Let me introduce myself

[ayjayar]

Howdy – Here comes the longest introduction on FPN's record. Originally, I hailed from Hungary, but have been the States for MANY years. When I was a child, my dad made a living fixing fountain pens and ballpoint pens (they were VERY new to us). At age 12, I started helping my dad – cut cork for pistons, used sealing wax to attach them, welded iridium to nibs, smoothed them with fine grinding paper, used a wire and a magnet to push out the ball out of a ballpoint pen, refill it with paste ink, and put the ball back, heat it up with a match and get it going again. Bladders were the hardest to make and replace. I worked on Kaweco, Pelikan, Montblanc, Koh-I-Noor, Faber-Castell, and Parkers. Parkers were difficult to work with. Originals were very scarce. I am pretty sure at least some of them were ersatz. Dad was a tool-and-dye maker, so we made some pen bodies out of Bakelite and bought/stole/begged for the nibs, plunger/piston mechanisms, and the feed (which we called “carbon”).

 

Calligraphy was a compulsory school subject in Hungary. For a man, I write fairly well. I have used cheap (“school”) Sheaffer fountain pens for 30+ years in the States, but in the last few years, with the advent of eBay and pen purveyors popping up on the Internet I have started using better pens. I don’t collect pens.... I use them. My favorites are the Waterman Phileas Medium nib (I write big) and the Sheaffer Triumph Imperial with a Fine nib. Occasionally, when I want to impress the hell out of some sucker, I pull out the Meisterstück 149 or the M800. I find the Sheaffer Intrigues esthetically pleasing and have 6 of them, 2 of which (Gold/Black & Bright Metal) I will never ink.

 

I have my pens in pipe racks, laboratory test tube racks, jade jars, and yesterday I ordered a stunner made by a British gent.[see attached jpeg]

 

Some trivia, for your entertainment:

 

Caran d'Ache (pseudonym of Emmanuel Poiré ) was a French satiric political cartoonist. Funny thing is that карандаш (Carandash) means pencil in Russian. Pen is ручка (ruchka).

 

Pelikan was originally patented by a pen factory in Croatia and the patent of Hungarian Theodor Kovacs for the modern piston filler (1925).

 

Although American John Loud patented a roller-ball-tip marking pen in 1888, he never produced a single one of them. The production of ballpoint pens (which I hate with passion) started with an improved ball pen invention of pair of Hungarian brothers named Biro (Laszlo and Gyuri). They produced it in Argentina in 1943 and the pen was an utter failure because it only wrote straight up. Try writing with a ballpoint pen on the shopping list on the refrigerator, see what happens.

 

In Hungarian, fountain pen is “töltötol,” which means “filled up feather.”

 

Thank you for the help y’all have already provided. This is a lovely community and I feel privileged to be part of it.

 

Hugs to all.

[Ray]

Absolutely fascinating intro. You are more than welcome here.

 

Do you still own any of the home made pens from your youth?

 

Ray

[southpaw]

It may be a long intro, but certainly not dull! Many thanks for a very interesting and informative intro. I have a very similar pen stand that holds nine which I too got from an a British gent (off of Ebay, actually). Mine is slightly different - holes in the top instead of cut-outs, wood posts instead of metal (brass, at least in appearance from the pic). Works great.

 

Curious - do you still do much FP repair work? Also, I noticed you're from Alabama, but I trust not close to the coast or you wouldn't be bothering with us right now.

 

Anyhow, glad to ahve you aboard and look forward to seeing you around the board. WELCOME!!!!

[ayjayar]

Hi, Ray - nope, don't have any of the home-made pens. Been gone for too long and moved too many times. In fact, I will be visiting my dad in Los Angeles later this month and I can hardly wait to show him what real Montblancs, Kawecos, and Pelikans look/feel like.

 

 

Best,

 

Andrew

[freecia]

Ummm. How do you use your never-to-be-inked pens?

 

I would use them to look at Which, you know, the designers must have intended as part of the purpose otherwise they'd never be so darn pretty.

Edited September 4, 2005 by freecia

[ayjayar]

Hi, Southpaw -

I don’t do any fountain pen repairs anymore. We, Americans, are too spoiled... if something quits working, we get another one. But, actually, the truth is that I have not had any reason to fix anything yet. I am sure I will, though, if one of my favorites bites the dust. Have already scoped out the many places from where I can get parts. Ain’t the Internet great? Have been reading different peoples’ sites... I am sooooo delighted to know that many others share my little obsession. I have written with nothing but PFs all my adult life. I write A LOT, every day, before I transfer the information to a computer. I have at least 10 different ink colors. I use a different one with each new client. It’s very entertaining.

