Newbie With A Nakaya Dream..

[trax]

Just an aside that you should be careful with smoothing nibs using micromesh (especially on nice pens like your Nakaya). Practice on cheap pens because it's way too easy to go overboard and take off too much in the quest for a smooth nib.

 

BTW, there's also another (supposedly somewhat less destructive) technique that involves drawing figure 8's on kraft paper bags (like the kind they used to pack groceries in...now I'm dating myself); I think you can find info on FPN about this in another forum (Writing Instruments comes to mind, but I could be wrong.)

 

HTH and look forward to seeing pictures of the new addition, once you get it. BTW, since you keep your pens inside but use your photos outside, are we going to see some outdoor 'action shots' of the Nakaya in the wild?

Hi JLS1, oh I would never touch the Nakaya I have bought many Pelikanos over the years and the most scratchy ones have been put aside, so I thought I could have some fun seeing if I could bring some of those forgotten ones back to life. These are real scratchy ones, may have tines misaligned too, I will look at it. With those I have nothing to loose should I do it wrong

 

I hadn't heard about the kraft paper thing, I will remember that as well!

 

Ha ha perhaps that would be an idea, outdoor action shots of my Nakaya in the woods (in my terrible deathgrip, oh well.. ) I hope I can take some nice pictures, the Nakaya pictures I've seen on this site are really high quality photos! Perhaps I'll shoot it next to one of my high end perfume bottles, just to mix up my passions

 

My boyfriend just passed the computer asking what I was doing, I answered: I'm planning my NEXT pen He just went: NOOOOOO!!!

I must go and calm him

 

Thank you for your reply! :) All the best from Bella!

Edited January 30, 2013 by trax

[Mickey]

Let me see if I can help you with your grip problems.

 

Almost all varieties and species of death grip are the result of not having an intuitive sense of how to move the point when the pen is gripped properly. Inevitably the fingers become too active, resulting in a tight grip, poor point control, and fatigue. It's quite possible to suffer from death grip with what appears to be a conventional grip and not suffer the malady with an utterly unconventional grip, such as yours. Death grip is simply strangling the pen, regardless of how the body of the writer is connected to the body of the pen. The problem with utterly unconventional grips is that pens, particularly fountain and dip pens, usually work best when gripped conventionally and may not do well at all with some of the more highly mutated grips. Give the following a try and see if it helps.

 

Before you pick up your pen, rest your palm and forearm lightly on the desk. Now slide your hand around the disk, lightly tracing large circles with your palm. That is the primary motive force for handwriting, the arm and shoulder working smoothly together. Try to capture the feel.

 

Now grip your pen as you presently do and repeat the above, keeping your fingers relaxed, the grip only tight enough to secure the pen. Move smoothly, fairly rapidly, don't try to trace any particularly circle. Get the feel. Notice, you are moving the hand, to which the pen is affixed. You aren't trying to move the pen independently of the hand.

 

Now grip the pen in the more conventional manner (tripod grip) and repeat the above exercise. Again, you need only grip the pen tightly enough for it not to fall out of your hand. Your fingers should be quiet, almost but not quite inert.

 

At first, this may feel alien, but after a while it starts to become natural. A couple of thoughts may make this transition easier. You are not be trying to write with your arm. Forget about the debate about 'finger writing' vs 'arm writing.' What you want to do is let your fingers guide or lead your arm, like when you point your finger at some object in the distance. You don't think about all the muscles needed to perform the operation. You simply point. Eventually, you will want to feel like the pen point leads the hand, which in turn leads the arm. When you get to that point, you will then feel the paper well enough to relax your grip further and won't feel you need to press the pen into the page to maintain contact.

 

Good luck

Edited January 30, 2013 by Mickey

[trax]

Let me see if I can help you with your grip problems.

 

Almost all varieties and species of death grip are the result of not having an intuitive sense of how to move the point when the pen is gripped properly. Inevitably the fingers become too active, resulting in a tight grip, poor point control, and fatigue. It's quite possible to suffer from death grip with what appears to be a conventional grip and not suffer the malady with an utterly unconventional grip, such as yours. Death grip is simply strangling the pen, regardless of how the body of the writer is connected to the body of the pen. The problem with utterly unconventional grips is that pens, particularly fountain and dip pens, usually work best when gripped conventionally and may not do well at all with some of the more highly mutated grips. Give the following a try and see if it helps.

