit already fitted with a two-slit FNF feed replacement, just as I was looking to spend some money frivolously on yet another Sailor pen on eBay that I don't need. The price was right, and I don't care about the cosmetic condition of the pen when all I want is to know whether an FA nib would work better for me now. That's truly an impulsive buy.

[AmandaW]

Well, I've ordered one of the new TWSBI Eco in Smoke with rose gold trim. I won't be celebrating until it's here and proves itself to be a good one. (The vendors aren't allowed to check before they ship.)

 

My White Rose Gold Eco provides a very good writing experience and I want to know if it's the coating on the nib that makes the difference. That doesn't make sense because tipping is tipping, right?

 

 

[A Smug Dill]

  On 2/16/2021 at 12:58 AM, AmandaW said:

That doesn't make sense because tipping is tipping, right?

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In my experience, black nibs tend to write more dryly out-of-the-box and put down finer, more controlled lines than their silver-coloured siblings of the same width grade. It may have to do with ‘wettability’ of the metal once a coating has been applied. Furthermore, I think the coating on some black nibs actually cover the tipping as well.

[essayfaire]

  On 2/10/2021 at 5:50 AM, A Smug Dill said:

• More than a handful of Moonman 80 mini pens in different colours
  
  As I'm wont to do, I was looking for something other than what I was really shopping for to buy, just to pad my AliExpress order and qualify for free international shipping (even when it'd only be US$3 in postage!), and came across the Moonman 80 mini, which caught my eye the first time a long while back Before COVID Era, but I passed on it then because of absence of a supplied converter and also its requirement of non-standard ink cartridges (not any of 3.4mm-, 2.6mm- or 2.4mm-bore).
  
  By now, everyone on AliExpress seems to have sold out of the ‘lake blue’ resin body that has the same attractive lack of saturation as the first series in the Sailor Professional Gear Slim Mini re-release, and rarity makes the heart grow fonder; but I found one on eBay that's still a reasonable price including shipping, although it has a resin cap (which is OK by me) and the stupid arrow-shaped pen clip (which I dislike, because of Parker and even on a Parker, but especially on Chinese ‘imitations’ of an utter disappointment of a once-relevant brand), and only comes with a single short cartridge and no converter. I then found a seller on AliExpress selling the metal-capped versions (which thankfully have pen clips that aren't made to look like Parker's), who for whatever reason chose to split the total price for a pen and shipping 60-40, but allows for much lower incremental shipping per unit, so I was ‘incentivised’ to buy multiple units — one in each of the two colours remaining in stock, another as a metal cap donor for the lake blue pen, then one for my wife to carry in her handbag since she doesn't like risking her Sailor Professional Gear Slim Mini, and one to give away ‘randomly’ — because I'm just a sucker for ‘saving’ money on shipping.
   
• A bunch of cheap matt black Chinese pens — two Picasso 916 pens with different cap rings and different nibs, a HongDian 517D, a Kaco Edge (which regrettably has a silver-coloured fin of a pen clip)
   
• Two Jinhao 9035 pens, with rosewood and walnut finishes respectively
  
  I already know most pens with wooden bodies are bad on a scale of good-to-bad for cap seal effectiveness, but these look like they may have a metal inner shell under a thin wooden exterior shell in the pen cap; so, for less than US$10 all up for the pair, I'm willing to give them  a chance, after my terrible experience with the Moonman M6 (which I finally threw out in the trash yesterday).
   
• A Jinhao 51A with a maple barrel
  
  I already have Jinhao 51A pens with the other five types of wooden bodies, but I don't recall seeing the maple version when I was shopping for them 18 months ago. Oh, for the folly of completist tendencies!
   
• A bunch of Hero 329 pens sold in packs of ten
  
  One can't go too wrong for <US$11 inclusive of shipping for a pack of ten, and I want to see how fine (and scratchy or not) those nibs are, and whether the cap seal effectiveness is as good as on the Jinhao 51A.
   
• Another Moonman 800, this one in green (which seems to be the colour that is out of stock from most AliExpress sellers), fitted with a Moonman nib
   
• and a pile of loose/spare Wing Sung nibs, Jinhao nibs, Moonman nib units, etc.

… and, after all that, I didn't buy a single thing from ‘Bobby’ even though the intent to do so was what got me started. The practice of including a totally different product (e.g. bunch of converters only, or a single worthless pen sleeve in black felt) as an ‘option’ in an item listing, just so the price for the main product customers are searching for appears really low in order to gain position in the sorted-by-ascending-price list of results, is something I despise, especially when the seller's price is far, far higher than competitors', and with shipping not included besides. I was led up the garden path that way several times by his HongDian pen listings, and I could not find any pen (many listed above) in his shop for which I thought a good price or deal was on offer. Then, when I tried to put through the order for just the spare nibs (and just cop the shipping charges), the system said the item was not available, even though it continues to be listed as addable to one's cart refresh after refresh after the failed ordering process; rinse and repeat. Oh well.

