A Silly Question

[ardene]

I have a rather stupid question to ask. When you refer to a nib being a nail, do you mean that the nib is rigid, thick and inflexible as the lower end Parker nibs (e.g. vector)?

[LizEF]

Yes, it means the nib is very stiff. If you try to make it give a little, it will refuse (or bend if you insist strongly enough).

[PAKMAN]

+1

[Bo Bo Olson]

Manifold is a truer name, but I use nail....in a nail bends as much. It doesn't spread it's tines...1X tine spread....unless someone is using it as a temporary jack hammer. Then the nib will be sprung......some folks coming directly from ball points have done that trick.

 

Semi-nail, if well pressed will spread it's tines 2X, like a Parker 75, or modern Pelikan 400&600.

 

Regular flex, use to be a normal issue for fountain pens, back in vintage and semi-vintage times. Is seldom today.....a Pelikan 200 is such a nib. If well mashed will spread it's tines 3 X.....too hard to write with when so mashed.

There are Esterbrook nibs that are regular flex.

It is a soft springy ride.

 

Semi-flex is for much later....will spread it's tines to 3 X, with half the pressure of a well mashed regular flex. (I suggest having a regular flex nib pen, before moving up to semi-flex.)

 

Regular flex is being dryer than a wetter semi-flex, often better for two toned shading inks.

For two toned shading inks you need good to better paper....better than 80g copy paper is 90g.

Edited July 2, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

[ardene]

Thank you all for your replies.

 

"some folks coming directly from ball points have done that trick. :o" - That's sad. Amusingly sad, but still sad.

 

"Semi-nail, if well pressed will spread it's tines 2X, like a Parker 75, or modern Pelikan 400&600". - I can imagine what this means, I have an old Lady Duofold with a noticeably elastic nib. I do not want to exercise any undue pressure on it though. Truth be told I do not care to write in flex - I have no desire to attempt to reproduce the Coca-Cola logo. But I am interested in knowing how flex writing happens and what pens might do it. I've seen some posts here where people upload video links with pens from the sides of the nibs of which circular sections have been removed.

 

"Regular flex is being dryer than a wetter semi-flex, often better for two toned shading inks.

For two toned shading inks you need good to better paper....better than 80g copy paper is 90g". Another useful piece of information to know. Well, I'm kind of boring, using my limited set of pens (4 Parkers here at home now) to write notes, poetry and plain nonsense for the fun of it in no other inks than Quink blue and Waterman serenity blue (purchased especially for the Duofold). The paper I use is a thin (60 gsm) recycled lined pad with 300 A4 sheets I bought cheap from the supermarket. Nothing fancy really. All my pens write reliably on it.

Edited July 3, 2018 by ardene

[Bo Bo Olson]

In @ 1970 the Golden Age of Fountain pens died....at least what I consider the better nibs and better balanced pens.

By 1980 the Golden Age of Paper passed.

We are now living in The Golden Age of Ink.

Inks need better papers to dance the Tango on....

 

Semi-flex....is not a "FLEX" pen....it is an almost...barely flex pen...........in the three X flex set of regular flex, semi-flex and maxi-semi-flex.

 

To do Coke logo you need Superflex (4, 5 6X or the rare 7X tine spread...a wold of difference counting the less pressure needed to spread the tines) or wide Italic nibs.

Sort of semi-flex vs Super Flex.

 

Semi-flex is a soft writing nib that gives you that old fashioned fountain pen flair; with out you having to do anything.......................no hanging on the Chandlers or looking for H. Potter spells.

 

I'd never use recycled paper....in no one knows what sort of junk is in it.....pieces of plastic, old poisonous cereal boxes, instead of clean, pure wood and cotton or sugarcane.

 

Parkers are as far as I know out side the semi-nail P-75 mostly nails....manifold nibs.....well all of mine are but three---have @ 8. Most not used because of that.

Because Parker had to compete with Swan as did Sheaffer in their English or Commonwealth factories, the nibs are different. I have an English Jr. Doufold that is semi-flex and an English P-45 that is regular flex .........(I believe in the States the P-45 was a nail....but an not a Parker expert. My Australian Snorkel is a factory BB stub in maxi-semi-flex :yikes: .........which stopped me in my casual search for a rare '50's semi-flex Snorkel.

 

What widths do are your nibs.?...............B can be spiffy.

 

I don't know what Waterman's old South Sea Blue is now called, but it is a very nice shading turquoise.....I recommend it.

 

Now to paper......you do need some good to better paper....you are from Greece.

Look in your department stores for some Oxford Optic 90g or Clairefontaine Velot` 90g spiral notebooks. Both are very good economical papers, that will shade with an ink that shades. I have both and they are tied for =.

