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I've managed to accumulate a small selection of old pens - mostly ringtops - with semiflex to superflex nibs, and there are small and almost indescribable differences in the quality of the lines they make. I have Watermans, Moores, Wahl-Eversharps and a couple of Mabie Todd Swans, and the most beautiful line is produced by a little gold-clad Swan. There's some combination of metallurgy and craft (perhaps witchcraft) that makes some pens more "artistic" than others. What's your experience? What nib, in your humble, is the most Artistic?

Having been been on this board a fair bit, I've often seen the conventional advice against carrying pens in pants pockets. There are many fears: the stress at the leg, the pen sliding out, the potential crotch-staining, scratches, etc. But I don't prefer clipping it at my shirt pocket, because the pen sticks out and is more visible there. Also, sometimes there are no shirt pockets. So I've been carrying my fountain pens in my pants pocket, always with the pen inside a single-pen leather sleeve. Maybe it's because I don't wear skinny jeans or perhaps I mostly wear flat-front pants with pockets cut like jeans, or maybe because the sleeve provides protection from scratches from other objects, my pens haven't fared too badly at all. Haven't had a single issue, knock on wood. I generally put them in first thing before other objects like my card wallet or handkerchief, and deeper in my pocket, hugging the inside part of my thigh. That also helps the pen from sliding out, I feel. And I carry vintage pens--Parker 51s, Sheaffer Balance 3-digits, 1970s Montblancs--in my pants pockets as often as I do my new pens. Who else is also in the pants pockets camp? How do you carry yours? Are there things you do to keep your pens safe and secure there?

