Diary Of A Nakaya Purchase

[Pensharp]

Murfie:

 

I have been fortunate enough to purchase a fair number of pens over the years. Some have set me back on my heels from the moment I took them out of the box. Others required months of daily use to become a treasured pen. A few, happily a very few, never measured up. One then asks - Is it the pen? Is it overblown promotion/advertising? It is a personal quirk? The answer rarely comes even then.

 

In this instance, please permit me to suggest that it is probably not the pen. You will notice that many FPN members mention a "grail" pen in their posts. Having a dream is laudable and realizing that dream is equally so. What it boils down to is "not this pen at this time". It's just not the right fit. I am sure that if the pen had been purchased at a local store you would have returned it and placed the matter back into the "dream" category.

 

Your post does not ask for advice, so I will not offer any. Whatever road you take it will be a learning opportunity.

 

I will leave you with the wise words of my grandmother (who lived through the Depression): "Just because you can buy something doesn't mean that you can afford it"

 

Chin up and Best of Luck!

[ethernautrix]

Or you could have done what I did and order your first Nakaya with the wrong nib (my bad). Like you, I had heard the praise for Nakaya, so, not knowing what to expect, I ordered the least expensive model and finish right before the price increase in 2008 -- solid black -- with my name in kanji and katakana in red. The pen arrived fairly quickly, within two months of ordering it. I didn't use the pen for a year, cos I didn't like the nib, and I couldn't understand why I didn't like the nib.

 

I was on the verge of giving the pen away (giving it away!) when I tried another member's Nakaya Piccolo (same as mine) with a firm medium, I realized, OH THAT'S WHY. I needed a firm medium nib.

 

I waited until the LA Pen Show and asked John Mottishaw to swap out the nib. It was the best $40 I spent on a pen. (I'd already traded the nib a year before, and it still wasn't right, cos the nib wasn't firm. Firm is the thing with me. I need the firm.)

 

I realize that I am very fortunate in living in an area where FPNers live and congregate (Pen Posse!) and that I was able to attend the LA Pen Show. Not everyone has those opportunities.

 

Anyway, now I have a Nakaya Desk Pen and, as Ricky mentioned, the Nakaya Negoro that I ordered in February should arrive by the weekend. I can't even imagine being disappointed. But then, I guess I already experienced my disappointment with the solid black Piccolo. Again, it took nearly a year for me to truly discover and appreciate the pen. I didn't think the others who spoke so highly of their Nakayas were delusional just because my experience was completely different. But now I understand it. Nakaya is my favorite pen.

 

I'm not saying you'll experience the same re-discovery. You have other variables informing your reaction (one pen for ten, for instance -- which, actually, I like; I'd rather have a dozen pens than 200).

 

Anyway, no advice from me! Good luck with your Nakaya, whatever you do with it!

[Painterspal]

I wouldn't worry about it too much if I were you, life's too short. Sure, it's an obscene amount of money to spend on a pen, but you didn't buy it just because you wanted something to write with, did you?

 

When you're out of work and times are tough, of course a purchase like this seems crazy and irrational. But if I couldn't also enjoy the follies I've committed, at least on some level or other, I probably wouldn't get up in the morning. Maybe you'll come to like it. Maybe you won't and will sell it, it doesn't matter that much either way. Having gone to so much trouble I certainly wouldn't sell it without at least trying it, but that's just me.

 

It's just a pen at the end of the day, and you're just another fallible human being - like all the rest of us...

[sallywally]

Hi Murfie,

 

It sounds to me like the Nakaya got lost in the purchase of another pen, rather than that it was by itself too expensive or too boring.

 

Are you sure Nakaya would not take it back? If not, I am sure you could recoup virtually the entire cost by selling the pen on this site. Go ahead and do so!

 

Or go ahead and ink it up and see if you like writing with it. Like Ethernautrix, I began with the wrong nib. I eventually found I am happiest with the XXF out of the box, with no customization whatever.

 

I've just ordered my third Nakaya and am trying to figure out what pens I need to sell to pay for it....hoping it won't arrive too soon!

 

And I sold so many pens to pay for my last Nakaya that I'm not sure what I have left that I'm willing to part with.

 

Best of luck to you!

[rhk]

Murfie, maybe you want to have a look at the videos posted by Bryan Gray on his website under the heading urushi pen project. They show how urushi lacquer is applied, etc and maybe it will help you appreciate your Nakaya pen differently. Ruud

[Goldenpen]

I am new to this site, but a somewhat old and avid fountain pen addict. I have written with a fountain pen for over 40 years now. Recently I acquired from Nakaya a custom maki pen with the Ascending Dragon motif. It was well worth the wait. The nib is perfect. I described how I hold my pen both in terms of firmness and distance from the end of the pen. I wanted a fine line with "easy flowing ink". I got what I asked for. It did take several months, there is a bit of tediousness in the process primarily because English is a second language to the Nakaya translator. But all worked out. Best writing pen I have ever had. Another one is now on order for 2 months, to be delivered in October.

[murfie]

I just sold a bunch of my pens (and am about to sell some more once I j bar/sac and nib them) to be able to afford an Edison Herald Grande.

Hey Watcha, there's nothing wrong with your taste. Very nice pen that Herald Grande, as are most of Brian's wonderful craftwork.