Printing paper.....smooth....90-100g, will cost you twice as much or more, but a 500 sheet ream will last for years.

 

Do not use Ink Jet paper, it because it needs to absorb ink jet ink fast, causes fountain pen ink to feather.

Laser-ink jet is a compromise....some work, but I always wonder how good the paper would be if pure laser.

 

I just got some smooth Papyyrus Color Copy 100g laser and ink jet that surprised me...it was as good as the saleswoman in my B&M...brick and mortar told me it would be. E 5.99 for 100 sheets was a tad expensive....but it's well worth trying. And again....it's too good to stick in a printer.....so would last you 6 months to a year. Get the smooth one, not the matt.

That allows the ink to dry on top of the paper, giving you two tones...to your next ink Inspired Blue, which use to be the South Sea Blue I told you about.

 

As a qualified Enabler ....it is my sworn duty.....to aid you empty your wallet so you too can have lots of fun....watching your ink Tango on good paper.

Edited July 3, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

[ardene]

Dear Bo Bo,

 

Thank you very much for the extensive information.

 

Indeed it seems that we live in the golden age of ink. I might be in the mood to experiment a bit with inks. I bought the serenity blue only because I got a relatively cheap Lady Duofold on ebay (because of some noticeable discoloration and a missing ring at the top). Otherwise I've always used Quink cartridges because I've been writing regularly with fountain pens since a young age and I needed to replace a cartridge fast in a classroom. Now I do not write so much on paper at work, so a filled converter is never going to run empty in the middle of my note-taking when away from home, but the habit of using cartridges only stuck. I have a pre-2016 Parker IM which I got cheap (5 pounds) this spring and two converters which came with a now rather old Vector flighter I have, so I think of experimenting with colours a bit at some point. The said IM is at this moment carrying a piston converter and it is inked with serenity blue from the bottle.

 

I am Greek, but I live in the UK. I will look up the papers you mentioned, but this cheap thin thing is reliable enough. It has been bleached during production, it's not carton-like. A picture of it, along with the Duofold and the Vector is at the bottom of the first post in my introduction thread: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/337583-hello-from-exeter/?do=findComment&comment=4075320

Rhodia paper is -almost- ubiquitous in online stores. I am thinking of buying an A4 lined pad at some point, but it costs more than a bottle of either Waterman or Quink (any colour).

 

I do not have a printer at home, and anyway, I write at an angle on plain white paper -usually various angles as I change body posture in the 3-10 minutes it takes to fill in an A4 page. The predominant kind of printer paper I find here which is not prohibitively expensive is rather thin. In Greece it's usually thicker printer paper you will find around, but I don't intend to carry some extra kilograms in my suitcase for this purpose.

 

You asked about the size of my pen's nibs. I have a medium wet pre-2016 Urban, a medium not so wet, but still not hardstarting IM, a fine Vector flighter which writes like medium with blue or blue-black Quink cartridges on it, and the fine-medium Duofold, which is the finest of them all. I'm a nail lover as you can see; they can take so much abuse.

 

Thanks again for all the information!

[Bo Bo Olson]

Your Lady Duofold is prettier than expected. I know very, very little about Parkers.

Is that an English Parker....and from when?

 

I have an English Parker Jr. Duofold from the '50's that is semi-flex....a big surprise to me.

 

To me and I think many others it's not just about writing....in a ball point does that. It's about adding some flair, for your self. A bit of fun; what mood am I in today?

Do I want to play with my box of 64 crayons?

 

Well, besides that fountain pens are much easier on the hand than ball points. Ball point pain is removed, with a fountain pen floating lightly on & over a small puddle of ink. Instead of plowing the south 40, with out a mule...like with a ball point. Fountain pens take the work out of writing......and one can scribble for the hell of it.....just because the ink is pretty; and matches one's mood.

 

 

xxxxxxxxxxx

"""it's not carton-like......."""

 

Of course not, it's been mashed up pretty well....but what is in it? Mixed junk from the paper trash cans, compacted cardboard from the stores.....and any sort of junk,and bits of plastic or what ever that lands in a paper trash can or compactor.

 

You are not saving the world with substandard for fountain pen paper.....good enough for ball points; if the ball is damaged, so what.

It is possible to damage fountain pen nibs with recycled paper...........some folks have had that happen because of junk in the paper. Certain printed matter, like cereal boxes have poison in the advertising inks. Why have it in what you write on?

 

Most white paper has been bleached. Some are bleached whiter than white.

Some folks say some papers are 'too' white.

 

There is other papers that are ivory or creme that are nice.....for much later.

I do hope you can find some Oxford Optic 90g.

An F or a M is good for shading inks.

