What pen(s) are you using today?

[inkstainedruth]

@OldTravelingShoe-- I'd thought about bringing my Cisélé 75 with me on this trip east (after having it recently repaired) but decided that I didn't want to bring that expensive a pen with me in case I lost it....  Of course, now I'm a bit sorry I didn't because I didn't bring ANY un-inked pens with me, and then bought four bottles of ink yesterday (what WAS I thinking?  Oh, right -- I was thinking that I was PO'd that I'd done 10 loads of laundry the two days before we left town, and got stuck with it taking nearly an HOUR to put air in the tires (between the air pump at the gas station not working right and having five people in line in front of me) while my husband spent the afternoon playing stupee board games the day before we got on the road.... 

I should have spent more time (and possibly more money as well ) shopping yesterday....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[DiveDr]

@inkstainedruth is there actually anywhere to physically buy ink in NYC anymore?

[inkstainedruth]

Yes.  Fountain Pen Hospital carries a number of brands; the Lamy Soho store has Lamy inks, and I believe that Yoseka Stationery, in Brooklyn, carries ink (I haven't made it to there and they were closed the week between Christmas and New Year's.  So someday, I hope to go to NYC that is NOT in December...).

Not sure about other places at this point.  Art Brown's (the place that used to be around 45th St., just off 5th Avenue) moved and the last time I looked at their website (pre-pandemic) it seemed to be mostly luggage.  

There are some other places in Manhattan (I just did a quick Google search for "pen shops NYC"), but don't know anything about some of them.  Besides Staples, most of them are listed as being either "Office supply" or "Stationery" stores.  

Oh there is a place on the map that was listed as "J.Herbin", on W. 29th St.  When you go to their website, it says that they're Exaclair (the US distributor for J Herbin products).  There's also a place called Kinokuniya New York (listed as a bookstore), on 6th Ave. near Bryant Park).  The link in Google Maps say they carry fountain pens.  I went there one time a few years ago, but never found any (apparently the pens are in the basement).

Of course, Google (being Google) also lists some BEAD wholesaler....  And some places listed as "Vaporizer store" or "tobacco shops".  And a jewelry store because Google's IT people are too stupid to differentiate between "pen" (as in writing implements and "Penn" (as in the street name).  Oh, and an adult DVD store....  And the Microsoft Experience Center.... 

Well, I just adjusted the search parameters to "fountain pen store nyc" (AND in quotes) and managed to weed out (no pun intended) the vape shops and a bunch of souvenir shops.  But also no longer shows Yoseka...  (probably because "NYC" means "Manhattan" -- except of course that they DO show a couple of places in Queens, AND Montgomery Stationery (for which my only experience has been on eBay and NOT positive) and some other place in Brooklyn that might not be there any more (since it says "Claim this business" when you click on the map link...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

[DiveDr]

@inkstainedruth Hey there, thanks for the info.  I remember back in the day when Pearl Art Supply on Canal had a whole section of fountain pens, Joon on 60th and Lex, Huntington Business Supply in LI had a vast assortment too.  All these are now defunct as FP resources.  Staples by us even stopped carrying Quink.  Brick and mortar options are quickly going the way of the Dodo... 😢

[Nellie]

Mostly my brand-new Majohn C1 - after not buying any pens for 11 years or so, I broke down when I saw this online. My photo doesn't do it justice! (Funny coincidence that this thread started with a Majohn too - mine writes fine, though.)

[jandrew]

FC 20 / PO nib / Diamine Salamander

[chromantic]

Tuesday night at work, I used my new, bright red Waterman Lady Charlotte with Corn Poppy Red. Fortunately, I had a little push/pull converter (prob generic Kaweco?) that fit perfectly, as standard int'l. carts don't fit.

[inkstainedruth]

On 12/29/2022 at 8:32 PM, DiveDr said:

@inkstainedruth Hey there, thanks for the info.  I remember back in the day when Pearl Art Supply on Canal had a whole section of fountain pens, Joon on 60th and Lex, Huntington Business Supply in LI had a vast assortment too.  All these are now defunct as FP resources.  Staples by us even stopped carrying Quink.  Brick and mortar options are quickly going the way of the Dodo... 😢

Which is sad.  There are times when it's more cost effective to buy stuff online -- and I do that a fair amount.

