Adding To The Flock

[Jip]

As requested by @mana I'll post one of my new Pelikans here: the Pelikan M200 Braun Marmoriert inked with the simple, cheap and great performing Pelikan 4001 Brillant Braun.

[MsRedpen]

Writes like a true F 🙂

 

 

[chromantic]

49 minutes ago, MsRedpen said:

Writes like a true F 🙂

 

 

Wow, that ink is a great match! 

[N1003U]

2 hours ago, Jip said:

As requested by @mana I'll post one of my new Pelikans here: the Pelikan M200 Braun Marmoriert inked with the simple, cheap and great performing Pelikan 4001 Brillant Braun.

 

Brilliant Brown is a lovely ink, and the photo shows very well its lovely shading potential. Also, your handwriting is excellent.

[Jip]

3 hours ago, N1003U said:

Brilliant Brown is a lovely ink, and the photo shows very well its lovely shading potential. Also, your handwriting is excellent.

Thank you very much for your kind words, the Original Crown Mill Pure Cotton paper and Pelikan M200/M205 steel broad nibs bring the best out of my handwriting, especially when using the M200 sized pens posted. It truly makes a difference! 

[stoen]

Hi,

Here’s another nice and functional “addition to the flock”. A black tortoise Pelikan 100N. AFAICT, the manufacturing date must be the second half of 1939 - it has a brass ring reinforced celluloid barrel and a CN nib, which writes as good as any of its golden counerparts would.

It had a broken grip section which I had to carefully remove and replace it with a spare one. It is a tricky job but all went well, so here it is. Currently inked with 4001 Brillant Red.

🙂

 

 

[Hans01]

Stoen, that’s a beauty. And a great find. Congrats 

[N1003U]

19 hours ago, MsRedpen said:

Writes like a true F 🙂

 

 

Lovely pen. I really like the deep red resin and the orange/yellow shades in the tortoise pattern. It also looks great with that deep red ink. I also have an F nib on the way, and I am hoping it runs on the narrow side (at least by the typical Pelikan gold-nib standard).

[N1003U]

4 hours ago, stoen said:

Hi,

Here’s another nice and functional “addition to the flock”. A black tortoise Pelikan 100N. AFAICT, the manufacturing date must be the second half of 1939 - it has a brass ring reinforced celluloid barrel and a CN nib, which writes as good as any of its golden counerparts would.

It had a broken grip section which I had to carefully remove and replace it with a spare one. It is a tricky job but all went well, so here it is. Currently inked with 4001 Brillant Red.

🙂

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Hans01 said:

Stoen, that’s a beauty. And a great find. Congrats 

 

+1. Timeless classic.

[Uncial]

Good things come to those who wait. A Red Tortoise M101N is incoming. I've pondered this pen for years and years; missed the opportunity to buy at a sensible price and wept as online sales crept up and up and up. Finally this week I saw one at a decent price. This addition will bring the M101N's to three ( a blue and a green/avocado tort already in hand ).

[carola]

10 hours ago, stoen said:

Hi,

Here’s another nice and functional “addition to the flock”. A black tortoise Pelikan 100N. AFAICT, the manufacturing date must be the second half of 1939 - it has a brass ring reinforced celluloid barrel and a CN nib, which writes as good as any of its golden counerparts would.

It had a broken grip section which I had to carefully remove and replace it with a spare one. It is a tricky job but all went well, so here it is. Currently inked with 4001 Brillant Red.

🙂

 

 

Nice find!

[mana]

Happy 2021! May it be better than 2020 in all ways, and see all of your flocks grow!

[TitoThePencilPimp]

So I received my Pelikan m600 red tortoise on Monday. I was not thinking properly, and ordered a f nib with a cursive italic grind. I should have made it a Medium or Broad. There is line variation, but very minimal (due to the stock f nib). I spent about $340 with the grind, so I don't mind making this error.

 

Tbh I prefer the m101n  Red Tortoise to the m600 Red Tortoise.

 

I am debating on adding a Pelikan m405 Black to my flock. I do have a Pelikan m1000 Black, so I am not sure... Finger on buy button is itching.

 

Now the m200 Brown with a cursive italic or stub grind is calling me.

 

Help me choose! Pelikan m405 black or m200 brown with a cursive italic/stub grind.

[N1003U]

Between those two, I would do the custom ground M200, but it’s a close call.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Tito,

Well what you need to do for your red tortoise, is to order a good nib, suggest a B or OB from 1950-65....semi-flex. Even the B is just delightful.

I have a nice B-1.0 stub on my 605, but often swap in a semi-flex B from my 400's, there is a difference.

