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Hello, all! Hook-handed lefty here. Always liked wet-ink for art but always had a love-hate relationship with wet-ink for writing. I can write with perfect Palmer-style when I go completely upside-down, but for day-to-day writing, I tend to use Cross ballpoints (which I absolutely love). I've recently discovered the joys of hooded nibs for lefty hook-writers, though. I've totally fallen for the Wing Sung 601 (my other daily writer) and the Diplomat Viper, but if I'm honest, I've got a lot of other buy-to-try fountain pens that I could stand to sell off at this point. Looking forward to reading up on the forum.

I received the pen and, while the slit looks fine, there is some waviness on the back of the nib, as you point out. I think that waviness is on the surface and it doesn't *look* like the nib was ever bent - it writes wonderfully but who knows? Here in Thailand, near 24k gold is used for most jewelry (it is used by many people here as a savings vehicle), my wedding ring being an example. I discovered that high karat alloy is soft and impractical as a daily wear ring. So, assuming softness for this 23k nib, I speculate that the nib didn't suffer a traumatic event. I expected that I would put a brown ink in it but, for unknown reasons, it was making me feel a medium blue would suit it well, so I inked it with kyo no oto aonibi. It is a wonderful pen - built as well as any pen I've handled (and I've got some pretty nice ones), feels wonderful in the hand, even when holding it capped, and has a really handsome, masculine look. The snap cap mechanism has the spring-loaded 'fingers' on the metal band of the barrel, similar to the Pilot Myu, and, even with age, it snaps firmly & satisfyingly and the cap holds tight to the barrel. The feed consistently delivers ink, even with the lightest hand, the nib has the characteristic Sailor feedback, which suits me perfectly, and, even with the medium nib I can get a pretty crisp line from it. Definitely a top shelf pen for me!

For me, the paper came first, then came the marriage of a good pen and good paper. Yes, I make boring notes complete with T-Charts and notes so that I can script an SQL magic to fix the problem. Even when I was programming in different languages, I would write out my logic on paper before coding. This here is a Tomoe River 52 gsm but have recently discovered Midori. Currently working from home and this is the home pen stash [will be bringing several back to the office after the break] But this is the current paper collection started when my daughter researched what was the best paper for fountain pens and got me my first Tomoe River 52 gsm notebook. Now through both gifts from her and some from me [one from my wife], I have added Midori, Peter Pauper, Paperage and of course, more Tomoe River in both 52 and 68 gsm. As a kid, I use to collect paper and I guess as an old person [in my kid's eyes], I have added to that collection. Almost to the point where I perhaps need to join some kind of PA [Paper Anonymous] support group where they tell me that I really don't need another notebook with fine paper. She has also ordered me a new case for all of my pens but mine will say "Jeff's Pens". Looking forward to getting it in.

Someone suggested this thread and I've been thinking it would be a fun one, so here it is! As the title suggests, What pen did you finish using and clean out today, either to store or to refill with another ink? For me it was my, New to me, Pelikan vintage 400 green stripe with a fine flexy nib. It came with a pretty green ink already in it and I decided to clean it out and grease the piston and refill it with my green ink. Montblanc White Forrest Pine scented ink. Beautiful green. So what did you clean out today?

Hi... I have been using several of my beautiful Yard O Led pens for a while now and have a few of the "pocket" ones in different styles. I also use a "standard" that I have a converter in and have been using the Octopus Neon Pink ink in it as I simply love the colour after searching high and low for a pink to my liking. The pen wrote beautifully for a long while, but I have not used it in months. I have come to use it again a few days ago and it would appear all the ink had dried up inside it, so I have left it soaking in hot water and managed to clear it yesterday. The pen started writing lovely again, but this morning, I have come to use it and the same thing has happened. I am now having to mess with the converter pushing ink through. It is then flowing through quite fast, then going really thin to non existent after a fairly decent paragraph. I have ordered some Diamine nib cleaning fluid to see if that will help as when I am trying to "flush" the pen through using a spring converter (if thats what they are called?) there doesnt seem to be a free flow with just water like i would expect. There is a lot of resistance in flushing. I have also put the ink in a very cheap pen to test it and the same has happened to that. The ink bottle itself has a lot of hard "bits" around the lid area, so I am wondering if that could be the issue inside the pens also? I have "googled" the ink and seen on Reddit that others have had issues with the ink drying in such a short space of time in their pens too... but that is the only other mention I can find.. Are there others on here that know of any issues? It looks like I will have to ditch the ink for my fountain pens and look for some other pen to use it with.. maybe a dip pen? I have ordered the Diamine Hope Pink ink with the cleaner so will wait for those to arrive and hope I havnt damaged my Yard O Led with the ink... Any thoughts or help much appreciated.

I am sure that there was a mention some years ago by a knowledgeable and likeable pen restorer that they had used a Jeep valve cap in place of a Wearever blind, might be wrong. eta Extract from the PenHero site https://www.penhero.com/PenGallery/Wearever/WeareverPacemaker.htm Wearever made no attempt to duplicate Parker's Vacumatic fill system, opting instead to copy the over 30 year old button-filling system. No patent infringement case here! Nor did Wearever attempt to produce a matching or even flush fitting end-cap as Parker did. Instead, in the interest of making the pen cheap, the cap is reputed to be the same as that used on car tire valve stems. One theory is that Wearever also made valve caps for Jeeps during the war and this was a logical choice. In the interest of scientifically proving out the theory, I took this cap and swapped it with the one from my truck. They are the same! The rumor may be true.

Just had the opportunity to see,and do a quick try and sample of the new MB Meisterstuck Olympic Heritage inks, here is how they show up (on midori paper). The pen is the Meisterstuck Olympic Heritage Paris 1924-2024 (146 model)

This is in continuation to my efforts to show some vintage Indian unseen/unknown/forgotten brands. I have already listed the first few pens a few days back here Today I have selected a Cartridge Pen, called Ricoh Catrofill. I do not know much about this brand too. Its evident that this pen was available in mid 90's and there is no much record of this brand. The Ricoh pens seems to be marketed by Thakkar Pen Mart of Mumbai...since the box says Bombay, I feel this box could be of 1995 or prior. An old Ricoh box The 1995 box The Label in the 1995 box...note the address Bomaby The pen- catrofill- A cartridge Pen! The Branding on cap The Nib branded Catrofill The Pen dismantled- Note the space provision in section for holding the cartridge.. I hope you enjoyed the post as much as I liked the pen...Thanks for looking

Hi, I just came across this model, and I'd like to know of anything particular to look out for (design flaws, maintenance issues) when hunting for one and if possible what kind of pricing for a good (no scratches, no damage repaired) unrestored specimen. I tried to search here for info specific to the 100, but the search results came back with a lot of unrelated item, most likely because of the rather generic "100" name. Thanks in advance.

