How Did This Happen? They Must Be Breeding In Secret

[Bo Bo Olson]

Very nice set of pens.............ain't it time to go vintage???

 

Gobblecup, IMO modern 400/600 fat and blobby semi-nail nibs are not worth having.

If that 400 nib you would be getting, is modern....it will be butter smooth. But I find the '82-97 400 nibs to be as good as a 200's nib. I have a '90's 400 and a few Pelikan gold 381 and a Celebry and a steel nib on another Celebry. All those nibs are very nice springy regular flex nibs as good as the 200. My W.Germany 200 has that tad springer W.Germany nib.

 

But what you really want is a gold '50-65 semi or maxi-semi-flex vintage nib. Maxi will be luck of the draw.

 

In I find the term 'flexi' to be too imprecise.....one could mistake a maxi for that. I like the term supreflex, in that also indicates a wider tine spread than the regular/semi/maxi 3X tine spread set.

 

I have a 100n in superflex, the first stage, Easy Full Flex...that will spread it's tines 5 X. But having read Richard Binder's article on metal fatigue strive to never go over 4 X so I'm not stressing the nib.

 

I was shocked..... with my Ibis gold nibbed pen.....a max-semi-flex, and the balance if just fine.....a tad 'ugly' but what the hell.....a grand nib. All those years ignoring that pen, when I could have readily afforded it on German Ebay.

 

A maxi-semi-flex is always luck of the draw. Neither the semi or maxi are so labeled, not counting Osmia, where semi&maxi are "labeled" my WOG is 1 in 4 or 5 can be a maxi. Subtracting Osmia from the 16 maxi-semi-flex pens I own, would be 11, to 28 semi-flex I have.

I have maxi in Pelikan, MB, Geha, Osmia, could be one or two others.

 

Mash a regular flex, a 120/200 or '82-97 400 (87-mid 90's 800 or the small 600) regular flex to 3 X a light down stroke.

 

Semi-flex takes half that pressure to get to 3X.

Semi-flex is not really a nib for fancy writing, it adds that old fashioned fountain pen flair with out doing anything. With a bit of practice one can make a fancy decender.

 

Maxi-semi-flex, needs half as much pressure to reach 3 X than a semi-flex or 1/4th the amount needed to mash a regular flex. One can fancy up ones writing if one opens the book.....not quite as easy as a superflex....but decenders flow easier than with a semi.

All three belong to the 3 X tine set.

(I got to get the hammer and chisel, to open up the dust rust shut calligraphy book. If one don't practice....one has to think....and then the smoke alarms go off.)

Edited July 30, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

[Fuzzy_Bear]

Yes. They multiply. Started w/ M201 M from one of the Dallas Pen Nuts. He found a friend in an M100 Stormtrooper F. Then I was gifted an M600 M from jmmcarty3, who I still need to give a proper thank you. That was joined by an M150 1.0.

 

Not sure what's going to happen next.

[BillH]

These are just scouts... one day you will wake up and find yourself completely surrounded

[Misfit]

On July 28 there was a notice in the mailbox about a missed delivery. I never heard the doorbell. I was there, and never heard the doorbell ring. On Monday I asked the letter carrier about it, because he didn’t have a package for me. Unfortunately he took the small Orange notice.

 

Today’s mail has been delivered, and still no package. I got a similar Orange notice, and that was for the Brown Tortoise which migrated from Poland. The package I was hoping for was coming from Japan. Their tracking site shows the item at Chicago, then on the 28th shows it processing at delivery office. Also on the 28th it shows Retention.

 

This was my first order from pencils.jp which gets high praise and confidence in a Travelers Notebook thread. I’m impatient to see the Cafe Creme Pen. My small flock is not happy right now.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Part of the decade's voyage was what was 'expensive' and what later is thought affordable.

 

My first Pelikan was a 400 tortoise, that was said at a live auction to be '50s.....no semi-flex. Wasn't, but back then I didn't know about different feeds, nor how to press the nib to my thumbnail. Back when E30-40 were 'expensive pens....in the days when a Geha 790 could be had for E19 not the E-60 it now costs.

I'd thought the Auction start price of E80, was going to end up way too much, in I'd just seen two brick colored Lamy 27's/99's start at E20, and by the time I got my hand down it was at 75, ending at 95.

"80 no bid, going once, 80 going twice," I snatched that sign out of my wife's hand so fast it left skid marks." For 80 it was mine. A tortoise and semi-flex....and I being too noobie hadn't done my research on Ebay, or here.

