What pens are we carrying today?

1928 Parker 'Big Red' senior-size Duofold.

1930 Sheaffer Balance OS in marbled marine green.

Two of my favourites!

A few pics. and a few stories:




My farther's old pens; a Parker 51 and a Liberty Gold, just returned from the repairman. The Parker has been flushed, and the the Liberty has gotten a new inksack, the old had dried out and crumbled.




Another M.I.D. (Made In Denmark) Parker Doufold and pencil set (simular to the red NOS set posted earlier in this thread). The background of this set is quite interesting; I bought the Duofold a while ago at a Danish on-line auction site from one user, the pencil was bought recently from a diffrent user at the same site. When the package arrived the sender was the same as the Duofold. Looking at the pens there is no doubt that they were originally a set; the patina is completely identical. It is quite sad that the seller decided to split up the set and sell the pens seperatly, I am glad that I was able to bring the set back together again.


Regards.

Jakob

The Danish Duofold looks beautiful!

Today's pens are my Parker 'Duofold', My Sheaffer 'Balance' and my Conway Stewart M87.

Lamy 2000 Fountain Pen superb writer and looks like something James Bond might carry.

I posted in another thread but I'm going to try here too: what is a good, fairly nice but not really expensive pen you gentleman would enjoy getting as a gift? My guy has a Waterman pen he's fond of (I don't know the model) and I was thinking of getting him another Waterman or something similar but I'm tragically clueless in this area and any advice/recommendations/dire warnings would be deeply appreciated.

Yes, I'm asking now though Christmas is in December because that's just how I roll: I like to get my shopping done early.

Viola said:

I posted in another thread but I'm going to try here too: what is a good, fairly nice but not really expensive pen you gentleman would enjoy getting as a gift? My guy has a Waterman pen he's fond of (I don't know the model) and I was thinking of getting him another Waterman or something similar but I'm tragically clueless in this area and any advice/recommendations/dire warnings would be deeply appreciated.

Yes, I'm asking now though Christmas is in December because that's just how I roll: I like to get my shopping done early.

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Hi Viola,
Is your significant other's Waterman modern or vintage? If he likes Waterman, he might enjoy a classic brand like Cross. Some of their pens can be had for less than $100.00. See if you can find out what model his Waterman is so we can have a better idea of what he might like. I hope this was at least relatively helpful.

P.S. I'm using a Montblanc 145 filled with Noodler's Violet Vote today.

I just recieved a Champion lever fill fountain pen, and have been writing with it to get a feel for it. I've gotten through the first stanza of The Village Blacksmith, the beginning of the "To be or not to be" speech, the first dozen or so lines of the beginning of Richard III, and the entire St. Crispian's day speech. I'll continue later today to see how much I can write. I'll get some pictures of it, too.

One thing, though, the lever is a little loose. I think it's my fault, I've never used a lever-fill before and openend it a little too far :eusa_doh: It just opens maybe 2 or 3mm when I set it down. Is there any way to repair this without taking the pen apart? (I'm guessing not, but there's always a possibility).

Cheers,
Nick

Nick D said:

IOne thing, though, the lever is a little loose. I think it's my fault, I've never used a lever-fill before and openend it a little too far :eusa_doh: It just opens maybe 2 or 3mm when I set it down. Is there any way to repair this without taking the pen apart? (I'm guessing not, but there's always a possibility). Cheers, Nick

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Probabbly not, the lever is only the outside part of the mechanism there are other sections inside and that's what may need fixing.

Today, we are carrying a 1946 Mabie-Todd blackbird lever-filler.

Carry for Today

1940's Triumph with Signature Band - Accountant nib.
Sailor SE Persimmon with Binderized Needle point nib.

Carry in 1920's Morocco leather pen case.

Here's a picture of the Champion, as well as my Cross Townsend which has been my daily pen for about 8 years. The Cross has a "fine" nib, but the line is much thicker than the Champion.

I also managed to repair the loose lever




Sorry for the blurry pictures, got a new camera and I'm still getting used to it.

Modern pen nib sizes have gotten bigger, wider for the same rating as the vintage ones for the US market.