 

Before you pick up your pen, rest your palm and forearm lightly on the desk. Now slide your hand around the disk, lightly tracing large circles with your palm. That is the primary motive force for handwriting, the arm and shoulder working smoothly together. Try to capture the feel.

 

Now grip your pen as you presently do and repeat the above, keeping your fingers relaxed, the grip only tight enough to secure the pen. Move smoothly, fairly rapidly, don't try to trace any particularly circle. Get the feel. Notice, you are moving the hand, to which the pen is affixed. You aren't trying to move the pen independently of the hand.

 

Now grip the pen in the more conventional manner (tripod grip) and repeat the above exercise. Again, you need only grip the pen tightly enough for it not to fall out of your hand. Your fingers should be quiet, almost but not quite inert.

 

At first, this may feel alien, but after a while it starts to become natural. A couple of thoughts may make this transition easier. You are not be trying to write with your arm. Forget about the debate about 'finger writing' vs 'arm writing.' What you want to do is let your fingers guide or lead your arm, like when you point your finger at some object in the distance. You don't think about all the muscles needed to perform the operation. You simply point. Eventually, you will want to feel like the pen point leads the hand, which in turn leads the arm. When you get to that point, you will then feel the paper well enough to relax your grip further and won't feel you need to press the pen into the page to maintain contact.

 

Good luck

Thank you Mickey, those exercises changed very much my experience of trying out the tripod grip. Up until now my deathgrip has been soo light compared to the tripod grip when I try that. Tripod grip made me grip the pen so hard, whereas the deathgrip og mine has me resting my fingers around the pen, just the way you describe.

When I've tried to practice the tripod grip I very shortly into writing get pain in a point underneath and in the middle of my forearm. It gets very tensely annoyed in that point and so I stop. My death grip does not give any discomfort in a single point like that, it has actually never given any discomfort before I tried writing very long in one session and with a new pen (the Lamy Al-Star instead of the Pelikano)

I have damaged both my wrists in life and had numerous inflammations in them. Tried to play cello for three years also, but eventually gave up as there was no way to rotate my wrists even close to the correct positions, so I think maybe that weird grip I have has been a way to avoid aggravating those weak wrists?

 

Your explanations spoke very much to my Qi gong heart with the pen point leading the hand leading the arm Thank you for taking the time, I will practice this with the palm and forearm on the table as it gave an entirely new relaxed feel!

 

While I'm here, can I ask if anyone of you know the availability of the Nakaya converters? Are they only sold at nibs.com, as then I should probably add a few off them now. But if they are readily available I don't need anymore at the moment as I have never destroyed or lost a converter before.

[rudyhou]

The Nakaya pens warm up quickly in your hand, so I don't think you need to worry about it feeling cold.

 

They're beautiful pens, no doubt. They are also wonderful writing pens, so you get functional art. I am a little concerned about recommending a Nakaya to someone new to fountain pens, though. They cost a lot of money and I would not want you to spend so much only to find out that you don't like the size of the pen or the weight or whatever.

Thank you for your reply and I totally understand your concern! I have large hands for a woman, I am quite tall, so I can't imagine any pens being too large at least. I would have more doubt about piccolo sizes. I have a very dysfunctional way of holding my pen while I write, I'll add photo, and the way I hold the pen eats up alot of the pen length. I have nothing wrong with my hands and surprisingly I have a very nice handwriting, but I cannot write in any other way so large or normal sized pens is a must

I like my moms Rotring 600 though I find the nib too stiff, and I also love my superlight Pelikanos so weight does not matter much to me

 

I write for hours every day, I'm on disability so I have alot of time on my hands. I can sit and play with the Pelikanos for hours so I would probably never regret a Nakaya if I can make it happen. Here's the stupid way I hold my pens that eat up all the pen length, showing a Pelikano here:

 

http://i.imgur.com/d1rmSDWl.jpg

 

that's quite similar to how i would hold my pen, except my thumb would bend in and rest on top of the nail of my index finger. so there's nothing weird with how you hold your pen to write. everyone does things differently.

ps: i have 3 nakaya fps and i love them.

Edited January 31, 2013 by rudyhou

[trax]

 

that's quite similar to how i would hold my pen, except my thumb would bend in and rest on top of the nail of my index finger. so there's nothing weird with how you hold your pen to write. everyone does things differently.

ps: i have 3 nakaya fps and i love them.