I've been collecting Levenger True Writer (TW) pens, mostly FPs, since 1999, when they first were introduced. I've got 84 of them (some duplicates), comprising about 2/3 of what's been issued; the ones I didn't get either I didn't want or I missed their availability. I'd like to post photos of the collection. In this new Topic, I don't see the ability to post photos, as the "Post Options" on the right of this typing box (when typing) doesn't show the box for "Enable HTML," for some reason. I'm hoping that after this initial post, that box will appear so I can post photos. Even using the Upload option near the top of the screen, I can upload and copy to this box, but without "Enable HTML," the photos won't show up. Any help here would be appreciated. On the Levenger site, under "True Writer" you can find the history of the pen and photos of the various colors/materials in which the pen can be found, along with the month-and-year when each was issued. I like the TW as a vintage Esterbrook-inspired pen (though a bit thicker), and I like that over time, so many different colors and materials for the pen have been issued. The TW FP comes with a Stainless Steel (SS) nib. Depending on the issue, the nib either is one-tone SS or two-tone SS with some GP. Sometimes the difference between models merely is that the same color scheme has, in the one case, all SS trim and, in the other, GP trim. The FPs write smoothly with their standard SS nibs (I prefer at least a Medium nib or wider), but I like replacing them, here-and-there, with same-sized medium 14K gold nibs (made by Schmidt), which provide more springiness to the writing experience. There are also Rollerball (RB) and Ballpoint (BP) models, the BP taking Parker refills. There have been reports on FPN about some cases of cracking or breaking off of the plastic (if that's what many are made of) in various places, particularly on the earlier-made models. I have not experienced that problem myself, but then I don't write with any one of my TWs with any regularity, so I haven't subjected mine to the stresses that others have. With the very first issue -- the green one in 1999 -- the cap band got loose and came off after a few years. However, I used a small amount of super-glue to put it back on, and it looks as good as new, so to speak. My impression from watching Ebay offerings of the TWs is that they have not increased much in market value, at least the more common (albeit retired) ones that I've seen placed for sale. I have no idea whether, for example, the very first 1999 TW, in green, would sell for a premium. I don't sell pens at this point, but only collect, so I won't be testing that question myself. Some on FPN have wondered about the identity of the manufacturer of these pens. I have no idea. They use German-made nibs, but that doesn't help at all with identifying the manufacturer of the pens. Well, let's hope that after this post, I will be able to post photos.

Thank you, that’s great information! I’ll post something here if I learn more. I guess just by being a lever fill it’s probably from the late 40s, at the latest.

Hi everyone, I’ve been in the fountain pen hobby for over 5 years and enjoy looking at things through the lens of data. About a year ago I shared an analysis looking at how to think about companies based solely on the products the offer. As a follow up I’m running a brief, anonymous survey (~10 minutes) on writing comfort and preferences. The goal is to explore how hand/writing size, grip, and personal preferences affect comfort when writing. If you’d like to participate, the survey link is here: https://apate.shinyapps.io/writing-comfort-survey/?source=fpn This is for educational purposes only and once the survey and analysis are complete, I’ll share the results back with the community. Thanks so much to anyone who takes part, I hope it’s interesting and useful for fellow enthusiasts!

Today I went to an antiques show south of Pittsburgh and ended up buying two pens from one of the vendors: a cute little Peter Pan ringtop with 3D flowers in different colors around the top and edge of the cap; and a Parker 51 that I *think* is has a gold filled barrel and cap. No pix yet (didn't get home until the middle of the afternoon, after waking up extremely early -- about a quarter to 5 in the morning -- and having to stop on my way home to get some lunch in me), and also running to a store on the way home to get a cellphone holder to use in one of our cars -- there's no good place to lean phones up against when driving, and PA has a "hands free when behind the wheel" law, and for some stupee reason the voiceover on WAZE no longer works on my phone 😡). Apparently the woman's late husband was a pen guy, and she's slowly selling off his collection -- and at the prices she was asking ($10 US for the Peter Pan and $30 for the 51) I'm NOT gonna argue or try to barter.... Ironically, the first vendor when I got there -- while not having any pens to sell -- apparently recognized me from some prior year and told me that she does cleaning for some local-ish horror writer (she told me the author's name but I don't remember it now -- the better part of 8 hours later) who ALSO is apparently a pen person. So I told her to tell the woman she works for about the local pen club around here. Sadly, the most recent meeting was Thursday evening, and so I didn't have anything new to show off; but I think the March meeting is the week AFTER Baltimore/Washington. And I now have two more pens to see about getting repaired (although, of course, the 51 might just need to be flushed out -- the sac in the filler seems to be in good shape when I pressed on the bar) Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

This photo inspired me; here's a hasty "four of a kind" : ♠ ♥ ♣ ♦ *stock EF on the upper right

