Adding To The Flock

[inkstainedruth]

On 3/7/2024 at 5:52 PM, Jayebird said:

Isn't it next week? Last Thr was still February, so the 2nd Thr is next week - Pi Day as the email reminder noted.

Yeah, you're right.  I got clear down there and couldn't figure out where anyone else was.  Then I remembered that I was off by a week  (I've had an incredibly awful week, mostly dealing with various spam calls -- 18 since the beginning of the month!) and also deal with the horrible company that issued the Sam's Club credit card -- they called us a few weeks ago about a suspicious charge and then didn't remove it from the bill, while sending us replacement cards.  Only my husband, who has been running himself ragged trying to get his piece of the current project done before going to Mississippi to run the sideline business (he left yesterday morning, and I got woken up at 7:30 AM by one of the people riding down with him calling my husband's cellphone as he was rushing around trying to do final packing), sort of FORGOT to check to see if we got the replacement cards and didn't get those activated until Wednesday night. He had also squirreled the bill away up in his office and I had to run out today to pay it in person -- only to learn that the people at the desk at Sam's can't talk to the credit card issuer any more than *I* can (we've already had several go-rounds with the bank issuing the card in the past about how they can't talk to ME because I'm not the primary on the account -- but couldn't supposedly make outgoing calls to contact my husband, who IS the primary on the account, EITHER... 😡).  And then got almost home only to find the check was still in my purse.  So had to go all the way back up there, only to be told "Oh no, it's fine -- we deposited it electronically!" 

Plus, a friend of mine just got home from the hospital after having open heart surgery.  I'm supposed to go over there next Friday to sit with her and keep her company while her husband is working, and presumably let the dogs in and out (I don't know how mobile she is yet).  So that at least was GOOD news after all the stürm und drang of the past week....  

And then, this morning, discovered that the converter on the Sheaffer Star Wars Pop R2-D2 pen was loose.  And ended up getting vintage Skrip Microfilm V-Black all over my sweat pants.  And spent the better part of an hour scrubbing the stains with Amodex before having to do an extra load of laundry with just the sweat pants.  

At this point I'm just probably completely incoherent....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Misfit]

@Tom Kellie that orange Pelikan is so bright and cheerful. Wow! It will make overcast days better. 
 

@Jayebird thank you for mentioning Pi Day. I started a thread on Pi Day pen purchases. I might will buy a pen again this year. My most remembered Pi Day pen purchase is the Pelikan Cognac. 

[Tom Kellie]

 

[jmccarty3]

On 3/6/2024 at 7:03 PM, Jayebird said:

I waited until the Baltimore Pen show so I could try it, and given all the "it's a heavy metal pen" stuff I had seen was surprised by it! My husband agreed I should get one and no regrets here but still trying to decide what ink to put in it...

I have Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite in mine (EF nib), but I don't really think it matters. The predominant colors of the barrel are black, green, and orange, but you could use just about anything and it still would be a joy to write with. I'm still concerned about the availability of Tanzanite and will search elsewhere on the forum to see if there are any updates.

[Jayebird]

3 hours ago, jmccarty3 said:

I don't really think it matters. The predominant colors of the barrel are black, green, and orange, but you could use just about anything and it still would be a joy to write with

Absolutely agree! I just have a bunch of different options and haven't made my mind up yet. Since it holds a fair bit of ink as a piston fill, I know whatever I choose will last a while 🙂

And of course part of my problem is that I always have a fair number of pens inked up at once, so I feel like maybe I should finish up some of what's already inked first...

[Intensity]

On 3/8/2024 at 3:00 PM, Tom Kellie said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations on your beautiful addition to your flock!  I did not know there’s a “Pelikan” engraving on the barrel of this pen model!!

[Tom Kellie]

1 hour ago, Intensity said:

Congratulations on your beautiful addition to your flock!  I did not know there’s a “Pelikan” engraving on the barrel of this pen model!!

 

 

 

~ @Intensity:

 

That image was set up so that the barrel was over the Pelikan logo on the presentation box.

 

I apologize for any unintended confusion.

 

The M200 Orange Delight with an IB nib ranks at the top of cheerful fountain pens on my writing desk.

 

The Fritz Italic Grind has made the nib a true joy for printing and for cursive writing.

 

      Tom K.

 

[Intensity]

8 hours ago, Tom Kellie said:

 

 

 

~ @Intensity:

 

That image was set up so that the barrel was over the Pelikan logo on the presentation box.

 

I apologize for any unintended confusion.

 

The M200 Orange Delight with an IB nib ranks at the top of cheerful fountain pens on my writing desk.

 

The Fritz Italic Grind has made the nib a true joy for printing and for cursive writing.

 

      Tom K.

 

No worries, that was such a convincing optical illusion!!  Really looked like the logo etched into the pen surface!

[DilettanteG]

@inkstainedruth sorry you’ve had such an awful week. I don’t answer my cell phone if I don’t recognize the number anymore. If it’s legit, they leave a voice mail. 

[Carrau]

13 minutes ago, DilettanteG said:

@inkstainedruth sorry you’ve had such an awful week. I don’t answer my cell phone if I don’t recognize the number anymore. If it’s legit, they leave a voice mail. 

+1.  Answering them reportedly only confirms the number is active and encourages more calls. Of course, you have to keep up with your voice mail, so real callers can leave messages.

[SLinkster]

Added an M800 green demonstrator to the flock over the weekend, not too far behind an M205. I know - when I was feeling unhappy with my two 120s I said two birds would do me, but then I had a chance to play with some Pelikans at pen club and the rest is history.

 

I do believe I've proven some corollary to the Theory of Relativity. Or perhaps I've proven that everything really is relative. Or something.