 

I find cartridges to be very expensive. Converters are convenient in one has a much wider choice of ink colors and hues....less ink than many cartridges.

 

We have a great Ink Review section....so if there is any color you like, it's there.

I had absolutely no want to buy a green ink..........in I was then collecting purple inks....had/have some 8-9...all a tad different...even have three or four violet inks.

There was this 1/2 bottle of the now discontinued Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Green on sale.....it shaded.

 

In the space of the very next year I ended up buying some 14 green-greenish inks. Now have 19.

 

There are very nice sepia inks, a great array of browns, from light to dark, chestnut and what have you.

Many shades and hues of blue.....I must have 8-9 of them too. If I had my way...$$$ would like 3-4 that I'm missing.

 

Well only have one black ink....in I'm retired and have no need for the near full bottle.It was the second bottle I bought when I came back to fountain pens a decade ago.

 

Orange, yellow....one bottle of each....and a couple cartridges of orange from a couple companies.

Grey inks!!!!!! Ha......write like a pencil, in ink. I've got a couple of them....one with glitter in it. It's not like I'm into gray inks.....one was dark pencil, the other a tad too light.

 

With 50-60 bottles of ink and 10 packs of cartridges and some loose ones.....I'm really almost a 'noobie' with ink.

Some folks have 2-300 or more. In you can buy samples, so don't have to buy a full bottle.

 

Waterman has 8 colors in ink cartridges....in case you want to try that Inspired Blue. They will fit in your Parkers...

Parker and Waterman share a factory in France and have for ages.....other Parkers are made in China.

Edited July 3, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

[ardene]

Sounds wonderful to have an array of inks to choose from!

 

I might try a few more of them. Indeed some greens appear wonderful. I am very satisfied with the vibrant deep blue hue of the serenity blue, cartridge Quink blue doesn't seem to cut it, although I would expect them to be similar as a result of some of their operations being merged by their common owner. I am somehow not at all warm to the idea of using brown ink... But never say never. I would like to write long pages in blinding bright artery-blood red for some reason. I have seen people report that red inks can be cloggy though. I've had a bad experience with Quink black, which clogged the vector flighter I mentioned earlier. I needed repeated rinsing under the tap to get the section to work. I rinsed it before use ten days ago and I was still getting some coal-coloured water with a golden halo around it on the tissue paper.

 

Have you found any of the violet inks you have used to tend to clog a pen? What is your experience with the orange ones?

 

I agree that grey ink somehow doesn't cut it.

 

Waterman long cartridges are a bit expensive, the Quink standard ones not so much. They sell for 2.70 to 2.80 pounds per pack of five (with free post costs if you order above 20 pounds). With one cartridge I can write close to 15 pages, depending on the season and the room temperature.

 

About having an extended ink collection, say more than five or so, price is a big factor, but it's not the only one. Houses in England are generally small; there isn't much space. In addition, the house I live in has a number of advantages, i.e. it's close to the centre of the city, to bus stops, and to an array of different supermarkets which is good if you don't have a car like me, but it was built in 1815 and the floors are wooden with similarly old wood. I can only tell you one thing: fungi live in the wood. The house is close to river Exe, and in the winter I have to clean this or that colourful fungus growth from the windows quite often. There are definitely quite a few fungus spores in the air at all times in this house, I can tell you!

 

Back to paper, you're right, recycled notepad paper won't save the world. Amazon UK has some Oxford Optic paper listings but the prices range from 12 to 22 pounds (a good price for Rhodia is around 5.50). I got the Waterman ink for 5.35 with postage included in the price. What's more, a number of Oxford notebooks are referred as "unavailable" or "temporarily unavailable".

Edited July 4, 2018 by ardene

[Bo Bo Olson]

Well the first thing you need for cleaning C/C pens is a rubber baby syringe bulb. You can clean your pen out of old ink in 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Then put the pen in a bit of paper towel and shake it like a old time thermometer. Let the pen set in the wrapped paper towel in a cup for 1-4 hours to weep out the rest of the ink.....that is always there.

 

I don't understand how Amazon don't have the paper, and why it cost so much.....I payed @ E4.00 for me easier to get Clairefontaine Veloute` spiral notebook...A pal had sent me an Oxford Optic 90g spiral notebook from England for the same price.

Oxford Optic is also used in the Red&Black notebook.....which could be that 22 pound item.

I've been relatively disappointing with the MB, Lamy, orange inks (looking at Pelikan Edelsteine Mandarin orange in my B&M decided not to buy any......my pre-90's Pelikan Orange cartridge is a real nice orange....

...........What I've been 'looking' for is the Herbin.......Orange indien (Indian orange). In I seldom order online, is taking me longer to lay hands on. When I go to my B&M, forget to have them order some for me.

