What Pelikan Are You Writing With Today? (2024 Edition)

[Bo Bo Olson]

Inked in the inked cups a good handful.

 

In today is not yesterday....a repeat of the day before yesterday.

 

In my Pelikan two holder ink stand, still....my 915 sterling silver overlay '94 Hunter Toledo, (is unexpectedly for the semi-vintage era, butter smooth, but it was an LE of the top level), and a 200 Petrel M which is good and smooth, a tad under butter smooth...as a low end LE to be expected. The normal springy regular flex nibs....both of them the 18 K and the steel nibs, have that springy comfortable ride.

 

I've not run out of ink in them yet.....The Hunter is on it's last drops, the Petrel not yet.

9 inked Pelikans to go...waiting in the inked cups.

[Wil D]

M20 Silvexa black with D nib.

[Bo Bo Olson]

The Hunter Toledo ran out of ink. The 400nn, KF...of which I see no Kugal/ball on the top of the nib. I have from this era, a MB 234 1/2 Deluxe KOB, and Osmia 773 KM. I have another K nib that shows a bit...that has to really look for that kugel on the thin nib...Eyeball to EF...my Pelikan 100. Besides having  post a '97 double ball 605 that was later stubbed, So I know what a kugel/ball is. The nib is marked KF....could be someone did a hell of a good job at removing the kugel/ball on top of the nib.

 

Loaded with DA Zementgrau/Cement gray...and the pen is a bit too wet , making the ink darker. That and the ink has been sitting in the pen for some eight weeks or longer.

 

I did a test of most of my grays..8....of course I found one hiding out in the corner later.

MB Permanent gray remained disliked...and from a fine reviews I broke my vow and bought MB Cool Gray/Oyster Gray before...it was worth it. As was ES Moonstone. My vow was not to buy inks costing more than €20.

Gray was the last color I really got into, and six were nice enough to buy again should I last that long. One will continue to buy inks, so it is impossible to get a bottle empty or nearly so.

 

[Wil D]

L5 gold

[Wil D]

120

[N1003U]

Today, the green striped M600. The pen that opened the space-time portal (or Carrollian rabbit hole, or whatever trope one finds appropriate for the journey into the bizarre world of fountain pens) for me.

 

It was not my first fountain pen (that honor belongs to a disposable Pilot). It was not the first non-disposable fountain pen (that honor belongs to a Montblanc 144). I am not even sure it is my favorite fountain pen (just because would be hard pressed today to identify such a thing). My current green-striped M600 is not even an original in my accumulation pens, as the original went missing sone years ago, and I bought a replacement about 5 or so years ago.

 

What the green M600 is to me is the first fountain pen that had outstanding fit and balance in my hand; it performed flawlessly with any ink and (almost) any paper I could throw at it, and the pen has been a trusty companion for a quarter century. It made me ask the question: “what other pens are out there that are this much fun?” A dangerous question indeed.

 

But thank you for asking. 😀

[Bo Bo Olson]

20 minutes ago, N1003U said:

What the green M600 is to me is the first fountain pen that had outstanding fit and balance in my hand;

I like the  standard sized 200/400, & in vintage best and my medium-large 605. They all have great balance. I do like the slightly wider girth of a 600.

It took me over a year to decide the medium-long 400nn had better balance than the 400.

 

If I had the money I'd probably have more 600's...I really want The Grand Place....but it has never gone down in price, only up.

I do have a standard sized W.Germany 600, but that is a real fancied up 400 it don't count.

[N1003U]

35 minutes ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

I like the  standard sized 200/400, & in vintage best and my medium-large 605. They all have great balance. I do like the slightly wider firth of a 600.

 

If I had the money I'd probably have more 600's...I really want The Grand Place....but it has never gone down in price, only up.

I do have a standard sized W.Germany 600, but that is a real fancied up 400 it don't count.

 

Thanks for putting a smile on my face today, @Bo Bo Olson. Yes, the smaller end of the Pelikan line has some great pens. I have a few 600s…one day if you are interested, maybe you have something you would trade for one.

One day I hope we will cross paths, maybe in Plöck 2. My wife has a few girlfriends in HD, who she gets together with once in a while, one of whom lives right in Weststadt. So when the conversation gets to be too much for the guys, we sometimes wander in that direction.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Last time I was to Knoblauch, I was telling everyone the trick I discovered with glitter ink. Shake wait 10-15 seconds for it starts to settle and fill from the Bottom.

Suddenly I had the golden sands everyone else had...that I didn't get from filling at the top of a well shaken ink bottle.

I'd like that.

We could meet down town with a hand full of pens each and drink a few beers.

 

PM me about what you'd want. A 146 for a nice 600 would be fair....OB or F?

.............

For a long time I had a '50-54 400's semi-flex B on my 600....semi-flex really picks up a 600.

[inkstainedruth]

On 7/30/2024 at 6:11 PM, Cjtamu said:

My pen is gorgeous and yet I rarely use it because I despise the nib. Kirk will be in Houston in about 6 weeks, going to fix that issue.

You can also swap out the nib units on Pelikans, although I'm not sure whether M600s take the units for other models (I do know that the M200 & M400 units are interchangeable).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Bo Bo Olson]

600 will take a 200 or 400's nib.

The tear drop 200s until about 5 years a go was a nib I raved about. The '82-97 400's era drop tipped gold nib is as good. These were regular flex/a bit better in springiness than the Japanese Pilot 'soft' nib (the one with the hollowed out shoulders of the nib). Some Esterbrook, Shaffer Crest and Wearever nibs were also such.

Best imo, is the '50-65 400/400nn semi-flex nibs.

I had a '54 transitional 400's semi-flex B nib on my 600 for ages.

[Cjtamu]

3 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

You can also swap out the nib units on Pelikans, although I'm not sure whether M600s take the units for other models (I do know that the M200 & M400 units are interchangeable).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Dromgoole’s swapped after original purchase. This one far better than the first. Could swap back out for a Fine but decided to let Kirk work his magic. I’m Assumin there was a bad run of M600 Medium nibs sometime 2023/2024. Had to swap the nib on the Glauco Cambon I bought my wife as well. 

[Wil D]

Pelikano UP

[Cjtamu]

1952-53 brown tortoise 400 with EF nib. Got it back from a seal replacement a few weeks back and had enough pens inked already at the time. Wonderful pen, one of my favorites.

[inkstainedruth]

M405 Blue Black, EF nib, still with diluted 4001 Blue Black.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Cjtamu]

5 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

M405 Blue Black, EF nib, still with diluted 4001 Blue Black.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Why do you dilute the 4001 inks? I’ve seen this several times. Just straight water?

[Mercian]

On 8/10/2024 at 4:36 PM, Bo Bo Olson said:

If I had the money I'd probably have more 600's...I really want The Grand Place....but it has never gone down in price, only up.

I don’t whether this is ‘good news’ for you, or whether it is ‘bad news’, but…

 

…the ‘Grand Place’ is an M800. It was the 2016 LE M800.

https://www.pelikan-collectibles.com/en/Pelikan/Models/Souveraen-Series/M800-Basis/M800/M800-Grand-Place/index.html

 

This might help to explain why the prices of them are so much higher than those of the LE versions of the M60x pens.
It may be ‘good news’ (for your wallet) in that it stops you hankerin’ after one of these pens, or it may be ‘bad news’, in that it makes you ‘fall out of love with’ the ‘Grand Place’.
Not least because it will have a 2016 nib on it, rather than a pre-Sep-1997 nib on it.

Then again, you seem to get-on well enough with your M800 ‘Hunting’, and you could always put the nib/feed unit from your ‘Hunting’ into the body of the ‘Grand Place’, so perhaps you might still covet one… 🤷‍♂️

[N1003U]

3 hours ago, Mercian said:

I don’t whether this is ‘good news’ for you, or whether it is ‘bad news’, but…

 

…the ‘Grand Place’ is an M800. It was the 2016 LE M800.

https://www.pelikan-collectibles.com/en/Pelikan/Models/Souveraen-Series/M800-Basis/M800/M800-Grand-Place/index.html

 

This might help to explain why the prices of them are so much higher than those of the LE versions of the M60x pens.
It may be ‘good news’ (for your wallet) in that it stops you hankerin’ after one of these pens, or it may be ‘bad news’, in that it makes you ‘fall out of love with’ the ‘Grand Place’.
Not least because it will have a 2016 nib on it, rather than a pre-Sep-1997 nib on it.

Then again, you seem to get-on well enough with your M800 ‘Hunting’, and you could always put the nib/feed unit from your ‘Hunting’ into the body of the ‘Grand Place’, so perhaps you might still covet one… 🤷‍♂️

 

https://thepelikansperch.com/2018/10/14/pelikan-m620-city-series/

 

See the second entry for 2006.

[inkstainedruth]

14 hours ago, Cjtamu said:

Why do you dilute the 4001 inks? I’ve seen this several times. Just straight water?

Because I was too lazy to flush the pen out....  And because I don't want to run IG inks in a pen continuously because of the potential build up of the IG content.

Did end up flushing the pen out this morning, when the diluted ink ran out.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: No I use distilled water for that, and also for flushing pen out.  I have very hard water (i.e., a very high mineral content) where I live and definitely do NOT want the buildup I see on my faucets clogging a pen.  Fortunately, the grocery store down the hill from me carries distilled water, often in boxes of three 1 gallon jugs, so convenient to get.

[RedPie]

M200, Café Crème with Noodler's Luxury Blue.