Thank you Rudyhou, great to hear others have similar ways of writing I tried holding the pen the way you describe and your version seem healthyer than mine, I have no idea how my thumb ended up all the way up there and straight out like that

 

Three Nakayas oh beautiful! I had such a hard time choosing between the matte hairline, tha Nanohana-iro green one and the unpolished shu that I suspect I will try to find ways later in life to get hold of the other two as well. Must be if my handwriting improves well enough to dare try a smaller nib. I'd probably go with the green one first as that looked great in the stock nib. The matte hairline kind of screamed for a ruthenium nib at additional cost.. I do hope that when the pen arrives it is not in anyway dissapointing but at the same time not quite as addictive as those Nakayas seem to be

 

All the best from Bella :)

[rudyhou]

that's quite similar to how i would hold my pen, except my thumb would bend in and rest on top of the nail of my index finger. so there's nothing weird with how you hold your pen to write. everyone does things differently.

ps: i have 3 nakaya fps and i love them.

Thank you Rudyhou, great to hear others have similar ways of writing I tried holding the pen the way you describe and your version seem healthyer than mine, I have no idea how my thumb ended up all the way up there and straight out like that

 

Three Nakayas oh beautiful! I had such a hard time choosing between the matte hairline, tha Nanohana-iro green one and the unpolished shu that I suspect I will try to find ways later in life to get hold of the other two as well. Must be if my handwriting improves well enough to dare try a smaller nib. I'd probably go with the green one first as that looked great in the stock nib. The matte hairline kind of screamed for a ruthenium nib at additional cost.. I do hope that when the pen arrives it is not in anyway dissapointing but at the same time not quite as addictive as those Nakayas seem to be

 

All the best from Bella :)

 

hi bella,

 

funny you should mentioned that. one of my 3 nakaya fps happens to be a matte black (sumiko) finish that comes with a ruthenium nib AND a ruthenium clip. let me just say... it's PERFECT!!

[trax]

hi bella,

 

funny you should mentioned that. one of my 3 nakaya fps happens to be a matte black (sumiko) finish that comes with a ruthenium nib AND a ruthenium clip. let me just say... it's PERFECT!!

Oh! That was the finish my boyfriend said without doubt he'd choose, but the unpolished shu were so beautiful and quite abit more affordable so I started with that. You are describing perfection! A belated congrats on that amazing pen! :)

[rudyhou]

hi bella,

 

funny you should mentioned that. one of my 3 nakaya fps happens to be a matte black (sumiko) finish that comes with a ruthenium nib AND a ruthenium clip. let me just say... it's PERFECT!!

Oh! That was the finish my boyfriend said without doubt he'd choose, but the unpolished shu were so beautiful and quite abit more affordable so I started with that. You are describing perfection! A belated congrats on that amazing pen! :)

 

thank you, bella. a word of warning, though. once you have one nakaya, you bound to wish for a second one. and this is how i now have 3. and i'm still planning to get more. when i have the money, that is.

[trax]

thank you, bella. a word of warning, though. once you have one nakaya, you bound to wish for a second one. and this is how i now have 3. and i'm still planning to get more. when i have the money, that is.

Yeah I had planned on buying a new archery bow this month (hurt my shoulder so I need a weaker bow that I can draw in my current state ) and an online language class, but it'll all have to wait. And I have deleted almost all my saved searches on eBay and similar sites so that I am no longer very tempted by all my other collecting passions.. :embarrassed_smile: And I am constantly trying to sort out what perfumes and other belongings I can sell :roflmho:

 

Some items/figurines/colors have such a calming effect on me, and that it happened to be a pen this time was just a coincidence, but I would rather have it be pens the next time too

Now to find the perfect redbrown ink to go with the unpolished shu, something like say Noodlers Cayenne maybe, or the J Herbin 1670 anniversary. I hope there are colors in this range that are not too detrimental to the pen. I've heard bad things about red ink but haven't read much about it yet.

[rudyhou]

thank you, bella. a word of warning, though. once you have one nakaya, you bound to wish for a second one. and this is how i now have 3. and i'm still planning to get more. when i have the money, that is.

Yeah I had planned on buying a new archery bow this month (hurt my shoulder so I need a weaker bow that I can draw in my current state ) and an online language class, but it'll all have to wait. And I have deleted almost all my saved searches on eBay and similar sites so that I am no longer very tempted by all my other collecting passions.. :embarrassed_smile: And I am constantly trying to sort out what perfumes and other belongings I can sell :roflmho:

 

Some items/figurines/colors have such a calming effect on me, and that it happened to be a pen this time was just a coincidence, but I would rather have it be pens the next time too

Now to find the perfect redbrown ink to go with the unpolished shu, something like say Noodlers Cayenne maybe, or the J Herbin 1670 anniversary. I hope there are colors in this range that are not too detrimental to the pen. I've heard bad things about red ink but haven't read much about it yet.

