though I don't recommend this...

I had put aside my M200 green marble filled with Penman Emerald and hadn't used it in.. a while (Hi Wim ) Probably 2 months or more now as I have been so focused on other things and my Honey and PN have been my main users of late.

when I weighed the pens yesterday I decided to see if my neglected little bird with it's gut full of that evil saturated ink was working okay - not the slightest hesitation as I wrote: My M200 Green Marble New Style with Penman Emerald weighs .5 ozs.

:bunny1:

I know I'm ridiculously addicted to these pens and talk them up constantly, but this is why. I have very few pens that (I typed "who" - uh oh, now they're alive) could take that kind of neglect and still write without so much as a blob or hesitation. THIS is why I'm in love with Pelikan pens.

However, I am going to empty the pen and flush it thoroughly anyway - just to make sure it continues to be such an incredible little pen.

When I neglect my pens, they stat drying up one by one, but it seems like my M200 never dries up

Heck, there are ballpoints that don't behave that good!

I had a similar experience with a 200 with XF nib and PR Midnight Blues. Absolutely flawless.

Bill

Same here -- my 400 and 200 write EVERY time, even after months. What's the deal? Why can't other manufacturers get their pens to be this reliable?

Sigh. If only Pelikans weren't so (gulp -- forgive me) you know... "traditional" in design. I remember the big excitement at finding red stripes instead of just green... I liked the city series. But mostly they all just kind of look a lot the same.

They don't need to innovate in effective FUNCTIONAL design, they definitely have that down pat. But they sure could use some stylistic design innovation. And if they did, I'd never want to buy any other brand!

Petra

sometimes I'd like to see something a little more "out there" beside just changing color. Unfortunately, the times they've done that have resulted in less-than-impressive design IMO - the Pharoah? the Level?

the Epoch is closing in on the concept but then they go and make some bizarre cartridge design that just doesn't meet the Pelikan standard.

until they come up with a new Piston filler that is truly a different style from the Tradition/souveran lines, i'll stick with those boring styles.

I see references to Penman Ink. Is this ink no longer available? I have never seen it at any of the online stores.




Bob

I bought three pens to begin my FP adventures, one of which was a little M200. I didn't expect it to grow on me the way it did. It isn't the flashiest or the prettiest or even the smoothest writer (although I have no complaints in this department). It's just the pen I keep picking up again and again because it's just so friendly! It's always in a good mood, always generous and ready to help, but never so excited about helping that it blurts out too much ink or runs crazy across the page.

At risk of sounding hokey, my M200 experience has been a little like bringing home a stray kitty and then discovering that she is an excellent huntress and reading companion, completely housebroken, and well behaved.

So I've adopted two more.

yes, Penman is discontinued because it caused problems in some pens (or in the hands of some users?) You can still find it occasionally on e-bay or the various boards but most folks who have it now, hoard it. Some people still claim it is evil, nasty, destructive ink. I think it has potential for that if it's not treated with a little more care than other modern inks. it is highly saturated and had a significant phenol content (i think that's the correct chemical...) but it is soooooo dang gorgeous - at least the Sapphire and Emerald. I liked the Moc.. oh lord my brain is fried. the brown Penman ink. Mocha! That's what I was trying to type.

anyway. when you *can* find it, you'll usually spend a small fortune on it. So you have to know it's something you really want. and it has to be respected. Don't ink a pen (especially a vintage pen) and then leave it unused for long periods of time (hence my comment on how I really had neglected that particular pen) and if you are not going to use the pen, empty the ink out (save it in a separate container if you're like me) and then flush the pen. I've not had any damage to my pens but I always say all this about this ink because some people have had problems. I still think that in *most* cases, but probably not all, it's a matter of neglect. I treat my other highly saturated inks with the same level of care, btb. well.. excluding this latest case of neglect.

Kcat I agree with you on all counts. If you treat Penman with respect it is wonderful. Emerald is bar none my favorite green. Have you ever noticed that it can dry into little hard pieces, almost like lint or little solid flecks but when that's rewetted it turns back into the ink. Is that the phenol?
Maybe this tendancy is what would clog up peoples pens in the old days. The stuff isn't really sitb-- just some wierd property of the ink but it can be messy.

I don't find Pelikans that boring. Traditional, yes, but boring, not to my eyes, and for those who like a bit of pizzaz, the city series offers plenty of it IMHO. I am now just looking at my blue translucent M200 with gold trim and I find its simple elegance and beauty incredible for the $42 or so I paid for it. It doesn't bore me and I just love the way it write.

The only slight flaw of the Souveran series is the grip section design. Just look at the borrowed picture below and you will see that the length of the black grip section delimited by the beginning of the threads doesn't really increase as you go up the series. The M1000 grip section length is almost the same as the M200's. That makes no sense to me. True, the extra nib length changes the actual grip position, but considering the huge jump in size from the M200 to M1000, that increase is tiny. I like to grip my M200 on or slightly above the threads, but then the pen then feels a little short and I don't like compensating for it by posting. I never like the balance of a pen when posted. I am still able to use my M200 for long sessions and I would love it even more if the section design was more accomodating of high grippers. Unfortunately, and strangely, going up the series helps only a little in that regard. But I have a feeling that if I adapted this much to the small M200, I should be able to adapt even more to a M600 or M800. But I will need to adapt, because when I briefly held tham at the 2005 L.A. show, I didn't go "aaaah, it fits perfectly"

i haven't tried to rehydrate those flecks. I don't know for sure what the chemical was that made Penman unique. Phenol is pretty volatile I would think but what would be left behind from it's evaporation might be what holds the dye together in flakes vs. dust. would love to know.

i do think that if the USPS actually knew what was in the Penman inks I've had shipped to the US from other countries... they might have gotten on my case about it. The stuff does smell pretty strong. At least, all of my bottles do.

and yes - i have looked and looked for a green that matches Emerald and found none. I'm going to try mixing some of my green inks with other colors to see how close I can get. Sherwood and J. Herbin's Ivy Green (since I can't remember how to spell the French name) are close but not there. Sherwood is too blue, J.H. is too green and too light.

but some mix of this that or the other ink might come close. I have asked Nathan a couple of times if he could duplicate Emerald precisely and have never gotten a response. I would expect one would have to have specific equipment to measure light reflective/refractive qualities of the ink to "reverse engineer" a new Emerald.

And frankly, if he could accomplish that Eternal or otherwise, I *would* pay for it.