Noodler's Apache Sunset is great heavily shading red-orange ink....but might well be expensive in it is imported from the States.

We have a great Ink Review section.....and then there is Inky Thoughts where there must be a thread on various orange inks.

 

Diamine is a huge English ink company one of the worlds biggest selection of inks...affordable ink........I'm not a fan, but many, many are.(I find it feathers a bit....but I'm OCD and end up looking at the ink with a Honking Big magnifying glass. ... to see if the ink and paper are perfect.

 

A golden rule.....there is no perfect nib, there is no perfect paper, there is no perfect ink......there is however perfection....of one nib, with one ink on one paper (any change will wipe out perfection)................When you have lucked out, Do Write That Down, in three places.

 

A Must Have ink, is Herbin's Lie de thé (Brown tea): a subtle brown with soft shades whose name symbolizes the tea from Orient.

 

Green-green shading inks......well MB just shot it's self in the toe, with it's new price of E19 (up from the E13-14 I bought it 4 or so years ago) for shoe bottle. Pelikan has discontinued 4001 Brilliant Green.....look on English Ebay.....The darker green new 4001 dark green is well liked by many.....less by me.

So that leaves only R&K Verdura as a very great green-green Shading ink for @ E9.00 not counting postage. MB Irish green ties it.

 

I was testing very expensive paper....and over a couple of years.....and during my green phrase ran some 10-12 green inks over it. I had R&K Verdura beating Irish Green by a nose and Pelikan 4001 by a neck. Someone else's review of Irish Green moved me to rate Verdura and Irish as a tie.

 

There are many shades and hues of any ink color...Diamine is a local and cheaper ink.....but for green-green shading ink someday you will want R&K Verdura....also has many great inks.

Eventually say within 4 years....you will have to have.....Alt-Goldgrun...an odd stand alone green.'A must have stand alone greenish ink'

Scabiosa dusty well liked purple, and Salix a dusty grayed blueish black....,well liked by many.

I have 6 or so R&K inks.

 

Remember with fountain pens.....never hurry.....same goes for inks. Do go over to Ink Reviews.............and look for Sandy1's reviews, :notworthy1:She is our Ink Guru. She uses 4-5 common nib widths on 4-5 papers one can get if one puts their mind too................(got to put my mind to it. ) You would not believe that is the very same ink....with different nib widths and papers.

 

Some grays are very nice......DA Cement Gray, reminds me of a flight line after a light night rain, as dawn struggles to break.

I have a glitter gray that is pretty good too.

I have to admit, gray was my last ink I tried ....in pencil??? In a fountain pen???

I was wrong, but one does have to hunt and search more for a 'good' gray ink, than others. Some gray inks shade, which makes it better than a pencil.

 

My main advice to everyone, is don't do it the way I did...get the pens...get the inks and finally look for the papers.

 

With every three bottles of ink, buy a good to better paper...that way you are not behind the power curve.

Edited July 4, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

[ardene]

Dear Bo Bo

 

I need to make some more market research on paper. We have some shops here which do sell cheap stuff that doesn't sell as good as they anticipated - that's how I got the Urban for 18 pounds and the IM for 5. I will delve into Sandy1's reviews! And I have already written down your adage on perfection, just not in three different places yet. Thanks again for all the info and the advice on everything.

 

Concerning the Duofold, no, it is not English. It is American. I got it on ebay for 53 pounds plus 7 pounds postage. The seller had a 100% positive feedback, the pen looked alright, it was described as newly re-saced (now I know it definitely functions), the bids were around 35 pounds for ages before the last few moments of the auction, so I thought that this might be the pen to satisfy my curiosity about how old pens write. The seller is UK-based, but he explicitly said that the pens he sells might not be in the country at the moment. Mine arrived from Hong Kong. This explained the postage cost. Concerning customs, the seller had followed the age-old and still very prevalent practice of describing it as a gift used pen of a low value -which isn't too far off. When it arrived I noticed that both cap and barrel are still iridescent, something you do not see in old Parker catalogues and ads and in recent photographs I'm very happy with it.

 

I intend to upload later today a post on it to give people information on how this instance of these looks like should they be interested for whatever reason. I need to take some more pictures. I will edit this one with the link.

 

edit: Duofold thread here https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/337651-192930-lady-duofold-moderne-black-pearl/

 

Antonis

Edited July 4, 2018 by ardene

[Bo Bo Olson]

Antonis,

Your Lady Duofold could be close to NOS....new old stock. Could be the photographing wasn't as good for catalogs as we now have....and others got more exposed old pens.

But I don't know....could be a nice polish like Nova made it look brand new again. It's a three stage polish, used to polish the plexiglass domes of fighter planes.

 

I used the older Semi-Chrome.....that could be polished if one worked at it to NOS.....in I bought lots of old pens.....I being lazy went for the level under NOS....well maintained.

I thought that good enough for a pen that was 40-60 years old.

If it looked too new......maybe I'd not use it.

 

I'm happy to give you the info, and something new to think about.

When I got here....I had never heard the word A&E, much less had a map and a flashlight. ...you got any batteries?

Most of us were I believe the same.

 

When I got here I learned 5-6 new things on pens every day. Now perhaps once a week.

Ink is still something I learn at least one thing every day I look.

Paper....have 40 papers and feel my self a 'noobie'.

 

Bill

 

 

Do go and read Richard Binder's site, it is the bible of fountain pens, explains nibs, filling systems, has good advice on inks.....and so many old pens. Will only take you three days....

[ardene]

Dear Bo Bo,

 

I don't have a clue what the history of the pen is. The seller described it as "minimally cleaned" or something to that effect, similar to every other of their listings - pens and mechanical pencils all of them, which probably means they can't be bothered to spend a lot of time on any given pen. I can ask the seller at some point what they did on it. So maybe it hasn't been used too much? The scratches on the barrel and cap suggest that it did spend some time with other objects. Maybe it has even written in Han characters at some point? Who knows.

 

Interestingly enough, the seller had highlighted the scratches although you need to hold the pen by your nose to identify them. As you might have surmised by my talk around budget issues, I wasn't targeting anything close to NOS. I didn't have a concept of such a thing. I was looking for newly serviced and tested to work objects - I did bid very conservatively for a black '40s English Duofold button filler, but to be frank, I didn't fancy its torpedo-like shape. It sold for 64 pounds or thereabouts. I soon learned that the Vacumatics share this general form as well. And saced pens seemed easier to have serviced. And that lever-fillers can get a broken lever. I wanted to get a pen to use, you see; button-fillers are considered safer. FPN helped a lot on this. Browsing between Ebay listings, FPN, R. Binder's site, T. Fischier's site, J. Mamoulides' site I got to the point where I came to know about Rhodia paper, got a glimpse of the variety of inks out there, got to know that the British Ebay reeks of Canadian-made pens, that Victories and Parker 65s are regularly changing hands here for well above 70 pounds if serviced, and that they are rumoured to be treasured exotic items in the US (I don't know about that), got to find three or four pen-review Youtube channels, etc. etc. I'm sure I've got plenty more to know from this forum.

 

I have read the ink info and the Duofold section in Richard Binder's site. I'll get back for more. But what is A&E? And why does it relate to maps and batteries?

 

Thanks for everything again.

 

Antonis

Edited July 4, 2018 by ardene

[Bo Bo Olson]

*ss and Elbow....as in finding or knowing the difference.

 

 

You do know lots more than your numbers indicate. Which is very good, wise.

 

I jumped into the Pen of the Week in the Mail Club.... So spent a lot of $time learning the hard way. Those of course were E-19 and below....bit later under 30....but still let greed lead me....mine and cheap .....well most I still have.....some I still use.....like my then cheap Geha 790's.....E15-19...now '30-40 with luck.....often E-60. It was then a great bargain. It is the Best Buy for Semi-flex even now.....but it's torpedo all to hell.

 

NOS pens....even 10 years ago I couldn't believe there were that many floating around....yet there are.....of course normally cost an arm and a leg.

I got lucky with two....but they were 'no name' pens.....pretty though. Austrian @ 1955. Maybe in Austria they were name pens. Got them cheap enough, after a good poster notified me of them.

 

One has to stay away from that 'Buy Now Idiot' button. or it costs 2/3's more.

Parker 61/65 is that capillary filling system that clogged up.....so ones that work may be rare enough for a high price. Back when I was new, a decade ago......there was a lot of disappointment with them not working.

 

People in the States will pay a fortune for any pen....I've seen a E12-19 Geha school pen that was polished up be sold by a German Pirate to the States for only $89.

I tell them about Germany Ebay and E-100 for a '50's Pelikan 400/400nn, and they'd rather pay $190-220.

If I ever sell a pen....never in Germany....only in the States.

 

In the '50's the Torpedo shape was very IN, Swan, MB, Pelikan, Geha among others made them.

The Geha 790 and Pelikan 400nn are good examples....for down the road.....if not, then the '50-54 400's. Those are semi-flex nibs....give nice flair with out doing anything.

 

Your seller is honest, scratches have to be shown, or stated 'minor scratches' of normal wear for the age.

I can take a gold cleaning cloth to take the tarnish off the gold, and perhaps a swipe with a micro-mesh cloth...and that is minimum cleaning.

