I got this pen today

[Misfit]

I love the pen @A Smug Dill bought. I’m trying not to buy it.  I’ve been on a spending spree. But I did see it on AliExpress for $20. And I love the maple trees in my yard. It’s such a pretty pen. So lovely. It’s just gorgeous. It needs me.  
 

Well, of course one of the maple leaf pens is now bought. I grew up in the same town that Scott Joplin, composer of Maple Leaf Rag, moved to. He was a teacher there, and also composed Maple Leaf Rag there. 

Edited May 21, 2023 by Misfit

[AmandaW]

44 minutes ago, Misfit said:

Well, of course one of the maple leaf pens is now bought.

I have been trying to ignore Smug's new pen too. The will is weakening... it's such a pretty one.

[Jayebird]

1 hour ago, AmandaW said:

I have been trying to ignore Smug's new pen too. The will is weakening... it's such a pretty one.

Arg! Me too! and it's like not thatttt expensive a pen. Drat these penablers...

[Misfit]

I saw that pen on Reddit too. Maple leaves!

[Misfit]

On 5/21/2023 at 7:10 PM, AmandaW said:

I have been trying to ignore Smug's new pen too. The will is weakening... it's such a pretty one.

Well, did you buy one?

 

On 5/21/2023 at 8:40 PM, Jayebird said:

Arg! Me too! and it's like not thatttt expensive a pen. Drat these penablers...

How about you, did you buy one?  
 

We could be pen triplets, wait with Smug we’d be pen quadruplets. 

[AmandaW]

1 hour ago, Misfit said:

Well, did you buy one?

I'm concerned it will be too big. And I impulsively bought a clutch pencil.

[Nellie]

I saw Inkquiring Minds' review of that Maple Leaf pen and got very interested too 😆. Luckily for me it has gold furniture, so I won't buy yet another Chinese pen /pen in general (hopefully!)

I received this one today, though. 

Soo happy that it really has that imprint on the barrel 🙂. I don't own a Duofold, but here's my Sheaffer Flattop together with the Jinhao 100 Century. They share their clip design:

First impressions (just dipped): a very good, very smooth writer that delivers a fat, juicy M line.

[Paul-in-SF]

Today I got a Pilot Prera with a CM nib. So far, I don't like it much, it seems to write dry and be unpleasant to use. I'll try again in a little while and see if time spent marinating in ink will improve anything (either me or the pen). 

 

edited to add: After sitting for an hour or so (both me and the pen), it's writing better now. I'm no longer feeling grumpy about it. 

[Jayebird]

On 5/23/2023 at 12:35 AM, Misfit said:

How about you, did you buy one?  
 

We could be pen triplets, wait with Smug we’d be pen quadruplets. 

Not yet... but thinking I might get the "long blade" nib style... because that would be something I don't have yet.

[jchch1950]

The Pilot Prera works better with cartridges than with the converter. In both cases, tests were with Pilot blue ink.

[Bo Bo Olson]

8 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

it seems to write dry

I use DA Royal blue as my 'wet' ink. I have a semi-flex pen that writes real dry.....so replaced Waterman Blue I got for that pen with the DA ink. ..........Some DA inks are dryer shading inks, others are like it's Royal Blue nicely saturated.

 

I'm sure there are some Noodler inks that are real wet. In I've read some Noodler users think Waterman is a dry ink.

[InkyColors]

11 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

Today I got a Pilot Prera with a CM nib. So far, I don't like it much, it seems to write dry and be unpleasant to use. I'll try again in a little while and see if time spent marinating in ink will improve anything (either me or the pen). 

 

edited to add: After sitting for an hour or so (both me and the pen), it's writing better now. I'm no longer feeling grumpy about it. 

My Preras all have medium nibs, but here are the inks that I've tried that work well in them: 

DeAtramentis Document Brown and Archive Black

J Herbin Poussière de Lune 

Monteverde Olivine, Horizon Blue, Ocean Noir, Smoke Noir

Sailor Jentle Ultramarine

Diamine Writer's Blood

 

My CM nibs are in Metropolitans, but the inks that work well with them are:

Colorverse Cat

Diamine Midnight and Eau de Nil

Monteverde Malachite, Fire Opal and Iced Cookie

Robert Oster Dragon's Night

Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo

Sailor Ultramarine and Yonaga.

