What pen(s) are you waiting for in the mail?

[Bo Bo Olson]

I have a year's worth of repairs to pay for, so unless some grail pen shows up at non-grail prices...I'll be posting what came back from repair, instead of what was ordered.

[DilettanteG]

34 minutes ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

I have a year's worth of repairs to pay for, so unless some grail pen shows up at non-grail prices...I'll be posting what came back from repair, instead of what was ordered.

My sympathies. I've now got a pen chest devoted to broken pens and parts. Not my favorite part of collecting.

[inkstainedruth]

7 hours ago, Misfit said:

Only a fountain pen person would ask that.  😄

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[inkstainedruth]

5 hours ago, DilettanteG said:

 

@Misfit white with black trim? I will now refer to this as your Stormtrooper pen. Cue the Imperial March.

And Misfit can get a pen stand that is Darth Vader to hold it (I saw some for sale on either Amazon or eBay last night).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

I paid much more with a rebuild, than the pretty pen was worth....but it's mine and some day will be released into the wild of Walden Pond.

If possible a pen of mine should work, in some day, someone else would scream, !@#$%^&*  and would trash can it, for not being worth repair.

I don't want my wife blamed for what is not her fault.

Worth repair, is the key word........

Sometimes one gets a pen cheap....is that worth repair or not.......such philosophical questions.

Other times there is no questions, a repair will make a worthy pen have it's true worth. Good nib, good balance, pretty and vintage.

A second/third tier pen. Gotten cheap, as part of a live auction lot.

 

A nice no name....great nib....not only a gasket but the rear end needed a new one.

Fine little pen, perhaps I got it cheaper than it's worth. Especially after I tested the nib on my thumb nail.

 

Someone superglued the spindle together which is a no-no...and it had to be rebulit besides the gasket.

With permission of Penboard.de in they make a much better photo. There is no question on this repair. It was too pretty not too.

 

[Baka1969]

5 hours ago, DilettanteG said:

@Baka1969 maison de plume, Lamy floor? 🤣

 

@Misfit white with black trim? I will now refer to this as your Stormtrooper pen. Cue the Imperial March.

 

The best part of Maison de Plume is I can add floors.

[Penguincollector]

   I ordered a Sheaffer’s 33 nib celluloid on the first, but the seller is very sick and may not be able to complete the sale. I am hoping that they get well ipso facto and whether I get the pen is quite secondary. 
  
  Having convinced myself that since the Sheaffer’s is a maybe, I should get something else, I bought an Esterbrook in blue with a 9556 nib. It’s described as “small size,” which is great. I want to start picking up those cool looking nibs.

[inkstainedruth]

1 hour ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

I paid much more with a rebuild, than the pretty pen was worth....but it's mine and some day will be released into the wild of Walden Pond.

If possible a pen of mine should work, in some day, someone else would scream, !@#$%^&*  and would trash can it, for not being worth repair.

I don't want my wife blamed for what is not her fault.

Worth repair, is the key word........

Sometimes one gets a pen cheap....is that worth repair or not.......such philosophical questions.

I have PLENTY of pens for which the repairs/converters, etc. cost more than I paid for the pen in the first place.  Some are definitely worth it (like the Challenger Deluxe I found at an estate sale for $3 US; or the Lady Sheaffer 620, where a converter for it ended up costing more than twice what I paid for the pen, but which writes nicely).

Others, like the Eberhard Faber I got at the same sale as the Deluxe Challenger for the same price, but which turned out to have a crack in the cap?  Ehhhh (but it was an interesting plastic for the barrel and cap -- black, with little geometric shapes strewn about in bright colors which look like confetti) -- and also only cost me three bucks.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

[N1003U]

14 hours ago, Baka1969 said:

 

Not only do I have the different colors, I also have the different nib configurations. This way at a glance I can choose my mighty weapon of choice. 

 

As you can see the 5th floor of Maison de Plume is the Lamy floor. It has one more slot left that will house the Rose Studio. 

 

I like the taste in Lamys: rich in Safaris and Studios, as well as the odd 2000. A few more than I have, but an astonishingly similar mix. Clearly Person of good taste, with an eye for quality.

[Misfit]

12 hours ago, DilettanteG said:

white with black trim? I will now refer to this as your Stormtrooper pen. Cue the Imperial March.

