I've already posted a question to the Repair forum, and gotten great feedback from folks there. (Thanks!)

I used a Schaeffer calligraphy pen many years ago, but it is long gone, as is what little skill I had acquired. I got interested in using something better than a ball pen a few years ago, so I bought a Parker FP at an office supply store (~ $!0)which piqued my interest further. While not a high quality writing instrument, it was certainly better than any of the rollerball or ballpoint pens I'd used.

My wife saw my interest and three years ago bought me a Bossert & Erhard FP (Mediterranean Blue, basket weave pattern, fine point). This was a HUGE upgrade for me (this is a nice pen), and I got hooked for a while. But I really didn't know what I was doing, and i damaged the nib (it got repaired, but I can't recall who did the work). So I stopped using it regularly, falling back on less satisfactory writing instruments. Then my daughter (a toddler) found it, played with it a bit, and left it on the floor, where it got stepped on. Thus, my question to the Repair forum.

I started using the pen again, mostly so I could keep track of it all the time, and got hooked. I just bought two Pelikan M200s (grey and amber) in fine as backups so I can send the B&E back to the manufacturer for repair. I've inked one and have found it different to write with. Although the line is crisper than the B&E, the nib is somewhat scratchier, which may be a nib issue or may be an operator issue (I may just need to get used to it). In any case, the stiffer nib is a change and will take some getting used to.

So now I'm hooked on pens, and I'm going to be looking toward future purchases to try out new things. I've had some interest in other B&E pens as well as Sailor, Namiki, Carad d'Ache, Visconti. I'm hoping to get some direction here.

I'm lookin forward to new friends and new ideas.

Jamie

Hi Jamie,

here is a formal "Welcome !" to FPN. As you have already seen, you can definitely count on us to tell which FPs you *must* have... gently pushing you towards the slippery slope

Welcome again to our little community,

Denis.

Welcome to FPN, it will open up all of the possibilities of pen collecting.

Kurt H

Hi Jamie and welcome to the FPN!

Your Pelikan M200s might need a little tweaking. Just send them to Richard Binder and he will have them working just fine when they come back to you: http://richardspens.com/

The sound of that pen going "crunch" when it got stepped on, is the most dreaded and greatest fear of any pen collector.

Hi Jamie (my husband's name is Jamie, too!) and welcome to FPN

I love your Blinky-The-Three-Eyed-Fish avatar

Once again, sorry to hear about the B&E pen (I looked it up and it's a very attractive pen) but I am glad that you gave Pelikan a chance. The nib may need a minor tweak, which you can try yourself (carefully and slowly using your fingernail) or you can send it to a repairperson to be tweaked...or ground into an italic/stub/whatever nib. Pendemonium (no affiliation; just a happy customer) is very good at this, and they charge about half of what other nibmeisters charge for nib work. Faster turnaround time too. Richard Binder and John Mottishaw do excellent work, too, of course.

[quote=Tytyvyllus,Oct 4 2005, 09:09 PM] Jamie [/QUOTE]
Welcome to FPN, it will open up all of the possibilities of pen collecting.

Kurt H [/quote]
Aaaah, is that what we're calling enabling these days?

When you folks say 'minor tweak' with respect to the M200 nibs, what exactly do you mean?

Other than a little scratchiness, which I can reduce by rotating the pen clockwise and reducing the writing angle, I'm not really having a problem. It's really more that I need to get used to the differences, I think.

Jamie

Hi Jamie,

what is your usual writing angle (between paper and pen) ?

Denis.

It could be that the nib's tines are a wee bit out of alignment. The safest thing is to try the pen out for a few days and then try a bit of tweaking if you feel it's truly scratchy. Nothing drastic, just some gentle nib adjustments using your fingernails for a start. If the nib is really scratchy, it may need to be smoothed, but that is a bit more of an advanced step.

There is a good article called "Tuning a Fountain Pen" written by Arthur Twydle, a well-respected repairman from the U.K.
(One note regarding the article above: personally I would not use a penknife on a pen's nib--no matter how gently---to increase ink flow. Maybe an expert like Mr. Twydle could do it successfully, but with a rank amateur like myself, too much can go wrong... )

Jamie,

Sorry to hear about your B&E. Keep us posted on the repair.

Welcome to FPN. I'm sure the Pelikan's are just the beginning of many more to come. Enjoy them - they're great. Binder's custom nibs are a pure delight to use (no affiliation, just a happy repeat customer). You can order them and most of the time he ships within a day - as opposed to waiting on one to be customized.

See you around the Nuthouse!

With the B&E, I tended to a relatively high angle, say 45-50 degrees. I'm finding that ~30-35 degrees seems to work better with the M200 Fine nibs. I installed a medium nib last night and it is as smooth as the B&E fine nib at the same writing angle.

I recall reading somewhere (long ago) that fine and (particularly) extra-fine nibs in general tended to 'scratchiness'. I never saw this with the B&E, which may actually be an aberration. Who knows?

Jamie