 

j.herbin 1670 is a nice color. if you'd like to have a darker shade of red color, you may like to try out noodler's red black. it's certainly darker than cayenne.

Edited January 31, 2013 by rudyhou

[trax]

 

j.herbin 1670 is a nice color. if you'd like to have a darker shade of red color, you may like to try out noodler's red black. it's certainly darker than cayenne.

I hadn't seen Noodlers Red Black, I will keep that in mind! Thank you for your helpful inputs! :)

[vibin247]

Some colors will be more difficult to fully flush out of a pen than others. If that's the case, a 1:9 dilution of ammonia with water should do the trick, and some soaking overnight if needed. I haven't tried it myself, but pen cleaning solutions like the one marketed by Platinum, as well as J.B's Perfect Pen Flush have been getting good reviews.

[KarloT]

Some colors will be more difficult to fully flush out of a pen than others. If that's the case, a 1:9 dilution of ammonia with water should do the trick, and some soaking overnight if needed. I haven't tried it myself, but pen cleaning solutions like the one marketed by Platinum, as well as J.B's Perfect Pen Flush have been getting good reviews.

 

I can vouch for the Platinum Ink Cleaning Solution. I had a few pens that had been cleaned via ultrasonic and they wrote well enough. I soaked them in the Platinum potion overnight (following the directions on the package,) flushed with water and dried the pens. Inking them afterwards, they wrote very differently.

 

I've also used Bombay Pen Cleaner and Speedball pen cleaner to de-gunk a lot of neglected pens. They work too.

 

I used to mix my own ammonia solution but the rest of the household could not get along with the scent.

[trax]

Some colors will be more difficult to fully flush out of a pen than others. If that's the case, a 1:9 dilution of ammonia with water should do the trick, and some soaking overnight if needed. I haven't tried it myself, but pen cleaning solutions like the one marketed by Platinum, as well as J.B's Perfect Pen Flush have been getting good reviews.

Thank you Vibin247! I have heard ammonia mentioned. but I had no idea that pen cleaning solutions even excisted! This was very helpful The pen will arrive at a home more ready because of all of you here :)

[trax]

I can vouch for the Platinum Ink Cleaning Solution. I had a few pens that had been cleaned via ultrasonic and they wrote well enough. I soaked them in the Platinum potion overnight (following the directions on the package,) flushed with water and dried the pens. Inking them afterwards, they wrote very differently.

 

I've also used Bombay Pen Cleaner and Speedball pen cleaner to de-gunk a lot of neglected pens. They work too.

 

I used to mix my own ammonia solution but the rest of the household could not get along with the scent.

I will well remember that Platinum solution I have a boyfriend who has almost no sense of smell, which is a blessing when collecting perfume as there is often a lot when making perfume samples, but ammonia, he would have too noticed that I think so ink cleaning solutions sound perfect! :)

 

I can't believe I will soon upgrade from Pelikanos on 3$ Ikea notepads too a Mottishaw grind Nakaya on Rhodia notepads, I have no idea what either feels like! I hope my Lamys and Pelikanos will also love the Rhodia paper and that I will not forget to use them as well

[JLS1]

I can vouch for the Platinum Ink Cleaning Solution. I had a few pens that had been cleaned via ultrasonic and they wrote well enough. I soaked them in the Platinum potion overnight (following the directions on the package,) flushed with water and dried the pens. Inking them afterwards, they wrote very differently.

 

I've also used Bombay Pen Cleaner and Speedball pen cleaner to de-gunk a lot of neglected pens. They work too.

 

I used to mix my own ammonia solution but the rest of the household could not get along with the scent.

I will well remember that Platinum solution I have a boyfriend who has almost no sense of smell, which is a blessing when collecting perfume as there is often a lot when making perfume samples, but ammonia, he would have too noticed that I think so ink cleaning solutions sound perfect! :)

 

I can't believe I will soon upgrade from Pelikanos on 3$ Ikea notepads too a Mottishaw grind Nakaya on Rhodia notepads, I have no idea what either feels like! I hope my Lamys and Pelikanos will also love the Rhodia paper and that I will not forget to use them as well

 

I remember some good advice (I think it was from Bo Bo Olsen) that the fountain pen experience is 1/3 nib, 1/3 ink and 1/3 paper. FWIW, the nib is pretty much the only fixed part of the equation (and even then, it can be adjusted or even swapped out as with some Lamys and Pelikans), so if you find that a pen isn't working to your satisfaction, try changing the ink and/or paper before you give up on it.