I’ve seen that Stormtrooper name given to the Lamy Safari white with black clip. I think also the Pilot Vanishing Point (or Capless) in white with black trim gets called that. So I did think of it when I chose that colorway.  Also, I saw on Flickr a blue Safari with red clip on top of a Nintendo Switch with blue and red controllers. I have the Switch OLED with white controllers, so it’s black and white. I thought I’d photograph my Switch with the Pilot Explorer. 
 

I also liked the gray, red, and lime green versions of that pen. 
 

As for Star Wars, I like the Rebels. Is there a pen color for them?

[Baka1969]

3 hours ago, N1003U said:

I like the taste in Lamys: rich in Safaris and Studios, as well as the odd 2000. A few more than I have, but an astonishingly similar mix. Clearly Person of good taste, with an eye for quality.

 

I'm a bit of a Lamy fanboy. If I had to pick one brand to stick with it would be Lamy. From the Safari/Vista/AL-Star/LX lineups to the Dialog and all the models in between there is something for everyone. The modularity of the nibs and the excellent writing of most of their pens make them an outstanding brand. 

 

My black 2000 with the medium nib is one of my best writing pens. Just barely a hair under my MB pens. At a substantially lower price. My Studio pens with a 14k nib are a fraction under the 2000 in terms of writing quality. Even the Safari (Et al) is a really terrific writing pen. 

 

Overall I prefer Lamy pens over the likes of Pelikan, Kaweco and even Visconti. All of which make excellent fountain pens. To me, only Montblanc makes a significantly better pen. As well they should at their price point. 

[SLinkster]

Just won an auction for a somewhat vintage Platinum short/pocket pen with an 18k music nib. It has not yet shipped so won't be here until late next week at the earliest. I'm hoping to snag another pen from the same seller to combine shipping. 

 

I'm also waiting for a Levenger 5-pen leather pen wrap in Eggplant. I love Levenger's leather goods.

 

 

 

 

[Misfit]

Congratulations @SLinkster I hope you enjoy the Platinum pocket pen. I was looking at them on eBay after reading a thread here. I put several on the watch list. I got 5% offers on two, but I won’t be buying them. 

[DilettanteG]

On 1/5/2024 at 7:06 AM, SLinkster said:

Just won an auction for a somewhat vintage Platinum short/pocket pen with an 18k music nib. It has not yet shipped so won't be here until late next week at the earliest. I'm hoping to snag another pen from the same seller to combine shipping. 

 

I'm also waiting for a Levenger 5-pen leather pen wrap in Eggplant. I love Levenger's leather goods.

 

 

 

 

Seconding the Levenger leather love. Did you get it monogrammed? I really love personalized stuff for some reason. Y’know, if you suddenly forget who you are.

 

My M101n Lizard should ship today, fingers crossed.

[SLinkster]

7 hours ago, Misfit said:

I hope you enjoy the Platinum pocket pen

I hope I do as well. I decided several months ago that I wanted the Platinum music nib but balked at paying full retail for yet another cigar-shaped 3776 (I have only one 3776, but I have other brands of basic black cigar-shaped pens *cough* Sailor *cough*; their nibs are nice but the pens themselves...so bland! plus larger than I care to use on a knee-board.) So I kept an eye on feepay and managed to snag the nib I wanted on a pocket pen instead of a cigar, for a substantial savings over retail. I really enjoy the 18kt EF nib on the Platinum pocket pen I already have, so I have high expectations for the new-to-me pen. I hope the broad music nib offers the same sort of feedback as the EF does. I'll provide a report in some more appropriate forum once I have the pen in hand and have made its acquaintance.

 

@DilettanteG The Levenger pen wrap is coming from feepay. It was listed as a used items, but appears to be in as-new condition. In one photo there appears to be a non-gold leafed 3-initial monogram on the wrap. I have a couple of different fonts of alphabet stamps in my leather-working bag of tricks, so may attempt to put my own initials on over top of that - with gold leaf, of course - after some practice on scraps. I agree with you about personalizing things. I once got back a pair of misplaced (expensive, prescription) sunglasses that had my name engraved on the inside of one of the temples, and my optician's shop name on the cleaning cloth in the case.  I don't go overboard with the personalization of things but now I pay to have new spectacles frames monogrammed. I also always make sure my contact info is in every spectacles case that leaves the house with me. 

