What pen(s) are you using today?

[ParramattaPaul]

45 minutes ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

Ha! Coincidence, this is also what I'd like to ink today in the afternoon. (The morning was for trying out a Sheaffer Balance, which I'm about to describe.) 

 

Would you mind sharing a couple of pictures? Mine is a green cross-hatch, with a 58 Duro nib, so I look forward to compare and enjoy others are also using such pens on such a good day 😄

 I will try to take photos for you, but it may be tomorrow before I post them.

[OldTravelingShoe]

5 minutes ago, ParramattaPaul said:

 I will try to take photos for you, but it may be tomorrow before I post them.

No worries, anytime and any day is good, @ParramattaPaul 😄

[OldTravelingShoe]

TL;DR: I inked this Conway Stewart 58 green/black hatch (web), with 14k Conway Stewart No. 58 DURO nib, M-tipped. The ink is Noodler's Harald's Hearse, a super-wet light-olive ink I use often in my nature drawings. 

 

Overall, a fantastic pen. Feels great in hand, good girth, good length when capped, the nib flows generously and glides over the paper. The nib is rigid, so enables fluid strokes more easily, but lacks line variation so a shading ink with multiple passes work best for my drawing. 

 

Figure 1. The pen awaits action. It's not the newest or the fanciest, but has such spark when it gets going. 

 

Figure 2. The Conway Stewart No. 58 DURO nib is sweating a  drawing. 

 

Figure 3. This pen is a joy to work with. 

 

Figure 4. It's also a joy to look at. 

 

Comments are most welcome. 

 

Enjoy the day! 

 

[inkstainedruth]

That certainly is a pretty pen.  

What's a DURO nib?  (I know very little about Conway Stewart pens).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[sandy101]

Visconti Van Gogh - Wheat fields with Thunderclouds. Fine nib, with Visconti Turquoise ink.

 

The nib was tuned when I bought it. As a result the nib is a crisp and responsive writer.

[OldTravelingShoe]

10 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

That certainly is a pretty pen.  

What's a DURO nib?  (I know very little about Conway Stewart pens).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Thank you for your kind words. 

 

I am surely not someone who knows much more, @mallymal1 and @ParramattaPaul are the ones to call in this thread, but a Duro nib is a large, stiff, heavy-duty nib made by Conway Stewart, perhaps an equivalent of a manifold nib that can write across multiple carbon copies.

 

To me, it feels much like the early (stiff) Parker Duofold's nibs, which I like both for writing and for drawing. 

Edited October 15, 2022 by OldTravelingShoe
Added the comparison with Parker Duofold nibs.

[inkstainedruth]

Okay, thanks for the information.  I think I have a couple of vintage Esterbrooks with manifold nibs, so I'm familiar with the concept.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[ParramattaPaul]

1 hour ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

Thank you for your kind words. 

 

I am surely not someone who knows much more, @mallymal1 and @ParramattaPaul are the ones to call in this thread, but a Duro nib is a large, stiff, heavy-duty nib made by Conway Stewart, perhaps an equivalent of a manifold nib that can write across multiple carbon copies.

 

To me, it feels much like the early (stiff) Parker Duofold's nibs, which I like both for writing and for drawing. 

The CS Duro model is a little larger pen than the Series 58 (I have both). It was first introduced in 1935 (IIRC).

 

It, like the series 58 and 100, is one the 'vintage' pens currently produced. 

 

The five pens I have inked and on my desk for ready use are two Onotos and three Conway Stewart's including the Duro and the Series 58.

[OldTravelingShoe]

1 minute ago, ParramattaPaul said:

The CS Duro model is a little larger pen than the Series 58

Interesting. But then the nib in my pen, on which I can see both "58" and "DURO", is indicative of a 58 or of a Duro pen?! 