 

The M800 is a medium nib, but appears to be wider than the steel broad nib in the M205, and it puts down nearly as wide a line. Possibly the ink is the issue, since Monteverde is generally wetter than the Edelstein. Not complaining, simply being amused.

[DilettanteG]

Wow, that M800 looks huge compared to the M205!

 

I’ve also noticed the steel M2Xx EF nibs seem much finer than the EF gold nibs. Not sure how consistent that is across models or years.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Brown Marble M200 broad not writing well.  Which is a first, for any Pelikan piston filler I've had.

 

It's beautiful, but could be the ink (MB Swan Plume).  I'll see if it settles down.  

 

A Stresemann Souveran (also Broad) is on its way, thanks to @DilettanteG.  

[inkstainedruth]

On 3/10/2024 at 1:49 PM, DilettanteG said:

@inkstainedruth sorry you’ve had such an awful week. I don’t answer my cell phone if I don’t recognize the number anymore. If it’s legit, they leave a voice mail. 

Well, if they come into my cellphone, I can then block the calls.  Unfortunately, most of them come into my house line.  And got two more this morning -- and the first one came in just after 9:30 AM.  When I looked both it and the second call (which came in from somewhere the other end of the state) up, Google had NO information on either of them -- not even the fake front sites for Spokeo or the ones from "Blogger.com" (both of which tend to show Google fake sounding names that probably aren't even ON the sites themselves anywhere).  

If I call back, it's going to be on the cellphone, but of course a lot of times just get a message saying the number isn't in service.... 😡

Reported about a half dozen or so to the FTC over the weekend (most coming from the same area code/exchange).  But of course what's worse is that the various websites to REPORT spam calls will have a variety of "carriers" listed, depending on the site so the various "phone companies of record" have plausible deniability.  

Our current carrier for the house line does mark legit calls as such (but of course they're generally calls I'd recognize *anyway* -- my husband's cellphone, or my brother's.  Since so many last week were from the vicinity of Harrisburg, I was betting that a lot of them were political robocalls (which means that the scammers are ripping off their clients) -- but at least one got reported as a car warranty scam, and another got reported as a health care robocall (as if we're not getting enough SNAIL MAIL from places that want us to go to some freebie dinner at some expensive local restaurant I'm not interested in going to in the FIRST place, and where the senders blather at us about Medicare/Medicaid -- and why we should get it through THEIR insurance company; at least the flyers I can cross out our names and addresses and the bar code and write "REFUSED -- RETURN TO SENDER" and toss them in back in the mail (whether the USPS actually DOES return them or not is beyond my purview -- but if they do, it used to mean that the companies had to pay the return postage...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[DilettanteG]

5 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Brown Marble M200 broad not writing well.  Which is a first, for any Pelikan piston filler I've had.

 

It's beautiful, but could be the ink (MB Swan Plume).  I'll see if it settles down.  

 

A Stresemann Souveran (also Broad) is on its way, thanks to @DilettanteG.  

Your new Pelikan isn’t writing well right out of the box? That doesn’t sound right! Do you think it just has some manufacturing gunk that needs to be flushed out, or something more serious? Pelikan really stands by their products, so maybe a return or exchange might be an option? I’ve has really good luck with their US distributor’s repair, Chartpak, in the past. Abby has been a nib exchanging goddess, despite me being super picky.

I have found that my new Pelikans start writing silky smooth after I’ve written thru half a fill, maybe two? I can be pretty lazy about using pen flush before I’ve inked a new pen. So, that’s on me.

 

if it was used, but the piston’s working fine, maybe time for some cleaning and nib adjusting? I feel a little responsible for recommending my favorite brand.

[DilettanteG]

@inkstainedruth So, you’re the last person left with a landline? 😁

 

it’s time to start screening your calls. I always imagine my phone going full on Jeeves with a, “Madame is not at home to callers,” on my behalf.

[Penguincollector]

5 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Brown Marble M200 broad not writing well.  Which is a first, for any Pelikan piston filler I've had.

 

It's beautiful, but could be the ink (MB Swan Plume).  I'll see if it settles down.  

 

A Stresemann Souveran (also Broad) is on its way, thanks to @DilettanteG.  

 

  I hope the usual routines are helpful, flushing, shimming, maybe trying a Pelikan ink to make sure there’s compatibility.  I’m so glad you found a Stresemann! 

[carola]

17 hours ago, DilettanteG said:

Wow, that M800 looks huge compared to the M205!

 

I’ve also noticed the steel M2Xx EF nibs seem much finer than the EF gold nibs. Not sure how consistent that is across models or years.

 

That is a well known phenomenon. The Pelikan steel nibs are usually finer than the gold nibs of the same marked width.

The same goes when you compare vintage gold nibs to modern ones. Which makes vintage gold nibs corresponding a lot better to modern steel nibs.

[Sailor Kenshin]

@DilettanteG, @Penguincollector, I'm going to give this brown marble Pel a good test.  Bought new from a vendor I won't name, but if this pretty little M200 doesn't settle down, from now on, for ease of returns, it's Amazon for me.

 

And, having learned of my FrankenSouv (Souveran cap, M200 everythin' else), I officially scolded a dealer advertising an M200 as a Souveran.

 

Thank you, Pelikan wizards, for helping me learn about which is which.

[DilettanteG]

The pen that started my recent buying spree finally arrived, months after I ordered it from The Nibsmith. All I had to do was cancel the order and dispute the charge with my credit card company. Then, I finally got a response to my text and emails and suddenly my order was ready to fill the next day. (Seems to be a pretty common case in the reviews of this seller that I read after ordering it.) The price was excellent and it's a lovely cursive italic custom nib, but the pleasure of it was pretty overshadowed by the hassle of actually getting it. Anyway, here it is with the matching ballpoint. It's a gorgeous pen: