I got this pen today

[The Elevator]

2 hours ago, Surlyprof said:

highly recommend the benefits of springing for the z55 nib.

thanks for the advice—I’ll probably do that when I get the Piano Black version.

[amberleadavis]

On 1/20/2023 at 10:22 PM, PithyProlix said:

 

For some reason, I think this looks like what a school pen should. Attractive design - like something Ikea might sell and I could imagine a kid who had a pen like this would also have Lego set. I'd bet its made by Pelikan.

 

I see wood grain on the barrel. Is it really wood?

It's kind of long but here's a nice quote from an article on a Steiner Waldorf education site that mentions fountain pens: 

 

... Many thinkers of the late nineteenth century feared that the machine would sever this connection between meaning and matter. Simple tools designed for the human hand make this connection between the world of thought and value and the world of matter more visible. Such tools allow human beings to create products possessing a unique kind of “honesty.”

The fountain pen is an excellent example of such a tool. Waldorf students learn handwriting using a fountain pen, rather than a ballpoint, precisely because the fountain pen emphasizes this connection between thought and matter. Because its point can easily catch on the paper, the fountain pen teaches attentiveness and sensitivity. Because the ink will pool if one presses too hard, or not register if one glides too lightly, it teaches balance and appropriateness. Because the pen needs to be maintained, it teaches the value of care. As with all work done by hand, writing with a fountain pen forces one to experience the “denseness” of physical reality-which is exactly what higher technologies try to mask or overcome. The student must work conscientiously and consciously in order to manifest her will in the often obdurate material world.

Using a tool such as a fountain pen when a much less problematic tool like a ballpoint pen is avail­able brings up the issue of anachronism. Waldorf schools are sometimes criticized for keeping children uninformed about the realities and necessities of modern life-the personal computer, for example. (In fact, Waldorf schools do teach students to use a computer, but at the time when the children are ready for such activity-in the high school years.) Reformers at the turn of the century were also criticized for advocating “old-fashioned” ways of doing things. What is at issue here, though, is not one’s attitude toward the past, but one’s attitude toward the present and what the present brings. Should one automati­cally embrace all things new, simply because they are new and seem to make things easier and faster? Or should one consciously examine implications and consider options? ...

 

Thank you for sharing that quote.

[PithyProlix]

2 hours ago, amberleadavis said:

 

Thank you for sharing that quote.

 

My pleasure.

[DvdRiet]

On 2/26/2023 at 11:02 PM, A Smug Dill said:

@DvdRiet Welcome back! I was afraid you'd walked away from the hobby, one way or another, for good.

Aw, thanks! Haven't left the hobby by any means - ok, maybe buying slightly less. But I haven't been quite as online, especially on here, as I was before. Life in the way and all that.  Good to know at least someone missed me! haha

[Surlyprof]

22 hours ago, The Elevator said:

thanks for the advice—I’ll probably do that when I get the Piano Black version.

 

I believe the piano black version comes with the z55 nib.

[A Smug Dill]

1 hour ago, DvdRiet said:

Haven't left the hobby by any means - ok, maybe buying slightly less.

 

I ordered another Diplomat just 48 hours ago, out of an assortment of five new pens! It was shipped yesterday, or so I was advised.

[DvdRiet]

1 hour ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

I ordered another Diplomat just 48 hours ago, out of an assortment of five new pens! It was shipped yesterday, or so I was advised.

Oooh, which one?? I added two more vintage ones to my collection yesterday. Now waiting for them to ship from Germany.

 

I have now housed my collection very luxuriously in a chest from Toyooka Craft, which is filling up nicely 😄

[Paul-in-SF]

A pen arrived today, but I am going to have to return it. I bought the pen on eBay from eastern Europe, and it is supposed to be a Parker Duofold Centennial (modern) with silver godron overlay. Unfortunately it is a Duofold International, the smaller size. I am charitably assuming that this was ignorance on the seller's part. It's too bad, in a way, because it is quite a pretty thing, maybe actually better looking in the smaller size. But I never would have bought the pen at all, let alone at that price, if it had been properly listed as an International. And it looks like I am on the hook for the return postage (based on what was in the listing) so I am going to have to give the seller negative feedback. 

[A Smug Dill]

2 hours ago, DvdRiet said:

Oooh, which one?

 

Diplomat Elox Matrix. I saw the steel EF nib version listed on Amazon.com.au for a price comparable to what LCdC would likely have offered me, had it survived — not that it ever fulfilled my paid-for order of a Diplomat Elox Ring in purple before collapsing, in spite of many weeks of my pestering them — and jumped on it. I had been teetering between the Aero in champagne, Aero in green, and Aero in turquoise for a long while now, but it always irked me that the EF nib listings are almost always priced higher on Amazon, and I didn't want to pay Cult Pens's most recent asking price even when it the brand-wide promotional discount was in play. To be fair, this Elox Matrix cost me marginally more than Cult Pens's discounted price for the Aero; but I haven't been overly impressed with Cult Pens lately, and Amazon has much better customer service when it comes to dealing with problems. A few hours later, when I looked again, the price for that very item has jumped by 36%.

