Exceeding Expectations

[DrCodfish]

Disclaimer here: This is not a technical evaluation of a new pen, it is my rambling post about a new old friend.

 

I stopped by the village post office on my way home form work Friday and there in the box was a note that I had a package to sign for. It was shipped via DHL so I suspected it was the pen I had purchased from an Italian seller though I was not expecting to see it until some time next week.

 

Sure enough, once home I unwrapped my new SE Pelikan 120 fountain pen. Referring to a 120 as a 'Special Edition' seems just a bit, ... presumptuous? It is after all an entry level or school pen. My taste in Pelikans is eclectic: I occasionally fancy some of the newer releases but I also greatly admire some many of the classics. so, why this pen? Generally considered overpriced for what it is, and certainly not on par with some of the more exotic looking recent releases - almost plain Jane, ... well more on that later.

 

I was in a hurry, I had booked a cabin at a little old 'resort' if that term can be used liberally, for my wife and I for the weekend out on a rather wild stretch of the Pacific coast. This place is 'rustic', ca 1956: no Internet, no TV, no telephone, no radio, no restaurant, no pool, just a rickety old cabin, cracks big enough to throw a cat through, the ocean in front, Olympic National Park behind and the sky above. Like Mr. Natural used to say: "The only Karma you'll find up there is the karma you bring along with you".

 

The clock was ticking, we were on our own time now and I needed to pack so the new pen would have to wait until I returned from recharging my batteries for an evaluation. Or would it? I always take an abundance of reading and writing materials and it was a sure bet that there would be no interruptions from the outside world. Saturday was forecast to rain all day, what better setting for a test drive of a new pen, even if it was 'just' a 120'? I wrapped it up in the Levenger 5 pen roll (See honey, this 'pen thingy' you bought me for Christmas sure is coming in handy!) grabbed a bottle of Diamine Green Black and tossed them with paper, journal and books into my bag. The rest (coat, dumpy sweatshirt, clean shorts and a tooth brush) is just details.

 

Saturday was just as predicted. It wasn't particularly stormy but non stop light rain, what I refer to as coast drizzle. I had forgotten about the little pen until I dug into the possibles bag to decide whether to read, write or maybe snooze. Seeing the pen roll I was reminded that there was a new delivery awaiting a baptism by green ink. I removed the pen from the roll and just looked at it. The lighting is different there, the cabin is still in the trees but right in front of you is the North Pacific ocean so it is stark bright light or fairly deep dark forest shadows. I took it to the front deck and looked it over closely. As expected it had the same high standards of fit and finish which one expects from all new Pelikans. They may come with different grades of nibs, fancier looking bindes, or upgraded components but there are never any rough or ragged edges, no plastic casting marks or crooked or mis-fitting joints. That is something I have always appreciated about Pelikan pens.

 

The shiny newness of the pen triggered something like a flash back to a time long ago, I mean LONG ago (early 70's) when I bought my very first 'real' fountain pen, a nice shiny Merz and Krell made Pelikan 120 at the U of Washington book store. I was stunned by how much this new pen triggered the images of my old pen.

 

I inked it up (no the bottle did not leak all over my journals, paper and books) and took particular care to wipe down the section, the nib, the feed, and then blotted the tip of the nib a bit just to assure that big green blob would not plop out of an overfull feed. (green black makes a semi-permanent addition when deftly applied under the finger nails or along side the cuticles). And then I began to write.

 

Tomoe River paper is for me the perfect medium for conducting such a test. But then TR is my go to paper when I am doodling, writing letters, practicing, whatever. My last and current journals are TR paper, so of course TR for this. This pen has an M nib. I prefer broader rather than fine or extra fine nibs, mostly because I am a lefty ovewriter and something of a brute when it comes to the fine motor skills. But recently I have been leaning toward M nibs in Pelikans because we all know that Pelikan nib widths run wide, and they tend to be vey 'juicy' right? So the combination of an overly wide very wet nib, and a child like back slanting scrawl together makes for something rather unpleasant on the page. You can tell it is writing and not a rorschack test but you have to slow down and take a second look to determine that it isn't Sanskrit or Arabic Script.

 

Imagine my pleasant surprise to find that this nib seemed not to be flowing like the Yukon during break up. The ink flow I would say is somewhere around my preferred 7/10 rate. Another plus for the lefty over writer (think about that, ... it will come to you). The grind of these standard Pelikan nibs offer very little character, not exactly ball nibs but not a stub or oblique line. I didn't expect this and I didn't get it, but the M element of this nib is certainly within the parameters. Not like a Japanese M but noticeably less 'blobby' than most of my Pelikan M's. I will likely have it ground to stub or Cursive Italic and I suspect that will make this a very pleasant writer indeed. I wrote on and on, nothing changed, if anything the writing got better; you know how a pen will put out a little more ink right after you fill or refill it and then in a page or so it settles down? Like that.

