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Hairlame -- many thanks for this. There sure isn't a wealth of material out there about the RM! My issue, continuing, is exactly removing the barrel. I've heated it to the max my ultrasonic heats, 50C, and left it in the hot water for a good half hour. Nothing. My dry heat source...nothing. In fact, I'm guessing that this pen has been more resistant to wet and dry heat than any pen I've worked with, which is saying quite a bit. I've gone to last resorts, WD40 and penetrating oil, and they don't seem to have any effect. So, my hope at this point is that the heat will eventually have a positive effect, but i won't run it while I'm out of the room. I'll post here when there's some success! Thanks again. Tim

If you're seriously getting into collecting, add in Diamine, S.T. Dupont, Octopus, Skrip (USA)....

Great! (I love comparisons.) Now I'm in no way trying to argue with you but what shows up nicely here is not that Pilot is slightly more blue but rather that MB is definitely more purple. AFAIK that is an age-old general consent.

I'd like to purchase a Nakaya Decapod, preferable a Heki-Tamenuri. Anyone have one they'd. be willing to sell?

I presume you’ve made your choice already, but FWIW, I can confirm what others said about the 743: classic (clearly “inspired” by the 146 and thus also classy), like all Pilot pens that I have tried, impeccable finishing, large enough for big hands like mine, light in the hand (I prefer pens that have featherweight), well-tuned nib, reasonable ink flow, c/c with decent capacity. The medium tip (on my pen) is a “western” M. In terms of “grail” pens, I would respectfully suggest that we don’t fool ourselves. I may be completely wrong, but I suspect that the “grail” feeling of a pen gradually wears away. We (in any event I) get used to everything. And the little voice in our heads will continue to convince us that pen XYZ is the real grail… until we acquire XYZ.

Very cool. Is that Kokuyo Campus paper?

The pen shown is not a Duovac but then again Parker didn't make a pen called Duovac or Vacufold for that matter.

I envy you. Wanted to go to the opera in Verona with my wife but she planned something else. I would check with the shops you want to go to as in Italy August is a holiday month. Many shops, hotels and things close. Double check

This is a colour I avoid like the plague. I used it a lot in my university years, probably Pelikan. But thanks for posting your comparison, finding You're missing quite a few of other Royal blues Rohrer & Klingner / Kaweco /Lamy /Waterman and Akkerman 😛

I started to notice some staining appearing on my Montblanc 139 star today. It seems that some ink had leaked inside the cap and was running out along the seams of the star. I was able to use some light water to clean most of the staining off. I'm now worried that it may happen again though. Is there anything I can do to reset the star or seal the inside of the cap to prevent ink from running out through the seams of the star and staining again?

My favorite vendor alerted me to a new pen offered today, the 632. It’s an ebonite piston-filler with a #8 18K nib. Offered in gold or white-plated trim, the white-plated pens sport an 18K nib, also plated in a white precious metal, a first for this series. Nibs are offered in EF, F, M, and B, with multiple long knife sizes as before. Interestingly, while Heartbeat nibs, plain or long knife, are on offer, the photos show ‘1947’ Wing Sung nibs that are tipped as long knives—I believe the previous long knife nibs were all Jun Lai heartbeat nibs. $260 for the regular nibs; $300 for the long knife nibs. The vendor is 365Days Stationary Store. I’ve ordered it in red, gold trim, EF heartbeat nib.

First the Initial

I often resemble that better yet is spilling a bit of water on the desk and summoning up long forgotten ink spills

This Tasmanian ink company makes very interesting inks, in my opinion. And they have lots of sales. This one is particularly appealing. https://www.vandiemansink.com/collections/flash-sale 30ml bottles for $7 USD (a few are $8) and if you purchase 10 inks they throw in that month's special 100ml ink, which for April is... https://www.vandiemansink.com/products/van-diemans-2024-april-100ml-shimmering-fountain-pen-ink Shipping, at least to the US, is not cheap, unfortunately.

Today's pen has been a Leonardo Messenger with Diamine Onyx Black ink. I've been adding glycerine to the cartridge in way of an experiment but over egged it. It all went horribly wrong and the entire cartridge contents dribbled onto the page, what a mess. Cleaned up and new cartridge fitted now.

It will be interesting to compare the #6 model with the #8, since the body is the same size. Does the #6 nib simply have a thicker housing? Does it look small in the pen if you’ve seen the #8? The orange #8 is on its way to me. Whether I buy the #6 size depends on what I see from others, but I probably will, after a price drop.

Thank you. A long way from fountain pens, but interesting!

Loving this style, size and shape, with the long section of this Cigar Magnum However the graf von faber- castell is over £1000, and out of my price range. its a long heavy pen being at 49 gm. can anyone suggest a moderate alternative to about £500, Need broad. extra broad, or stub/italic nib option. And option to switch nibs would be great. doesn't need to have metal section, just a longish one. Thanks for your help.

Agreed. They're not my kind of thing. Why bring back a centuries old brand name and attach it to neon ink right out of the gate? 😅

Garish...neon named inks....and even in the bottle they looked garish.

and start again

Thanks for the info. Nib size can affect pen size, which can affect ink capacity...Along with a lot of other things.

erase it all

Well, 5 minutes of research later... that all pretty well tallies with the "official" history on the company website. https://www.octopus-office.de/shop/en/barock/#:~:text=The history of Dresden Barock,could be called document proof. One peculiar bit of decision making- why relaunch a historic brand name with one nice historic set and one fluorescent neon set?? Target a specific market or at least keep some consistency, surely. Putting out only "classic" inks under the newly acquired brand name would have been a good opportunity. Different bottles to the Octopus/Diplomat inks would have also helped the new relaunched brand to stand out. The modern/garish stuff could go under the Octopus Fluids brand, or a newly invented one. Especially with the 200th anniversary only two years away...

🤣 hey, that might be my new pen name (ba dum...*snare drum*) Here all week, folks, here all week...