 

We live in a suburb of Birmingham, in Central Alabama, so we are about 250 miles from the shore. As a rule, by the time hurricanes get here, they have weakened to a “depression.” I did catch the edge of a bad one in 1979 (Frederick), while in graduate school in Tallahassee. It’s frightening. My wife and I lived in New Orleans for 4 years in the early 80s. After the third time that I couldn’t get home (to Kenner) from LSU Medical Center because one of the pumps quit working during a terrific storm and the streets were flooded (with about 3 feet of water), we decided we rather live somewhere else. Other than a few thunderstorms for 2 days, we have not had much to do with Katrina. Thank you for your concern.

 

As an aside, in reference to your moniker.... I was born left-handed, but the communist regime would not allow me to be “different” so they tied my left hand behind my back while I was learning to write. Given that we were writing with dip pens, it may not have been so a bad idea. Except for the fact that hand dominance and the speech area of the brain are not on the same side for left-handers. I still stutter when I get mad... one of the consequences of forcing one to change hand dominance. Didn’t make the same mistake with my son. He is a happy lefty. I, OTOH, can use most tools with either hand, ditto for racquetball, but can’t write worth doodoo with the left. Oh, well... can’t be perfect at everything. ;-).

 

Appreciate the kind welcome.

[JeffTL]

Welcome to FPN!

 

Interesting bit about the Hungarian word for a fountain pen; in Spanish it is either "pluma estilográfica" (literally "stylographic feather" -- evidently English is an odd language in that feathers and ink-based writing instruments have diverged in vocabulary) or "pluma fuente" (a calque, I presume, fron English). Different people I have asked disagree on whether a rollerball is a "pluma" or a "bolígrafo."

 

Creative storage of pens is quite common, it seems; there are many good ways of keeping one's writing instruments both clearly visible and easily tangible, as well as elevating the nib. I use a glass frog, but somehow I see a piperack in my future.

 

Also, very interesting story there about refilling ballpoints. Sounds messy, but it would reduce the wastefulness of throwing out most of the innards of the pen (or the whole thing!) every time you need ink.

[Mannenhitsu]

Welcome to the Fountain Pen Nuthouse

 

Fantastic and informative Intro, I liked it a lot. I am sure you will love it here a lot as well. Like you, I hate ballpoints too.

 

A few days ago the pizza man came and he handed me a Papermate ink stick to sign for using the company credit card. Try as I might to get it to write, it would not budge. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my Snorkel Clipper, which is around 50 years old and it worked beautifully. The pizza driver apologized because his pen was new out of the box, would not even make a smudge on the receipt.

 

So much for modern technology!

Edited September 5, 2005 by Mannenhitsu

[Roger]

Hi Andrew,

 

You come with experience. That's good! Me? I'm short on experience, but I pick brains pretty well. So, pull up a chair and enjoy.

[ayjayar]

Ummm.  How do you use your never-to-be-inked pens?

You are absolutely right, Freecia. I like to look at pens, like to touch them. I find them esthetically pleasing. I felt the same way about pipes, but, alas, now that my son just started college, I no longer can keep risking my health. I always thought pipes and fountain pens went together. So now, at home, I use the pipe racks as fountain pen racks [see attached]. At work I use a rotating carousel and a jade pencil holder (cup), and as soon as I get my new acquisition (see my first post) I will display the non-inked pens in the beautiful, handmade, walnut rack from England. That way I can see them any time I glance up from my writing. At home I also have a laboratory test tube rack for about 13 pens on the desk behind me. I use those for “scribbling” and pay bills. :-( The test-tube rack doesn’t work at all well for pens with square bottoms or for those with diameter larger than 11.5 mm. The real expensive pens (expensive for me) I keep in a glass-topped display case. When I travel I use a metal case lined with chamois and carry 3 pens individually wrapped in the same type of silk I use to clean my glasses, and a bottle of ink in the carry-on luggage. I expect one of these days an airport inspector is going to stick his/her finger in the inkbottle. They will be sorry, cause I carry Midnight Black with me. ;-)

 

Oh, BTW, if someone has not had a chance to see the Sheaffer Intrigues, please go to PenHero’s site

http://www.penhero.com/PenSale/SheafferSto...ferIntrigue.htm

Jim has done a much better job of showing them off than I ever could, even with my new fancy dSLR my wife got me. In fact, I am using his Bright Metal pix as my wallpaper. Got it from here: http://www.penhero.com/PenGallery_Wallpaper.htm

 

Hugs to all,

 

Andrew

[Guest Denis Richard]

Hi Andrew,

 

welcome to our little corner of insanity Is that a Reform Demonstrator on your table ?

 

Denis.

[ayjayar]

Is that a Reform Demonstrator on your table ?