By the way for pure writing at home....if steel bothers you, the 200's springy regular flex nib* is better than a modern post '97 600's nib.

And the 200 is still in the proper size range of the vintage '50-65 or semi-vintage '82-97 nibs. 1/2 a width narrower, a properly designed nib tipping for a good clean line.....not the characterless round ball that you thankfully had modified.

 

*The Japanese call regular flex their 'soft' nib..........being from the days of B&W TV, regular flex is not 'soft' it's just regular.

 

Tito..........why waste money on modern junk nibs (pens), when you can have a ball in Vintage era.....and have the real thing, with out slipping money to a nibmeister.

The vintage nibs don't quite have the two tone flash of modern, but perform.

Besides which if real lucky, you can get some of the real early '50's nibs with the fancy ways Pelikan is spelled.....subdued major bling.

Could look at the '30's Tortoise........I do....all I do is look.....sigh cubed.

[TitoThePencilPimp]

15 hours ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

Tito,

Well what you need to do for your red tortoise, is to order a good nib, suggest a B or OB from 1950-65....semi-flex. Even the B is just delightful.

I have a nice B-1.0 stub on my 605, but often swap in a semi-flex B from my 400's, there is a difference.

By the way for pure writing at home....if steel bothers you, the 200's springy regular flex nib* is better than a modern post '97 600's nib.

And the 200 is still in the proper size range of the vintage '50-65 or semi-vintage '82-97 nibs. 1/2 a width narrower, a properly designed nib tipping for a good clean line.....not the characterless round ball that you thankfully had modified.

 

*The Japanese call regular flex their 'soft' nib..........being from the days of B&W TV, regular flex is not 'soft' it's just regular.

 

Tito..........why waste money on modern junk nibs (pens), when you can have a ball in Vintage era.....and have the real thing, with out slipping money to a nibmeister.

The vintage nibs don't quite have the two tone flash of modern, but perform.

Besides which if real lucky, you can get some of the real early '50's nibs with the fancy ways Pelikan is spelled.....subdued major bling.

Could look at the '30's Tortoise........I do....all I do is look.....sigh cubed.

True. The nib is perfectly fine. More of a blunder on my part, but it still writes well.

 

I have been considering buying a vintage Pelikan tortoise with a flex nib, but I can never find one of the good sales members post about. Moreover, I have a vintage Montblanc with a flex nib. Although a very nice writer, I do not think flex nibs are suitable for my writing purpose. I lean more towards stub/italic nibs to give my poor handwriting a bit of line variation while having a consistent letter size.

 

I only use my fountain pens for math/physics. For the math part (theory) its more writing symbols and paragraphs of English words with the occasional equation. For physics, a bunch of diagrams and equations. So I need a pen that offers a consistent line that is not hampered by writing fatigue (5 hour+ a day).  That is one of the main reasons why my Pelikan m1000 have not been used in a while. After  3 hours, my natural light hand strokes become nonexistent and I worry about bending the nib.  I would assume more care needs to given writing with a vintage Pelikan.

 

It may be sacrilege here, but I find that Sailor pens are more suited for my needs, but I find the bodies uninteresting. I already own 8 Sailors. After getting a Sailor KOP Ebonite, I don't think I will ever buy another Sailor again. 

 

I don't think I need another Pelikan, but Pelikan is like crack lol. I had a $100 Amazon gift card laying around. I was going to purchase two books, but I found them much cheaper on abebooks.com. There was nothing I really wanted from Amazon, so I used the $100 gift card towards the  purchase  of a m600 vibrant orange. I think it was $270 with tax/shipping. Not a pen I am excited about (I don't really like the translucency on the cap), but I needed an orange pen.

 

But nothing beats the depth and color of vintage pelikan bodies.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Montblanc with a flex nib.""""

 

I'm a bit AR about the way the word flex is used.  It might sound a bit cool as a new folk, but means nothing....or nothing much.

 

At a live auction preview, with four old rich  and one old poor guy looking at the pen I knew I had no chance, but it was a 1920's MB Safety Pen, with a Weak Kneed Wet Noodle.....superflex to the max.

Weak Kneed Wet Noodle is a term invented by the English nib grinder John Sowboda (sp)

With permission of Penboard De. This Safety Pen, is a German Fend pen made in Milan mid-late '30's. (mine has slightly different chasing, and I take horrible pictures) Mine only has a normal superflex nib. The nib screws in or out.

There I was at the preview of the live auction....pens are cheaper, in normally before those dammed telephone and computer bids, one was only warring with dealers, so could get it 30% cheaper. I unscrewed the top....and someone had stolen not only the nib but the feed too............. then the lady showed me the screw in and out trick.

