Bexley New Style Prometheus In Raspberry-Black Ebonite

[lovemy51]

This is what you hath wroght upon me Bob...

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/310355-a-collection-of-bexley-pens/page-2?do=findComment&comment=3717696

 

your Bexley collection sickens me, sir!!!

[Chrissy]

That is an amazing review Bob, thanks for showing us your fabulous pen and your excellent handwriting.

 

I have one Bexley pen. It's a black America the Beautiful with an 18ct stub nib, and I love it. I bought it in the Classifieds on here.

 

Maybe I should investigate buying another.

[Barry Gabay]

Happy New Year, Bob!

 

What an excellent review. Thank you for sharing your clear & detailed insights into the pen & its performance. Your review is comprehensive and enlightening. Your photographs and handwriting are, as usual, exceptional. I own several of Howard Levy's pens, including two Prometheus (agate, bronze pearl). They feel comfortable, sturdy, and perform perfectly, as you described yours doing. Thanks for once again teaching me things about a pen I already own but hadn't observed.

 

I agree with your view of Howard and his professional roots. He does work in the tradition of great American Midwest innovators who saw a need and created a functional and beautiful product to fulfill it, resulting in a pen which radiates quality and refinement. They really are exceptional fountain pens.

 

Finally, I agree with several of the above posters who praise your writing. It is a real pleasure to read. You should consider writing for one of those printed "rags" people peddle, the ones which feature fountain pens and other writing toys.

 

Thanks again. See you in Raleigh once things thaw a bit.

Barry

[bobje]

You're too kind, Barry, and your own writing is so illuminating and comprehensive. Really enjoyed the Chinese pens piece in Pen World. Thank you.

[MLJinAK]

WOW! I've been shopping for a Bexley, this may take the cake, phenomenal review! Thank you!

[Komboloi]

Well as a new owner of a Bexley Prometheus in raspberry - black ebonite I agree 100% with Bob's review. (I fact I bought this pen based on his review)

 

The pen is beautiful, workmanship is first class and the nib is smooth as butter.

 

This is my first Bexley but won't be my last.

 

Thaks for reviewing this pen Bobje

 

I ended up doing the same thing. I have a Bexley Monarch I like very much, and I have an Edison Glenmont in that "raspberry" and black ebonite wood-grain that is lovely to look at and hold.

 

So when I saw Bobje's review, I went to the Bexley site and saw a clutch of pre-production New Prometheus pens but no mention of production. I exchanged emails with Howard, and three days later I had a raspberry and black ebonite New Prometheus in my hands. Stunningly beautiful pen. I can't keep looking at it, turning it over, screwing and unscrewing the cap. And the medium Jowo-made nib writes beautifully in this pen. It's all so very light and yet solid and organic feeling.

 

Thanks, Bobje, for the fine review. If the rabbit hole be deep, best that someone who knows where to go leads the way.

Edited January 11, 2017 by Komboloi

[mcorrea]

All of this mention of screwing and unscrewing and no pen porn?

 

C'mon!

[Kevan]

I have one too. Just a superb pen to hold, feel, write with. I'm no stranger to ebonite, with several great Indian-made pens, but the particular ebonite that Bexley chose for this really resembles woodgrain, and works very well with the acrylic. Everything works on the pen. Everything. If only this thing was a piston-filler, I'd retire from pen-buying and sell off the bulk of my collection. It is near-perfect. And even for my smallish hands, it's still comfy despite being "oversized."

[Cryptos]

 

Man, my handwriting sucks!

 

Noodler's BSAR on TR cream paper.

[Cryptos]

Addendum.

 

The nib pulled out very easily from the Prometheus - easier than stealing fire I guess. Anyway, pulling the nib from a Jowo nib unit was a lot more effort, but in the end I managed to remove an xxf two-tone ruthenium/steel nib and whack it in the pen.