Introduction and History. When it comes to handmade pens, there is always a "human vibe" attached to them that i cherish. There is so much history behind each pen you purchase. History; Because anything handmade requires art, requires skills and an eye for detail to be consistent in each product that is put out in the market. And those qualities do not come overnight. It requires years of experience. The companies that manufacture hand-crafted items are usually small-scale and the people who are involved in running such companies have to go through many ups and downs contantly to keep the company functioning. The struggle to survive in a world of speed and mass production is ever lasting for these small scale manufacturers. So, when you buy a pen or any hand-made product for that matter, not only do you support these small companies, but also, you give an ode to the skills and craftsmanship (which are usually passed down through generations in a family) of the makers of such products. The Gama "Forever" pen is one such product. Here is the description of the Gama brand I took from the ASApens website.http://asapens.in/eshop/fountain-pen/gama-ebonite-pens "Gama is the inhouse brand of Gem & Co, pen specialists since 1920's. Gem & Co is part and parcel of pen manufacturing heritage of Chennai, India. Started by Mr. M.C. Cunnan and Mr.Venkatrangam, the present owner Mr.Pratap Kumar is the 3rd generation in the family business house. Five decades, back they were sole importers of pen spares from Great Britain. Independent India saw the birth of brand Gama, Over years Gem & Co has remained true to their core business, i.e. Pen Specialists." Pen Review. I purchased the pen about a week ago from http://asapens.in/eshop and recieved it this morning. I usually buy my fountain pens from them. And no, they do not give me any commission or additional service to say that. It's just that the customer service of Mr. Subaramaniam (The owner of the e-shop) is impeccable. Usually the whole process of purchase is smooth, but if there is any problem, you can be sure that he will take care of it. Now, if you are still here and reading, and not bored to a yawn, let's start the pen review! The Gama "Forever" Fountain Pen. The review is divided into following sections. 1.) The packaging / presentation 2.) The material and finish. 3.) The Nib and the Section. 4.) The Filling Mechanism. 5.) Measurements and size comparision. 6.) Writing Sample 7.) CONCLUSION Note: This is a full ebonite bodied, medium sized hand-made fountain pen with a classic square design profile. I chose the "Shiny Black" finish, but it comes in 3 other finishes at the time of this review.(As listed on the ASApens site.) 1. Green-Black mottled. 2.Light brown-black mottled 3.Dark Blue-Black Rippled. The packaging / presentation: Apart from the usual Mail packing, the pen comes in a branded velvety pen pouch which i liked. It is a relatively thin pouch but the pen was in a plastic sleeve which was bubble wrapped and the whole pouch itself was bubble wrapped too. As for the usual daily carry or storage, i think the pouch can provide a decent amount of protection from scratches from normal rubbing against other items in a bag or a drawer. However, it may not stand against sharp or pointy objects. Overall i like this minimalistic yet elegant presentation. The material and finish. As i said, the whole pen is made of hard rubber/ebonite (except the metal fittings of course. Says captain obvious) and hand-made. The ebonite on this pen really feels and appears decent in quality and is quite thick. The polish however, I think could have been a little better. It is "shiny" no doubt, and maybe i am being nit picky, but a little more bling could not hurt anyone. I really like ebonite as a pen material because it is a semi-natural material unlike acrylic or "precious resin" (which is still plastic). It feels smooth and warm to touch. It is something you really have to touch to know how exactly it feels like. It is smooth yet offers a very nice grip. It kind of "absorbs" oil/sweat off of the fingers during long writing sessions. As for the finish, I will start with the cap of the pen because it has all the accents and fittings really. The barrel is all ebonite. I will come to that later. As for the cap