Nope, a regular flex Kaufhaus Galieria 400....worth no more than the 70-80. No wonder the dealers didn't bite.

A decade ago on Ebay a 140 went for E60. Now....E90-100.

 

 

Then.....a while later when I had read about semi-flex....I got to swap a fancy pocket knife for a 140 and 4 'very nothing special' pens.

Was given a 120.

A 400nn showed up....Part of a 4 pen lot, a BP&MP also....and an ugly MB....in I was so ignorant noobie, I'd only seen the cigar type ones. Live Auction E170!!! Way more than I'd ever paid for a pen(s) in my life....but I 'was' going to sell all but the 400nn.... if I could get 30-35 for each BP&MP. and what ever I could get for that ugly MB,.then it would only cost E50-70. Nope, still have the full lot.

 

A tiny bit later I ended up with Lambrou's book, and found it was a more refined smaller 139 version.

It's real good that when I tested it for balance, it came in #1, #2, Geha 725, #3 P-75, #4 400nn. Two bought on the same auction.

That MB 234 1/2 Deluxe ('52-54 only) was then worth 'only' $200 . Now $500 and someone with an Idiot Button wants only $900 for one.

In this case ignorance was bliss.

By the way, anyone know how much it costs to rent an Idiot Button?

 

A steel nibbed Celebry was given to me by a widow.

I didn't need any more....and I was noobie I knew I never going to afford an expensive E100 '50-54 400 (X4 )Expensive became adequate...........or a 100n but I Somegied that for E20.

 

Grail Pen Money had burnt a hole in my pocket as it so often does and a flock of Pelikans followed me home, pecking at the fallen money, from the wharf.

The 500 was so out of my league, I had to go look it up, when I spent my 'grail pen money' on a flock of Pelikans. E150 for the 500 ...381&gold nibbed Celebry E-35 each and can still be had for that price on German Ebay..

 

100-150 got them too somehow....not 'heavy' on the wish list....but each was 'there' in it's day and cheap E20 or so....gee..........casual...why not.

The Ibis was a pleasant surprise as a minor part of a live auction lot with a couple '50-54 400's. Foolishly, had it been stand alone; I'd not bought it... So some day I'll have to get a Rappin. It's missing....thought in a very dry tone.

 

200 Euro was the most I ever spent on a pen, outside my on sale for 1/3 off E450 MB Woolf...my wife bought me for my birthday...( ..forgot that 'our' money part of the contract....couldn't afford a pen, ink or paper for some 9 months.)

.....and I'd posted a thread about making a mistake thining the first Pelikan at a live auction was that pre-97 600, that I winced at spending E200 on. Only to find it was the 1005, a few seconds later when the 600 came up.

It was not cheap, but 135 was quite affordable.

The price of pens keep going up....but save some of your money, there is a Depression coming and pens will get cheap again. A P-75 had cost $225 before the last Depression, $75 in it.

One's border of expense will slowly go up. Best is buying top of the vintage line pen, every 3-4 months.............advice that is never, ever going to be followed......not even by me.

 

 

Then there are those what are they called....the metal ones they 'just' discontinued a couple of years ago. ...no...no, don't tell me. I don't want to want them....out out dam spot.

Edited August 1, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

[Misfit]

I guess my Pelikan M200 was quarantined. I went to the Post Office today, and after giving my address, the Postal employee lady came out with a box. I showed the requested ID, and finally got my new bird.

 

It is a beauty. Oh Cafe Creme, I should have gotten you when you were first released into the wild!

 

The flock is 6 if we count Pelikano and Twist. Four if we don’t.

[Misfit]

These are just scouts... one day you will wake up and find yourself completely surrounded

I’d laugh, but I think you are right about this.

[Bo Bo Olson]

A Pelikan is a Pelikan.....if I can count the original 120, you can count any of the very many Pelicano's.

There is at least one on the com with a flock of Pelicano's.

[Fuzzy_Bear]

They scout hard sometimes. I barely passed on a couple of 150's on fleabay that went just over $20 each.

 

I like the 200's, but the 600's are a good size/ weight combo.

 

Like many, I am getting older. Though just 48,I have arthritis in my right shoulder that makes my hand and arm tingle at times. P.S.- if that is mild arthritis, I don't want to know bad arthritis! I have trouble bringing my arm down from an overhead position. It creates pain st times while doing main job, maintenance man and school bus driver. Combined with arthritis in both thumbs, light is the key most days.