 

Now I am a happy EoC! The pen has just earned itself a permanent place here. Not often I get a win, but there it is. Going to order an architect, 1.5mm crisp italic and a gold xxf from my favourite grinder now.

[JemC]

I've mentioned it before somewhere, but the standard Bock Titanium nib actually fits in the Bexley Prometheus, in its own housing.

Clearly the Bexley (JoWo?) and Bock housings have different threads, but the Bock still manages to thread in perfectly to the section of the Prometheus.

You might have to source a different converter? It looks like the one in here is from Levenger (who knows which original mfg. Probably Schmidt. But Schmidt makes more than one style.)

Anyway, throwing a Titanium nib into the Prometheus really cranks this to a top tier pen for me. Glad others in this thread are having similar experiences.

[Cryptos]

Bit confused now. The Bexley Prometheus nib unit unscrews? And a Bock 250 unit will screw right into the Bexley section? So there is no need to pull the nib and feed if swapping to a Bock?

[bbs]

Saw this at the top of the Review forum, had a look, and Bob, you've just helped Howard to sell another of these, great review!

 

Very interested to hear that a Bock titanium nib will fit, do like those.

[JemC]

Yeah EoC, it's just a standard nib unit in there; it should screw right out. It looks like a JoWo unit to me. But the section is threaded such that the standard bock 250 housing that these Titanium nibs come in will screw perfectly into the section.

It's worked on both of the Prometheuses (Prometheii?) that I have.

[bobje]

EoC,

really glad to hear you liked it.

 

JemC,

the Bock nib unit compatibility is a remarkable piece of news, and marks more kudos for Bexley's design expertise.

[JemC]

Bobje, I'm not sure how much it was intentional design versus happenstance , but it's another great aspect about this pen either way.

[Frank66]

JemC, this is a remarkable modification, thanks for sharing with us. Titanium nibs are awesome, I have had the pleasure of fitting a 250 Bock housing with an EF Titanium nib in my humble Kaigelu 316 and can attest to the joy of using such a nib.

At the risk of being completely wrong, may I add that IMHO it appears that both housings that you show in your picture above (post #51) are both Bock housings, as the #6 Jowo housings are ~0.7 mm slimmer than Bock housings. [*footnote 1]. The one on the left that came with the Bexley pen seems like a 250 Bock kit-compatible housing, and the one on the right that came with the Titanium nib is same size, standard, Bock's own kitless housing. Bock makes 2 different housings depending if it is for a kit pen or a kitless custom pen.[*footnote 2]

Not that it really matters though, since the end results is what counts, and I would like to congratulate you on this modification and thank you once again for sharing with us.

I have to say that, personally I am especially prejudiced in favor of Bexley pens, not only because they are great pens, but also because they bring memories to me from my Alma Mater, as I used to live closed by Bexley pens when I was a graduate student at Ohio State in Columbus. Sorry I did not know them at the time. You just have to forgive me for adding this little personal note...

Footnotes

1. For comparison purposes, figures of both Jowo and Bock nibs can be found here: http://www.beaufortink.co.uk/bocksize6.html and here: http://www.fpnibs.com/en/56-size-6-jowo

2. Concerning the difference between kit vs kitless Bock housings , please refer to post #10 by Phil_Dart found here: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/308681-bock-italic-nibs

''.. . Mainly, the kit-compatible housings are for those who enjoy making pens on a lathe using commercially available pen kits as a platform.... The kitless are also the most popular housings for those who make custom pens either professionally of as a hobby, and it is these housings with which our housing thread taps are compatible....'' Phil_Dart

Edited January 19, 2017 by Frank66

[JemC]

Frank, you might very well be right about the housing. To my eye, the nib itself looks like a JoWo. There are so many different housings they make, and have made, that I wouldn't be surprised either way.

[Aditkamath26]

 

Ebonite is a wonderful material for pens, combining lightweight solidity with a warm texture that absorbs moisture without becoming clammy. It's an irregular material that lends itself well to the fountain pen, an analog technology that hasn’t changed much in 50 years. Most of my ebonite pens originated in India, and they all write well and display an understated, old-fashioned integrity.