 

I have the following measures, so perhaps we can disentangle this together:

1. Length, capped pen: 124 mm. 
2. Length, posted pen: 152 mm. 
3. Length, only the pen uncapped: 115 mm. 
4. Length, only cap: 58 mm. 
5. Length, only the open nib, so the part outside the pen: 18 mm. 
6. Girth, max. diameter pen only, no cap: 10 mm. 
7. Girth, diameter at threads: 9 mm. 
8. Girth, diameter at the florette next to the nib: 8 mm. 
9. Girth, max. diameter of the cap excluding clip: 12 mm. 
10. Girth, max. diameter of the cap including clip: 15 mm. 

Would these be the dimensions of a 58 or of a Duro? 

 

[ParramattaPaul]

58* (The) Conway Stewart: (1949-63? SH), 2 narrow bands surrounding 1 medium band; The Conway Stewart, number on 2nd line - early; Conway Stewart, number on 1st line - late. Dimensions - length: 13cm; barrel+section: 9.7cm; cap: 6.1cm. Nib, CS 58 Duro or CS 58. (Matching pencil The Conway No. 33). (Original price 30/-) IMPRINT. And here's a Golden Jubilee Advert depicting a CS 58.

The Conway Stewart: IMPRINT

      Blue hatch*
      Cracked ice*
      Marbled plum/black
      Marbled burgundy/black inclusions (not faded plum)
      Tiger eye*
      Marbled green/black
      Marbled light green/black inclusions
      Black
      Marbled light blue
      Marbled blue
      Grey hatched
      Grey hatched - no bands*

Conway Stewart: IMPRINT

      Silver-grey herringbone*
      Green hatched
      Grey hatched
      Burgundy hatched
      Blue hatched
      Tiger eye*
      Marbled blue
      Blue herring bone
      Green herring-bone
      Red herring-bone
      Cracked ice*
      Black

[ParramattaPaul]

There are 19 models of Duro listed on this page.:  Jonathan's Vintage Pens - a list of Conway Stewart numbers (wesonline.org.uk)

 

What I suspect, and it is only a suspicion is that the Duro nilb was used in different models (with additional model numbers added) including the Series 58.

[essayfaire]

48 minutes ago, ParramattaPaul said:

There are 19 models of Duro listed on this page.:  Jonathan's Vintage Pens - a list of Conway Stewart numbers (wesonline.org.uk)

 

What I suspect, and it is only a suspicion is that the Duro nilb was used in different models (with additional model numbers added) including the Series 58.

I'm pretty sure that when researching different models of Conway Stewarts that I saw the Duro nibs in multiple pen styles.

[OldTravelingShoe]

The book of Steven Hall, Fountain Pens for the Million: The History of Conway Stewart 1905-2005 does indeed lists the Duro nib in the same paragraph as the CS 58 and 28 models. 

 

There are no dimensions or further given, afaik. 

 

Source for the book:

https://www.englishpenbooks.co.uk/home/fountain-pens-for-the-million/

[OldTravelingShoe]

1 hour ago, ParramattaPaul said:

58*  Conway Stewart, number on 1st line - late. Dimensions - length: ~13cm;  cap: ~6.1cm. Nib, CS 58 Duro  (Original price 30/-) IMPRINT. 

 

Conway Stewart: IMPRINT

      Green hatched
      

This one is it, thank you, @ParramattaPaul! 

[ParramattaPaul]

28 minutes ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

This one is it, thank you, @ParramattaPaul! 

No worries. You're welcome. 

 

Your pen is an 'all correct' Series 58.

[jandrew]

Model 20 with Diamine Salamander

[Waverly]

Copper Esterbrook J with a 2968 broad nib.

 

 

[inkstainedruth]

Today it's been the Sailor Pro Gear Slim Purple Cosmos, zoom nib, with Sailor Jentle Sky High.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Misfit]

I’ve been using a Visconti Rembrandt Eclipse pen to write Haikus for this:

 

 

[Sinistral1]

9 hours ago, jandrew said:

Model 20 with Diamine Salamander

@jandrewWow!  I thought your spider was the real thing - nice use of shadows!