I got this pen today

[OldTravelingShoe]

TL;DR: I opened Pandora's box of vintage English pens. This one just arrived - an Onoto eyedropper with over-under feed supporting a 14k nib. 

 

WithFigures 1-3 show how the pen looks like.  I will try it out later, after I learn how to properly ink, use, and clear such wonderful pens. 

 

Figure 1. One day, a long, thin pen arrived at my door. 

 

Figure 2. It's got a lovely nib. But, wait, is the feed going... over?! (Yes. And apparently it was normal in those times, the early 20th century.) 

 

Figure 3. There's more feed under, however. Here's the profile pic. 

 

Enjoy. Comments are most welcome. 

[DvdRiet]

28 minutes ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

TL;DR: I opened Pandora's box of vintage English pens. This one just arrived - an Onoto eyedropper with over-under feed supporting a 14k nib. 

 

WithFigures 1-3 show how the pen looks like.  I will try it out later, after I learn how to properly ink, use, and clear such wonderful pens. 

 

Figure 1. One day, a long, thin pen arrived at my door. 

 

Figure 2. It's got a lovely nib. But, wait, is the feed going... over?! (Yes. And apparently it was normal in those times, the early 20th century.) 

 

Figure 3. There's more feed under, however. Here's the profile pic. 

 

Enjoy. Comments are most welcome. 

 

Amazing! I've never seen one like that. A fascinating system. Will be interesting to hear what the flow is like.

[OldTravelingShoe]

TL;DR: Today this Waterman 24 arrived. It sports a flexy IDEAL No.4 nib, which in ads was capable of an effortless F-BB range.

 

I now have to learn how to use such an instrument; last thing I want is to break in minutes a pen that survived a century. So it will take a while until I ink it. 

 

Figures 1-3 depict the pen, and Figure 3 also contrasts it with another large pen, this time from the 2020s - a Pilot Custom Urushi. 

 

Figure 1. The pen at rest. After nearly a century of work, there's still no retirement. 

 

Figure 2. Nib (top) and feed (bottom).

 

Figure 3. Have our pens grown in size in the last century? 

 

Comments are most welcome. 

 

Enjoy! 

 

[DvdRiet]

1 hour ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

TL;DR: Today this Waterman 24 arrived. It sports a flexy IDEAL No.4 nib, which in ads was capable of an effortless F-BB range.

 

I now have to learn how to use such an instrument; last thing I want is to break in minutes a pen that survived a century. So it will take a while until I ink it. 

 

Figures 1-3 depict the pen, and Figure 3 also contrasts it with another large pen, this time from the 2020s - a Pilot Custom Urushi. 

 

Figure 1. The pen at rest. After nearly a century of work, there's still no retirement. 

 

Figure 2. Nib (top) and feed (bottom).

 

Figure 3. Have our pens have grown in size in the last century? 

 

Comments are most welcome. 

 

Enjoy! 

 

WOW! What an absolute fantastic looking pen!! Congratulations on that beauty!

[OldTravelingShoe]

1 hour ago, DvdRiet said:

WOW! What an absolute fantastic looking pen!! Congratulations on that beauty!

Many thanks, @DvdRiet, I am now gathering courage to try it out. Estimated time to actually do it: Early September. 

[mallymal1]

3 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

TL;DR: Today this Waterman 24 arrived. It sports a flexy IDEAL No.4 nib, which in ads was capable of an effortless F-BB range.

 

I now have to learn how to use such an instrument; last thing I want is to break in minutes a pen that survived a century. So it will take a while until I ink it. 

 

Figures 1-3 depict the pen, and Figure 3 also contrasts it with another large pen, this time from the 2020s - a Pilot Custom Urushi. 

 

Figure 1. The pen at rest. After nearly a century of work, there's still no retirement. 

 

Figure 2. Nib (top) and feed (bottom).

 

Figure 3. Have our pens grown in size in the last century? 

 

Comments are most welcome. 

 

Enjoy! 

 

 

Superb.

 

[PithyProlix]

9 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

TL;DR: Today this Waterman 24 arrived. It sports a flexy IDEAL No.4 nib, which in ads was capable of an effortless F-BB range.

 

I now have to learn how to use such an instrument; last thing I want is to break in minutes a pen that survived a century. So it will take a while until I ink it. 

 

Figures 1-3 depict the pen, and Figure 3 also contrasts it with another large pen, this time from the 2020s - a Pilot Custom Urushi. 