[DilettanteG]

5 minutes ago, SLinkster said:

I hope I do as well. I decided several months ago that I wanted the Platinum music nib but balked at paying full retail for yet another cigar-shaped 3776 (I have only one 3776, but I have other brands of basic black cigar-shaped pens *cough* Sailor *cough*; their nibs are nice but the pens themselves...so bland! plus larger than I care to use on a knee-board.) So I kept an eye on feepay and managed to snag the nib I wanted on a pocket pen instead of a cigar, for a substantial savings over retail. I really enjoy the 18kt EF nib on the Platinum pocket pen I already have, so I have high expectations for the new-to-me pen. I hope the broad music nib offers the same sort of feedback as the EF does. I'll provide a report in some more appropriate forum once I have the pen in hand and have made its acquaintance.

 

@DilettanteG The Levenger pen wrap is coming from feepay. It was listed as a used items, but appears to be in as-new condition. In one photo there appears to be a non-gold leafed 3-initial monogram on the wrap. I have a couple of different fonts of alphabet stamps in my leather-working bag of tricks, so may attempt to put my own initials on over top of that - with gold leaf, of course - after some practice on scraps. I agree with you about personalizing things. I once got back a pair of misplaced (expensive, prescription) sunglasses that had my name engraved on the inside of one of the temples, and my optician's shop name on the cleaning cloth in the case.  I don't go overboard with the personalization of things but now I pay to have new spectacles frames monogrammed. I also always make sure my contact info is in every spectacles case that leaves the house with me. 

Cool! I want to label my plain leather journals with my initials and a volume number in gilt. Can you tell me the best way to do that?

 

Thanks in advance.

[SLinkster]

42 minutes ago, DilettanteG said:

Cool! I want to label my plain leather journals with my initials and a volume number in gilt. Can you tell me the best way to do that?

Hah! If I have any success I'll let you know 😆

[inkstainedruth]

Years ago, I took a workshop in doing gold leaf work (for calligraphy and illumination, mostly).  For that, we were working on paper and I recall making a slightly raised surface (IIRC with gesso) and letting it dry, then breathing slightly on the gesso to re-dampen it slightly to get the gold leaf to stick as you burnish it down.  Trying to remember how to do it for stuff like picture frames (I took that workshop more than a quarter of a century ago).

Wondering how well the gold leaf would stick to the leather surface without having something like the gesso painted onto the leather first.  So that's something to consider.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[SLinkster]

1 minute ago, inkstainedruth said:

Wondering how well the gold leaf would stick to the leather

Yeah, the more I think on it then more cautious I become. Research must need be done, of course.

[inkstainedruth]

Well, it occurred to me just now -- thinking of vintage books I've seen over the years -- that (depending on how thick the leather is) you might be able to cut grooves or channels in the leather for the gold leaf to lay in -- although you still might need some ways to get it to adhere to the leather to begin with.

There are a lot of people I know in the SCA who are scribes (making award scrolls for people) and I think there's at least one person who has done work on wood or horn that has posted photos on FB of work they've done over the past few years (someone decided that I needed to be signed up for that FB page and mostly my comments are along the lines of "WOW -- that's AMAZING work!" or "LOVE the versal" or such....  I have done a TINY bit of C&I over the years, but there was a time a number of years ago where that was the "fast track" in my former kingdom to getting the top A&S award (the advantage is that the Royalty would see the work up close, and KNOW who the scribe was).  To the point that there was one Court years ago where a friend of mine and I were just hanging out getting stupid (there was some very silly schtick at that Court).  And at the end of Court, some guy who I think was an armorer got elevated to the Order of the Laurel (the top A&S award) followed by a friend of mine from south central NYS who did fiber stuff (including huge amounts of research into how stuff was done, and guild regulations pertaining to such activities in the Middle Ages -- so wicked cool, if totally geeky, stuff).  And the guy I was hanging around with turned to me and said, "Hey -- wait!  I thought it was unwritten East Kingdom law that you couldn't get a Laurel unless it was for C&I!"  And at the point, he and I were just falling over each other laughing.  (if anyone here is in the SCA, and ever hears rumors of the court of "Wrestle the alligator!"? That was THAT court....   It was followed later by "Wrestle the Tuchux" and at some point, the guy who was the titular head of the NYC group was presenting the King with "tribute" in the form of a toy rubber rat and what the KING thought was pot(!) -- and had to be told, sotto voce, by Mitch, "It's OREGANO!" 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth