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Hello! I received 2 of these as a gift, one has a squeeze converter and the other does not The pens are lovely and a pleasure to write / draw with, however I don’t particularly like the squeeze converter. I would love to have a cartridge converter for each pen but I’m having trouble finding ones that are compatible. I’m hoping someone might have advice, from the little research I’ve done it seems modern sheaffer cartridge converters click in but are too long to fit inside the pen body I would love to find a non-squeeze cartridge converter that’s compatible if anyone knows of one! (sorry the pictures aren’t very good and my handwriting is horrible)

Hello all, Just registered. Love Sheaffer's, and found the pen on the left in an auction. Tried to identify it in Sheaffer Targa, and RichardPens.com. It looks like it is a Stylist II, but I can't find anywhere this type of finish referenced. It looks like dented chrome, but even in the Sheaffer targa website there is no such finish. Can anyone help me identify it by the finish? Thank you in advance.

Dear Members, is the attached a 9202 Sheaffer Imperial 777 Rolled Gold Fountain Pen and Ball Pen set? I am new to fountain pens and have trouble identifying. Thanks

My sincerest apologies if somebody has done this already, but I would like to inquire about the definitions of the commonly used terms Vintage and Modern. 1: Is there a certain commonly-accepted year of delineation, like 2000? Or is there a more general and broad period of time, such as Sheaffer´s abandonment of their traditional US manufacturing sites in the early 2000s? 2: does it vary per the type of pen in question? For example, an original mid-century Parker 51 VS the modern attempt at a remake? 3: does it vary per whether the pen is discontinued or still in production? For example, the now-discontinued TWSBI 530, VS the modern replacement, the 580? Does this make my particular variant of the Platinum Preppy WA from the 2021 release a “vintage” pen? Obviously, there is probably no real universal answer to this question. I am simply looking to collect some opinions, pointers, and useful information as I start gearing up to enter the vintage fountain pen world. If you know of any particularly interesting “vintage VS modern” case studies, I would be delighted to read about them. Moderators, if you know about an older thread that this would merge well into, *please* do it. In a bygone era, I was once a forums moderator, and I know how ridiculous redundant threads can get. I am simply at present not able to find a thread that explicitly discusses this topic. (I could also just be blind)

Hello, At present, I am using these 8 FPs. All of them are excellent writers. I am sharing the images here. Thanks

Is there a piston converter than can be used with this type of Sheaffer nib? It is the kind that would pierce the old cylindrical cartridges on the School Pens. Or do I need one of the squeeze converters? Thanks, Russ

Hello Pen Enthusiasts, I have come into possession of a Sheaffer flat top pen without much branding on it, the clip and barrel are unmarked. It is a cartridge filler in a jade green color, and only the nib notes it is a Sheaffer. Any help in identifying the type and year of manufacture would be appreciated. Or, any information on when it was knocked off if it isn't a legitimate Sheaffer. Nib appears to be gold or brass, but it has no karat stamp on it. Only: "Sheaffer (tm) M MADE IN USA" Thanking you in advance for any insight you can provide. Please let me know if I can add any additional photographs or information not featured here. Cordially, Rebbe

Hello from the UK, As a retired person I'm that age where we were brought up at our UK primary school using pencils. At the age of 8 years old we transferred to fountain pens and bottled ink, Stephen's or more usually Parkers Blue/Black. The pens were Osmiroid and the nibs; well italic unusually. What a trial and traumatic experience that was, even worse for Lefties as their nibs were 'crooked' to the left. On to secondary school and fountain pens were still used although ball points were becoming all the rage. Still, at 16 years old, I did school exams with my fountain pen, plus slide rules were now allowed instead of using Log Tables. I went on to an Engineering Apprenticeship to be a draughtsman hence got into Rotring Isograph pens and script nib pens. Another traumatic experience having to relearn writing suitable for drawings as were weren't allowed to use stencils. Moved from draughting to Field and Plant engineering so succumed to ball points and pencils but at the age of 40ish decided to do a degree. The full degree was undertaken doing notes, submissions and reports with a fountain pen even though computer word-processor documents were allowed, old habits die hard. Since the degree I've used most writing implements, except probably hammer and chisel, and found fountain pens to be the most useful and comfortable long term, a shame paper has not kept up with their use. Lack of paper availability at a reasonable price for everyday use, and that works well with ink, is disappointing. Being a lifelong motorcyclist Arthur Itus has become a companion around the base of both thumbs, using a fountain pen has easily become my most comfortable writing instrument. The pen I used during my degree is still in use, Sheaffer 565 with bladder style filler, although the filler is past its best. I have used ink cartridges for convenience at times when I don't wont to travel with a bottle or need to use different colours, but the pleasure of using bottled ink is comforting. The Sheaffer pens size and weight suits me but its getting noticeably scratchy now and the bladder is well worn. Looking to purchase a new pen I see most shapes appear to mimic ball point pens, too thin for me, plus the prices for pens with gold nibs Phew. Anyway, that's my story and experience too date.