 

This happened to me recently: I bought a Platinum 3776 Yakusugi FP, which was a pen I had been on the hunt for a while. When I received it, I inked it up with Noodler's Borealis Black and started writing in my standard notebooks. The experience was HORRIBLE: the pen was scratchy, skippy and never started up right away. Needless to say, I was really disappointed as I liked the look and feel of the pen otherwise. I then changed from Noodler's Black to Iroshizuku Asa-Gao (my 'go-to Blue' ink) and then all of the sudden my Platinum started writing like a dream and is now in my regular rotation.

 

(DISCLAIMER: I don't mean to imply that Noodler's ink is bad for/doesn't work in Platinum/Nakayas - I've inked up my Neo Standard with Noodler's inks and it's been fine. It was just the combination of that 3776 and the Noodler's Borealis Black that didn't work well for some reason.)

[trax]

 

I remember some good advice (I think it was from Bo Bo Olsen) that the fountain pen experience is 1/3 nib, 1/3 ink and 1/3 paper. FWIW, the nib is pretty much the only fixed part of the equation (and even then, it can be adjusted or even swapped out as with some Lamys and Pelikans), so if you find that a pen isn't working to your satisfaction, try changing the ink and/or paper before you give up on it.

 

This happened to me recently: I bought a Platinum 3776 Yakusugi FP, which was a pen I had been on the hunt for a while. When I received it, I inked it up with Noodler's Borealis Black and started writing in my standard notebooks. The experience was HORRIBLE: the pen was scratchy, skippy and never started up right away. Needless to say, I was really disappointed as I liked the look and feel of the pen otherwise. I then changed from Noodler's Black to Iroshizuku Asa-Gao (my 'go-to Blue' ink) and then all of the sudden my Platinum started writing like a dream and is now in my regular rotation.

 

(DISCLAIMER: I don't mean to imply that Noodler's ink is bad for/doesn't work in Platinum/Nakayas - I've inked up my Neo Standard with Noodler's inks and it's been fine. It was just the combination of that 3776 and the Noodler's Borealis Black that didn't work well for some reason.)

 

Thank you, JLS1 for sharing your experience and good advice! I am glad you found the right combination for your beautiful pen! I can just loose myself over that Iroshizuku color palette by the way..

Some of my Pelikanos are a nightmare to write with with some ink, the more watery kind, but when I changed to Private Reserve ink that was almost soupy thick compared to whatever it was I had used before, the Pelikanos glided soo smoothly over paper! I have since gotten nine different colors Private Reserve and it feels like it puts a pearl of oil between the nib and the paper for me to play with ( No affiliation etc etc just a happy customer!)

May take some more cleaning out, being thick as that but totally worth it, I feel

 

I have reached a "numb" state in my Nakaya expectation stages, I feel nothing at the moment, probably as I don't know at all what a Nakaya feels like or how it will suit me (or not) and maybe because I've been all giddy for days now and I may have just drained myself empty by now Needing a day of giddy-less rest, is that a usual stage/state? ;D

Edited February 1, 2013 by trax

[trax]

Today I somewhat shakingly paid the Paypal invoice for my Nakaya, now I can't wait to hold it in my hand!

Already have dreams of my next Naka-ai which would have to be a Matte Hairline Cigar with a ruthenium M nib or a Nanohana-iro with a gold B stub. But don't see that happening anytime soon.

Norwegian customs will have a field day with this pen when it arrives but right now I just don't care :bunny01: :)

[Namo]

Congrats for you Nakaya! Hope you will enjoy the pen, and be sure to share your excitment!

 

Cheers!

[trax]

Congrats for you Nakaya! Hope you will enjoy the pen, and be sure to share your excitment!

 

Cheers!

Thank you Namo! I am tracking it fiercely as we speak The Nakaya Shield hasn't worked as effectively as I had hoped though. I bought another Pilot 78G (BB stub) on eBay a few days ago.. :embarrassed_smile:

I am looking everywhere for rust red metal on which I can carefully display the pen for my pen photoshoot when it arrives

Edited February 24, 2013 by trax