the finishing is quite nice overall. However, as you will observe, the finial, clip ring and the actual cap body are not flush. Although the difference is really visible only on close observation, it is still there. On the other hand, the two metal bands on the lower part of the cap are nicely set in and even. Which I really like. Gives a classic and vintage aura to the pen. The finial can be unscrewed and clip can be removed easily for those who might like that kind of configuration. The Barrel in this particular finish is turned from a single piece of black ebonite. However, the other finishes of the same model have "dual-tone" setting. Which means, they have the finial and the end cap made of black ebonite, and the cap and pen body are of whichever available finish that you choose. The Brand logo is embossed in the barrel as you can see. If you were to observe closely, you will find that the logo is not eactly centred. On uncapping the pen (which takes quite some number of turns to be honest!) you find a very symmetrical design which is pleasing to the eye. The N.o. 10 sized nib balances the bulky pen body quite nicely. The Nib and the Section. The nib on this pen came as a pleasant surprise. I did expect it to be smooth, but for a fine nib it is really very smooth and the flow is excellent. Wet and generous. Just perfect. Though some may prefer a bit drier flow, personally i love the wet flow. I can say they chose their nib well. It is an IPG nib. And, unlike what many people say, they are really not that bad. In my experience, i found IPG nibs to be good writers more often than not. Design-wise, one can find minimal scroll design on the nib. There is a circle in the centre which is devoid of any design or markings, which i think should have contained the nib grade. The section The section is elegantly tapered and decently big. It provides a nice and comfortable grip. Although, those with smaller hands may find it too big for long writing sessions. The threads are not sharp. However, the there is a slight step where the threads ends on the section. So, people with higher grip might find it a little in the way during long periods of writing. But it is not a deal breaker. The Filling Mechanism. The pen is an eyedropper filler. Personally, i really like this method of filling as it is very very easy to clean, there are no mechanical parts that if damaged, may render the pen unusable and in need of immediate service because the pen body itself acts as the reservoir of ink. And also, it has a very significant amount of ink capacity (2.5 to 2.7 ml as measured by me.) As for the common eyedropper problems that people talk about, like burping and leakage, those issues are not that frequent even when the ink is low in the barrel and i feel it is just over hyped. Measurements and size comparision. (approx.) 1.) Capped length: 140mm 2.) Uncapped: 130-132 mm 3.) Posted : 170 mm (thats huge!) 4.) Section diameter: 14 mm tapers to 12mm 5.) Barrel diameter at the widest: 15mm Here is the size comparision: The Jinhao X450 (left) Gama Forever (middle) Sheaffer 100 (right). Uncapped comparision. Uncapped it is quite bigger than the other two. Writing Sample: I inked the pen up with Parker Quink Black. Here is how it writes. CONCLUSION: I like this pen a lot. The "flaws" that i pointed out are really small and by no means a deal breaker. This is a solidly built pen made by a company over 80 years old, from ebonite, which is a material whose History stretches over more than 100 years of pen maufacturing period the world over. With the craftsmanship and experience of the pen makers of Gama, a nib that provides a writing experience worthy of this rich fountain pen culture, a simple hassel-free filling mechanism. This pen is a great buy if you like that vintage and classic look. The pen has such simple design features that there is virtually nothing that can go wrong. No complicated filling mechanism, easy to clean, easy to maintain. I think the simplicity of this pen is its strongest point. It is a classic, timeless, understated design with a powerful prescence. When you take this pen out of your pocket, it says "I am not an attention grabber, but my persona does it for me anyway. I am like The Beatles or Kishore Kumar, my era never really ends."

