Hello from SW Kansas

January 26, 2006

Greetings - just wanted to say hello as a new member. By way of fp history, I've been using fp's for ten years or so. A gift from my wife got me started - a nice MB 144 with a m nib. I'd used Sheaffer school pens in the early 60's in school, but that hardly counts. I became disenchanted with the MB until I discovered bottled ink and that made a big difference in the way the pen performed.

I decided I needed a finer nib for routing note taking and discovered the Pelikan Steno at Swisher Pens; then found pens on ebay and an Esterbrook J in need of a new sac; then acpp and help from Frank Dubiel and Hal Arnold and it's been decidedly downhill ever since.

I now have around 160 pens in the accumulation, 85% vintage and I really enjoy the hunt for decent vintage pens in the wild and the restoration work to get them back to a functional and respectable looking condition.

You don't need to warn me about the sickness this is, as I can see 45 pens on my desk without turning my head - probably 30 of them inked and ready to go. Everything from a Rotring Core to a Yard-o-Led Grand Viceroy; from a Wearever to a Conklin Endura Sr. in Lapis (a great estate auction find - initially spotted by my very pen supportive wife!). I just need the occasional assurance I'm not totally alone in this insanity.

Anyway, that's my pen story and I'm sticking to it.

kg