Hi, my name is Sal and I'm a Fountain pen-aholic.
I used fountain pens on and off in high school and college, but up until about June of 2004, I'd been using the ubiquitous disposable ballpoints for almost everything, with occasional forays into a gel pen, which reminded me of how fountain pens write.
Since last year then, I've been immersing myself in learning about fountain pens and buying several of them, sometimes in a shopping "frenzy". I like current stub- and italic-nib pens and 1920s-30s classic flex-nib pens of all descriptions.
I don't really consider myself a collector,, because I always use the pens I buy. I know there are arguments for preserving NOS pens for future generations, but I use my pens as gently as possible and hope one day to pass them on in good working order to others.
I started elementary school in California about 1950, just after the age of dip pens-and-ink. We still sat at ink-stained individual desks with holes for bottles of ink, but we used pencils, not pens, until I got old enough for my parents to buy me an early blue Papermate ball-point with a notch in the push button shaft which hooked into the top to hold the point out, which cost about $5, a lot to spend on a kid in the early 1950s!
But I was always interested in my father's pens [which I now believe were first, an early 1940s Sheaffer's Crest plunger filler, dark brown stripes with a gold-colored cap, then later a Sheaffer's Snorkel, also with dark brown stripes & gold cap and both with Triumph nibs]. I recently acquired what I believe to be a smaller [demi- or ladies model?] version of my father's Crest, which pleased me a great deal. I don't know what ever happened to Dad's pens, though, I sure would love to have them today.
If I remember correctly, for an important teen birthday my mother bought me either a Parker 51 or 21 in Turquoise, which I then unfortunately lost. After that, it was cheap Sheaffer school pens only, transparent green [rounded barrel bottom] and blue [pointy "jewel"-like barrel bottom] cartridge fillers, which I still have and use today.
I recently converted the green Sheaffer cartridge pen into a blow-filler so I could use a section, feed and Wahl Flexible nib unit I got from eBay. I then installed that nib into a Wahl-Eversharp Gold Seal Doric I bought because I loved writing with it so much!
My mother worked as a nurse so I had access to an old glass syringe and hypodermic needle which I used to refill the Sheaffer cartridges from bottles of ink. I still refill my cartridges the same way!
One small bottle of Sanford green ink from those days still in my drawer has the sticker "10¢" still on it, and I've saved old Sheaffer's well-type bottles from the 1950s to use today. BTW, flat foam from food containers makes great new gaskets for those Sheaffer's bottles, email me for my "technique" for making good, tight-fitting ones!
I use a Lamy Al-Star with a 1.5mm stub nib as my "everyday" pen, and alternate between modern calligraphic stub nibs and vintage flex nibs for correspondence. I have improved my penmanship considerably since buying and learning to write correctly with calligraphic and flex nibs, both of which I love.
I'm retired now but have been a teacher and technical writer in the automotive technology field and have a few textbooks still out there. I was an English major as an undergrad and was in UCLA's film department as a grad student until I got an all-expense paid tour of Southeast Asia in the late 1960s; upon my return, I used the GI Bill to study education, history, languages and auto mechanics, the last of which got me into a paying job.
I love being able to successfully pass along any knowledge I've gained about any subject, including fountain pens.
My "significant other" thinks I look something like Richard Gere [must be the gray hair!], although I believe he's much better looking than I.
So, that's a bit of information about me. I've been reading and lurking here, at Lion & Pen and Rambling Snail, and have been posting at Pentrace for a couple of months. I just made my first post here in the "Pictures" gallery, my beginning attempts at decent pen photography:
My First Decent Pen Pics
I hope to get to know you folks better as time goes on!
Best regards,
Sal B.