But for a lot of things, I would MUCH rather see stuff in person.  I want to hold pens in my hand to see how the weight and balance is.  I want to look at ink swatches and writing samples.  I've NEVER really trusted the programs where you order groceries on line -- I want to LOOK at things and not just assume they're going to, say, ship me the package of boneless chicken thighs with the least amount of fat (I'm more likely to assume they'll send me some sort of fatty garbage that is on the edge of its "sell-by" date).  And I spent too many years watching my mother order clothes and shoes from catalogs and then fight with the companies over sales tax charges or shipping (because of her bad leg and foot, she had trouble in store dressing rooms, so wanted to try stuff on in the comfort of her bedroom).  Me?  I want to try on clothes in the store, and if it doesn't look or fit right, I walk out without buying them.  And shoes?  OMG -- I have enough trouble finding shoes that fit right and are comfortable to wear in B&M stores to begin with!  I can't imagine what my mother had to go through with shoe shopping (she would generally buy 2 pairs, in different sizes, and then have to send at least one pair back -- and that often went for clothing as well as shoes).  

During the height of the pandemic, the only things I bought were pre-packaged socks (because they're sort of "one size fits all" (mostly), underwear when it was on sale after things were starting to open back up (because I knew what size/style to get) at outlet stores, and one rather silly fuzzy pink cardigan at Target because I could I could try it on and look in a mirror right there by the rack and NOT have to deal with a "closed" dressing room....  (I used to wonder "What are these stores thinking?" because they wouldn't sanitize the dressing rooms but thought that someone taking stuff home to try on and then return them was somehow SAFER?)

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

[inkstainedruth]

Back on topic.

Today I'm using the recently repaired black Vacumatic lockdown filler (not sure of the model -- it's sized like a Senior, but has 2 cap bands like a Junior) -- EF(?) nib,  and just refilled with Waterman Mysterious Blue.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: Later in the day I used a couple of other pens as well:

Noodlers Konrad Hudson's Bay Fathom, flex nib -- Noodler's 54th Massachusetts; and Pilot Metropolitan Grey/Herringbone Retro Pop, stub nib -- Namiki Black.

[ParramattaPaul]

Today, I used the Kaweco Special that I left on my desk before I went away at Christmas.

[ruby.monkey]

Today has been a Pelikan Level L5 and a Jinhao X519.

[Misfit]

I’ve used an Edison Beaumont, a Faber-Castell Grip 2010, and an Opus 88 Picnic.

[USG]

On 12/29/2022 at 8:32 PM, DiveDr said:

@inkstainedruth Hey there, thanks for the info.  I remember back in the day when Pearl Art Supply on Canal had a whole section of fountain pens, Joon on 60th and Lex, Huntington Business Supply in LI had a vast assortment too.  All these are now defunct as FP resources.  Staples by us even stopped carrying Quink.  Brick and mortar options are quickly going the way of the Dodo... 😢

Those names bring up some fond memories...  In addition I'll add Menash's Pen store on 79th to the stores we have lost.

 

As far as Pearl goes, I bought a lot of pens, ink and stationary, in their NJ store.

 

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What pens am I using today?

Omas Paragon [M] Diamine Florida Blue, which is a little bit darker than out of the bottle because although I wrote the pen dry, I was too lazy to wash out the Waterman blue that had been in the pen.

 

Pelikan M800 [M] Red  Private Reserve American Blue

 

Kokuyo paper

[jandrew]

Franklin Christoph 20

[ZeroDukE]

HI.  Today I'm using the Omas Colombo II and a Visconti Opera Master LE Typhoon.

[inkstainedruth]

17 hours ago, USG said:

As far as Pearl goes, I bought a lot of pens, ink and stationary, in their NJ store.

Were they in northern New Jersey (around Hackensack, maybe)?  I think I went there once years ago with my dad, to buy an airbrush compressor for a college art course I was signed up for. 

Hmmm.  Wonder if I still have that, all these decades later....  And if I do, if it still works....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[TitoThePencilPimp]

pilot elite 95 f burgundy? I tried putting in a con 20, but it does not fit.  this is very odd.

[Arthur Pewty]

This is, I hope, an ST Dupont Classique. I've read that a lot of fakes are out there. If other Classiques with serial number FOUD47 are in circulation, then it's a fake for sure, but it's still a nice pen. I don't see any marks to indicate whether it's gold-plated or gold-filled. There is a cartouche on the cap and another on the nib, but I can't make out any contents. When I look at the open end of the cap, the gold looks too thick to be plate, so I tell myself it's gold-filled.

[cat74]

lol... I don't know?? some version of Wearever  - maybe a Taperite? - well a Wearever copy of a Waterman Taperite (but the cap doesn't look like the photos I've seen - mine is slide on rather than screw on)

For a cheap pen it is surprisingly smooth - the nib has no tipping material they just folded the tip back on itself!!

 

I bought a 2 pen lot and was really just wanting the other pen (Parker 51 special) but this one came for "free" - a pleasant surprise!

Think I'll use this till the bladder is dry then move onto another pen!

 

[ParramattaPaul]

I use my Gravitas entry to catch up a fortnight's worth of paperwork left I undone over the holidays.