 

Figure 1. The pen at rest. After nearly a century of work, there's still no retirement. 

 

Figure 2. Nib (top) and feed (bottom).

 

Figure 3. Have our pens grown in size in the last century? 

 

Comments are most welcome. 

 

Enjoy! 

 

 

Amazing. Will be wonderful to hear about your impressions of it. 

[amberleadavis]

On 8/2/2022 at 9:18 AM, ruby.monkey said:

Today's arrivals:

IMG_4434 by Jean-Yves, on Flickr

 

A new TWSBI Diamond 580 with 1.1mm stub, filled with TWSBI black ink via a TWSBI pipe just to see how well it works (very well indeed); and a used Pelikan Level 65 with broad nib and a bellyful of Pelikan Royal Blue.

 

I love my Levels!

[OldTravelingShoe]

@mallymal1, @PithyProlix, thank you for your kind words. I'll try to do justice to this pen, report back how it went.

 

@amberleadavis, I've heard much about the Pelikan Level, and the closer the people talking about it are to me, the better their opinion of this series. Oh, so tempting! 😄

[JulieParadise]

13 minutes ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

@amberleadavis, I've heard much about the Pelikan Level, and the closer the people talking about it are to me, the better their opinion of this series. Oh, so tempting! 😄

 

Give it a try when you come across a decent Pelikan Level set (the bottle is needed to refill the pen properly)!

 

I got a NOS Level in its original packaging as a gift about a year ago, and now this unassuming pen is used by my son who is fairly rough on his pens (in the sense of tossing his school bag around, not when he is writing). We both marvel at how comfortable this pen is in the hand and how effortless and reliable the M nib glides over any paper. The huge ink capacity is a definite win, and probably because the Level was more or less a marketing flop when it was introduced and thus now is fairly underestimated it can be had for pretty low prices.

[OldTravelingShoe]

7 minutes ago, JulieParadise said:

 

Give it a try when you come across a decent Pelikan Level set (the bottle is needed to refill the pen properly)!

 

I got a NOS Level in its original packaging as a gift about a year ago, and now this unassuming pen is used by my son who is fairly rough on his pens (in the sense of tossing his school bag around, not when he is writing). We both marvel at how comfortable this pen is in the hand and how effortless and reliable the M nib glides over any paper. The huge ink capacity is a definite win, and probably because the Level was more or less a marketing flop when it was introduced and thus now is fairly underestimated it can be had for pretty low prices.

Many thanks, @JulieParadise, it's moving up on my list. The massive ink tank seems to me a big bonus, especially for sketching. 

[JulieParadise]

11 minutes ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

Many thanks, @JulieParadise, it's moving up on my list. The massive ink tank seems to me a big bonus, especially for sketching. 

Based on the one we have it should be well suited for that. Since these pens are clearly designed for school use and to either write-and-write-and-write-and-write or be capable of small pauses in between writing and also quite forgiving when it comes to rotating the pen (the tipping is fairly round), the Level probably handles sketching very well.

 

The only thing that obviously would be a royal PITA is changing ink colours frequently. It is not made for that. I just went and had a look at my bottle: It does screw open easily, so using another ink (like black or sepia) in this bottle for sketching is no problem.

 

Edited to add: The nibs are easily replacable. I might have spare nibs, so I'll try and tune/grind one to have an EF spot on the upside, which would make it a double-duty nib. If I forget to get back to you just PM me in September/October and ask. 😉

[DvdRiet]

Got another boring Diplomat today...  

(the yellow one in the middle just arrived and found it was already in good company!)

[A Smug Dill]

8 minutes ago, DvdRiet said:

Got another boring Diplomat today...  

(the yellow one in the middle just arrived and found it was already in good company!)

 

Looking good. Time for us to seek more enablement for you?

[DvdRiet]

15 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

Looking good. Time for us to seek more enablement for you?

If you know anyone who has the pink and the purple (raspberry) versions of the ones on the left with the silky soft finish, I could be pretty easily persuaded!

[PithyProlix]

29 minutes ago, DvdRiet said:

Got another boring Diplomat today...  

(the yellow one in the middle just arrived and found it was already in good company!)

 

To my eyes, the yellow one is the best looking of the bunch. Enjoy!

[OldTravelingShoe]

51 minutes ago, DvdRiet said:

Got another boring Diplomat today...  

(the yellow one in the middle just arrived and found it was already in good company!)