When I first came into the com some 12 years or so ago....Flexi was used for everything.....even regular flex by nail users.

Then the term superflex took over a couple years later....I added Easy Full Flex as a term, which by me is the first of the three stages of superflex.

 

I was use to the regular flex of B&W TV days (Like the 200 or semi-vintage 400)....which I was astounded that some folks coming over from nails, thought regular flex a semi-flex, in the tines actually moved and bent and sprung back.....that they had heard of.

 

I learned as a noobie, how to test nibs on my thumbnail. At a fleamarket I tested a 140 OB, and suddenly knew what all the fuss was about with semi-flex......swapped a fancy Robert E. Lee Pocket knife for it and three who cares.

I was Ham Fisted.....always maxing that nib out to 3X, by the end of two months only doing that some time, and by the end of three months, was actually able to Ask for Line Variation more or less when I wanted it. I'd say now I have a medium light hand.

 

When using my Waterman 52 or Soennecken rare....so much rarer than pre-sprung for your convience nibs you see on youtube or Ebay writing examples, 7X...or my 6X or even my 5X superflex nibs......I have to sweat to make it write XXF, think to make it write EF, so scribble along in F.

When one has 'enough' superflex...Mauciro(sp) use to have that pasted to my desk...he's The SuperFlex fella, there is not an easy divide into three like I do, which helps noobies in superflex a bit.

 

Rupp made nibs in Heidelberg from 1922-70. I bought a cheap pen, and it had a Rupp nib.....and I was so impressed.....I walked around in little circles for three days, saying what a wonderful maxi-semi-flex I had........until I realized, it was a flex ratting of it's own. I have some 30+ semi-flex pen, some 15 maxi-semi-flex pens.......

 

Only mentioning MB in you used that.......modern 2006 regular flex. I really like 'my eyes' only nib bling of two trees.

Photo with permission of Pentime.....I have one 146 in 1970-80''s and @ '90's regular flex two another 149 and my 'brand new' 149....

...My first MB was a luck pen... I was chasing another pen, and it was in the lot. In I was so ignorant I thought it ugly knowing nothing of MB....it was the final refinement of the 139's in a smaller package (get Lambrou's book).....having perfect balance a grand little KOB semi-flex nib.....a rare '52-54 only Deluxe 234 1/2, with a Meisterstuck clip and different cap band than the regular 234 1/2. Also appreciated most in value of all my pens.

 

I went 'hunting' with a BB gun's worth of money at live auctions for '50's MBs.....nibs.

I lucked into a great balanced medium-large 146 as they all were until 1970 when the Large 146 came in. So much better balanced than the Large 146...with a maxi-semi-flex nib. I couldn't let the dealer have that rolled gold 742, has a nib between semi-flex and maxi-semi-flex....the only pen I have in that range that is not one or the other. That was some nib...too good for a dealer....

 

Your 600 is a semi-nail.

So were you talking about that MB having regular flex, semi-flex, maxi-semi-flex or superflex? All of them flex more than a nail or a semi-nail.

When is your MB from? '70-90 and some nibs even later are regular flex.......some after late '90's went down hill to a stiffer nib .....from my reading........

'50'-70 is mostly semi&or maxi-sem-flex.

I don't know what the early nibs are but that 1920's nib Weak Kneed Wet Noodle definitely had a bit of flex or was flexi as once would have been said. Before the com became more precise.

In MB once made nibs for Pelikan I would expect them in the '30's to be on par with my 100n's 5X superflex. (Even if my 100n is late '40s-54). I haven't' read anything saying the '50-70's MB nibs were superflex like some of the Soennecken.....or I'd still be MB hunting.

 

I'm just as OCD about woolly lines with ink, nib and paper (have invented terms for that too)  as I am about flex ratings....have as much success as the fella with the brick wall.     

 

 

 

 

 

[N1003U]

2 hours ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

I'm a bit AR about the way the word flex is used.  It might sound a bit cool as a new folk, but means nothing....or nothing much.

 

At a live auction preview, with four old rich  and one old poor guy looking at the pen I knew I had no chance, but it was a 1920's MB Safety Pen, with a Weak Kneed Wet Noodle.....superflex to the max.

Weak Kneed Wet Noodle is a term invented by the English nib grinder John Sowboda (sp)

With permission of Penboard De. This Safety Pen, is a German Fend pen made in Milan mid-late '30's. (mine has slightly different chasing, and I take horrible pictures) Mine only has a normal superflex nib. The nib screws in or out.