Hi, I have a pen probably 40 years old passed on to me by my late father-in-law. Loved him and love writing with this pen. The converter is beginning to leak now and I am trying to see if I can get a replacement one. First step is to identify this pen and from looking at online information it is either a Sheaffer TRZ or a Fountain II. I saw the following links online which I have been using as a reference: https://www.peytonstreetpens.com/fashion-ii-fountain-pen-model-261-gold-lined-medium-new-old-stock-in-box.html https://www.ebay.ca/itm/185589989550?hash=item2b360680ae:g:GIYAAOSwqRRjK1LX The clip of my pen is slightly different from the TRZ 70 as it is not as close to the end of the cap as the TRZ 70. The Fashion II picture matches but the bottom of the pen is slightly different. Any advice on which one it is? Also, are the converters for the two pens the same? Thanks in advance for your help.

HYPOTHETICAL: You, a multi-billionaire and pen fan, have just become, via purchase, the sole owner of the Sheaffer Pen Company and all its property, including patents and archives. Your goal is to offer the best and most interesting lineup of models you can while, at the same time, making at least a small profit. You are not limited by history in what your pen lineup can be. For example, if you wish, you can offer the PFM/Legacy in a new color/pattern with a flexible nib and with a filling system never offered in a PFM/Legacy or even in any Sheaffer. Tell us what models the new Sheaffer Pen Co. would offer for sale, and describe the relevant details of each model that you'd have the new Sheaffer Pen Co. sell. Provide any details about whatever appeals to you in this regard, such as marketing strategy, pricing (in whichever currency you choose), and anything else you wish. Would you stagger the introduction of your models or put them all out at once? No limits here. Have at it and have fun. 😍

Last Sunday afternoon turned to an afternoon of deep cleaning, re-sac and restore a 70 year old Sheaffer Snorkel Crest. An idle and boring afternoon with temperature soaring over 36 degree Celsius and non other place to be, took my thoughts to check on my vintage FP collection. During the casual check ups it was surprising to find the elderly Sheaffer Snorkel crest missing the satisfactory "pffft" of exhaled air during the final phase of the closure of the plunger, and that was the start for one of the most exhilarating and exciting Sunday afternoon in the recent past. After checking and confirming the availability of spares from my beloved workstation, it was time time to dive deep into the process. Disassembly of the Pen - The procedure started with opening the endocarp and extending the plunger and carefully opening the nib section with the extended snorkel. I was fortunate to find the nib section in my pen not glued to the barrel. Nib and feeder removal was a piece of cake as the triumph nib was a screw on on the nib section. After soaking the removed sac protector and the snorkel in lukewarm water for 20 mins, it was easy to remove the sac protector exposing the sac. The Next and final disassembly was the plunger from the end cap. A tiny screw which had been in place for unknown about of time unscrewed with minimal resistance and Thus this elderly 70 year old Sheaffer Snorkel was ready for the overhaul. Problems noticed - Point Gasket, Sac, 'O' ring and the end plate washer were worn out. Mild degree of rust formation was noticed on the spring and end cap nut. Gunk deposits in the cap, plunger tube, barrel and sac protector. Restoration process - The Process started with a deep and through cleaning. All the twelve parts on the pen including the cap was soaked for 45 minutes in lukewarm water with few drops of dish-wash soap. General rub a dab of Colgate tooth paste was applied to all hollow parts excluding the feeder, Nib and the snorkel and was soaked again in lukewarm water for 45 mins. a through run over with an electric toothbrush removed the rust and gunk deposits on the pen parts. All the parts were dried with paper towels. The new Latex Sac was Cut and fitted on the snorkel using shellac and a subsequent wait for 3 hours for the shellac to cure. A gentle coat of silicon grease on the plunger, spring, the sac protector, the threads on the nib section was applied. the final process included the replacement of point gasket, 'O' Ring, and end cap washer. The pen was later reassembled by refitting the plunger to the end cap. Aligning the snorkel along with sac and sac protector, feeder, the triumph nib and the spring and the wedlock between the nib section and barrel. Final Touches - Polishing with turtle wax and chrome polish and the elderly gentle man was back in action good as new. Parts from https://vintagepensacsandparts.com/products/sheaffer-snorkel-tm-sac-repair-kit?_pos=3&_sid=693d85f88&_ss=r