Hello to everyone. I want to share with you all, something where I spent long time researching and writing about all the montblanc pieces, most of them limited editions. Many of the photographies were taken by myself, other ones were ceded by some friends, but hope you can enjoy it. (The website is on spanish im sorry if its an inconvenient for someone) http://www.cruzaltpens.com/historico/ In some days I will have the Montegrappa Historical uploaded too, and im working at now in some other brands. Best regards!

So I saw an auction for a NY Mabie Todd Swan - a gold ringtop, but the photos were so bad you couldn't tell anything about the pen. So what one does in the circumstances is ask the seller about the nib (of course). The answer prompted me to bid on the thing, and it just arrived. What a treasure for fifty bucks! Very heavy for its size so I think it's solid gold. Very handsome chasing, and a wonderfully flexy #2 nib. I bought it with my fingers crossed, and I'm very pleased.

I've accumulated a lot of pens, and some of them need work. I try not to have more than one or two in the shop at any time, but but they're starting to pile up. How do you decide what to send to the shop, and how many do you have waiting?

Dear Ink Brothers, First of all, I really thank all of you for compelling me to write my story and openly declare my nerdy love for FP. I have been a “lurker” so to speak for some time now. Visiting the forums and YouTube for every possible video/review/rants of fellow FP lovers, had become a part of my daily routine. SBREbrown and Matt (Pen habit) are some of the most prominent ones out there and they have their unique style of reviewing each pen. So, don’t be surprised if my thoughts/future reviews are on those lines. I, somehow like the structure and do wish to make it my own. I pay my regards to the senior/prominent members of Indian SubForums and across the media as a whole. Hari sir, Sanyal Soumitra sir, mehandiratta, Subbu sir, BK123 (and others whom I may have missed), I salute your vast knowledge and experience that you bring to the table. Though we’ve never really met in person, your personalities/personas do seem familiar, due to your presence and passion for FP’s. To come to my story, we were allowed to use these pens once we were in 5th Standard. Ball Point pens weren’t allowed. While most students opted for simple and easy to maintain Pilot/Hitec, I wanted to stand out from the crowd. I still remember my trip to the store when shopkeeper showed me so many options. Then something unique caught my eye. The huge glass ink bottle (Chelpark blue black) when compared to those puny often leaky plastic ink bottles got me interested. On further enquiry, the kind shopkeeper showed me one of the cardboard boxes which had an assortment of pens with golden caps and deep dark colored bodies. Enter the fountain pens, the uniqueness of an open gold (colored/imitation) nib along with the aerometric filler had caught my fancy. Overall look and feel of one these (Chinese) pens, had gotten me hooked on to this type of writing instrument. Within a couple of days, I was obsessed. Sure they were messy (partly because I was a kid who loved having ink on my fingers) but they had their own charm. Majority of my free time went in stationery shops and pen stores seeking, admiring and when pocket allowed, purchasing ink pens. I did collect every new model or at least every model that was new to me but being a student meant, there could be only one pen irrespective of the color. The collection grew as I grew up. Some kind relatives got me a few costlier pens as well. A couple of Parkers, a few replicas of the hooded nibs, and an imported dark grey self-filling pen, the model I don’t distinctly remember. Among the known and more affordable range/brands, were Chelpark, Camel, Servex, Montex, Reynolds and Hero (imitation I think) Then came the big moment, my father in spite of not liking the fact that I was spending time on my pens rather than studying, gave me the ultimate pen. A freaking Mont Blanc. It was a wedding gift he got in early eighties came as a set with a roller ball. It was the most treasured pen in my collection. I say was, because all these pens are stored in a box back home (in NCR). Slowly, as the collection grew so did I. Life eventually caught up to me and I went the ball point route. I can almost see you cringing when you read this. Trust me I also feel the same. It was blasphemy to say the least. Fast forward a couple of years and here I am. In a different city far away from home, taking up a new hobby each couple of months. Journaling was the most recent thing I took up. Like all new hobbies, I went into one of the major stationery shops in IT hub of Hyderabad (where I work now) looking for hardbound journals, and then it happened all over again. On one of the shelves, I saw a lonely Camlin Trinity. It almost spoke to me and my childhood love got re-ignited. I bought that along with a few bottles of ink (Bril red, Bril Violet and a parker Quink blue, on a side note, before people enquire, the store only has red and violet bril as new old stock). As soon as I was home, the pen was inked. With the first stroke on the paper, I was in love all over again. Over the next couple of months, I’ve managed to re-build my collection so to say. It’s nothing fancy or not even a fraction of what people own/collect here. Some of them were rather unintended purchases. To list a few on top of my head, I scored:- Inks- Bril (Red, Violet), Parker (Black, Blue), Lamy (Turquoise), Camlin (Royal Blue, Scarlet Red, Black and my custom mixes-a deep oxblood, a purple and almost greying blue black) (Also have a Chelpark blue black and camlin emerald green back home but I am not sure about their condition)Camlins: 3R, 11R, 18R, 21R, 22R, 36R, 47P, Mini, Cute, Trinity, Elegante (Scholar and SD are on route as we speak)Flair: Ink Tanker, Inky Trendz, both converted as eye droppers ( Inky gold, Inky DX, Inky GenX and Inky Executive are on route as well)Parker: Beta, Beta Premium, Metal Vector, Frontier (51 from Ebay but I doubt its authenticity)Jinhao: x450, 599/599A(4 colours ranging from fine to medium nibs)Hero: 221 (the pen that started all this when I was a kid) a few 322 (one in each color, maroon, black and green), 329 and a 616 doctor.Baoer- 507 (eight horses) and a black glossy 801 (love the nib on that one)Other miscellaneous purchases are a few Montex (Handy and study I think), a Reynolds Fludo, a Classmate octane and a few generic printed plastic pens. I know the list doesn’t sound on top of my head but I do love my pens and remember most of them. I also plan to visit Deccan pens over the weekend to get some more inks. On the tangential part of the hobby, I also like mixing inks and tweaking my nibs. I may have destroyed and eventually repaired/restored a few cheap pens in the process. Phew….that was a long one. The future plan of action is to have hand written reviews of most of these when I get time. This is undoubtedly inspired by Sanyal Sir and I give full credit to him for that. I am also planning a trip back home sometime next month to fetch that old box of mine. I am sure Hari sir would be able to help me with identifying the Mont Blanc and that self-filling pen. Hope to be a regular member here. Cheers… --Ink dabber

Next Toronto Pens & Pints is on.... Friday June 5, 2015 Location: The Frog and Firkin http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/drink/smiley-face-making-cocktail.gif Time: 5:30PM on... The Frog: A Firkin Pub is located @ 4854 Yonge Street (& Sheppard) Be sure to bring a pen or bring a friend.