 

[DvdRiet]

9 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

Diplomat Elox Matrix.

Cool! I got the Matrix late last year, not long after it came out. I think they did a really nice job of making it like the Matrix. I hadn’t seen the Elox yet irl and I was expecting the Matrix to simply be a green one that they added vertical lines to. But I was pleasantly surprised. It really is designed to look like the Matrix rather than simply the Elox in green. I’ve since bought the Elox in the original orange and the rings are larger than the cuts on the Matrix. The green is also less garish than it looks in the marketing photos. And I was also surprised that the Elox is a bit lighter than the Aero. Not by a lot, but noticeable.

 

Hope you love it! Mine has become one of my favorites 🙂

[DvdRiet]

These arrived today, adding two more missing models to my Diplomat collection. (Yes, these are both Diplomat pens 😀) The dark pen is more navy blue than it appears here, but it's hard to photograph together with the other one using just my phone.

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

Waterman 0554.........rolled gold pen, Gothic pattern,  Ideal gold nib/maxi-semi-flex or first stage superflex....will know more when the nib is set a bit further out on the feed...

???1925. Will be sent to Francis to be re-sacked. My 4th Waterman.

 

The silver dip pen is 800 silver so before @ 1935 when Germany went to 835 silver. Polished up good.

I was chasing inkwells when this Waterman said, 'fetch'.

 

Click on the picture for a bigger cleaner view.

Again and this week some nice poster linked me to an English company that makes inkwell inserts.

[Misfit]

@DvdRiet and @Bo Bo Olson

your vintage pen buys are lovely pens. 

[mallymal1]

On 3/4/2023 at 8:27 PM, DvdRiet said:

 

I have now housed my collection very luxuriously in a chest from Toyooka Craft, which is filling up nicely 😄

 

@DvdRiet  I'd love to see how your Diplomat collection is looking.  👓

[Bo Bo Olson]

Misfit, thank you.............over the last few years, better pens have been falling into my hands, and a lot of luck, in I'm not hunting this or that pen....just what Newton's me. Like this one. I hunt inkwells and pens....in this case the inkwell led to the pen.

 

I hunt in the live auction houses....that happen 'seldom' (every 8-10 weeks depending on which of the two I use has an auction) instead of the daily grind of Ebay, and lack of lottery money.

 

[dms525]

Nothing exotic, but a solution to a problem. The problem is that the checks my bank issues use really fountain pen hostile paper. Most pens and inks produce horrible feathering and bleeding. The solution is to use a fairly dry, pretty narrow italic nib and dry ink.  I have settled on a Franklin-Christoph medium steel nib ground by Masuyama or Nagahara to cursive italic. My check-writing pen lives in a Good-Made-Better PenWell on my desk.

 

Since I use it as a "desk pen," I decided to order a Franklin-Christoph Model 66. It arrived today and seems well-suited to its duties.

 

 

 

David

[Paul-in-SF]

Today a Lamy Studio in brushed steel with an EF nib arrived. 

 

It is unassuming and moderately attractive. It wrote perfectly out of the box (I loaded it with the nice large Lamy blue cartridge that came with it). I like the way the cap snaps on the back when I post it. And I like the black section, it seems slightly grippy, compared to the brushed steel surface on which my fingers do not get a very good grip. 

 

On the other hand, I was surprised at how flimsy the cap seems (although I don't think it is in any danger of deforming). The barrel is mostly lined with a fairly sturdy plastic. There is an inner cap on the cap of course, but the inch or so of the cap starting at the lip isn't lined with anything, and that steel measures about 0.34 mm thick (or about 13.5 mils). Also disappointing is the click when capping -- it's about the puniest click I can remember experiencing. Knowing Lamy, it is probably not going to be a problem, but it's a little disconcerting. 

 

I've seen the Studio around for a while now, but recently I thought the brushed steel version looked cool, and it does. 

[cat74]

Ooooo...a nice Parker 45 has joined me today!!

 

[jchch1950]

IMO one of the nicest colours of the Parker 45.

[DvdRiet]

On 3/8/2023 at 10:19 AM, mallymal1 said:

 

@DvdRiet  I'd love to see how your Diplomat collection is looking.  👓

Your wish is my command! 😀

 

This is the 'core collection' with one of each model - as far as I have been able to discover, that is. I'm sure there are more. And as you can see from the placeholder cards, I still have quite a few to find. Still enjoying the thrill of the hunt! (Forgive the beige ballpoint in the bottom tray - it was a *rather dubious* (lol!) gift and it now serves as a placeholder for the model 22 and to remind me of my grail of finding the striated models 22 through 26.) 

 

 

Then I also have a number of 'specials,' i.e., models that were also released in some fun color series, finishes like the Flame and the Matrix, and things like the LE 75th anniversary piston pens in acrylic. As you can see, I've been having fun collecting colorful pens! 

 

 

Also, I have to mention that I absolutely LOVE the quality of this Toyooka chest. It is very simple but so elegantly made with very precise attention to detail. It is such a beautiful piece of furniture that sits on top of the credenza in my office. And I think my Diplomats like it, too.