Don't Just Tell Us About The Pen You're Using *show* Us!, 2017

[eliweisz]

I adore your block capitals and I hereby request you post a video of you actually writing. I'd love to see your mastery at work.

 

Thanks a lot. Video is something I have to learn, but as soon as...

[Penman222]

Pilot Vanishing Point. 18K medium nib, Private Reserve American Blue ink.

 

[Guardy]

Everybody needs a trip to Spain, it seems. I'd like to go there, the sooner the better. But if you don't want to ship internationally, Saar Pen can take care of your nibs and leaks. Their price list is more "serious" than that of FPnibs, although.

--

"Lacking sense of self-preservation", you say? Exactly the case of Ms. Johnson who started taking lessons at flight school just because she wanted to die (sad love story, etc.). And she died flying, a decade and a half later, defending her country.

--

Inspired by ...? Can't believe I can inspire someone. Nice shots and great ink. Regarding your other post: yes, this Mighty Roo of yours really has a stubbish nib! Mine lays down a "regular" line with minimum variation.

Thanks for the suggestion! I guess I'll just have to decide if the money is worth the lack of shipping hassle, hah

--

That's both fascinating and tragic - though you could say that she attained a sort of immortality along the way.

--

You have some serious photography skills, it's hard not be inspired by that.

And yep, I got pretty lucky with that 'Roo. Alas, that nib calls for a pretty big handwriting, and the bigger I write, the worse my handwriting gets. Lack of practice, I suppose - my usual handwriting has letter heights of around 2.5 to 5 mm and I have to almost double that to get nice results with that nib. Ah well, I guess I'll just have to work on that.

 

 

Pilot Vanishing Point. 18K medium nib, Private Reserve American Blue ink.

 

That is a gorgeous shade of yellow.

 

-

 

Not a very good or interesting picture today, but...

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n522/Guardevoir/DSC_0219_1.jpg

 

The Parker was today's main writing utensil, the Staedtler is something I'm currently working on. Something's not quite right with that nib in a way I've never seen before, and I'm trying to figure out what it is and how I can fix it.

With my usual writing pressure (namely almost none), there's almost no ink flow (but in a weird way that makes the line it draws look like it was drawn with a crayon, almost), but press a tiny bit harder and it's a total gusher. Trying to adjust the nib has been futile so far. It's a shame, because the nib is a very fun semi-flex KF nib (the K part is pretty fun, the F part isn't exactly true; it's pretty much a straight up M nib) and the pen is in reasonably good shape, too. It does have two cracks in the cap, but thanks to the cap construction (that cap band goes very far up on the inside, then it's followed by metal threads and then the inner cap) the cracks are stable and don't cause any dry-out, so who cares.

 

I also got to use dad's best Graf von Faber-Castell pen today, because I had to de-clog and generally clean the thing. It cleaned out exceedingly easily, I'll give it that, but I genuinely didn't like the nib, look or feel of it. It's a pretty nice feeling, using an excellently made pen and being able to honestly say that you prefer your own, far more humble pens by miles and miles. No pictures for that one, alas - I really should have taken some; the thing had a very nice-looking nib.

[swordofthedove]

Thanks for the suggestion! I guess I'll just have to decide if the money is worth the lack of shipping hassle, hah

--

That's both fascinating and tragic - though you could say that she attained a sort of immortality along the way.

--

You have some serious photography skills, it's hard not be inspired by that.

And yep, I got pretty lucky with that 'Roo. Alas, that nib calls for a pretty big handwriting, and the bigger I write, the worse my handwriting gets. Lack of practice, I suppose - my usual handwriting has letter heights of around 2.5 to 5 mm and I have to almost double that to get nice results with that nib. Ah well, I guess I'll just have to work on that.

 

 

That is a gorgeous shade of yellow.

 

-

 

Not a very good or interesting picture today, but...

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n522/Guardevoir/DSC_0219_1.jpg

 

The Parker was today's main writing utensil, the Staedtler is something I'm currently working on. Something's not quite right with that nib in a way I've never seen before, and I'm trying to figure out what it is and how I can fix it.

With my usual writing pressure (namely almost none), there's almost no ink flow (but in a weird way that makes the line it draws look like it was drawn with a crayon, almost), but press a tiny bit harder and it's a total gusher. Trying to adjust the nib has been futile so far. It's a shame, because the nib is a very fun semi-flex KF nib (the K part is pretty fun, the F part isn't exactly true; it's pretty much a straight up M nib) and the pen is in reasonably good shape, too. It does have two cracks in the cap, but thanks to the cap construction (that cap band goes very far up on the inside, then it's followed by metal threads and then the inner cap) the cracks are stable and don't cause any dry-out, so who cares.

 

I also got to use dad's best Graf von Faber-Castell pen today, because I had to de-clog and generally clean the thing. It cleaned out exceedingly easily, I'll give it that, but I genuinely didn't like the nib, look or feel of it. It's a pretty nice feeling, using an excellently made pen and being able to honestly say that you prefer your own, far more humble pens by miles and miles. No pictures for that one, alas - I really should have taken some; the thing had a very nice-looking nib.

 

Did you check for baby's bottom? if the pen continues writing well for a while after you press down, but needs to be pressed again after a few seconds of not writing, its probably baby's bottom. If it needs to be pressed all the time, than the tines are probably either pressed to tightly together (not an uncommon problem with flex nibs) or misaligned.

That staedtler is truly gorgeous!

[Guardy]

Did you check for baby's bottom? if the pen continues writing well for a while after you press down, but needs to be pressed again after a few seconds of not writing, its probably baby's bottom. If it needs to be pressed all the time, than the tines are probably either pressed to tightly together (not an uncommon problem with flex nibs) or misaligned.