An antiques dealer once told me: "If you have three of something, you're a collector." I happened to recollect this the other day when I realized I had too many pens to simply put in a drawer anymore. And If I buy that Moore ringtop on eBay I will become a Specialty Collector - a truly scary thought. How do you define, and possibly constrain, that acquisitive urge? Number? Kind? Condition? What makes you pull the trigger?

Next Toronto Pens & Pints is on.... Friday MAY 15, 2015 Location: The Frog and Firkin http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/drink/smiley-face-making-cocktail.gif Time: 5:30PM on... The Frog: A Firkin Pub is located @ 4854 Yonge Street (& Sheppard)

Hello dear FPNers!, Today I received my much awaited Oliver F27 Fountain Pen in the post from our trustworthy Mr. Subramaniam of ASApens.in. I had requested the Blue acrylic variant of the pen because i love the colour. It was not listed on the site but dear Mr. subramaniam arranged it for me and shipped it. Now, although our fellow FPN member, Mr Mohit has excellently reviewed the pen; I am reviewing it because mine is a different colour and I just felt like sharing.Okay, so when i opened the package, i just stared at the pen in awe...for a while! And here's why... The acrylic on this pen is Just so "fluid" and with all that shimmer, i just felt like i am holding a frozen part of the sky in my hand! Hence the title. And yes that's geeky CONSTRUCTION is bold and sturdy but on the lighter side which makes writing a pleasure for long durations. And trust me, you would want to keep on writing with this pen! Look at all that acrylic (However, the pictures don't do justice to the beauty of the pen as usual.) The Cap is solid and clicks satisfactorily and securely in place.The Clip has just the right amount of tension to fit properly in a pocket. The finial. The Section has just enough girth for me to hold comfortably. P.S. The black line on the cap in this image is an editing mistake and is not present on the pen itself. The NIB is just.... I like broader nibs and the Schmidt nib unit on this pen is just perfect! It is so smooth and wet! That's Chelpark turquoise on the nib bdw in case you were wondering The pen comes with an option to add a Schmidt converter with your purchase on ASApens.in but i did not buy it because it was a little steep for me. And a standard international converter fitted just well in my pen. The writing sample. (My instagram edit.) Conclusion. I give it a 10/10! Yes, it is that good for the price! The acrylic is surreal, the writing; Superb. It is well balanced in hand, well constructed, the filling system is well, standard but also convenient. I cannot ask for more of the pen. If you are considering buying it, the only deal breaker for some might me the nib width as it is only available in Medium size. But other than that, its a steal! As per Mr. subramaniam, the pen company is going to cease producing the pen and it will not be restocked again. So grab one if you want to!

I gave my boss a Waterman Commando last Christmas, and he likes to sketch with it. Then his mom gave him an MB 149 that belonged to his grandfather. Honestly, I'm happy for him. Really. So today I let him try my Joseph Daluz Ahab, which is crazy-flexible. A totally evil thing to do to a man who really doesn't have time to hang out on ebay.

Trying to free up my life to be able to get to this Will many people from here be attending? Having never been to a show, will I find many modern Japanese pens around (my particular interest)? I see lots of content related to Parkers, Shaeffers etc and pen turners/makers but not a lot about my beloved Nakaya, Pilot and Platinum pens. Regards, Bear

There's a Model 92 on eBay this weekend: Moss Agate from the pictures. I asked the dealer to post a better picture of what looks like a very nice nib. Could be a bargain for someone. It went for $51.00. Not bad for someone.

One of my co-workers gave me a pen holder and an unopened pack of Speedball Artist's nibs. Another excuse to collect stuff. I used to use these things in art school but never since. But we can always give it another try.