 

If you have some of these inks you could  try them (especially the very wet Writer's Blood) and determine if you received a bad pen.  Hope it's just a matter of finding an ink that makes your pen happy.

 

[Stompie]

This arrived today from Tom's Studio, a local pen maker here in England.

I have had these sort of conversions before where they said it will take a Zebra G nib but there has always been a problem.

Tom seems to have manufactured his own feed unit and it works very well. Disassembly is also easy for cleaning and changing the nib if I need to - that was also a problem with the other converted pens I have bought before but this one, is a piece of cake!

 

Next pen for me, when it comes back in stock is Tom's Lumos pen which looks to me like a great idea and a very practical pen.

I must say, it does seem that Tom is starting to shake things up in the pen market and he has some great new ideas and manufacturing skills to boot!. 

 

 

 

[DvdRiet]

2 hours ago, Stompie said:

This arrived today from Tom's Studio, a local pen maker here in England.

I have had these sort of conversions before where they said it will take a Zebra G nib but there has always been a problem.

Tom seems to have manufactured his own feed unit and it works very well. Disassembly is also easy for cleaning and changing the nib if I need to - that was also a problem with the other converted pens I have bought before but this one, is a piece of cake!

 

Next pen for me, when it comes back in stock is Tom's Lumos pen which looks to me like a great idea and a very practical pen.

I must say, it does seem that Tom is starting to shake things up in the pen market and he has some great new ideas and manufacturing skills to boot!. 

 

 

 

Very nice!! I've been following his stuff and am really tempted to get one, even though buying from Europe makes them more expensive. Some very cool things appear to be happening! Good to hear the high opinion. Might just push me into getting something after all (they are also all very pretty!).

[A Smug Dill]

 

Still waiting for the other HongDian 620 ordered on the same day…

[Misfit]

@A Smug Dill I like that color of green on the pen. 

[Jasper]

On 5/24/2023 at 9:48 AM, Stompie said:

This arrived today from Tom's Studio, a local pen maker here in England.

I have had these sort of conversions before where they said it will take a Zebra G nib but there has always been a problem.

Tom seems to have manufactured his own feed unit and it works very well. Disassembly is also easy for cleaning and changing the nib if I need to - that was also a problem with the other converted pens I have bought before but this one, is a piece of cake!

 

Next pen for me, when it comes back in stock is Tom's Lumos pen which looks to me like a great idea and a very practical pen.

I must say, it does seem that Tom is starting to shake things up in the pen market and he has some great new ideas and manufacturing skills to boot!. 

 

 

 

Congrats...beautiful pen and writing with the Pro-Flex!  I was considering the Studio Pen, but decided to order the Pocket Fountain Pen with the Titanium Nib (also getting the Architect Nib)...my order just shipped yesterday!  Tom does really amazing work!

[Penguincollector]

On 5/24/2023 at 6:48 AM, Stompie said:

This arrived today from Tom's Studio, a local pen maker here in England.

I have had these sort of conversions before where they said it will take a Zebra G nib but there has always been a problem.

Tom seems to have manufactured his own feed unit and it works very well. Disassembly is also easy for cleaning and changing the nib if I need to - that was also a problem with the other converted pens I have bought before but this one, is a piece of cake!

 

Next pen for me, when it comes back in stock is Tom's Lumos pen which looks to me like a great idea and a very practical pen.

I must say, it does seem that Tom is starting to shake things up in the pen market and he has some great new ideas and manufacturing skills to boot!. 

 

 

 

This is all lovely: pen, ink, and handwriting! I looked up the website and all the pro flex nibs are sold out 😢 

 

On 5/24/2023 at 9:51 AM, A Smug Dill said:

 

Still waiting for the other HongDian 620 ordered on the same day…

I agree with @Misfit, that’s a great color and an excellent match with the ink. 

[Stompie]

I am so impressed with this nib and feed. A Zebra G nib that starts up first time even after a night of rest is quite something. Tom has made an amazing feed for this nib.

So today I inked it up with Diamine Writers Blood as I wanted to try a wet ink and it looks great.

My next pen that I just ordered on Friday night is the Lumos from Tom's Studio. I ordered the Duo tip as soon as it came back in stock.

 

 

[Misfit]

The Hongdian N8 in Maple Leaves arrived today. It might have to wait to be inked in September. It strikes me as a Fall/Autumn pen.