Hi all! I relatively new to fountain pens (compared to most here-just a few years in with about 150 vintage & new pens and a few restorations under my belt!) I have a Sheaffer Valor B pen which I bought used for something like $20. I absolutely LOVE the pen, it's probably the smoothest nib I own, and I'm a sucker for Sheaffer's inlaid nibs, but I found it to be ridiculously wet. I tried using it for a while, figuring I just needed to get used to using a broad nib. Until I held it up to the light. The tines have a huge gap in the center of the nib, but looking at the tip with a loupe it is perfectly centered and aligned. How can this be adjusted/fixed? Is it something I can do on my own (without destroying it) or should I send it out for a professional to do? I am not adverse to even having it ground to something more interesting or perhaps a finer line if I need to send it out anyway. I figure I paid so little for it perhaps it would be worth putting the savings (and probably a bit more?) into a professional repair or a grind. However, I've never had a custom grind or even sent a pen to someone for repair and have no idea who to turn to. Or if it's possible for me to do a DIY repair...how would I go about it? I haven't seen anything in my extensive searching regarding adjusting inlaid nibs or addressing my particular issue. Any advice or recommendations greatly appreciated!!

Saw a pic of the top of an old Skrip Permanent Red, and it says this: Sounds fantastic! Does anyone know to what this is referring, did it work, and does the modern Red Skrip still contain anything like this?!

It helps to explore this yourself, revisiting once in a while if need be, and keep in mind where each of those personal info fields are entered. Don't leave it until the urge to change something specific to come upon you, and only then bother to ask the question! Invest the time surveying upfront, instead of waste it later waiting for an answer from nobody in particular. Most of the fields shown above are self-evident as to what they are. I think the only ones that could do with explanation are: Security and Privacy: There is only one setting under there, and that is a toggle for whether your online status (including ‘last active’ date or time) is visible to others Content View Behavior: That has nothing to do with what others can see about you, but only where you would like to start reading when accessing content Enable status updates: This toggle enables/disables the public feed on your profile page; if you disable it, then nobody (including you) can post publicly visible ‘status updates’ or any other message against your profile, but if you enable it, then anyone — friend, foe, or complete stranger — can post something there whenever, without waiting for you to initiate and then only reply to what you wrote Notification Settings have nothing to do with what others can see about you, and so is out of scope for this article, and I'm not going to delve into those right now. (You can look here, here, and here to wrap your head around how notifications work with respect to followed content.) N.B. There is a possibility that some of the above settings and data fields may not be available to Bronze members and/or Silver members, but I have no way of testing that or scoping it out. — • — Another way of getting to the Edit Profile dialog, and the way to change your profile photo (or ‘avatar’), is here: — • — Freeform, custom member titles that one enters for oneself are long gone, and have not been a thing since FPN came back from a long hiatus and platform upgrade late in 2020.

