Hello All,

My name is Brian and I'm a 25 year old student/IT professinal from the Seattle area. this is my first post here but I have been trolling around the forums for a little bit reading and trying to get into the world of pens. This new world was discovered when I was reading one of my watch magazines and I saw a advertisement for Michel Perchin. I decided to look it up on the Internet and was surprised at all of the wonderful things that I found and if it was not bad enough that I have a thing for expensive watches I now have a thing for pens. Help me I thought that my pocket book hated me when I go to the local watch stores, Its really going to hate me if I really get into pens. After digging around in my mothers watercolor/calligraphy closet at the house I found a old fountain pen made by Sheaffer with a fine nib. I have been using for about 2 weeks in class and also for my Japanese studies. I really enjoy writing with it but I have issues with the ink feeding, the cartridges are half full for some reason. Also it tends to write wet and makes my fingers blue, but its still fun to use it. I hope to be in the market for a pen of my own soon. Just wanted to say hello and thank you for taking the time to read my post.

Brian.

You are welcome here at FPN and I must warn you that fountain pens can become an obsession much as it appears watches can. I fear you are quickly approaching the edge.

Thank you, and I think that it is to late for me

Brian

Welcome Brian! I too fear it is too late for you. So - take a deep breath - and enjoy!

Another welcome from sunny Texas, Brian! Something must be wrong with your Sheaffer-I promise it doesn't happen with all pens.

There are a bunch of us watch guys who are also into FP's, so you'll find sympathetic company.

Welcome to FPN!

If the cartridges for the pen are old, they can get half-full as the water in the ink finds some way to evaporate. This can lead to ink feed issues, as the ink is now much more concentrated than it used to be.

Try getting some new Sheaffer cartridges, it may clear up the problem!

Next, of course, pick up some other pens for comparison..

Thank you all its good to know Im in sympathetic company. As for the older Sheaffer it is back to my mother lol. I have just got my first pen. I got a Waterman

Youkoso, Kaiten! Where did you take your handle from? Is it 'revolving', 'sea--sky', or something else? Cool yoroi and kabuto in your avatar

Hello there Taki, I got my handle from the japanese word Kaiten (Japanese:回天, translated "Change the World" or "Reverse the Destiny"). The Kaiten was aslo a man piloted torpedo that was used in WW2 by the Japanese Navy. Hope that helped. And also thank you all for the warm welcome to FPN. If you would like more info here is a link to the Deff on wikipedia on Kaiten.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiten

Hi Kaiten,

Welcome to FPN. Another Seattle-ite here. We have a pretty good city for finding nice pens.

If you find yourself up by Lake City Way around lunch time on Saint Patricks day, you might want to stop by the Seattle Pen Club meeting, at the community room of Third Place Books in Lake City. It is a great chance to get together, share and try out different types of pens. Lots of people bring their pens (vintage and modern), inks, paper etc. and sometimes there are pen-repair demonstrations. We meet the 3rd Saturday of each month, from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm. March meeting will be the 17th.

The April meeting is rumored to be happening at the home of a noted local pen collector in Tacoma, who has a fabulous collection on display in his livingroom for all of us to drool over .

Seattle Pen Club

John