 

But the Bexley Prometheus is as American -- and as Midwestern -- as a Ford Mustang (Michigan) and a Cessna Citation (Kansas). Or a Rawlings baseball mitt (Missouri). Bexley was founded in 1993 in Columbus, Ohio, by Howard Levy and other pen people who say their inspiration comes from classic designs from the first half of the 20th century. The Prometheus was first offered in the mid-2000s as a piston-filler with a gigantic, no. 8 Bock nib in 18-carat gold. Bexley appears to be gearing up for a re-release of a cartridge-converter version of the Prometheus in fall 2016, and recently sold several developmental pens in acrylic, ebonite, and celluloid material, equipped with a large, no. 6 Jowo steel nib.

 

This particular Prometheus is made from raspberry-and-black-colored woodgrain ebonite. I now own two Bexley pens – the Prometheus and a Gaston special edition in a Tibaldi rosso-verde celluloid. This limited experience leaves me with three impressions: Bexley knows how to select, machine, and finish gorgeous material; how to ship an unbelievably smooth nib; and how to find and incorporate excellent pen furniture.

 

The fine-grain material used in this Prometheus is the most uniform rendition of non-uniform ebonite that I’ve ever seen. I don’t know the source, whether it’s some classy version of ebonite ordinarily used in pipe stems and clarinet mouthpieces, but this material finishes up so smoothly that it cannot possibly fall in the economy category. The color is a quiet brownish-red that resembles mahogany.

 

The gold-plated pen furniture displays depth, weight, and finish that suggest durability. The clip looks like a sturdy gold sword, the kind of double-edged blade Prometheus might have used in the theft of fire on Olympus. Two gold rings decorate the barrel, and there’s one on the cap. One of the barrel rings appears to separate the section from the barrel, decorating the cap. But this is an elegant illusion – the ring actually divides the section at the threads, and doesn’t even touch the cap. The three rings also divide the pen in two nearly equal portions, and separate the black acrylic cap and finial from the ebonite.

 

Finally, the nib defines smoothness. If you like a toothy nib, one with some feedback, my Bexley experience suggests that you have two choices: buy a pen from someone else, or rough up your nib.

 

It’s tough to come up with things I don’t like about the pen. It’s largish, in the girthy sense. Most of its dimensions are almost identical to a Lamy Safari, but the barrel, cap, and section are considerably thicker. The section is about 13 millimeters in diameter, a little sturdier than I’m used to, but doesn’t require much adjustment in the way I hold it. Sometimes it’s a little hard to find the sweet spot on the broad nib, but I’ve noticed that I rotate this pen more than others. Maybe it’s the girth, I don’t know, but once I find the sweet spot, it stays in place.

 

The camphor aroma of the Bexley Gaston in rosso-verde celluloid is soothing and lovely. But the ebonite Prometheus is odorless, a good thing, because it doesn’t smell like burned rubber.

 

The material, design, and construction of the Bexley Prometheus make you say, “I didn’t know they made them like that anymore.” But they do. If anyone today is building on the legacy of pens with integrity, born in the American Midwest, started by George Parker in Janesville, Wisconsin, and Walter Sheaffer in Fort Madison, Iowa, it’s Howard Levy, in Columbus, Ohio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lovely review, lovely pen and lovely handwriting.

[Kevan]

Regarding nib-swapping, I just tried this on my new Prometheus last night. The nib unit does NOT screw out, but you CAN pull the nib and feed straight out and swap if you wish. Perhaps mine just needs some extra "encouragement" to screw out, but it may indeed be glued in there. I wasn't going to force it, lest I break something.

 

The nib is Jowo alright, but the feed is different from all other Jowo nib units I have. I have no clue what's going on. Perhaps the "Prometheus" is, aptly, a "Frankenpen."