 

Like many I thought Pelikan was a bit out of step with the times on their opening price for this pen, but I knew they had me over a barrel because I would have one of these as a reminder of my old pen. I operated on the notion that these would be available in abundance as few folk would find them 'exotic', or attractive enough to rush right out and be the first to make a purchase. Supply and demand have had the expected effects and I was able to source a unit at what I consider a reasonable price, and given these experiences I am happy that I did Truth be told a person cold get a perfectly functional used 120 from the 70's for half what I paid, but getting just another Pelikan is not the point here. Obviously the sentimentality factor played big here, so that this pen looks and performs so well (and reminds me so much of that first pen) is where I find this little green pen exceeding expectations.

 

I probably have this backwards: If I had popped for a very expensive LE or SE M800 where would my expectations be? High, over the moon high, right? What are the odds that you can hope a pen will be 'all that' and then have it exceed those expectations? I wasn't expecting much from this little pen, I got all that and way more, I guess this is the unanticipated happiness bump that comes from aiming low.

 

And what of that 'old' pen, the 120 I bought in my callow youth? I used that pen for 15 solid years, and gave it some of the roughest treatment a pen could endure. College is one thing, but forestry is an environment not so favorable to delicate instruments. It worked and kept on working. It had a gold plated steel EF nib which I argued with for much of that time. Me trying to convince it how a pen should write, it finally convincing me how a writer should write. I am a slow learner.

 

Then some time in my late 30's it sprung a leak (out the back, under the turning nob). I thought my little pen was worn out, but I didn't have the heart to toss it (it was a BIG purchase in 1972!) So it rattled around in drawers for a few years, then went in a box where it lived through several moves, ultimately up on a shelf out in my shop with a lot of other old, unopened boxes.

 

About 5 years ago I was doing a little cleaning/organizing and found that box, and that pen and memories came flooding back. By that time I was getting back into writing instruments and so I checked around to see if the pen could be repaired. The first nib specialist I contacted said no, it was a goner those works are press fit and to try to repair it would be to destroy it. I thought then about a ceremonial burial out in the woods behind our place. Rather I went on a quest for parts, thinking I might mate a replacement barrel with the cap and the nib to at least keep some part of the old pen alive.

 

I contacted Mr. Rick Propas, explained my plight and asked if he cold help me. He politely suggested that the nib specialist (known to both of us) certainly knew more about nibs than he (Mr. Propas ever would) but in matters of vintage Pelikan 120 repair he might know a thing or two. He asked me to send him the pen and he would see what he could do.

 

A week or so later my 'old' pen was back at home and working like new. It is now my daily writer in my 'bathroom' journal (daily record of AM pulse, BP, weight, and general sense of health).

 

I regret that in my haste to get to the beach I did not think to bring along that old pen, so that I could hold them up together in the same light, and write a stanza with each side by side.

 

Hang on to your pens, they will be old some day and even if they don't appreciate like your Microsoft stock, they will very likely hold high status in your sentimentality cabinet.

Edited May 29, 2016 by DrCodfish

[OCArt]

Thank you for the nice story. Like you I bought a 120 while in college sometime in the early 1970's and have rediscovered what a pleasant writer this model is.

[jmccarty3]

I love stories like this. Of course, it means we have reached a certain age.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I was given a near mint 120 by my mechanic, along with four other pens. The gold plate of the nib was and still is great.

Well it is in my glass topped two drawer cherry pen display, in the third drawer. Sadly I need another of those display cases. I have two overflowing cups of pens on my desk.

 

I am very glad your new 120 is all the first was. The first is a true regular flex with an American Bump Under, like the Geha School pens of that era.

 

I have a sudden urge to fill my 120 after your story. I won't though....I've too many pens filled.

 

The key to vacation sleep when tired, get up when not tired. Your vacation was of the resting kind, also needed. Mine seem to be get up early, run to see three minutes of a 100 things. In I guess I rest enough at home. In Europe it is much easier to see many things, than having to drive 6 hours to the next sight, as in America.

Your 'primitive' vacation, where one can kick back, read or just relax or use the snail post, with out any modern stress of 'I exist' social media or someone from work, wants free work was of the better kind. Even watching light rain fall can be relaxing, when plans are fluid and none must be done today.

[Runnin_Ute]

Last summer, I lost a pen wrap, loaded with four Pelikan pens - two M205's, a black M150 and a green and black 120 Merz & Krell with EF nib. Gradually I replaced them all. (M200's replacing the M205's), most recently a M150 and a 120 M & K (M) in between.

[DougS]

Great story and thanks for sharing your thoughts on the new Pelikan. I have two vintage 120s and need to get a Merz & Krell someday.

[sargetalon]

Hang on to your pens, they will be old some day and even if they don't appreciate like your Microsoft stock, they will very likely hold high status in your sentimentality cabinet.

I like that sentiment a lot. Good justification to never sell and only buy...as if I needed any :-)

Edited May 31, 2016 by sargetalon

[E8x8]

What a wonderful story. It reinforces my belief that pens are meant to be used.

[zaddick]

Thank you for sharing. it was a fun read.

[Lam1]

Great story.

It me made me want one of the new 120, which until now didn't catch my fancy - but I'll have to make do with just filling my current 120!

Thanks for sharing.