[DavidHandmade]

Hello.

 

Please excuse my "ignorance" and Newbie status here, but:

 

What is a "TWSBI Diamond" (pen) ?

 

Thank you.

[watch_art]

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/163100-how-to-fill-a-piston-pen/page__view__findpost__p__1627592

[LouisA]

... at one stage I remember telling him that it didn't feel right to spend that much on a single pen.

 

 

IMHO if that was the case you should have never purchased the pen in the first place. No offense but you were clearly outside of your comfort zone. Just stick with pens you feel comfortable in purchasing and just don't worry about it.

[murfie]

Um ... there are times when you wish there was the ability to delete an entire topic and all the posts ...

 

I certainly appreciate all the concern and advice. Somewhere along the way in life I have lost the ability to put my precise thoughts clearly in print. I will have to make a concerted effort to improve. It certainly helps when you make a point and can stand back and see what people took from what you said. Probably explains why I never got into politics ....

 

Cheers to all regular FPNers ... keep on writing ...

[sallywally]

I am new to this site, but a somewhat old and avid fountain pen addict. I have written with a fountain pen for over 40 years now. Recently I acquired from Nakaya a custom maki pen with the Ascending Dragon motif. It was well worth the wait. The nib is perfect. I described how I hold my pen both in terms of firmness and distance from the end of the pen. I wanted a fine line with "easy flowing ink". I got what I asked for. It did take several months, there is a bit of tediousness in the process primarily because English is a second language to the Nakaya translator. But all worked out. Best writing pen I have ever had. Another one is now on order for 2 months, to be delivered in October.

I have an Ascending Dragon! :clap1: It's the Tami Sukashi model, the dragon under layers of laquer. I've had mine about a year now, and it's just wonderful. I've ordered another Nakaya, the Bamboo Woods, in the same style, but with amber laquer over the golden bamboo painting.

[Goldenpen]

I am new to this site, but a somewhat old and avid fountain pen addict. I have written with a fountain pen for over 40 years now. Recently I acquired from Nakaya a custom maki pen with the Ascending Dragon motif. It was well worth the wait. The nib is perfect. I described how I hold my pen both in terms of firmness and distance from the end of the pen. I wanted a fine line with "easy flowing ink". I got what I asked for. It did take several months, there is a bit of tediousness in the process primarily because English is a second language to the Nakaya translator. But all worked out. Best writing pen I have ever had. Another one is now on order for 2 months, to be delivered in October.

I have an Ascending Dragon! :clap1: It's the Tami Sukashi model, the dragon under layers of laquer. I've had mine about a year now, and it's just wonderful. I've ordered another Nakaya, the Bamboo Woods, in the same style, but with amber laquer over the golden bamboo painting.

 

My Ascending Dragon is almost the same. Love it. I put it in the window to catch the sun almost every day. That brings the dragon's color out. I have an email into Nakaya to see if this is smart. I will let you know.

[sallywally]

OK, thanks!

 

I think of it as sort of a stealth pen - I've got a secret, but naturally I show the dragon part to everyone

 

If I can upload it, here's a picture I pulled from the Nakaya site showing the dragon in a clear way:

[Goldenpen]

OK, thanks!

 

I think of it as sort of a stealth pen - I've got a secret, but naturally I show the dragon part to everyone

 

If I can upload it, here's a picture I pulled from the Nakaya site showing the dragon in a clear way:

 

Here's what mine should look like after some time exposed to sunlight. Still want to keep a secret?

[USN Air TrafficController]

Murfie, I just ran into a post in sales from about a month ago and you were selling your mint duplicates to fund this purchase. Now, from what I saw, even if you do let the new pen sit I see no loss because that's what your old pens were doing anyway.

[murfie]

Murfie, I just ran into a post in sales from about a month ago and you were selling your mint duplicates to fund this purchase. Now, from what I saw, even if you do let the new pen sit I see no loss because that's what your old pens were doing anyway.

Yep, I explained in an earlier post in this topic that this was the logic going round in my head that prompted me to place the order. After that my airspace got a bit overcrowded as explained. Two objects crossed trajectory and a surface to air missile cleared the air. USN Controller? Are you sitting in a carrier off the coast of South Korea?

 

 

 

[USN Air TrafficController]

Not yet. I'm off to sea school for a month and a half, then to the ship. Been in for over 5 years and just now getting to the sea. "To the foam" Murfie, best of luck with your new pen.

[donnad333]

Murfie:

My first post EVER! Precipitated by this FASCINATING thread! Been wondering what topic would take the prize.

Ahhh, a pen is the synapse between a thought and its manifestation...and YOUR thoughts--deep or shallow--deserve a fitting synapse.

I say to folks who cower when confronted with Excel (or a stick shift), "If you love [fill in the blank], it will love you back."

Now take that blessed Nakaya out of the cupboard and write some rock music. OK, start with Haiku. (BTW, I have two that I'm over the moon about [acquired from Classic Fountain Pens), and I'm working up to a special order, so I'm jealous.)

[murfie]

Not yet. I'm off to sea school for a month and a half, then to the ship. Been in for over 5 years and just now getting to the sea. "To the foam" Murfie, best of luck with your new pen.

And the very best of good fortune to your good self for your 'foamed' assignment.