Yup. Reform Demonstrator. Good eye! Next to it is an Aurora and next to it a Lamy. There is a dude selling Reforms on the Net. He says he bought out all the inventory. The Demo is 8 (eight) bucks. I also bought a Reform Bremen Black & Gold for US $6 (six). Can't beat that, huh? Hop on over and snatch up some of those before I get tempted and buy some more. This has been a public service announcement!

http://www.isellpens.com/reform.htm

 

Ciao, y'all

 

Andrew

[Kaweco]

Hallo Andrew

What an impressive curriculum vitae! There will be really some stuff for interesting discussions.

Quote: at the age of 12 I started helping my dad- cut corks for pistons..../Quote

I`m a little bit curious...that must been about 1971, plastic seals for piston pens and cardridges were well known since several years.

Kind Regards

Thomas

[ayjayar]

What an impressive curriculum vitae! There will be really some stuff for interesting discussions.

Quote: at the age of 12 I started helping my dad- cut corks for pistons..../Quote

I`m a little bit curious...that must been about 1971, plastic seals for piston pens and cardridges were well known since several years.

Die Annahme ist, dass das Geburtsdatum ich gegeben habe, genau war. Tatsächlich, war es meiner Ehefrau. Ich bin 15 Jahre älter. ; -) Wer will mit einen sechzig Jahren Mann sprechen? Das würde mich ins fountainpen (Füllfederhalter?) Reparatur Geschäft in 1956 stellen. Ja?

 

Vergeben Sie mich für mein furchtbares Deutsch. Letztes Mal, das ich es habe benutzen müssen, war mit Schwabs in Siebenbürgen (Transylvania), vor 40 Jahren.

 

Oh, yeah... Remember, what may have been available in Germany was not necessarily available in East European (communist) countries. The reason we were re-filling ballpoint pens is because a new one was almost unobtainable (unless you had relatives in the West) and the price of a simple BIC was exorbitant. About the only place you could buy them was in consignment stores, many of which only accepted foreign currency.

 

If you have a chance to see a film titled "Moscow on the Hudson", do watch it. There is a scene in the movie where the protagonist (Vladimir Ivanoff, played by Robin Williams) and his friend come upon a 2-block long queue and they promptly get in line. When they are asked what they are staying in line for, they don't know. The implication is that whatever it was, they needed it. They were hoping for toilet paper, but in fact they had shoes that day. Only size 37 and he has feet size 42. He gets them anyway, because somebody with size 37 feet may have toilet paper. A very realistic image that I have experienced many times as I was growing up.

 

Tschuess,

 

Andrew

[Kaweco]

Hi Andrew

I have never heard of "old people", I only know "experienced people"

My childhood was a little bit similar like yours and I hope we will have some enthusiastic colloquia among us "Old Bones" about the golden era of fountainpens.

I think you gave the first topic: The day after Theodor Kovacs invented the piston filling mechanism. Was it actually 1925 or better 1928? Was it really invented in Croatia?...

Kind Regards

Thomas

[ayjayar]

Hi Andrew

I have never heard of "old people", I only know "experienced people"

[...]I think you gave the first topic: The day after Theodor Kovacs invented the piston filling mechanism. Was it actually 1925 or better 1928? Was it really invented in Croatia?...

You are right, of course.

 

Let's take the discussion about the Pelikan piston to "Pen History."

 

TTYL

[Maja]

Is that a Reform Demonstrator on your table ?

Yup. Reform Demonstrator. Good eye! Next to it is an Aurora and next to it a Lamy. There is a dude selling Reforms on the Net. He says he bought out all the inventory. The Demo is 8 (eight) bucks. I also bought a Reform Bremen Black & Gold for US $6 (six). Can't beat that, huh? Hop on over and snatch up some of those before I get tempted and buy some more. This has been a public service announcement!

http://www.isellpens.com/reform.htm

 

Ciao, y'all

 

Andrew

I own both myself---great deals from a great pen seller!

 

Anyway....

Time to chime in with my little

Welcome to FPN, Andrew!

 

Nice to have you on board

 

Now, under "Interests" you listed among other things "unusual piggy banks"....Do tell!

[ayjayar]

Now, under "Interests" you listed among other things "unusual piggy banks"....Do tell!

Oh, nothing THAT unusual.. I have a huge one that looks like a cow (we like cows ever since my son discovered the cow level in Diablo), a piggy who winks, a big ol' piggy that has the FSU (Go Noles!) Indian head on it. Not really collectors' items, but they do tickle my funny bone. I fact I get the glass ones without stoppers so we have to break them when they are full. Which, of course, prompted me to buy a coin counter, before I realized that some stores and banks have them.