Pif : Two Indian Ebonite Pens

[dinuraj]

Hi,

 

 

I am trying to limit my fountain pen collection and trim off the pens that I don't use. I am planning to give away such pens in FPN to other pen aficionados. Below are couple of such pens.

 

Both are eyedropper fill pens.

 

The brown one a Wality pen. It has a very fine Wality nib. It is pleasant to write with.

 

The forest green one is a Kim&co pen that I bought directly from their shop in Kozhikode, Kerala, India. It has a medium ish ambitious ((That is what I think from the pattern on the nib) nib with a smooth sweetspot. Outside the sweetspot, it is not scratchy. But, it gives some feedback.

 

 

 

Both pens have ebonite feeds and should be able to accept other #6 nibs. Some more pictures below.

 

 

This is my first PIF in FPN. Please correct me if I make mistakes. Below are the rules that I am thinking off.

• Add a few words about yours and your story with pens.
• Indicate why you would like to get one or both of these pens.
• Will keep it open for two weeks and the winner(s) will be selected on 18th Feb.
• I will cover the shipping cost unless it is very high.

Enjoy,

 

thanks,

Dinuraj

 

 

 

[AMWfountain]

Hey, it's really cool that you are making your first pif. I myself would love to do one in the future. I'm a college student from nyc and I recently became interested in fountain pens. my grandfather always used fountain pens and when he passed away I inherited some of them. I really want to keep those pens in good condition and not use them every day. I would love to have a pen that I would be able to daily use, or have multiple to switch off. These pens are really beautiful and I would love to add either one or both to my collection.

Thanks AW

[hariharan]

Hi

How nice of you to PIF these beautiful ebonites. I am in academic profession and uses fountain pens extensively for my class notes preparation. After the regular gap from high school, i started this hobby following my boss, who was an FP fan. i have a modest collection which i rotate.

 

I would love to have either of the two, however preference will be more towards KIm. I have head a lot about Kim, but yet havent tried any of their pens. i would like to pose the big section Kim pen with its flat clip

[Ripperg9]

I have been using fountain pens for a few years now. I started with restoring vintage pen. I have been interested in trying some of these pens made in India.

I would be interested in either pen, but lean towards the medium sized nib.

Thank you

[Simulacrum]

Hi,

 

Why would I like one or both of these pens ? A two part answer.

 

Part 1: I have never heard of either of these pens, I don't own any Indian Pens, and would be very happy to give either of them a home I say 'one' so that two people can benefit from your generosity. If you think they should be kept together then I, of course, would be happy to have both of them. If I were to choose one, it would be the orange one as I like the 'more natural wood look 'about it.

 

Part 2 relates to 'my story of pens':

 

I've never thought about 'my story of pens' before - so thanks for asking as it allowed me to explore that a bit. Here it goes:

 

I've loved pens my whole life and I always kind of thought it was weird because none of my friends were into pens lol. It makes sense I suppose as I ended up studying Fine Arts in University. My first fountain pen was a Shaeffer that my grandmother bought for me when I was about 10 or so (it was black with a blue plastic cap- I think it was a pretty cheap pen but it was the coolest pen I had ever seen as I had never seen a fountain pen before. I thought it must have been super advanced and expensive at the time- it came with a blue ink cartridge).

 

As an artist I'm always drawing and sketching and have filled many sketchbooks over the years but most of my recent work has been photography and some other digital designs and illustrations. I was looking through some sketchbooks for some ideas and realized that I always do these drawings (hard to describe) and I had tried to paint them, and draw them digitally, but they lost something in the translation and I couldn't figure out how to make them seem more than 'just sketches'.

 

About a year ago (ish) I thought - why do I need to make them in another medium. Why can't they just be pen drawings ? And so I started looking into some different pens to use and that led me to fountain pens! So I started with some permanent black ink (Platinum Carbon Black) and bought my first fountain pen (TWSBI 580 AL) since that Shaeffer when I was a kid. Since then I've been a bit obsessed with fountain pens and inks and trying to figure out what I'm doing with them. I love watching the ink come out of the pen all wet - it's kind of like putting a thick gob of paint on a canvas - or watching a black and white photo start to emerge on the paper in the darkroom. But smaller and less mess -I can just grab a pen and paper and I'm good to go.

 

It's hard to find time to do the things you want in life but fountain pens are one way that is pretty easy to feel like I'm making some art again. They are a good motivator to make things. It's hard to motivate myself and find time to get out paints and setup a canvas and not make a mess of the house and the walls and floor around the canvas - darkrooms are a big mess and the computer (digital darkroom) while awesome and full of opportunities - is so 'digital' that I think it's made me want something more analog. I'm on computers all day at work and the immediacy and the feedback of a pen and ink on paper - with a hardcopy product that doesn't require colour correction and sharpening and printing - so simply perfectly not digital.

 

I have never used an Indian pen before and would love to be able to be non-digital with a pen from India!

 

Thanks for reading.

Edited February 6, 2018 by Simulacrum

[Tookiedoo]

Those are beautiful pens! I've only recently become an addict of this wonderful hobby and lifestyle in the last 2 months. Finding this forum has been extremely helpful in my journey so far. The knowledge and generosity in this community amazes me! I have a TWSBI 580, a Lamy Safari, and several Chinese pens, but i've been itching to try out the Indian pens as well.