I’ve got three tiny (12ml !!) bottles of an old Sheaffer color. I’d like to give these away to anyone who is relatively new, an ink fiend (but who isn’t?), and new to this obscure ink. The bottle are full to the brim and the caps tighter than tight (it’s going to take a six year old body builder or a tool to uncap these), so I suspect the ink is good, apart from any color degradation from time (been in drawers and cupboards as long as I’ve had them, though). But with those spiffy new needle cartridge/converter fillers, those 12 milliliters are available without losing half of it, so out they go. The others inks aren’t available, just props. Sheaffer lavender was quite nice, as was the burgundy. Full disclosure: I didn’t like this color then or now but some certainly did. It was an unusual color in the time before Private Reserve & Diamond & Noodlers and the rainbow flood we all have access to! Happy to mail on my dime anywhere in the US. I’ll watch the thread for the first three requests. [I didn’t reread the PIF guidelines, so I hope I’m not violating any, but if I have, please let me know.)

I haven't seen a full-fledged photo gallery here of the modern Sheaffer Balance 2 (or Balance II), so I thought I'd provide one now. If I'm wrong, I apologize in advance, but no harm done. I'll provide photos in a few separate posts here. Let's start with the Balance 2 "Classic Colors," which were made from an injection-molded solid-color resin. They came in three colors -- Hunter Green, Navy Blue, and Black -- and were available in FP, RB, and BP. The FP came with a 14K solid gold nib, available in a few widths, including a stub. The nib was quite firm. Here are my photos. You'll notice that the Hunter Green FP shown here has a stub nib. Many years ago, I sold my Navy Blue and Black Balance II FPs, so I only have a BP in each of those colors in my collection.

Hi! I have a vintage Sheaffer student pen (about the 70s model) that I found at an antique store. The previous owner had let the ink run out and then just set it down. Thankfully, the ink was water soluble so that the ink was easily removed with lots of flushing and soaking. I got a new cartridge with the exact ink that was in it before (Skrip since the cartridge was still attached) but it won't flow out. If I place a paper towel on top of the nib, ink flows onto the paper towel, it just won't flow to the very tip of the nib. The nib is inlaid and can't be adjusted. I'm not sure what else to try.

Included here are Hero, Sailor, Sheaffer and standard international cartridges. Note that Hero carts are meant to be re-useable and re-sealable! They also fit other pens such as Monami Olika, some Parkers, and Moonman. Also: A JHerbin rollerball (takes standard ink carts), Hero 616s and 330s, a Wing Sung 601-A, a Parker Frontier, some 'project' Sheaffer school pens with great nibs, a little gold NoNami, ink vials, pipettes, and more. CONUS Only. It would be great if you could offer to pay for a flat rate box. I will leave this up for a while. Single winner will be chosen by the highly scientific Eeny Meeny Method. Thanks.

Is it possible to remove the clip from a pfm III. The cap was cracked and I have repaired the crack using a solvent weld I found was recommended on here a few years ago. Now I need to smooth the repair so its less visually ugly but it is very near to the clip so Id like to remove it as the plating is still in good condition. Also the cap has been attacked by a previous restorer who drilled out the end of the inner cap, presumably to try and make the clip less wobbly or because it corroded badly. Im planning to fix that with the tip of an imperial I inner cap. Anyway, this cap has no imprints at all, not a trace was this from factory, possibly a defect? or did the previous owner also attack this part of the cap. The nib says made in USA and the AUS nib I have doesn't fit the barrel threads as well which supports this being a US pen. The trim ring is also good so it would have to have been protected to keep the plating in tact if they sanded the markings off. Secondly the micro surfaces scratches are very constant across the hole pen so I don't think they have been removed. Any thoughts on this would be interesting. thanks for any help!

I've read of folks using the feed from a No Nonsense pen in other pens. How do you remove the feed? To me it looks like the nib and feed are molded into the nib section. Any tips??