I got a deal on a mucked-up Waterman ringtop with a beautiful New York #2 nib. My plan was to send it to my go-to pen guy (Fred Krinke of The Fountain Pen Shop) and have it placed in a pen that worked. I put it in a plastic tube and now it's disappeared! My cat Blotto is a thief. It's somewhere in the house, but of course I've been renovating so everything's in a pile. I am going to have to clean my entire house to find my damn pen. He's got extra toes, so I figure he's trying to figure out how to write checks on the sly. He'll be foiled, of course, because even if he gets the pen out of the tube, the lever is frozen so he can't fill it.

I snapped up an interesting item on ebay: a Remington pen (which Mr. Binder dismisses as a notoriously cheap make - not even repairable) into which someone had inserted a Waterman New York nib - evidence of some early obsession, perhaps. Since the price was about a third of what the nib is worth on a retail site, I crossed my fingers and bought the thing. Since I still haven't found the one my cat stole, I might as well try for another.

My Carter ringtop literally fell to pieces to pieces this morning, leaving me with a very nice nib, feed, section and sac. What would the collected wisdom of this forum suggest? It's about the size of a Waterman #2. Is there someone who can fit it into a new pen?

II think I can say with some assurance that people on this forum dedicate a fair bit of thought to the little bits of metal at the ends of their little bits of plastic. Personally, there's something about the process of making nibs that went away around the 1950s, and subsequent nibs, even if mechanically superior, lost their expressive quality, forcing my to spend untold hours counting down on eBay. I'd like to know how you think about your favorite nib; how does its width, pointiness, flexibility or lack of it, express the personal character of your writing? What is it about your best nib that floats your boat?

I am going on a trip to Germany for my spring break (this Saturday until next Sunday) and I want to get some fountain pen related paraphernalia while I am there. I already plan to be picking up a bottle or two of pelikan blue-black but I don't know what else to get. Are there any lamy nibs only available in Europe, and are there any other nifty inks that aren't available in the US? As a side note, I am on a college student budget and only want to spend about $50 on pen related items. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Chris

I first came to this enabling site about a year or maybe two ago. At that point I had a fair collection of pens to keep me happy and gleefully posted my intro with the pens I currently had inked in rotation. It was lovely to see others with way more pens than me. I felt like my condition wasn't really that bad, but perhaps I was kidding myself. For some time I have had my eye on a fountain pen that I really like, but is just too darned expensive. For some time I have had the courage to admit to myself that I am a fountain penaholic and I have too many (about 90). I've been pondering for some time that perhaps I should really try to thin the herd, sell the ones I don't really use regularly and put the money towards the expensive pen I like. However, every time I sit down to look at my pens I think, 'No. I don't really want to part with that.' I'm starting to feel like one of those people you see on those hoarding shows on TV. I've managed to identify the fountain pens that are not even on the list of 'consider selling', but I'm still finding it hard. I know you're all a bunch of enablers and this possibly isn't the place to ask (and the prospect of me selling might be enabling you!) but I would like advice from those of you who have sold and what factored in on your decisions.

Do you guys name your pens? Or am I the only one who creates whole storylines for each of them? Please tell.

I bought a couple of Tsubame cream fool's notebooks, which are lovely, but... The laid paper is great for writing, but ony if your nib is wet enough. The structure is useful for keeping your lines straight, but I thought my somewhat dry-writing little Waterman 52 1/2 v was going bad on me. I switched to a somewhat wetter ink (there's an oxymoron!) and a smoother paper and all was well again. The nib that works best on the Tsubame paper is a Pilot Prera with a medium nib, a really nice calligraphic writer, but if you want to do pointed-pen work, do not buy this notebook. It's remarkable how many variables there are if you're trying to write a decent-looking page of script.

Dromgoole's will be hosting a trunk show featuring Edelberg pens. Thursday, February 26th 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. 2515 Rice Blvd. Houston, Texas 77005 Call or email Larry with any questions | 713.526.4651 | dromgooles.sbcglobal.net See you there!

If there is such a thing Inwould like to know. This is the opposite of this trail|. https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/283726-expensive-looking-inexpensive-pens/#entry3258953