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This is a complete nonsequiteur, but your voice doesn't seem to match the new default font... You most certainly require a serif!

[Lilian Z]

It depends. The most beautiful one is Kaweco AL Sport, but its EF nib is too scratchy. The one satisfies me most so far is Lamy Safari with a Fine nib. Smooth and lovely! Look forward to receiving my Savannah Green!

[Mrsnuffles]

A green Noodler's Ahab, and it was worth it. I currently have it inked up with Emerald of Chivor.

[writerlydoohickey]

A Skittles Gravitas fountain pen. Now the wait begins...

[mizgeorge]

  On 2/16/2021 at 8:03 AM, writerlydoohickey said:

A Skittles Gravitas fountain pen. Now the wait begins...

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They look such fun! And a great price too. 

[Bo Bo Olson]

  On 2/16/2021 at 3:24 AM, Mrsnuffles said:

A green Noodler's Ahab, and it was worth it. I currently have it inked up with Emerald of Chivor.

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 I have one of the reddish ones. It is a very hard semi-flex. I recommend doing the Ahab Mod/Pilot Mod to the nib...which you can look up in search. It is half moons ground into each side of the nib, either by dremil, or a Swiss round file.  A lot of that was done a while back, so there are enough threads.

Pictures will show you how much..........then the nib will be Easy Full Flex, the first stage of superflex and real fun to use....where as with an unmodified nib, it will become hard work in no time at all.

It don't have to be work....and won't be with the Ahab Mod.....same mod Pilot does to it's more flexible nibs.

 

In I had a 'lot' of  much softer semi-flex than the Ahab, so it sat around, until a pal did the Ahab Mod to the nib....was in use for quite a while............should dig it out again sometime soon.

 

Of course then you would have to learn to draw letters, for Copperplate or Spenserian...........and do as I say, and not as I don't do.

Learn to draw the letters,...with practice you can write with much line variation.

There are writing instruction manuals for free....somewhere on the com.

I have a Italic calligraphy book, .... that also shows how to draw letters, and that does also help, form letters with flexible nibs.

[MoriartyR]

I ordered the Leonardo Momento Zero Golden Rule model. De rigeur pen brand for forumites, limited edition, attractive swirly acrylic, red ebonite feed. It is essentially catnip for the impulse buyer.

It leaves me wondering, am I really so shallow that I buy a pen just because the feed is red? I guess so.

 

[inkstainedruth]

Depends on what color red it is?  

Of course I'm the one that sprang for the Sailor 1911S Wicked Witch and the 1911S Loch Ness Monster in the same order, because I couldn't decide which color I liked better.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Iron-Horse]

All of them!...

[writerlydoohickey]

  On 2/16/2021 at 11:08 AM, mizgeorge said:

They look such fun! And a great price too. 

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Exactly why I got one! They look really tough, and the maker told me that he designed it in such a way that the nib won't dry out easily.

[Bo Bo Olson]

  On 2/16/2021 at 11:05 PM, MoriartyR said:

It leaves me wondering, am I really so shallow that I buy a pen just because the feed is red? I guess so.

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That beats California Red beer, adding tomato juice to it.........why I didn't know and wasn't going to waste sacred beer money to find out.

This could be out of date...the late '60-early '70's was fairly strange as was.

I don't have any red feeds, but once had nice Wearevers with clear feeds to tell you....you are indeed out of ink.....

The upper class Wearevers were @ as good as Easties.

[mizgeorge]

  On 2/17/2021 at 7:07 AM, writerlydoohickey said:

Exactly why I got one! They look really tough, and the maker told me that he designed it in such a way that the nib won't dry out easily.

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I'll be very interested to know your opinions on it when it arrives. I confess to being sorely tempted.

[rkesey]

  On 2/16/2021 at 11:05 PM, MoriartyR said:

I ordered the Leonardo Momento Zero Golden Rule model. De rigeur pen brand for forumites, limited edition, attractive swirly acrylic, red ebonite feed. It is essentially catnip for the impulse buyer.

It leaves me wondering, am I really so shallow that I buy a pen just because the feed is red? I guess so.

 

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I've heard it's beautiful--hope you'll post pictures when it gets there!

[mauckcg]

Pen Chalet has a series of Leonardo Momento Zero's with black cap, section, and blind cap with a colored barrel.  I bought one in the past in their red ebonite and love it.  Now they have a green ebonite version for preorder.  I couldn't stop myself...