That staedtler is truly gorgeous!

I did, but couldn't find anything, and the symptoms don't quite fit - all my other pens with baby's bottoms (and oh boy, I wish that wasn't such a common issue, because it's a pain to fix) skip completely and are hard starters, while this one *always* writes from the first stroke on, just with very little ink.

 

The tines also don't seem misaligned. I do think they might be too tight, but the nib doesn't seem to hold its shape no matter what I do, and I don't want to force anything, either. Maybe it's just something about the nib grind in general - I pretty much learned how to write using a Lamy ABC with an A nib (which is essentially a KM nib for kids) and I seem to remember that that one was a bit on the wonky side as well.

 

It really is a pretty little pen, though - there's just one itty bitty problem with those old 50's piston fillers...

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n522/Guardevoir/Pen%20and%20Writing%20Stuff/DSC_0249.jpg

...try grabbing the right one in a hurry!

(bonus: all three pens are among my most used ones, and I actually did write with every single one of them today, so they even belong in this thread )

 

/EDIT: oh, and bonus #2 - three pens, three brands*, presumably one decade. And we blame the Chinese for copying designs...

 

*most likely, although one of them is unbranded and may be a frankenpen, so who knows what that is

Edited March 26, 2017 by Guardy

[perfaddict]

[Cryptos]

Still scratching around for something decent. No luck yet.

 

 

Soz 'bout rubbish pics. Tiring day.

[the_gasman]

 

 

This was the nib that caused my metamorphosis from someone that possessed a Lamy Vista and an Al Star, both with medium nibs because it had never occured to me to use anything else, to a sad individual with an expensive lust hobby.

 

I see the world with OBB eyes nowadays.

 

Cheers,

David.

 

[rob-k]

Object Constancy

As to the MB ink in my previous post with the Franklin Christoph P66, hm?

Good question. I bought that bottle more than 20 years ago ... 25 possibly.

The label reveals nothing and my memory isn't as good as it used to be.

Blue-Green? Turquoise? Not a clue.

That was not the last drop. Just a little sacrificial splash onto the receding glacier in my driveway for the sake a pretty picture.

The ink in the P66 is not the ink in the bottle. That pen was inked with Akkerman Hofvijier Grijs. The Pelikan 400 here is also inked with the same Akkerman.

Edited March 27, 2017 by rob-k

[the_gasman]

 

Nice bokeh: it focuses attention on the business end of a beautiful pen.

 

Cheers,

David.

[Inky.Fingers]

[the_gasman]

Whoa! Interesting TWSffer there, Inky Fingers.

 

 

 

My awful photography makes the pen body look black but it is an attractive dark blue (it would compliment blue-black ink).

 

Shall I post the "anatomy" picture anywhere else, or are the internals of the Sheaffer pens widely known?

 

Cheers,

David.

[TheRealMikeDr]

Using a Parker Challenger, circa 1938, and a Nakaya Portable Writer, circa 2016:

 

http://i.imgur.com/W7jB8qf.jpg

[rob-k]

David, thanks.

 

LOL.The bokeh is not provided by the Nikon 50mm f2.0 RF lens seen in the background, nor from a similar Leica Summicron or Canon lens, but rather courtesy of my humble hand-me-down iPhone (still clad in the pink floral print Lilly Pulitzer case that my wife used when the phone was hers).

 

As with pens, even modest tools can produce awfully nice results once you figure out how to seize their capabilities (I'm still far from that goal).

 

Anyway, without mounting a cumbersome Visoflex on my aging M8, nothing in my small collection of cameras can focus quite as close as that iPhone 6.

 

I don't pretend to know what I'm doing, but I do have often have great fun doing it. The light is always there. We just need to actually notice it and then figure out how to record it the way we see it. Much like handwriting, the words are out there (or waiting to be coined); the devil is figuring out which ones to commit to the page and in which order so that they actually mean something.

Edited March 28, 2017 by rob-k

[Heldin]

I just inked up my Lamy 2K with Montblanc Lavender Purple, an ink that came in the mail today.

 

http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z480/Heldinnen/FE1BC91D-EF61-48F6-A3E0-438F9E347BD9_zps51mn1or2.jpg

 

http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z480/Heldinnen/BDF54650-99FE-4450-B1D9-F609AC526383_zpsal0s1ym7.jpg

 

I'm very happy with the color

[rob-k]

Rainy Day Dream Away

MB 149 circa 1980s ... Akkerman No. 26 Groenmakt Smaragd

Edited March 28, 2017 by rob-k

[Diderot]

 

Object Constancy

As to the MB ink in my previous post with the Franklin Christoph P66, hm?

Good question. I bought that bottle more than 20 years ago ... 25 possibly.

The label reveals nothing and my memory isn't as good as it used to be.

Blue-Green? Turquoise? Not a clue.

That was not the last drop. Just a little sacrificial splash onto the receding glacier in my driveway for the sake a pretty picture.

The ink in the P66 is not the ink in the bottle. That pen was inked with Akkerman Hofvijier Grijs. The Pelikan 400 here is also inked with the same Akkerman.

 

 

Lovely image.

Me Leica - sorry I couldn't resist it.

I assume it is an M, but can't tell which.

[attika89]

http://kephost.com/images/2017/03/28/IMG_20170328_185322_214.jpg

[rob-k]

Diderot, fun pun. Glad you like-a. The camera in the background is a Nikon S2 rangefinder. I'm mostly a Leica guy. But iPhones have gotten so damned good ... well, you know the story.

Edited March 28, 2017 by rob-k

[Inky.Fingers]

Thanks David.

Dang those Lamy ... I could never get them to write like that! Thanks Attila

 

Here's another Amberlea's perfect pen. LOVELY. Thanks Amberlea. This one heading back to you.