 

I wax my pens, any pure...no other chemicals Carnauba car Wax, or Renascence Wax will do. Don't have to do it often, but will prevent mars. I post my pens for the superb balance of that era, that are medium-small, standard or medium-long, and have had no mars....because of waxing.

[ardene]

These photos are of two very beautiful sets of pens! The marbled ones look sporty and the forest green ones dignified and somehow intriguing. There's a certain je-ne-sais-quoi about the green ones.

 

Thanks about the button at Ebay advice. I don't intend to revisit Ebay any time soon - well, never say never, but I don't frequent Ebay anyhow, so I expect that I'll be able to keep some distance between me and the goings-on in fountain pen listings.

 

I googled the Geha 790. They really are torpedoes, but uncapped they look distinctive. I like that in a pen. What I mean by distinctive is that they have some variation on the features which both represents the design of the age they made in and also easily recognisable with minimal background exposure to similar items, like, say, old cars.

 

The Pelikan 400NN reviewed by SBRE Brown appears to be one of those pens which can take heavy use and also impress. It gave me the impression of those pens which are discreetly emitting quality and style in a way which is not in-your-face. Very good. And it didn't give a torpedo look to me. I find some sleekness good, ovoid-shaped edges not necessarily so. Generally I liked that the pen had a more-or-less consistent diameter.

 

I've already pasted your wax suggestions in a text file now in my dedicated Duofold folder. I cannot thank you enough for your wonderful information.

 

Antonis

[Bo Bo Olson]

I've been collecting pens for a decade. I got started...under my wife's command. She'd locked up my sterling silver P-75 set in her jewelry prison bos years before. We had some inherited pens that sat in the back of the drawer for 15 years and more than likely most had sat in her Aunt's drawer after her Uncle died for the same.

We were going to sell at a flea market for the very first time, so scoured the house. There were some fountain pens....one I'd heard of an Esterbrook......the others not.

"How much?" aksed the wife.....they were nothing but obsolete plastic fountain pens.....1 euro for the plain ones.....E5 for the pretty one.

"Go Look Them UP!" I slumped off to waste time for 'fountain pens, at 20:00 at 02:00 I had a fountain pen collection.

 

Osmia-Faber-Castel....'50-51.............was then before the Depression $250 .....my locked up P-75 was $225 ....in the Depression, folks were selling their P75 for $75......so put money away in cash....for the coming Depression. I think they are back to pushing $200 again.

 

That Osmia can be had in the States for over $200....more than likely E120-40 but if one Hunts German Ebay....could be less. A month ago, when not looking but did find a large crash in Osmia priced....that could have been that week....in E 100-120 pens were going for 60.

 

At first E20 was my limit....then E25...never going to spend E30 on a pen.

I broke the E50 barrier all to hell with a E-70 buy.

The sharpest and deepest chasing of any hard rubber pen I have.

 

Shocking I actually bought a new pen....a Pelikan 600 for only E99....on sale.....and that allowed me to be comfortable chasing expensive E70-90 pens..........new pens are still too expensive for me........out side some 200's.

Part of a set of pictures showing how I hold a fountain pen with the 'forefinger up' method.

 

Antonis, you impress me with your willingness to research.....so when you buy your next pens...and you will, you will have a very good idea of what you are doing, and end up with fine pens.

 

 

@ 1959 Geha true three ring 790 pen.....rings polished up with no problem. When I buy a pen, I take the picture too. This is fairly rare in it was only made for a year or two. Not that it costs much more if, than the regular 790.

 

 

@ 1960 to 70......standard width 790 with the 'new' three rings. There was a second tier 705/605 with two rings. (I never got around to getting any. ) Second tier with Pelikan was the medium short 140. The cap was longer, like the then medium-short Geha Flagship the 760....don't have a picture....in I seldom take them. Not very good at it. But the 760 when it was the Flagship had a gold band at the piston ring. The 760 occasionally comes with slightly different stripes than the Pelikans. Mine is after the 725 replaced the 760 as Flagship so has no gold ring; gray stripes. Similar to the picture below. Medium Short was very IN, in the '50-60's. Geha, Pelikan, Kaweco and some Osmia were medium-short.....but the caps were longer so they posted to standard posted size.

 

1 1/2 years ago, some fella here popped up with three or four to me unknown 780 Geha..... envy cubed.

This pen was advertised as a 760. 760's go for 20% or at least E20 more than a 790. So if a 790 went for E40 a 760 would go for E60....if for the modern to me 'fair' price of E60...would expect a bid of E 90-100.

:doh:It wasn't until after the Ebay auction, I turned on my brain, and am sure the fella miss-read 780 for 760......