This is a wonderful set, @DvdRiet, congratulations! Fwiw, I find the yellow pen very appealing, and would work very nicely in so many inspiring combinations - with a brown or dark red Filofax notebook, for example 😄

[OldTravelingShoe]

25 minutes ago, DvdRiet said:

If you know anyone who has the pink and the purple (raspberry) versions of the ones on the left with the silky soft finish, I could be pretty easily persuaded!

I could paint over, say, the light blue one, so you'll get a truly special edition in the color you like 😜

[OldTravelingShoe]

3 hours ago, JulieParadise said:

Edited to add: The nibs are easily replacable. I might have spare nibs, so I'll try and tune/grind one to have an EF spot on the upside, which would make it a double-duty nib. If I forget to get back to you just PM me in September/October and ask. 😉

Haha, getting good nibs even before the pen is a new experience for me. Much appreciated, @JulieParadise, and please let me know how this could work. (In any case, I'll ping later in the year.) 

 

Inspired by this discussion, I asked a seller from Germany I trust if he could ship a Pelikan Level L65 over to me; it comes with the original 'bottle' (Tintenflasche). 

 

I am now wondering if the larger L5 in the series:

1. Uses the same nibs as the L65. 
2. Can be filled with the same 'bottle' as the L65. 

If so, perhaps I could acquire (also) the L5? (I would do this in time, because right now I'm really trying to stop buying everything that catches my attention, and surely slow down on pens above €100 for at least a couple of months. 

[BlueSquiggle]

Not exactly today but yesterday I’ve have a terrible ‘accident’ and got three new pens after been pen purchase free for about a year. If I’m going to fall off the wagon I might as well go face first!

All Sailor pens L-R Anniversary Shirogane, KOP Sakura Nagare, and KOP Tamenuri ‘Aodame’

 

 

The Anniversary Shirogane has a lovely smooth MF nib, seems to be somewhere between a western F and EF. Good ink flow too but keeps the fine precise line. While the pen is rather heavy it’s balance is great and the silver barrel does seem to ‘stick’ to my hand and sit happily without trying to slide about. The step down to the section is a bit jarring looking but it’s more comfortable than it looks.

The nib has the usual Sailor feel and feedback and writes out of the box without any issues and is about the same size as the profit of 1911 nibs.

 

 

The Sakura Nagare is a beautiful pen, just beautiful!  If you care to take a few moments you can get the patterns on the cap and barrel to line up. The gold flake and shell are covered in clear lacquer but you can still feel the bumps from them through it. Lovely light weight pen, perfect balance and that nib! Wowzers! I’ve never had a King Of Pen before only a pair of Profits and the nib on a Cross Peerless 125 I had a few years back. The KOP nibs are a genuine revelation to me, I’m shocked just how good these pens are! The nib is a ‘M’ so closer to a European fine (or something between ’F’ and ‘EF’ if you’re Montblanc!). Very smooth but with the usual Sailor feedback, it’s neither wet nor dry just good flow. Personally I’ve been in love with the Sailor nibs since I had the Peerless but I am truly shock just how good the KOP nibs are. This is almost a perfect writer - feels feather light in the hand, perfect balance and fantastic nib. Only negative (if I can even call it that, but more on this later) is the feel of the lacquer in you’re hand. It’s not perfectly smooth due to the raden and gold dust underneath and it feels a different temperature to your hand. Still lovely though.

 

 

KOP Tamenuri ‘Aodame’ - this is the big boy! Of the three I purchased yesterday this is the one I actually went to the shop to get. It’s my second urushi pen, Pilot 845 being the first, but this is on another level. All the same thing that I said about the Sakura Nagare belong here too except there are not negatives, this is the first pen I have ever used that I can truly say, for me at least, is genuinely perfection!

The weight, the diameter of the section and barrel, the size of the nib are all just perfection! What is even better that the other KOP is the feel of the urushi, it’s warmth means that I vanishes into my hand and I don’t notice it as I write, but same with the other KOP the nib is incredibly good!

Just to compare this pen to a MB 149 (or even the WE Homer I have) the MB just does not compare to how the KOP feels, the FOP feels more organic, more natural and almost blends into my hand as if it’s just another part of me, the MB (as with any other pens) always feels like it’s there, the Sakura Nagare is the same as I know it’s in my hand but still works beautifully. The Tamenuri on the other hand just just vanish as it’s warms to body temperature. I’ve not tried other KOP urushi pens so they might be the same too.

 

Please forgive the photos as I took them late last night so they’re not the clearest but hopefully they give a decent impression of the pens.