A fine point on a Shaeffer pen in the 20's-40's is a finer line than from the 80's on. They simply make wider lines.

The Japanese pens and some of the European market pens are true fine points even today and have not slid to wider than originally.

Thanks John in Covina!
I thought it was either my imagination or an artifact of comparing the metaphorical apple to oranges since the fine nibs I use routinely are from different manufacturers. All I knew was that the strokes of some of the "fine" nibs seemed medium in breadth. Looking over the mix of pens I use routinely, some are definitely younger than others.

Now I am going to have to go through the to-do of swapping out those so-called "F"s for "EF."

.... on the other hand, I now have legitimate reason to shop fountain pens again! lol

<like I needed a reason!>

The state of nibs today and what used to be common!

Most pen manufacturers today will only have a selection of Fine / medium / Broad for their pens, some go as far as only offering a medium for some fountain pens! Japanese fine is finer than european fine which in turn is finer than most american market fine points.

In modern pens Montblanc and Pelikan offer about the largest selection for the majority of their pens. Here is a page at Swisher pens that shows the variety of nibs for Pelikan with about 10 for each nib size that relates to a series in their manufacture. Montblanc has about the same.

http://www.swisherpens.com/Catalog/pelikan-series-m250-nib-14k-gold-nib.htm

Sailor pens from Japan has about 6 regular nibs that you'll find again a page from Swisher's site. http://www.swisherpens.com/Newpens/Sailor/Music/Sailor_Nibs.jpg

Sailor's Nib Master has come up with some extraordinary nibs designs that no one else does and these are available on their highest end pens. Here is a specialty nib chart from the Melpens site.http://www.melpens.com/kbase_sailor_nagahara_nib_guide.aspx

Sailor nibs are noted for their smooth writing.

Another nib that is special is from Platinum Pens, their Music nib has two slits for 3 tines, for a wet and ready line to keep up with fast writing during inspired composing of music. Smooth it's great for turning ordinary writing into special writing too! It's similar to an Italic or stub nib giving line variation which spices up the hand writing of many. Here is the Swisher site on the Music nib. http://www.swisherpens.com/Catalog/platinum-black-music-fountain-pen.htm

Lest we forget, although not a high end pen the now vintage Esterbrook had a nib and feed that was a unit easy to screw in and out and came in a great number of styles with a (good) steel nib tip and an iridium tip (best quality)for most styles. About 17 or 18 different styles of nibs for this ubiquitous, bulletproof, workhorse of a pen. Here is a chart of the Esterbrook Fountain Pen replacement point Nib that are known to have been produced from the Snyder family's research.-
http://www.snyderfamily.com/current/estienibs.htm

So there are still many to choose from in modern, from the right makers and the past shows that they could make an inexpensive pen with a nib for just about any situation. (Note that Esterbrook started as a dip pen nib maker and those were available in many, many more styles. When you search for replacement nibs for Esterbrook Fountain pens remember the fountain pen ones have 4 digits the dip pen ones usually only 3 digits for their "number" of style.

pat. 1918 conklin crescent filler

Montblanc STARWALKER BLACK MYSTERY, as every day.

A pair of Waterman Harley Davidson [Phileas] loaded with PR American Blue. Both smooth and reliable.

I don't carry it one me, but I've been using my Conway Stewart Knightsbridge a heck of a lot lately. Has something of an Art Deco look to it that I really like.

Today, I am carrying a...

1927 Wahl-Eversharp 'Art Deco' lever-fill fountain pen. 14kt flexy-fine nib, gold-filled barrel, cap, section & lever.

1914 Conklin crescent-filler with a 14kt flexy-fine nib. Nice chasing on the cap & barrel, no damage. Some slight 'browning' cap & barrel, but that's unavoidable.

Both pens filled with Waterman's black.

Well, today is Saturday, so I'm not carrying anything, but yesterday, I used my '60's era Sheaffer Lifetime FP/pencil set. Its very "Mad Men" looking, and the pen is so smooth, it feels like it is just floating across the paper. I guess it was a promo set given to my Grandfather, because it has his name stamped in it.