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@sandy101 I have never attempted to travel with a fountain pen, although I have been tempted to try. I always take roller balls. I too am looking through Cult pens birthday sale items. Unfortunately the Onotos are not on sale, ☹️

Sundays are for resting and playing. Today I played with the shallow depth of field and bokeh of a couple of Nikon lenses on my medium format sensor.

@Opooh I agree. BUT, they have scammed far many too many others; misrepresenting the pens and deceiving these unsuspecting buyers into believing they are acquiring a genuine Montblanc. If they are selling to a clientele who desires fake Montblancs then they should market them as such.

Was that the "Conway Stewart Book of Numbers" Looks like it's backed up or moved here Jonathan's Vintage Pens - a list of Conway Stewart numbers

@arellano81366 @Seney724 Seriously guys , the websites you mentionned have satisfied buyers of fake montblancs or rolexes, nike etc. There is a market for fake products. you have to do some homework before spending on ebay. Genuine limited editions at 150 euro, lol.

Jonathan Donahaye's Conway Stewart Info page I have always found this to be an extremely useful resource when deciding whether to buy a particular vintage Conway Stewart fountain pen but the link now comes up with a "404 Not Found" error. I guess it is now lost to us, unless anyone knows of a re-location or archive. Fingers crossed. David.

While being love-struck

down a well

Some early Vacumatic and vacuum fillers have a celluloid sleeve inside the section that accepts the feed. ( I know only because I have accidentally knock them out removing the feeds.). I have no explanation of why the sleeve is there, other than they may have needed to insert bit to drill out the section(?). I always prefer to pair a vacuum filler nib with a Vacuum Filler Pen, but that’s not everyone preference. The two-tone nib with the barbs touching is a beautiful early nib, but I think two-tone nibs are a later pen edition. The gold nib with the barbs slightly recessed into the shaft would be an earlier nib than the one that came with the pen. If you have no preference, then the existing nib is perfectly acceptable as it may have been a replacement nib by the original owner, and therefore part of the pen’s history. I am open to further information, but I am not sure the ‘57 on the nib corresponds to the year of mfr. 1957 would be very late in the Vacumatic run. I’m not sure why Parker would ever need to imprint a date code on the nibs as it has no bearing on the use and nibs of the same size are interchangeable.

A small drill bit is commonly used to drill out the tube. Sometimes the holes needs to be enlarged to fit the replacement tube.

I agree that many of those videos make the process look so easy...but I still admire the art. My goal is to become 5% as talented as you some day! May have to wait til I get to retirement.

Finally having some time off I've elected to make it urushi week...so my Namiki Capless Raden stripe and my Nakaya long writer in Aki Tamenuri have been inked up. The Capless with Diamine Sunset orange and the Nakaya with Iroshizuku Kon Peki. N

Hello all, I have a Conway Stewart Duro 2 from the revival era (1990s–2000s) in the deep crimson mottled acrylic with sterling silver trim and an 18ct gold Fine nib. It’s a beautiful pen and a fine writer, but it has developed a frustrating structural problem: the plastic threading collar that allows the cap to screw onto the body has cracked and failed after roughly two decades of use, so the cap can no longer be secured. I suspect I am not the only person to have encountered this — it seems like an inherent weakness in the design of these revival-era pens. My questions for the community: 1. Has anyone else experienced this specific failure on a Conway Stewart Duro 2? 2. Is there a known repair approach — fabricating a replacement collar, re-threading, PTFE tape workaround, or anything else? 3. Can anyone recommend a repairer (US-based preferred, but open to UK specialists) with experience on Conway Stewart revival pens specifically? I’m based in the Washington DC / Maryland area and am aware of a couple of local options, but would welcome any leads on someone with Conway Stewart experience in particular. Photos attached. Any guidance gratefully received. Thank you.

S.T. Dupont Fidelio

Maybe someone can tell me what Waterman I own. Specifically this rollerball, which I just bought. I can't find a match online; it resembles a Graduate or an Allure, but neither is quite right. Perhaps it is one of those two, but the design has changed since this pen was made. It was listed as NOS, and I don't know how old it may be.

What you say is quite true @arellano81366. But, what is going on is even worse because eBay is not just tolerant of this fraud, they are complicit. Negative feedback either does not get posted or is removed within a matter of days. Reports of such fakes are ignored, as well. At this point in time, more of the Montblancs listed on the USA site are fake than they are genuine. Another thing which is rampant is fraudulent sellers hijack good sellers eBay names and sell with notices in the sales post for buyers to not place bids but to send a text or email directly to them instead. Funny how eBay shuts down anyone who does anything their AI "thinks" might be providing contact information yet, somehow, allows this other fraudulent practice to happen with regularity. IMO, eBay is a cesspool which needs to get shut down.

I just ordered an S T Dupont diamond guilloche rollerball from Cult pens as part of their 21st birthday sale. I already own a S T Dupont D-line fountain pen, and I'm hoping the rollerball is as finely balanced as the fountain pen. I'm hoping it will because travel pen as I've had far too many ink explosions when travelling. A dependable rollerball might be a better tool for the job.

Thank you @USG for the time you took answering my questions about your Boucheron. I now have a very clear idea of what the pen's like to handle! It is a very impressive pen. A tempting pen. Very tempting. But I'm trying desperately to become a better master of pen cravings and purchases . . . It's been a while since I last posted which pens I've used, so long that I've completely lost track on them all. So I will start again, the pens I've used so far today have been the Montblanc Origin Classique, F, inked with Herbin Ambre de Birmanie, and a clear Jinhao Dadao, EF, inked with Lamy Crystal Obsidian. I might also later reach for my TWSBI Obsidian, EF, re-inked with Montblanc Winter Glow (the two work together well, and I've decided it might be an idea to start emptying the bottle, it's an old ink that I'd hate to see go off ).

Making it fall

Excellent tip! I thought I had a tube out with no fuss, but the last 1/16" decided it didn't want to join the rest of the tube. Happened to have a damaged plunger rod, which made quick work of removing it!

It could be a Parker duofold with a Conway Stewart cap. If you look at the section above the nib with a magnifying glass and bright light you might find a Parker date code.

@inkstainedruth It's just not in rotation right now. If you Google the name it will take you to a page where you can get emailed when they bring it back in stock. I just signed up for emerald fusion.

Hi there, this is the best I could do for a photo of the section opening. It looks like ebonite, I've just rubbed it with a tube of v. fine sandpaper (2000 grit) and the residue was yellowish brown, what do you think? I really don't have any resources other than the internet for the correct feed dimensions, what is your opinion please? Most sellers in the US use inches BTW (😒). You are right about the nib, and it seems to be a real Canadian oddity, a Vac nib marked 1st Quarter '57 (the top right). Given that that pen is Canadian, I'd like to use a Canadian nib. As you can see I have one from '42, the two-tone ones might be more correct, but given that the pen is a bit of a wreck (badly brassed and personalized) I feel I want to keep those for a more ''deserving'' project. The pen, if I can ever get it functional will be for sale in October at the Toronto Pen Show (Scriptus). Most of my stock is user grade, so I don't have to pander to buyers wanting to buy $300+ pens. A working 93 year old pen will please someone with a normal budget. Thanks for your help.

You don´t seem to know it yet, but this is a very usual thing to happen. 😄 Welcome to our little world of pen-crazy people. Enjoy!