As a 760 I bid E 145....and was third. Had I thought it was the 780, I'd gone higher. It was the prettiest Geha I'd seen................not quite the most classy, that is the last Flagship the 725.

One thing to remember, is the Geha classic shaped nib be it steel or gold is a slight tad better than the Pelikan nibs of the era. The nibs were made by Degussa; which took over the great Osmia nib factory for debt in 1932....... or Bock. I have a couple fine gold semi-flex Bock nibs from the era....havn't found a pen to put them in though.

 

 

As pretty as that 760/780, the 725 beats it for looks when combined with perfect balance. Back when I was a 20 pen 'noobie' I checked and found three to be perfect......(must have 12 top three perfect balanced pens now. ) Each different, the brass piston guts of the MB 234 1/2 Deluxe, Geha 725 and light for metal P-75.

MB 234 1/2 Deluxe, ('52-54 only) KOB semi-flex, with the Meisterstuck clip and a different clip ring than the regular 234 1/2. 4 1/2 was the nib size.............being then so very ignorant of MB, knowing only the cigar/torpedo 146/9 had thought it ugly. It was part of a lot with the 400NN I wanted....one of the greatest of all piston pens....finished 4th in my then perfect balance test. It grew on me, from the balance alone. Then I got Andreas Lambrou's book Fpuntian Pens, and found that 234 1/2 resembled the pre war MB 139........and many of the modern Limited Edition Writer's pens have a similar shape.

 

 

I was on a budget when I bought that 4 pen lot, a 400nn, matching BP&MP and that drive up the price MB.....I paid E170.....................shortly later found out the MB alone was worth $200.

Now about $500............and some Idiot Hunter wants only $900 for one.

Never did sell the 450/455 Pelikan BP&MP....and by the time I found out the MB was worth $200, had grown to like it very much, because of the nib and balance.

 

 

The thin medium-large 725 is one of my perfectly balanced pens, and is so very classic sleek. I keep saying and never do, make a picture of the clip, two slightly curved lines on it .... which I've seen on no other pen.....but I'm not an expert.....gives that clip such class.

Geha came out with the 725 to match the MB slender pens and did. The trim is rolled gold.

Unfortunately the pen only comes in Black and Gold. The pen cost DM360 or $90 when my P-75 bought new in @ 1970 cost $22, in silver money.

Can be had on German Ebay for E50-70. When I first looked, they were going for E100, which was then way over budget. When all of England was in South Africa for the World Cup or lost it's money betting England to win. I found a 725 on English Ebay for E50 and was so happy.

:lticaptd:The very next week I saw two go for E25 on german Ebay.

 

The cap can or will develop after 50 years a micro-crack as a very nice passed poster told us. Mine came with out it.....and a week later had it. One has to look real hard to find it....and it does no damage.

Picture with permission of Penboard.de

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The nib is a nice semi-flex....but because of the shape.....not quite as great as the regular Geha classic nib.

All Geha's have a reserve tank, that is good for a page or two more when one has run out of ink. There is a small black or green button on the bottom of the feed that is pushed. When re-filling the piston pushes that button back to closed.

 

Thanks for the links to Parker. I being in Germany.....and the so very, very expensive postage from the States, chased German pens.....so only have a few Parkers a nail '38 Vac with a '36 Canadian factory BB stub. A nail P-51, semi-nail P-75, English P-45 with a regular flex nib, a semi-flex English Jr. Duofold.....and some modern nail flighters my wife picked up for me at the flea market, in being retired go to bed late and get up late. I did 'start' at least as an adult with a Parker P-75....in Every Single fountain pen I had as a school kid got stolen.

 

Is your '29/30 Lady Duofold a nail???? I'm not sure when Parker went over to nails.

Edited July 5, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

[ardene]

Bo Bo,

These are some very beautiful pens. Your wife sounds like a very good influence. For the time being I want to focus on using the -few- pens I have at this stage. Some work-related notes I made with the Duofold the day before yesterday: it's an A4 page, single sided, on Schopenhauer's origins of beauty.

 

 

Stolen pens at school? How did that happen?

 

Yes, I suppose that cracks can develop in old items. I hope that the Lady's celluloid won't start crumbling in my hands, or the nib developing a crack, but then that's how it goes with old items I guess. Of course, I do not apply pressure when writing, but I've started using it on a daily basis when at home. I have observed that the sac contains enough ink for 4-5 A4 pages with every refill.

 

No, the Duofold isn't a nail. I haven't owned any pre-90s Parkers other than the Duofold, so somebody else might know more about that. Here are some photos applying slight pressure to the pen drawing verticals and horizontals. I hope that you can see in the pictures how the nib opens a bit when on the paper and how it is at rest. Today's natural lighting and my partner have contributed to these images.