@MatthewMartinMakes Greetings from Pittsburgh! I usually suggest that new folks here click on the "New Content" button to get a good overview of a range of topics (you can adjust how much/often it refreshes). But in your case I'm ALSO going to suggest something more specific.... Sounds as if you would be looking for the sub-forum called "Pen Turning and Making". There's a button towards the top left of the log-in page called "Browse" and when you click on that it will take you to a sort of index page and then scroll down about 2/3 of that page to the "Creative Expressions" category and then click on the link (it's the first thread in that section). Have fun here, and don't be afraid to ask questions (the amount of knowledge to be found here (and not JUST pen and ink related) is astounding and I've found that the kindness and generosity of the people here in the sharing of that knowledge quite humbling. Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

I'm trying to date a BCHR Conklin crescent filler marked NL34S. Here's what I see: (1) The crescent has an imprint on one side only, (2) the barrel has a 3-line imprint saying "Conklin's", not "Conklin", (3) the cap displays a hand showing the direction to unscrew, (4) the threads seem to stand proud of the section. The cap seems to be missing a clip, but I see a pattern of four holes on the cap where something may once have been mounted, but is now lost. The nib is a replacement Parker Lucky Curve nib. Here is a link to images. What is the likely date for the pen? https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Dz6rp52kiGRkDdYoO6x_7PTESOkOGRV0?usp=sharing

I've been browsing the excellent Parker Duofold book by David Shepherd and Dan Zazove again, and I was interested to read that their research yielded no information beyond the time two or three years after the founding of the Duofold Pen related to what ever became of the pen's inventor, Lewis M. Tebbel. This led me to use the resources I have to see what I could discover. Here's what I learned (bullet points): 1. Lewis Tebbel was a regional sales manager for Parker in the 19-teens to twenties based in Spokane, WA. 2. As Shepherd / Zazove tell the story, Tebbel, who was in a sales slump, came up with the idea of creating a man-sized business pen with a two-tone (red and black) finish that featured a hard, large, manifold nib. He talked some production managers in Janesville into making him some "Duofold" pens in 1921 that he could show to others / try to sell in his region. 3. Because the pen met with almost immediate success, Parker pretty quickly adopted the Duofold as a marketable model. 4. It took some time, but George Parker even credited Tebbel in his "Parkergram" in-house newsletters. 5. Shepherd and Zazove include a picture of the Parker sales force in front of one of the Janesville buildings, and point out Lewis Tebbel. They then state that no one knows what became of him. 6. Tebbel was born "Luther Tebbel" Aug. 28, 1872 to James E. and Charlotta Tebbel in Midland, MI 7. In 1900, Lewis Tebbel was a boarder and jeweler, living in Grafton, ND. He was also a clerk in 1903 at Granrud & Vold in Grand Forks, ND. 8. Lewis Tebbel and Inez Estelle Schwarz were married June 27, 1906 in Shelby County, Illinois. 9. Lewis and Inez moved to Spokane, WA in 1906 or 1907, and he worked as a traveling salesman. Uncertain when he started representing Parker pens. 10. Lewis and Inez lived in several different places in Spokane between 1907 and 1940, starting with 814 Boone Avenue (no longer standing); 120 S. Cannon (ca. 1911); 634 E. 23rd Avenue; The Parsons Hotel (at the time of the Duofold invention); 1905 W. 2nd Ave.; 111 S. Madison; and 1118 W. 21st Avenue. 11. The couple had no children 12. Lewis Tebbel (according to his WWI draft registration -- 1918) was missing (3) fingers. 13. Through 1935, I believe Tebbel continued as a sales rep for Parker, because the City Directory listing for him is: "Pens & Rubber Sundries" 14. Around 1936 or 1937, Tebbel started his own business, "L. M. Tebbel Co." selling "Druggist's Sundries" 15. Inez Tebbel died in June, 1940. 16. Lewis M. Tebbel died of heart failure in the Finlen Hotel while on a business trip to Butte, Montana, Sep. 18, 1940. 17. Lewis and Inez Tebbel are buried in Riverside Memorial Park in Spokane.

