Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'tombow'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • FPN Community
    • FPN News
    • Introductions
    • Clubs, Meetings and Events
    • Pay It Forward, Loaner Programs & Group Buys
  • The Market Place
    • The Mall
    • Market Watch
    • Historical Sales Forums
  • Writing Instruments
    • Fountain & Dip Pens - First Stop
    • Fountain Pen Reviews
    • Of Nibs & Tines
    • It Writes, But It Is Not A Fountain Pen ....
    • Pen History
    • Repair Q&A
  • Brand Focus
    • Cross
    • Esterbrook
    • Lamy
    • Mabie Todd Research/Special Interest Forum/Group
    • Montblanc
    • Parker
    • Pelikan
    • Sheaffer
    • TWSBI
    • Wahl-Eversharp
    • Waterman
  • Regional Focus
    • China, Korea and Others (Far East, Asia)
    • Great Britain & Ireland - Europe
    • India & Subcontinent (Asia)
    • Italy - Europe
    • Japan - Asia
    • USA - North America
    • Other Brands - Europe
  • Inks, Inc.
    • Inky Thoughts
    • Ink Reviews
    • Ink Comparisons
    • Co-Razy-Views
    • Th-INKing Outside the Bottle
    • Inky Recipes
  • Paper, and Pen Accessories
    • Paper and Pen Paraphernalia
    • Paper & Pen Paraphernalia Reviews and Articles
  • Creative Expressions
    • Pen Turning and Making
    • Pictures & Pen Photography
    • The Write Stuff
    • Handwriting & Handwriting Improvement
    • Calligraphy Discussions
    • Pointed Pen Calligraphy
    • Broad (or Edged) Pen Calligraphy

Blogs

  • FPN Board Talk
  • Incoherent Ramblings from Murphy Towers
  • The Blogg of Me
  • FPN Admin Column
  • Rules, Guidelines, FAQs, Guides
  • Musings on matters pen
  • Marketing & Sales
  • Iguana Sell Pens Blog
  • Newton Pens' Blog
  • Peyton Street Pens Blog
  • holygrail's Blog
  • A Gift For Words
  • I Don't Have a Name; So This Will Do
  • Karas Kustoms' Blog
  • Debbie Ohi's Inky Journal
  • Sus Minervam docet
  • Crud!
  • Clut and Clutter
  • Federalist Pens

Calendars

  • Pen Events Calendar

Product Groups

  • FPN Pens
  • FPN Inks
  • FPN Donations
  • Premium/Trading/Retailer Accounts

Categories

  • Fonts
  • Tools & Software
  • Rules for Notepads & Paper

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Found 8 results

  1. I picked these Tombow AirPress ballpoint pens up, as a novelty, recently for roughly AUD 5.40 each‡. The writing instrument's technical design is pretty clever. Instead of using refills that are pressurised during manufacture, like those used in the Fisher Space Pen, the Tombow AirPress ballpoint pen leverages the force applied by the user on the ‘knock’ mechanism that deploys the retractable pen tip, to pressurise the ink chamber on the fly. Filled with an oil-based ink, this product promises (on its retail packaging, marketing images, etc.) to allow rapid writing, write even on wet paper and/or when the page is unsupported from below or when the writing surface is vertical. I just tried writing an entire English paragraph — in a cursive hand, as well as my other, normal handwriting style — on a notebook that I held up with the page facing down, and the pen's tip pointing up, and this pen proved up to the task. The product comes in a variety of colours, and even has a demonstrator version as well as a ‘stealth-look’ version. The barrels on the opaque models are rubbery, and are possibly apt to deteriorate and become tacky to the touch in several years' time. (I'm not sure about the material of the clear barrel, since I haven't opened it yet.) As for the pen's writing output, at first I was apprehensive that the stated, nominal 0.7mm line width would be too wide for my preferences in any sort of everyday application of putting pen to paper. However, the pen actually proved to write as finely as a Japanese EF nib, in fountain pen terms; and it can probably do so in a damn Moleskine notebooks, without being subject to the pitfalls of feathering, etc. All in all, a satisfying purchase for the price, something that could just be tossed into a knapsack as a just-in-case writing instrument and not worry about the jostling or rough and tumble to which it'd be subjected. ‡ Including incremental delivery charges, but not any apportioned international shipping ‘flagfall’ charge for the order, from Amazon Japan.
  2. I just purchased this pen on Ebay, but am very skeptical that it is a circa 1980s Tombow fountain pen purchased in Japan, which is how the seller described it. It has no branding on it anywhere that I can find. It is rather large, and looks like a cross between a Tombow "Egg" fountain pen and a regular Tombow fountain pen from the same era. (Note photo of mystery pen with a regular Tombow 909 fountain pen laid next to it on the right for comparison.) The pen also has a distinctive middle section with a raised rib pattern. The nib is black and does not look like a Tombow nib. The writing on it says "IRIDIUM" "*ECL*" (the *s represent letters that I cannot read, though it might be "VECLE") and "PEN". The nib has a large flare, but the feed is cut the same as the feed on my Tombow 909. In any case, I'm betting that it is some sort of generic pen from the 1980s, but not a Tombow. If anyone has any thoughts, wild guesses, etc., I would be very grateful to hear them! Thank you.
  3. The next set of pens in this series come from Tombow and Rotring. They are what seems to be an early Tombow Zoom 101 and a non-telescoping Rotring Espirit. The Epirit predates the absorption of Rotring by Sanford. Both pens are no longer in production. I purchased the Espirit in 2009 and the Zoom 101 in 2007. https://imgchr.com/i/1jszYd">src="https://s2.ax1x.com/2020/02/14/1jszYd.md.jpg" alt="1jszYd.jpg" border="0" /> The pens share little in external appearance although both are thin compared to many pens on the market. The Rotring is made from anodized aluminum and consistent with the companies sleek functional aesthetic. The Tombow is made from what appears to be painted brass with a plastic grip section in the center of the barrel. The clips on both pens are steel. The Rotring cap is pulled off while the Tombow screws off. The Tombow is unusual in that one can change the cartridge without removing the cap while the Rotring has conventional access to the cartridges. The grip on the Tombow is high on the barrel which seems odd at first, but is nice in the hand. The machined ridges on the Rotring also make it sit nicely in the hand. https://imgchr.com/i/1jy29A">src="https://s2.ax1x.com/2020/02/14/1jy29A.jpg" alt="1jy29A.jpg" border="0" /> https://imgchr.com/i/1j6Vu6">src="https://s2.ax1x.com/2020/02/14/1j6Vu6.md.jpg" alt="1j6Vu6.jpg" border="0" /> https://imgchr.com/i/1j6pEF">src="https://s2.ax1x.com/2020/02/14/1j6pEF.md.jpg" alt="1j6pEF.jpg" border="0" /> https://imgchr.com/i/1vVH8P">src="https://s2.ax1x.com/2020/02/14/1vVH8P.md.jpg" alt="1vVH8P.jpg" border="0" /> One can see that asides from the decoration on the nibs, they are identical. In speculating about where the nibs come from, I think that Rotring made the nibs for Tombow or they get the nibs from the same third party OEM. I lean towards the nib being made by Rotring as it features on many of the company’s pens of this period. Tombow also was linked to the Herlitz nibs I examined in the first post in this series, so I doubt Tombow made the nibs for Rotring. Tombow has a history as supplier of a portfolio of stationary supplies, so fountain pens were just another item to complete the product list. Rotring was a more focused niche player and fountain pens played a larger role in the product range. I hope you enjoyed the article and I look forward to your comments. If you know more about this style of nib, please share your knowledge. Thanks for reading.
  4. This is the first of what will hopefully be a series of posts that start looking at the similarities between nibs of various brands, especially lesser known, lower end manufacturers. The idea is to see if we can figure out relationships between factories beyond the Jowo, Schmidt, and Bock arrangements we know of. I don’t have any authoritative knowledge, just a collection that spans the lower end of the market and attempts to collect pens from different countries. I hope others will join in and add to the posts to create a more complete picture of the relationships between different companies now and in the past. It is not an attempt to make sense of IPG (Iridium Point Germany), Parker 51 clones, or Lamy Safari/All star clones. Sorting those nibs requires direct knowledge from someone working in the industry or someone with metallurgic testing skills. I will focus on the nibs, but will try and look at overall pens when I think the designs share a lot of traits or are interchangeable. The first pens featured are the Herlitz Tornado SLS ( 1988?), the Tombow Object (2008?), the Jolly Jollypen, and the Staedtler Learner’s Pen. The companies all currently produce fountain pens, although the Tornado and Object are not current models. Herlitz and Staedtler are German, Tombow is Japanese, and Jolly is Austrian. All but the Object are German student pens. The nibs and pens share characteristics that I hope to show you that the nibs are from the same company or made from the same tooling. The feeds differ between the current production pens and the older ones, so someone has updated the design a bit. The first photo shows the pens together and you have from top to bottom; the Herlitz Tornado SLS, the Tombow Object, the Jolly Jollypen, and the Staedtler Learner’s Pen. The Tornado and Jollypen follow the typical adolescent German Student Pen design of a metal cap, sturdy clip and plastic body, The Tornado is more of an adult pen with an anodized, brushed aluminum, torpedo design. The Staedtler reflects the current elementary-aged Student Pen aesthetic of “rugged kid proof plastic bludgeon” The nibs are shown below and all have a continuous curved design with no breather hole. They are well-behaved, lay down a smooth line and shade inks relatively easily. They are all forgiving nibs as one expects from student pens and ink leaks are rare. When ink leaks, a few drops is what you get. The Tornado and Object share the same design for nib and feed with little visible differences beyond the color of the nib and sprue burrs. As far as I can tell, this nib started use in the Herlitz Bugatti which dates from the 1960’s (?). Hopefully someone who has a Bugatti can chime in? The Jollypen and Learner’s pen share the same nib and feed. The nibs differ just in engraving, while the feeds are identical. The nibs are shown below. Based on the history with the Bugatti, I think that Herlitz first made the nibs and tooling and either makes the nibs for Jolly and Staedtler or provides the tooling. I haven’t seen this nib in any form from Jowo, Schmidt, or Bock, however that doesn’t rule out that one of these companies makes the nibs shown in this post. Hopefully someone who knows more can shed more light. Tombow is interesting as it will appear in my next post as a company that shares a nib with a pre-Sanford Rotring pen. Because Tombow’s nibs match those used by other companies, I doubt they make this nib in house. Jolly is a newer company than Herlitz, so I don’t think it makes the nibs. The similarities between the Jollypen and Tornado are striking as they seem to share the same tooling for the barrels and caps, or are similar enough to be interchangeable. The Tornado is an SLS version that was made with an ink eraser at the end. The eraser didn’t work as well as the traditional two-ended ones like the Pelikan Pirat. I hope you enjoyed this post and please add your knowledge and look through your pens and see if anything looks like these pens. Postscript: Jolly is a lesser known company, whose pens are great if you want nice student pens off the beaten track. I have another earlier production Jollypen as well. Here is a link to their site. https://jolly.at/en/produkt-kategorie/cartridge-pens/
  5. Farfel