[Qotg]

I like chemistry, and wanted a pen for drawing out compounds for organic, as pencils aren't accepted in exams, I ended up buying a Twsbi, that I lost, bought a few more and suddenly ended up falling down the rabbit hole, I like the idea of eyedropper pens, for the convince for class, a fine nib seems wonderful as it wouldn't cause bleed-through on the bad paper, as well as generally being a workhorse pen I could use. I would like the brown one, as the design looks wonderful, and so does the nib. Thank you for the consideration

[y_bauluck]

Thanks for this generous offer.

 

I would be glad if you could consider me for your PIF. A chance for me to experience an eyedropper and also never had any pen from India.

The pen would come in very handy for long hours of note taking.

[mehandiratta]

Nice giveaway

[bugsydog55]

What a nice thing to do. And it is definitely over and above the usual because of the fact that these are very nice ebonite pens. I have been fascinated by these pens for years, ever since i had to use the basic school pens for penmanship classes in the mid 60's. I have some of these same pens and they are pretty and exceptional. I would love to add them to my collection but if they don't come to me, I am sure they will be used and appreciated where ever they end up. The nib on the Airmail/wality can be switched out with another #6 nib (some of the Airmail nibs are just awful). The Kim can have some feedback but it has a saving grace due to the much better feed. Any way you look at it, somebody is in for a real treat.

[mitto]

Living in Pakistan, it is almost impossible to get any pens with origins in 'hostile' next door neighbour - India. They never reach the addressee especially when shipped directly from India. So despite having hundreds of pens from different brands and makes I have a very strong desire to be able to buy some good Indian ebonite pens but don't know how. Perhaps one day I would be the proud owners of these excellent Indian pens.

 

My post, however, shall not be treated as an entry.

 

Thank you, dinuraj, for the kind gesture and generosity.

[bmillicent]

These are both so drool worthy I only discovered Indian made pens in the last couple of years thanks to the group buys and I adore them The PIF offerings would definitely have a good adoptive home Thank you for your generosity

[hari317]

Dinuraj,

 

This is a nice, generous PIF. If you like, I can contribute to this wonderful PIF by offering to upgrade the stock nibs at my cost. If you decide to take it up, you just have to send the pens to me, I will upgrade the nibs with smooth Ambitious Medium nibs on both the pens and send them back to you. The stock nib on the Kim is not Ambitious, it is most probably a Sattur nib. You can reach me via email given in my signature below.

 

Best

Hari

[dinuraj]

Hi Hari,

 

That will be wonderful. I will contact by email.

 

thanks,

Dinuraj

 

 

Dinuraj,

 

This is a nice, generous PIF. If you like, I can contribute to this wonderful PIF by offering to upgrade the stock nibs at my cost. If you decide to take it up, you just have to send the pens to me, I will upgrade the nibs with smooth Ambitious Medium nibs on both the pens and send them back to you. The stock nib on the Kim is not Ambitious, it is most probably a Sattur nib. You can reach me via email given in my signature below.

 

Best

Hari

[JaysonHarrington]

I fell in love with fountain pens when I saw the movie Octopussy... Used cheap Sheaffer pens in High School... Had one or two better pens over the years... I got back into using them in November of 2017 when I started using them to keep journals for my anxiety and depression... I just started my second one since November... Most of my pens are sub $6.00 usd... But I did get a FPR Himalaya for Christmas... I have a GAMA on my list for next Christmas... I do admit the brown Wality would be nice with Diamine Ancient Copper... Hope it finds a great home...

[dinuraj]

Hi,

 

Pens are back from Hari with the nib upgrade. I dip tested them and they write very smooth now.

 

Here are the winners of the PIF

 

Brown Wality Pen - Simulacrum

 

Green Kim pen - hariharan

 

Please message me with your addresses. The pens will be on your way this week.

 

thanks,

Dinuraj

[hariharan]

Hi,

 

Pens are back from Hari with the nib upgrade. I dip tested them and they write very smooth now.

 

Here are the winners of the PIF

 

Brown Wality Pen - Simulacrum

 

Green Kim pen - hariharan

 

Please message me with your addresses. The pens will be on your way this week.

 

thanks,

Dinuraj

 

wow, thanks a lot.. A nib upgrade is a double delight.. Thanks a lot Hari for the upgrade.

[hari317]

Thanks Dinuraj for letting me know. I have a huge stockpile of nibs and it was a pleasure to PIF a couple. It would be nice if the PIF winners post a review after using the pens for a while.

 

Best

Hari

[bobje]

I missed this thread when it came out. Next time, for a pay-it-forward, it needs to go to the dedicated thread for PIFs. Also, it needs to be approved by the moderator of that thread. Thank you.

[Simulacrum]

Thanks Dinuraj for letting me know. I have a huge stockpile of nibs and it was a pleasure to PIF a couple. It would be nice if the PIF winners post a review after using the pens for a while.

 

Best

Hari

Super excited to be selected, thank you dinuraj and Hari. Very generous of both of you. I will definitely post a review and some photos. Thanks again.