Although I’ve been a user and fan of Waterman’s inks for years, I’ve never owned a Waterman pen. Not wanting to start at the top of the range, nor get into a vintage pen that would require special handling, I elected for a more recent MIF model. Here she is, an early 2000s Charleston in Black Resin with Palladium trim and an 18k M nib. Once it’s cleaned and inked, I’ll put up a review.

Ok boys and girls, here's your chance to get a Writers Addition at a great price: Montblanc Writers Edition Victor Hugo | Limited Edition Fountain Pen | eBay Heck, buy six or seven of 'em. So, has Montblanc moved to India??

Greetings from Pittsburgh, PA! My uncle and aunt lived for a number of years outside of Anchorage, but I've never been up there, although I do remember one time when I was growing up where my uncle called my parents on Christmas Day and said that it was WARMER up there than it was where we lived -- 50 miles north of NYC -- and up there they were worried about the permafrost melting! I generally suggest that new folks here click on the "New Content" button when they log in (you can adjust how much/often it refreshes). And to look at the pinned Index to the Ink Reviews (even though some old images were lost, many in the "Great Photobucket Hijack" a few years ago) because I'm convinced we live in the "Golden Age" of ink, with new companies popping up all over the globe and with all sorts of colors and formulae (iron gall inks, inks that sheen, inks with glitter in them, etc.) in all sorts of colors (my husband tells people that the pens were just the "gateway" to the ink collection). But I also warn them that they've found their way into a den of enablers, who will happily help them spend their discretionary funds on pens, inks, paper, desk accessories, repair tools, pen shows, and ephemera.... Have fun here and remember that the only dumb questions are the ones which don't get asked (the search function is a little flaky at times). I'm constantly amazed at the depth and breadth of knowledge to be found here -- and not just pen-related at that! And humbled by the generosity of the people on here in the sharing of that knowledge. Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: Jin Chen Lamp Night This is review #376 in my series. Here's the YouTube video: Post-recording notes: This ink from China was gifted to me by a generous FPNer. My apologies for not including the Chinese name of this ink-my database language doesn't support double-byte characters, nor do I know how to write them properly. Please see my inks spreadsheet which now has a tab with both the Chinese and English ink names. This is a chroma-shading ink. Since this attribute can be less stable over time, I'm reviewing all of them out of sequence. This color is absolutely gorgeous on my swatch and the slide-a greyed blue the color of storm clouds over the mountains when we're only getting lightning and thunder, no rain. It has just a tiny hint of green. My card shows pink in heavier areas. The CRENA Swatch Card paper shows the blue-grey, green, and pink. I haven't put it in the pen yet, and I'm already saying to go get this if you can! Collection Traced Wushan was the only ink I have remotely similar. This is a little more green-leaning than Wushan. Sadly, the video doesn't pick up the pale blue-grey color, but shows only grey. Please use the still images (or look at the swatch - it's not too far off in the video, maybe a smidge too green). After seeing the line width, I'm questioning my flow analysis - maybe it's wetter than I thought! Cleaning was ridiculously quick and easy. If you want to clean your pen in half a flush, get some of these pale chromashaders. Zoomed in photo (Fairly close. The darks are a little too dark, making shading a little too strong.) Screenshot (Much too dark and desaturated) Scan of Completed Review (Very close to what I see.) Absorbent Paper Close-up (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper) (The absorbent paper isn't too far off, though it doesn't really show the green edges I see in some places. The copy paper is very wrong - camera wanted to make it all grey and too dark. Corrected, but still not right.) Line width (Roughly 325µm. The "I" in "Ink:". Magnification is 100x. The grid is 100x100µm. The scale is 330µm, with eleven divisions of 30µm each. With 376 inks measured, the average line width is 299µm.) Swatch card comparison (Color is very close to what I see.) Microscope image (400x. A little cluster of something found on day 1 (left) and either different or changed found on day 7 (right). The color on the right is more accurate. Most of the slide was dullsville.) Alternate Papers (Clarirefontaine should be a little darker and bluer. Life should be less minty. Iroful should be more grey. Iroful shows pink in the darkest area.) Previous Review: Private Reserve Velvet Black. Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap. Want to influence the inky sequence? Take the "next ink" poll. View a list of my inks, complete with review results in a google sheet. Need to catch up on The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh? Find the whole story here. Or read Part 8: The Ice Fields Adventure. Hope you enjoy. Comments appreciated!