There I was at the preview of the live auction....pens are cheaper, in normally before those dammed telephone and computer bids, one was only warring with dealers, so could get it 30% cheaper.

 

<snip>

 

Those are some lovely-looking nibs. I wish I wasn't so clumsy, so that I could appreciate more of them. Perhaps with some time and some more practice.

 

That 2006 MB nib is nice-looking with the trees. Somewhat unusual.  Is that nib also as "crisp" as is looks in the photo? I looks like maybe if one rolls it a few degrees, the corner can be used as a knife, but maybe it just appears that way in the picture.

 

I am still working to fully appreciate the springy softness of the M2xx steel nibs, which seem to have some nib-to-nib variance in softness. The good news for me is that in 100% of my personal examples, the M200 nibs put down a very crisp, clean line, and seem to resist most of the "blobiness" of their golden brethren, yet they are still "lively" in the hand.

[TitoThePencilPimp]

4 hours ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

Montblanc with a flex nib.""""

 

I'm a bit AR about the way the word flex is used.  It might sound a bit cool as a new folk, but means nothing....or nothing much.

 

At a live auction preview, with four old rich  and one old poor guy looking at the pen I knew I had no chance, but it was a 1920's MB Safety Pen, with a Weak Kneed Wet Noodle.....superflex to the max.

Weak Kneed Wet Noodle is a term invented by the English nib grinder John Sowboda (sp)

With permission of Penboard De. This Safety Pen, is a German Fend pen made in Milan mid-late '30's. (mine has slightly different chasing, and I take horrible pictures) Mine only has a normal superflex nib. The nib screws in or out.

There I was at the preview of the live auction....pens are cheaper, in normally before those dammed telephone and computer bids, one was only warring with dealers, so could get it 30% cheaper. I unscrewed the top....and someone had stolen not only the nib but the feed too............. then the lady showed me the screw in and out trick.

When I first came into the com some 12 years or so ago....Flexi was used for everything.....even regular flex by nail users.

Then the term superflex took over a couple years later....I added Easy Full Flex as a term, which by me is the first of the three stages of superflex.

 

I was use to the regular flex of B&W TV days (Like the 200 or semi-vintage 400)....which I was astounded that some folks coming over from nails, thought regular flex a semi-flex, in the tines actually moved and bent and sprung back.....that they had heard of.

 

I learned as a noobie, how to test nibs on my thumbnail. At a fleamarket I tested a 140 OB, and suddenly knew what all the fuss was about with semi-flex......swapped a fancy Robert E. Lee Pocket knife for it and three who cares.

I was Ham Fisted.....always maxing that nib out to 3X, by the end of two months only doing that some time, and by the end of three months, was actually able to Ask for Line Variation more or less when I wanted it. I'd say now I have a medium light hand.

 

When using my Waterman 52 or Soennecken rare....so much rarer than pre-sprung for your convience nibs you see on youtube or Ebay writing examples, 7X...or my 6X or even my 5X superflex nibs......I have to sweat to make it write XXF, think to make it write EF, so scribble along in F.

When one has 'enough' superflex...Mauciro(sp) use to have that pasted to my desk...he's The SuperFlex fella, there is not an easy divide into three like I do, which helps noobies in superflex a bit.

 

Rupp made nibs in Heidelberg from 1922-70. I bought a cheap pen, and it had a Rupp nib.....and I was so impressed.....I walked around in little circles for three days, saying what a wonderful maxi-semi-flex I had........until I realized, it was a flex ratting of it's own. I have some 30+ semi-flex pen, some 15 maxi-semi-flex pens.......

 

Only mentioning MB in you used that.......modern 2006 regular flex. I really like 'my eyes' only nib bling of two trees. ....I have one 146 in 1970-80''s and @ '90's regular flex two another 149 and my 'brand new' 149....

...My first MB was a luck pen... I was chasing another pen, and it was in the lot. In I was so ignorant I thought it ugly knowing nothing of MB....it was the final refinement of the 139's in a smaller package (get Lambrou's book).....having perfect balance a grand little KOB semi-flex nib.....a rare '52-54 only Deluxe 234 1/2, with a Meisterstuck clip and different cap band than the regular 234 1/2. Also appreciated most in value of all my pens.

 

I went 'hunting' with a BB gun's worth of money at live auctions for '50's MBs.....nibs.

I lucked into a great balanced medium-large 146 as they all were until 1970 when the Large 146 came in. So much better balanced than the Large 146...with a maxi-semi-flex nib. I couldn't let the dealer have that rolled gold 742, has a nib between semi-flex and maxi-semi-flex....the only pen I have in that range that is not one or the other. That was some nib...too good for a dealer....