 

Pressure applied:

 

 

Nib at rest:

 

 

And now a very bad image -for which I am the only person responsible- of some line variation samples of some of my pens, the Duofold included of course:

 

 

Because the lighting was favourable today we added some extra light from the phone and managed to get some pictures of the imprint. In reality, the imprint is wholly readable, but you have to change the angle of the pen.

 

 

 

I hope that the photography is passable to all right. If not please let me know.

 

Antonis

Edited July 5, 2018 by ardene

[Bo Bo Olson]

I have to admit, I've never read Schopenhauer...I'd stuck my nose into basic Philosophy when a bit too young...13-14 and saw none when I looked at the world.

 

I do admire Marcus Aurelius's version of Stoicism. One can change one's self.....if one knows one's self.....more on that with The Games People Play. Some games can be changed to a lesser one....like the Good Uncle. I got rid of a deadly type of game, replacing it with the good Uncle,,,,,it is impossible to get rid of all games....out side in solitary confinement....and not really there either....part of cops and robber game....where many robbers want to be caught; it's part of the game...

Some games go down to 5 levels....the lower the level the more severe.

Alcoholic starts off a 5 handed game.....eventually a one man living alone in an alley....because the bartender can no longer be paid to play his part.

Games occupy all spare time outside of sleep....even for hermits.

 

I think no true philosophy was written to the advent of Desmond Morris......his "Human Zoo....is so very depressing....what you see is what you get. The Nose Rules, and Power is seeked at all costs.

If you put 100 6 foot blond blue eyed men on an island, with in weeks the group will divide up into 70-30....in it is much better to be #3 in the second group than #15 in the first.

 

Philosophers before him thought man as a rational being, instead of a being ruled by his nose, rationalizing his irrationalizal behavior.

Phonemes knock the hell out of rational thought.

 

Perhaps the most important book I've ever read was 'The Games People Play, by Dr. Eric Bern. That explains so much.....90% perhaps more of what and why the hell folks do what they do.......boredom....a structured inherited set of games, where at least unconsciously, everyone knows the rules and what part they are playing.

Games have up to five levels, the last being murder and suicide. A 1 or 2 level game is 'Klutz' the one who puts his wine glass so on the corner of the table....it will fall off.

Strokes are what is played for. A kick in the *ass counts as much as a pat on the back.

 

It appears you are left handed.

If so and you don't change your writing style, semi-flex oblique is not for you......other obliques yes.

 

Depending on how much pressure you are using....it could be regular flex.....a 3 X max vs a light down stroke. It was once a very common flex.

Or semi-nail. 2X max.

It is not a nail. 1X max...unless you use it as a pogo stick.

Edited July 5, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

[ardene]

Old Arthur tried to explain some of the biological phenomena you describe, he did some prescient and heuristically interesting work. Heuristics = finding out, so the previous sentence means that you can use what he said to generate hypotheses able to be explored. I don't agree, as most people, with his pessimism, but he's a very good philosopher. All good philosophers take the science of their time very seriously.

 

The picture is an en-face of my right hand. I'm right handed.

 

Another detail somebody might be interested in: I have smaller hands than most men and I hold the pens really low. For people with larger hands the Lady Duofold might be a nightmare to write with.

 

I didn't apply much pressure on the nib, I don't want to. I don't care at all about flex. So maybe it's a highly flexible nib as your experienced eye has discerned.

 

Antonis

Edited July 5, 2018 by ardene

[Bo Bo Olson]

Your grip resembles a ball point grip...IMO & I'm not an expert on grips.

 

Do look up the classic 10-2-6 Tripod grip...............I think it better than yours... There are reasons other grips would make writing easier.

 

...but I gave up the Classic Tripod for 'Forefinger up'.

With 'forefinger up', hand or finger size has nothing that I can think of to do with it. I ran into 'froefinger up' some three or so years after I got on the com. Is an automatic light grip, reduces stress and lets one write longer with out hand cramping. It takes three minutes to learn.

 

Some folks need months of work to make the Classic Tripod a light grip.............our years of wrangling a ball point.....like plowing the south 40 with out a mule...............makes many grip too hard....The Death Grip....and accompanying deadly Kung Fu Thumb Pinch.

 

 

I can link you to that later.

 

There's always later for semi-flex..........remember LA was not Built in a Day.

You have decades of time.

 

 

Some folks really like Large or Oversized pens, others like me those in the middle others like smaller pens...........or there would not have been so many made.

Fountain pens are life time hobby.

Approach it with a touch of Zen. The goal is not the target, but the ease perfection gives to drawing the bow.

 

 

Or enjoying and savoring the bumps in the road. Either will work.

 

 

Help! How Do You Hold Your Fountain Pen?