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: Private Reserve Velvet Black This is review #375 in my series. Here's the YouTube video: Post-recording notes: This ink was gifted to me by a generous FPGeek. In the vial and on the microscope slide it's a very dark purple. I can see the purple undertone in the swatch, but it's cooler there than in the vial/slide. None of my blacks were purple enough, and none of my purples were black enough to compare, so I chose comparisons to show you what it's not: Ohto Black is a redder purple. De Atramentis Document Black shows what blackety black black looks like. The ink is black, the photos and scans look black, nothing more to say. I rated sheen as "Medium" even though it's pretty much everywhere because you can only see it if you look for it by angling the page to the light. Otherwise, the black ink prevents the sheen from showing. Dry time was faster in test. Clearly it varies by how saturated the feed is. Cleaning was surprisingly quick and easy with plain water. An extra flush was needed just due to concentration, but you would have expected a purple-based black to cling or stain. Instead, it easily rinsed right out. Zoomed in photo Screenshot Scan of Completed Review Absorbent Paper Close-up (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper) (The copy paper looks solid black to my eyes, not blotchiness, no shading.) Line width (Roughly 264µm. The "I" in "Ink:". Magnification is 100x. The grid is 100x100µm. The scale is 330µm, with eleven divisions of 30µm each. With 375 inks measured, the average line width is 299µm.) (Holy narrow line width, Batman! (Is in the bottom 8%!)) Swatch card comparison (DAD Black isn't quite such a black hole. Velvet Black's pale areas should be a blue-leaning purple. Ohto Black is over saturated and should be a redder shade of purple.) Microscope image (Montage of microscope images. See links for higher resolution versions. Not sure what's going on with this ink. At first, I thought paper fibers from either emptying the pen or refilling with fibers between the tines, but there are too many of these little fibrous clusters. Is strange.) Links to large microscope images: Link to Microscope image 1 (400x) Link to Microscope image 2 (400x) Link to Microscope image 3 (100x) Link to Microscope image 3a (400x) Link to Microscope image 4 (100x) Link to Microscope image 4a (400x) Sheen (Silver sheen (just like Klaw) and some other inks. Colors are mostly accurate.) Void Comparison (The void laughs at how black this ink isn't. Shows off the slightly purple tone of the ink pretty well.) Previous Review: Collection Traced Xing. Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap. Want to influence the inky sequence? Take the "next ink" poll. View a list of my inks, complete with review results in a google sheet. Need to catch up on The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh? Find the whole story here. Or read Part 8: The Ice Fields Adventure. Hope you enjoy. Comments appreciated!