    Tombow Zoom 848Fp

    I purchased this pen in 1986. I have always had problems with the ink drying out, sometimes as I was using it and paused for ten seconds or so. The ink has always been dried out when I tried the pen after it had been capped for a day or so. I have tried several brands of ink. Lovely pen. Crappy machine for writing. Anyone have suggestions?
  6. Hi people, some new items at Jetpens, including nice packages of assorted dual brush pens: http://static.jetpens.com/images/a/000/051/51384.jpg http://static1.jetpens.com/images/a/000/073/73889.jpg http://static.jetpens.com/images/a/000/073/73890.jpg http://static1.jetpens.com/images/a/000/079/79920.jpg
  7. I recently came across a Tombow pen that I'm looking for more information on. It appears to be brand new in box, or if not new then very lightly used. After a few internet searches it looks like I may have the discontinued Zoom Mano model, but there is very little information on this doing simple google searches. I'm considering selling this pen but I'm unable to determine a proper value. Any information you can provide would be much appreciated. Thanks, Matt
  8. Hi, I am completely new here, please let me know if I have not posted in the right place. I would like to buy my husband a pen for an anniversary present. He does a lot of writing in his job (doctor) and usually uses basic fountain pens from WHSmith which irritate him as the plastic threads wear. He also gets aching fingers as his hand slips down the grip. I have around £50 to spend. I have been trying to work my way through reviews online, and I reckon I need to look for a pen with a metal body but not a metal grip. The choices I have come up with are a Tombow Havanna (my top choice), a Sheaffer Sagaris, or a Parker Sonnet. I would be grateful for some advice- I can't seem to find out for sure if the threads on these are metal, or if the grip is any grippier (apart from the Tombow which I know is metal with a rubber grip). Also any other suggestions that fit with his needs, or what people think of the pens I have listed would be great. Many thanks x





×
×
  • Create New...