So today I was out with the family and ended up at a local antique store that we often go to, mostly to kill time, and as I made my rounds (checking all the cases for pens or accessories as I always do) I came across an old case that I originally wrote off as a vintage eyeglass case. I bent down to check a shelf below and caught a glimpse of the tag that was mostly covered. I could just make out “old fount…” Well that peaked my curiosity, so I go to the counter and find the lady with the keys to come open the case so I could investigate. Jackpot. It was an old sheaffer case with a dirty pen and a matching pencil. I checked it out and it turned out to be a Sheaffer Imperial mark viii touchdown. I figured it would go one of two ways, either they would be very proud of their grandads pen, or it would be in terrible shape. I made sure the owners were ok with it and then did a little disassembly. The nib had some old ink crusted on it and the feed looked a little crooked, but the inlaid nib was straight and didn’t appear to be splayed. The sticker says it’s a medium and it’s stamped with 14kt and it looks great! Next came what I knew would be a make or break moment. I unscrewed the barrel to check the filler. To my surprise, everything was clean and complete. The bladder felt supple and SEEMED to be intact but I didn’t have a real way to test it. I reassembled the pen and unscrewed the end to activate the vacuum and it slid out like butter with a heart warming puff as it hit the full extension. The vacuum was intact! I had not come in prepared to spend anywhere near what my gut was telling me this pen was going for, but I was just having a good time enjoying it. Eventually I could stall no longer and ran out of things to check, double check, and compare, so I had to bite the bullet and grab the tag that was still laying face down on the shelf. To my utter amazement, the tag looked to say $20. I showed the extremely patient old woman who had opened the case for me and she agreed that it said they wanted a mere twenty dollars for such a remarkably well aged pen, not to mention the matching pencil. I immediately had her take me to the register and take my money, just so I could spend more time admiring the pen while my wife and mother-in-law browsed. I discovered that it did have a pretty decent scuff on the underside of the barrel and the dried ink looked pretty old, but otherwise I was well pleased with my find. Fast forward one painfully long hour and I’m back home and I start to get to work soaking and cleaning up the pen. It cleaned up incredibly easily for the condition it seemed to be in and it was time to flush. I took a deep breath and pulled back the vacuum rod, dunked it and gave it a go. It drew the water effortlessly and after about 10-15 flushes it was starting to look pretty clear. I flushed a couple more time for good measure and the got it set up to dry out. After some award worthy patience, it was time to face my final test. I had proven it would fill, but would it write??? I grabbed a bottle of noodler’s zhivago and gave it a shot. It bubbled and I could see the ink moving to indicate it should be ready to go, cleaned off the excess and grabbed some paper from my desk. Immediately the pen laid down a thick wet line and kept up no matter how fast or at what angle I wrote with. This is when my wife lost her patience as my whooping like a full startled her and our daughter who were relaxing in the other room. I didn’t care though because I had just found out that the 60 year old, $20 pen that I found at the hot old antique store wrote better that I could have even hoped. I know my story was a bit long winded, and thanks to anyone still reading this mess, but I had to share my win with a community who might just appreciate how good it felt p.s. not a huge pencil fan, but I got a nice chuckle out of the fact that the matching pencil still had lead in it and worked like a charm. Can’t beat it

A friend gave us two Sheaffer pens to get writing again. The first, a teeny Balance, has already been re-sacced and ready to write. He also gave us a Snorkel pen with the Snorkel tube stuck inside. The blind cap cannot be turned to extend the Snorkel tube. Internal rust from the spring is suspected. Is it still safe to unscrew the barrel from the gripping section without extending the Snorkel tube? Otherwise, how should we proceed, and could it be anything other than rust?