 

But yes, they are conspiring as we speak. I can hear them in the middle of the night!

[inkstainedruth]

.But yes, they are conspiring as we speak. I can hear them in the middle of the night!

 

I'm now envisioning a couple of birds in the room next door in a flea-bag, no-tell motel.....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Fuzzy_Bear]

 

I think it's these two.

[Misfit]

Please don’t eat our Pelikanos on the corn stalks!

[Newjelan]

Very nice set of pens.............ain't it time to go vintage???

 

Gobblecup, IMO modern 400/600 fat and blobby semi-nail nibs are not worth having.

If that 400 nib you would be getting, is modern....it will be butter smooth. But I find the '82-97 400 nibs to be as good as a 200's nib. I have a '90's 400 and a few Pelikan gold 381 and a Celebry and a steel nib on another Celebry. All those nibs are very nice springy regular flex nibs as good as the 200. My W.Germany 200 has that tad springer W.Germany nib.

 

But what you really want is a gold '50-65 semi or maxi-semi-flex vintage nib. Maxi will be luck of the draw.

 

In I find the term 'flexi' to be too imprecise.....one could mistake a maxi for that. I like the term supreflex, in that also indicates a wider tine spread than the regular/semi/maxi 3X tine spread set.

 

I have a 100n in superflex, the first stage, Easy Full Flex...that will spread it's tines 5 X. But having read Richard Binder's article on metal fatigue strive to never go over 4 X so I'm not stressing the nib.

 

I was shocked..... with my Ibis gold nibbed pen.....a max-semi-flex, and the balance if just fine.....a tad 'ugly' but what the hell.....a grand nib. All those years ignoring that pen, when I could have readily afforded it on German Ebay.

 

A maxi-semi-flex is always luck of the draw. Neither the semi or maxi are so labeled, not counting Osmia, where semi&maxi are "labeled" my WOG is 1 in 4 or 5 can be a maxi. Subtracting Osmia from the 16 maxi-semi-flex pens I own, would be 11, to 28 semi-flex I have.

I have maxi in Pelikan, MB, Geha, Osmia, could be one or two others.

 

Mash a regular flex, a 120/200 or '82-97 400 (87-mid 90's 800 or the small 600) regular flex to 3 X a light down stroke.

 

Semi-flex takes half that pressure to get to 3X.

Semi-flex is not really a nib for fancy writing, it adds that old fashioned fountain pen flair with out doing anything. With a bit of practice one can make a fancy decender.

 

Maxi-semi-flex, needs half as much pressure to reach 3 X than a semi-flex or 1/4th the amount needed to mash a regular flex. One can fancy up ones writing if one opens the book.....not quite as easy as a superflex....but decenders flow easier than with a semi.

All three belong to the 3 X tine set.

(I got to get the hammer and chisel, to open up the dust rust shut calligraphy book. If one don't practice....one has to think....and then the smoke alarms go off.)

I have come close to buying a vintage a number of times but chickened out. I think I’ll use your guide to help me next time I’m tempted. I’m keen to use a proper (vintage) flex nib, as I’ve been playing at some calligraphy lately.

[mana]

They indeed do seem to breed all on their own... EDC on top, safe queens on the bottom. Missing a few, namely one black 500NN and a Blue Marbled M200.

 

...and Newjelan, do give vintage pens a shot. I would recommend that you start with vintage Pelikans, for example 140 or 400/N/NN (the ones with synthetic piston seals > less maintenance). Ones found in the wild often need just a basic cleanup and a new fill of ink and you are good to go.

[Gobblecup]

Very nice set of pens.............ain't it time to go vintage???

 

Gobblecup, IMO modern 400/600 fat and blobby semi-nail nibs are not worth having.

If that 400 nib you would be getting, is modern....it will be butter smooth. But I find the '82-97 400 nibs to be as good as a 200's nib. I have a '90's 400 and a few Pelikan gold 381 and a Celebry and a steel nib on another Celebry. All those nibs are very nice springy regular flex nibs as good as the 200. My W.Germany 200 has that tad springer W.Germany nib.

 

But what you really want is a gold '50-65 semi or maxi-semi-flex vintage nib. Maxi will be luck of the draw.

 

In I find the term 'flexi' to be too imprecise.....one could mistake a maxi for that. I like the term supreflex, in that also indicates a wider tine spread than the regular/semi/maxi 3X tine spread set.