For context: and: It is quite difficult to show or illustrate with the facilities and equipment I have here, and having to scale digital images down to no larger than 1200 pixels in any dimension on FPN (because while larger images are technically acceptable in the FPN Image Gallery, the display behaviour for such is less straightforward) doesn't help at all; but I'll try. Neither my primary scanner nor my phone camera will pick up the true extent or vividness of the pink/violet shading from the inks that I can see; and if the sensors do not pick it up during initial capture, then no amount of colour correction can ‘fix’ it afterwards. I can see multi-chromatic shading even in the writing done with an EF nib (in the top right corner of each section particular to an ink on the page), but I'd expect readers to/could barely see the writing in the downsized images, let alone the shading, and never mind the loss of colour fidelity. So, let's try it with photos shot through a loupe. Keep in mind that, even though the pink and violet shading is more vivid in those photos, they are still less so than ‘in real life’, where I have the luxury of dynamically changing the relationship between the paper surface and the light source to better see the shading I'm actively looking for on the page. … I'd say Jin Chen Lamp Night is a standout among Chinese chromatographic shading inks in how it renders in large swatches. When it comes to multi-hued shading rendering in writing, the Sailor Manyo ‘dual shading’ inks still more readily fill the interior of pen strokes with the pink and violet shading that comes from heavy application, and create a ‘halo’ effect driving the greens and blues to the edges to form outlines; and the absolute line widths do not even have to be that wide for the phenomena to be perceivable (with unaided eyes, but it is of course more obvious with magnifying visual aids); even 0.4–0.5mm is sufficient, and I've known European EF nibs that write as broadly or more so than that out-of-the-box. How wet the ink trace is would be partly a function of the way/performance how the feed draws ink from the reservoir in a particular pen, and also the speed at which the nib moves laterally across the paper surface without breaking physical contact. I won't and can't argue with @yazeh about subjective perception. My own eyesight is deteriorating from month to month, perhaps week to week, as it is. But, the way I see it (no pun intended), reviewing and/or sharing online digital representations of inks rendering on physical artefacts is not primarily or necessarily about showing fellow consumers/users what they will (perceivably) ‘get’ in outcomes if they spend money and/or effort to buy/acquire an ink, but to demonstrate what is (humanly) possible because of the inherent nature of the product — assumed to be homogenous from bottle to bottle or SKU to SKU — and it's then up to the individual to succeed or fail, on account of their capability, technique, eyesight, choice of paper, etc., in achieving those specific areas of the product's potential they saw demonstrated by a fellow user and liked/wanted.

Here is the thread where we learned. Page 6 of the entries.

i do have a loupe but TBH i find one of these more convenient (most of the time): they can be had for a decent price, 30-50USD depending on features. i find it very useful and never regretted the purchase. with that and a box of blue medical gloves -- or finger-cots if you prefer the minimal approach -- you're set for basic work. (5USD) look into some mylar polishing pads or sheets -- i have 2000-12,000 grit but mosty use 2000, 4000, 6000, and 8000 -- if you want to tackle problems like baby's bottom and/or simple nib grinding. (5-15USD) i'd recommend a pair of soft jaw pliers to help with stubborn friction-fit nibs. (5-10USD) also a feeler gauge -- or assorted brass shim strips -- for "flossing" your nibs. (less than 5USD; 2, 3, 4 thou is all you really need here) if you're into Chinese pens it's also worth getting the nib and piston wrenches from the various brands. (roughly 5-20USD depending on how many you get for free with various pens). you can be all set to get yourself into plenty of trouble for less than 100USD. if you want to get serious and really mess things up a rotary tool -- like a Dremel -- will be just the thing. heat build-up is your enemy here so always proceed very slowly and cautiously with fine grit bits and plenty of water on hand for cooling. or rig up a little water flow -- like from a fish tank pump or similar -- to have running water near or even on your work. if this is what you want to get into be sure to buy a fistful of cheapo nibs to practice on: my recommendation here is Kaigelu loose nibs as they are generally good nibs and you can get them for roughly 1USD each if you buy them in batches on sales (which always seem to be available on AliX). with all that it's just up to you and your trial and error skills. you WILL wreck some nibs so do take heed of the "cheapo nibs" advice. i'd say never touch a nib that you can't live without but most people never listen to that -- I know I didn't -- and prefer to learn the hard way. do have spares -- or substitutes -- on hand to avoid the depressing fact of ending the day with a ruined nib and a pen out of commission until you get a replacement nib. that takes all the fun out of it. and last but not least i find it useful to remember that all nibs are not created equally. what worked on one nib yesterday may mean little or nothing with some other nib today. sad but true i'm afraid. ymmv.