 

Your 600 is a semi-nail.

So were you talking about that MB having regular flex, semi-flex, maxi-semi-flex or superflex? All of them flex more than a nail or a semi-nail.

When is your MB from? '70-90 and some nibs even later are regular flex.......some after late '90's went down hill to a stiffer nib .....from my reading........

'50'-70 is mostly semi&or maxi-sem-flex.

I don't know what the early nibs are but that 1920's nib Weak Kneed Wet Noodle definitely had a bit of flex or was flexi as once would have been said. Before the com became more precise.

In MB once made nibs for Pelikan I would expect them in the '30's to be on par with my 100n's 5X superflex. (Even if my 100n is late '40s-54). I haven't' read anything saying the '50-70's MB nibs were superflex like some of the Soennecken.....or I'd still be MB hunting.

 

I'm just as OCD about woolly lines with ink, nib and paper (have invented terms for that too)  as I am about flex ratings....have as much success as the fella with the brick wall.     

 

 

 

 

 

Its a celluloid 149. So I am thinking 60s? I consider it flex. I call something like the fa nib on a pilot custom 823 semi-flex.

 

 

I traded a member here a pink m600 pelikan for the montblanc (fully restored, and looks kinda new)/  2 boxes of Blaisdell Calculator Pencils (very rare and WW2 with the plastic ferrule).  I payed I think $300 for the Pelikan so I consider it a very good trade. I would have traded it for the pencils alone.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Tito, good then it is semi-flex.

Well a 149 is a Humongous pen (just got one last week), one might be less tired with ....a vintage '50-70 medium-large great balanced 146. Great semi-flex or even a maxi-semi-flex nib like I lucked into.  Balance makes such a great difference in one's joy of scribbling.

I prefer the great balance of the vintage medium-small, standard and medium-large pens. They had to have great balance in the day of One Man, One Pen, buy a new one every decade....to sell well.

I find the Large 146....a light and fairly well balanced pen, for a Large pen. Better than an 800. Nearly as good as a medium-large 600.  ...... Get a good semi-flex nib for your 600 and you are better than good to go for long scribbling sessions. Posted for best balance...if worried about mars, wax the pen!

.......................

N100....that picture is with permission of Pentime, but my nib looks @ the same .

It's very much near a stub(as are as far as I've read now normal for wider MB nibs)....it should be a B, but writes like a BB. That's a Virginia Woolf LE 2006, ( a large pen) that I got on sale at my B&M for 1/3 off @ 2013-4 ...my wife bought it for my birthday....

I'd forgotten the small print.....'our money', so didn't buy pen, paper or ink for 9 months.

(Had I kept it un-inked, after 5 years I could got the original price for it...........but I buy a pen to write with....even the three or so NOS pens.) '50's semi-flex (Bock Nib) Austrian pens. 

The ball points had all the normal problems of a '50's ball point....and unlike 3rd grade in Texas I'm not going to take out my pocket knife and shave them to fit......odd the teacher didn't flip out, at a kid with a knife repairing his BP in class. But that was so far in the Sticks we didn't get TV...with out a 30 foot antenna, and that for one channel....not like two channel Miami...........

 

Many of us start out Ham Fisted. When I got my first semi-flex a 140 OB, it took some two months to stop maxing the nib out to 3X all the time....by three months I was only maxing some of the time......eventually to when I wanted a bit more flair, I knew how to get line variation On Demand.

A stub or CI is always 100% line variation, vintage stubbish semi-flex in line variation On Demand..........when you want it. Semi-flex is normally a flair nib (not a calligraphy nib), giving your some of that old fashioned fountain pen flair, with out doing anything.

The areas where you normally press a bit harder; the wider part of an a, the loop of a b or L, the dash of a crossed t......is a touch wider, the rest of the letter is thinner from lack of pressure.

One can of course ask for more on a decender ending a paragraph.

 

Then I changed from the Classic Tripod, which from the finger placements, promote a Ham Fisted grip....taking 3-6 months of conscious to become light handed.

 

Forefinger up, takes some three minutes to learn.....a week of switching to get real use to it, and is an automatic light grip.

Go to.... Help! How Do You Hold Your Fountain Pen?

 

 

Everyone's writing improves with use of a fountain pen........even more if one does something weird.....practice Palmer or the 1880's business script.....which is IMO the same just didn't get labeled with a good name to rememeber...........do as I say.....not as I do.

Edited January 3, 2021 by Bo Bo Olson
forgetfulness