Greetings from Malvern, UK

[Sciopod]

Hello everybody - I'm a depressingly middle aged FP user living under the shadow of the Malvern Hills (one time home of Elgar) and working in Birmingham (one time home of the British pen industry). I guess I have more pens than I strictly need just to write with, but not enough to justify their existence by claiming to have a "collection" - an uncomfortable middle ground. My current pride and joy, which I would sleep with if my wife would let me, is a Sailor Bamboo Susutake fitted with a Cross Emperor nib.

 

I look forward to getting to know you all, if only electronically.

[Bill D]

Welcome!

 

Bill

[aunt rebecca]

welcome

ah---the lure of a fountain pen --the joy of holding the current perfect pen--the opening--the joy of inspecting the nib--the iridium--and then the wonder of nib to paper. yes we all know it and love it. :bunny1: :bunny1: :bunny1: :bunny1: :bunny1:

[petra]

Greetings! I certainly hope you'll post a sample of writing from that cross emperor nib and tell us what that writing experience is like!

 

Petra

[southpaw]

Hello and welcome to the FPNuthouse!

[Ray]

Welcome, Sciopod. I'll be in Brimingham this weekend, visiting people and taking the kids to Cadbury World. Wave if you see me!

 

Ray

[twdpens]

Welcome to FPN!

 

Martin

[Fafnir]

Welcome to FPN, what are the other pens in your 'collection'. How did you get started in accumulating them?

 

We look forward to learning more about you

[Sciopod]

Thank you for the warm welcome!

 

Petra, as regards the Sailor Bamboo Susutake pen with the Cross Emperor, I guess this is a pen / nib which you are either going to love or hate, its so unlike anything else I've ever written with that its pretty difficult to feel indifferent about it. The nib itself is smooth but not overly so - you can "feel" the paper through it, and it makes quite a loud "scratching" noise as you write. Held relatively upright, it produces a broad line, held at a low angle it must produce a triple or even quadruple broad line. Reversed it writes a fine line. It is a very very wet writer, and consumes copious amounts of ink - a real gas guzzler. If everyone used this nib I guess the ink manufacturers would be very rich! The converter struggles to hold enough ink to keep up - you're getting 4-5 pages of A4 per refill. Because of the amount of ink it puts down on the paper, you will get feathering on cheap stuff.

 

The pen itself is in many ways even odder. Ergonomically it takes a bit of getting used to. If you've seen the model the upper body section is very thick (made of bamboo), the lower body section (which starts about 4.5cm from the tip of the nib) very narrow. You have to work out whether to grip the upper body, the lower body, or a combination of the two. It took me a few months to work out a way of holding and using the pen which felt comfortable and meant I could control it. Now, of course, its second nature. The whole thing is about 16 cm long (capped), and of course has no clip. Because its basically a long peice of bamboo, its not possible to post the cap as you write.

 

Whether you think the practical difficulties outweigh the advantages, or whether you think they simply add to the character of the pen, is I guess a matter of personal taste. All I can say is that I've come to love this pen dearly.

 

Fafnir, I've always used fountain pens from school onwards. I guess my first "expensive" pen was an MB bought in the early 80s (I must have had ambitions towards yuppiedom). It leaked consistently during the years I owned it, so that I had a perpetual ink stain in the pocket of every shirt I wore. It's long gone, and in truth not much missed. It was followed by a Pelikan M800, a model I still own and use regularly. These days I have an irrational passion for Japanese pens, so my regular users (in addition to the Sailor and the Pel) are a couple of VPs, a Namiki Yukari "Nightline" (my other real favourite), a Namiki "Golden Pheasant", a Namiki Silver "Dragon", and a Platinum music pen. I also have a modern Conklin, but that is very badly behaved and I don't like to talk about it.

[petra]

Well that certainly sounds like a collection to me, and a wonderful one at that! I've seen the cross emperor nib at nibs.com, but not the body of the pen. So I'm looking forward to the eventual photo.

 

Sounds like it could be an interesting nib to draw with (from my artist's point of view). I had a sailor with a zoom but after a while traded it for a music nib which suits my general writing. Sailor definitely offers the most amazing nibs!

 

Petra

[Inkanthropist]

Welcome to FPN, Sciopod (such an excellent name!)

 

Neil

[Sciopod]

Petra - I've tried to attach a photo of the pen (with standard nib) taken from the web site of andys pens (they supplied the pen to me - excellent service). I'm a bit of computer luddite so this may not work!

 

I'm not an artist, so I wouldn't necessarily rely on this, but I'd have thought the cross emperor would be an excellent nib for drawing with.

 

I've never tried the zoom, but have often wanted to. What exactly was it that you didn't like?

[ballboy]

Greetings from South East Manchester on the Derbyshire Border

 

David Dimbleby did a nice documentary that included our areas in pictures on UK TV History recently.

 

I love to hear how seasoned collectors/accumulators deal with their burgeoning pen numbers - having only 3, soon to be 4 myself!

[Mannenhitsu]

Welcome to the Fountain Pen Nursery!