As a newly active member in this forum, I have learnt so much from you all that I wanted give back with my first review. As I haven’t used a wide variety of fountain pens, I am not familiar with 100% of the terms used to describe the behaviour of the nibs. Instead, I will use analogies where appropriate, even if you find them terrible! To compensate for my lack of knowledge, I am reviewing not one, but 2 of these pens (well 2 different design variants). [TL:DR] If you don’t have time to read everything, the TL:DR version is in the highlights section at the bottom, along with the links to all of the photos. I created a separate photo album in Flickr for each pen so that you can focus on what you prefer. If you don’t want to scroll to the bottom, here are both photo albums: 1. S100 (M-Blue/Chrome) - https://flic.kr/s/aHsmW84Npb 2. S100 Ferrari (M-Black) - https://flic.kr/s/aHsmW84Rxv [Quick back story] As I mentioned in my intro message a few weeks ago, I joined this forum in 2009 after buying my first Fountain Pen, the Pilot Prera, while I was on holiday in Tokyo that same year. The pen was so good that I never bothered to log into FPN ever again! As I’ve been stuck in lockdowns in 20/21, I’ve been writing a lot more and needed a change as I finally got bored with it. It’s still a fantastic pen, but it needed a new home, so I sold it on eBay. The hunt for a new pen began in May 2021 along with my 2nd ever login to FPN after 12 years. Miraculously, the username and password still worked! [The 1st purchase: May ‘21] Once again, I got lucky. I walked into a jewellers shop in Bristol near where my parents live which has a tiny little cabinet in a corner containing the smallest selection of pens I had ever seen. It was clearly set up by someone who thought “I suppose we better have some pens just so that we can tick the box”. When I saw the Shaeffer 100 in Blue and Chrome, I asked if I could test it out because it looked so nice with the blue lacquer and chrome cap. It was a delight to use right from the start. As soon as I began writing, I knew I had to buy it. The (M) nib was buttery smooth. Overall, the pen felt even better than when I first tried the Prera all those years ago. I asked the price and he said it was £35. I couldn’t believe it. It felt like it cost at least £50 - £70. I just smiled and handed over the money immediately. Then let’s fast forward a few weeks into Jun ’21. As I always need a black and blue pen, I wanted to buy the pen in black too so that I could fill it with the matching ink colour. The shop didn’t have any, so I had a look online (I single handily reduced their fountain pen inventory by a third a few weeks earlier!). I found the Ferrari version of this pen at The Hamilton Pen Company, also at £35. The pen had a discrete Ferrari logo at the top. The yellow colour in the logo was a perfect complement to the all-black body and cap. I didn’t hesitate to order it because of my positive experience in the store with the original blue/chrome version. Hamilton’s customer service was excellent. The pen arrived the day after I ordered it. [Build Quality: 10/10] The metal body and grip section make the pen feel much more expensive than the price. It feels like you are writing with a luxury pen. It has a decent “premium” weight (Body: 21g, Total: 32g) and the quality of manufacturing is 10/10. No flaws anywhere on the body or grip. The nib is top notch as well. The pattern on the nib also makes it look really expensive. If you are thinking of buying this as a gift for someone, you should not hesitate. [Design: 9/10] 1. Size - This is a what I would call a regular sized pen, the kind which you would be used to buying in a stationary store. I’ve seen others call this a slim or small pen. It all depends on what you personally define as small or large. The S100 is similar in width and size to a Pentel Energel as you can see from my pictures. 2. Material – I love all metal pens, but I don’t like brushed metal which I find too slippery. I personally find this pen is rock solid when I hold it. I’m not a fan of mixed plastic and metal. I personally prefer either all metal or all plastic/resin like the Prera. Mixing the materials in a pen feels to me like buying a Rolls-Royce and then fitting tyres from a Ford Escort. Don’t do it. As George Bush would say: “you’re either with us, or against us”. 3. Colour and Finish – the lacquer and colour on both pens looks and feels premium and expensive. As I said earlier, these pens feel a lot more expensive than £35 each. 4. Clip – This is the only downside of this pen and why I didn’t give this section a 10/10. The clip is so stiff that you cannot pull it out enough to put inside a pocket. I don’t understand why Sheaffer have made it so stiff. The only reason I didn’t give a lower rating for this negative aspect of the pen is because I don’t put pens in a shirt or suit pocket. If I did, I would probably give the design score a 7/10 or 8/10 rating. [Nib: 10/10] - The (M) nibs that I got with both pens are extremely smooth and buttery when writing. However, as I will discuss later, the line width varies slightly depending on which ink I use. - The (M) nib is perfect if you are a newbie and want your pen to work immediately whether you use it every day, or every few days. I have not had any problems with hard starts or ink not flowing after a few days of not using them. - The decoration of the nib is