 

I have a 100n in superflex, the first stage, Easy Full Flex...that will spread it's tines 5 X. But having read Richard Binder's article on metal fatigue strive to never go over 4 X so I'm not stressing the nib.

 

I was shocked..... with my Ibis gold nibbed pen.....a max-semi-flex, and the balance if just fine.....a tad 'ugly' but what the hell.....a grand nib. All those years ignoring that pen, when I could have readily afforded it on German Ebay.

 

A maxi-semi-flex is always luck of the draw. Neither the semi or maxi are so labeled, not counting Osmia, where semi&maxi are "labeled" my WOG is 1 in 4 or 5 can be a maxi. Subtracting Osmia from the 16 maxi-semi-flex pens I own, would be 11, to 28 semi-flex I have.

I have maxi in Pelikan, MB, Geha, Osmia, could be one or two others.

 

Mash a regular flex, a 120/200 or '82-97 400 (87-mid 90's 800 or the small 600) regular flex to 3 X a light down stroke.

 

Semi-flex takes half that pressure to get to 3X.

Semi-flex is not really a nib for fancy writing, it adds that old fashioned fountain pen flair with out doing anything. With a bit of practice one can make a fancy decender.

 

Maxi-semi-flex, needs half as much pressure to reach 3 X than a semi-flex or 1/4th the amount needed to mash a regular flex. One can fancy up ones writing if one opens the book.....not quite as easy as a superflex....but decenders flow easier than with a semi.

All three belong to the 3 X tine set.

(I got to get the hammer and chisel, to open up the dust rust shut calligraphy book. If one don't practice....one has to think....and then the smoke alarms go off.)

 

So I had a rapid multiplication of my flock this week!!! I got a 1990-96 M400 Green Striped on the way. From writing samples it appears to have a bit of flex, enough to add some flourish to writing, somewhere between 2-3x spread it would seem. Along with that I got a tortoiseshell 400 with the oldschool script nib, and writing samples make this one look to be especially on the flexible side with an easy 4x+ spread! I will have to wait for them to arrive to report the grades of the flexibility in more detail, but I'm looking forwards to getting back into flexible nibs! Lastly, I also purchased a 400N in green, very prestine condition, with a nib that appears to have some easy flex, with next to no pressure (2-3x), but the seller didn't want to apply any real pressure in a writing sample, so I will have to wait and see what my luck of the draw is. I'm hoping for a superflex seeing as without pressure this fine point seems to already give way on the downstroke. I am considering a very flexible Geha 790, writing samples look lovely, but I haven't heard word back from the seller. However, if I don't hear back my wallet with thank me!

 

Thank you for your advice on searching for pens, I am very happy my flock will soon be seven birds strong, two of which are surely flexible enough to get back into the swing of flex writing. I only have an Aurora 88 from 1951 with a fully flexible nib right now, but the tipping is kind of a blob so its not as fun to show off the line variation with. It is very nice to write with though, and I love those pens. I'll have to post pics when my new birds arrive along with some writing samples!

[Stephanopolous]

I guess my Pelikan M200 was quarantined. I went to the Post Office today, and after giving my address, the Postal employee lady came out with a box. I showed the requested ID, and finally got my new bird.

 

It is a beauty. Oh Cafe Creme, I should have gotten you when you were first released into the wild!

 

The flock is 6 if we count Pelikano and Twist. Four if we don’t.

 

hi Misfit - Quick question on pencils.jp - do you need your own paypal account to purchase from them?

 

Thanks!

[Misfit]

@Stephanopolous: so sorry I only looked at this topic today. I only can answer from my experience that I did pay through PayPal. I looked at the topic here where I learned of pencils.jp, and posters mentioned PayPal if they told how they paid.

 

People also mentioned the great customer service and communication, so if its not too late, you could email them and ask about payment.

Edited August 31, 2018 by Misfit

[Misfit]

I ended up buying a Pelikan italic nib for the Cafe Creme. It is not quite what I expect from an italic. The line variation is not as pronounced as I’d like. If I ever get to another pen show, perhaps I’ll have it worked on.

[Stephanopolous]

@Misfit - thanks for the info. Good luck on the nib work.

[jmccarty3]

I have a really nice large selection of birds, both vintage and modern, to bring to the Hubs this year. I'll be showing off some of the more recent additions tomorrow at the Dallas Pen Club breakfast, and on the 10th at the Fort Worth Pen Club meeting. My newest acquisition is the 815 metal stripe, purchased from Tom Baley in DC.