beautiful and once again, is something I would expect from much more expensive pens. [Filling and Ink] When I first opened the pen and saw the way that the converter and attachment were designed, I wondered if I could simply draw up the ink from the end of the converter, and just wait for it to flow through to the feed. I decided to live life on the edge and break the rules of nib refilling. I can be a crazy b**ch sometimes. Thankfully, filling the converter directly worked fine. It was so much cleaner and tidier. The mess that I used to make with the Prera refilling via the nib made my desk look like a crime scene every time I had finished refilling. (I will add the photos of the attachment and pin when I next refill, you will be able to see the updates in both photo albums). I took this opportunity to try 2 new inks, one for each pen. With my old Prera, the only bottled ink I had ever used was Pilot Iroshizuku Asa-Gao. That’s because it came with the pen in a gift box. I didn’t know it was anything special at the time! After a bit of research on Cult Pens, I decided to go for the Pelikan 4001 blue/black ink to match my blue pen and waited a day for it to arrive. Their service was top notch as it arrived on time the next day. For the black ink, I learnt from the FPN forum (and many YouTube ink reviews) that so many black inks actually come out grey. I did NOT want that at all. I learnt that Diamine Onyx Black was really black on paper. I ordered it from The Pen Company and it arrived within 2 days. [S100 with Pelikan 4001 Blue/Black Ink] I was very happy with the Pelikan 4001 Blue/Black Ink because it had exactly the kind of shade I was looking for. The ink is extremely high quality and has nice variation in different parts of my writing. It dries quickly so that was an added bonus. I also thought it was super smooth until… [S100 with Diamine Onyx Black] This ink blew me away. The smoothness far exceeded the Pelikan 4001 ink which I thought was excellent anyway. I’d say it feels 100% smoother than the Pelikan ink. [Sheaffer Cartridges: 0/10] While I was waiting for the Diamine Onyx Black to arrive in the post, I thought I would give the black Sheaffer ink cartridge a go. The Ferrari version of the pen came with one black and one blue cartridge. That was a mistake. The Sheaffer ink cartridge was terrible. The ink feathered a lot and ghosted heavily in my Moleskine diary. It also made blotches out of the eye of the nib too. AVOID using these cartridges at all costs. I assume the Sheaffer bottled ink is the same so I will not be buying that in future. [Writing Samples] (See examples in both photo albums). I have been using Claire Fontaine A5 ‘Age Bag’ notebooks for a decade because the paper is top quality and silky smooth. I found that using both pens in the Claire Fontaine notebook behaved in a way that I believe you would call scratchy. In other words, there was a tiny bit of resistance now and again. Not too much to be a problem at all, but this was the first time I used both pens in anything other than my diary and I was surprised! The S100 pens never skipped a beat when writing in my Moleskine A5 diary (which is thinner and lower quality paper than the Claire Fontaine). I also found that using the Diamine ink in my Moleskine diary makes the line a little thinner. The Pelikan ink in my blue pen appeared just the same thickness when using both types of paper. The Diamine ink ghosts more than the Pelikan ink in my Moleskine diary (in fact, the Pelikan hardly ghosts at all). The Pelikan ink is superior in this respect. There are no feathering issues at all with both inks. With the Claire Fontaine paper, ghosting and feathering is not a problem at all for either ink. [Summary] I hope you found this review to be useful. If it doesn’t include all of the details you would expect, I’d be happy to answer any other questions below. In summary, I’d say that the Sheffer 100 Fountain pen is perfect for both newbies and long-time Fountain Pen users who want a bullet-proof pen which works with a 100% guarantee each time. It would also make a perfect gift for use at work, or for students who value high quality items. I have really enjoyed using both pens (and both inks) and I’m looking forward to exploring more types of Fountain pens and inks in future. [TL:DR - Highlights] Photo albums (flickr): a. S100 (M-Blue/Chrome) - https://flic.kr/s/aHsmW84Npb b. S100 Ferrari (M-Black) - https://flic.kr/s/aHsmW84Rxv 1. [Build Quality: 10/10] – Solid pen, fantastic materials, top workmanship 2. [Design: 9/10] – The stiff clip is the only let down. If you’re the kind of person that puts a pen inside your shirt or suit jacket pocket, don’t buy this pen. 3. [Nib: 10/10] – Super smooth and beautifully designed 4. [Sheaffer cartridges: 0/10] – Sheaffer cartridges absolutely suck. Throw them away > pour jet fuel onto them > light match > end sequence.

I have wanted a snorkel filler pen but poorly maintained vintage pens have made me wary of purchasing them online. Does anyone know reputable sellers ( in India ) who offer vintage pens? If so please share your experiences along with their contact details.

Got gifted this wonderful Sheaffer pen last week, yet I am left scratching my head what model is this ... The Nib seems to be a Prelude M (Medium) yet the Barrel and Cap do not seems to be a Prelude or Legacy series model. Look forward to solving the puzzle together. Thank You