5 Months Into This... Hobby?

[Inkysloth]

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2842/9468845410_608af30fb4_c.jpg
Parkers in a tray by Inkysloth, on Flickr

 

My Parkers as they currently stand, minus a couple of 45 Flighters, Vectors (yellow, translucent green, sky blue, red), a classic and a 15 which are in a pen roll ... ahem.

 

So, this is a dangerous hobby. New pens are nice, but they don't do it for me in the way vintage pens do. The excitement of the first test of a nib - every nib has its own characteristics and quirks, rather than the fairly bland regularity of modern steel nibs. Reliable but a lot less fun than discovering a beautiful springy flex nib - that Parker Premiere has a proper wet noodle of a nib. Doesn't spread too wide, but takes next to no pressure to get line variation.

 

Unfortunately I can't get a photo with decent colour reproduction with my phone camera. There's a little shadow wave vac in there that has lovely sparkly green stripes. The Premiere is a beautiful soft pearlescent grey, and my teal 51 is, well, teal.

 

The tray is an IKEA small plywood chest of drawers. I cut a sheet of archival foamboard to size, cut the rectangles out, and then cut a sheet of mountboard to size, matching the rectangles to the foamboard. This is then glued down on sheet of mountboard. (There are two trays in the plywood drawer separated by thin wooden strips around the inside of the drawer.)

[georges zaslavsky]

nice collection of Parkers

[MyriamV]

I'm a little jealous of your collection here I do have to say it's a nice one though

Edited August 8, 2013 by MyriamV

[Soot]

Welcome to this hobby [correction: slippery slope] of ours.

 

From the look of it, you had more pens than I when I was at the five months stage... Okay, back to your regular programing.

[Sinistral1]

Good Grief, am I feeling your pain, Inkysloth!

 

I've been dabbling with fountain pens for 45 years, but just decided recently to get serious about it. The thrill of the hunt, the exiliration of the chase, and the cruel agony when you're outbid by just 1 GBP (the pen was for sale from Northern Ireland) with only seconds to go in the auction, and some other #@!%& gets the vintage Waterman CF gold barleycorn with a stub nib you had started having dreams about when and how you would get to use it. Did I mention that this $250 pen sold for just under $70? Oh well, I think I hear the hounds baying in the distance, and so the hunt must be back on! Tally ho!

Edited August 8, 2013 by Sinistral1

[Matth13]

Nice Parkers! I can relate to your preference for vintage pens. I enjoy all my newer pens, but vintage pens are more my cup of tea. I find Parkers especially cool.

[pajaro]

The display you crafted is very nice indeed. I like your selection of pens. Very nice!

[inkstainedruth]

Nice collection.

I'll admit that I didn't have nearly so many pens at 5 months in, and the only one that was remotely like vintage at that point was a 45 with a very nice 14K medium nib that I sumgai'ed in a small antiques mall in northwestern PA on a weekend road trip last summer.

This year, by comparison, has been primarily vintage, with three 51s being the highlight; one of my grail pens was a plum Aero, and I managed to score on on Ebay for a decent price -- it's not mint condition by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a lovely fairly wet M (I think), and is a complete joy to use -- although it did get just a tad drippy a couple of times on my flight between Chicago and Seattle (four hours in a plane seemed to be a good excuse to do some writing, although I also did a bit of sketching with a Rotring Art Pen with an EF nib both on the plane and at my brother in law's house.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[ac12]

I like your Parkers.

 

I like them just a little newer; 180, CLASSIC, ARROW, 95, 75, 45.

Some of these were the ones that I used in college; 180, 75, 45.

I think I also used a Vector but I think that was a roller ball.

 

The problem that I have with buying a 51 on eBay is that the seller usually has no idea what the tip size is. And because of how the hood is constructed, you cannot see any markings on the nib. So you end up buying on faith, and hoping that you get the tip size that you want. Which in my case did not happen, I wanted a F, I got a M. One day that M nib will get changed out for a F nib.

[Inkysloth]

I should have added, the initial flurry has calmed & I'm happy to wait and see what pens turn up at flea markets etc.

[pajaro]

 

The problem that I have with buying a 51 on eBay is that the seller usually has no idea what the tip size is. And because of how the hood is constructed, you cannot see any markings on the nib. So you end up buying on faith, and hoping that you get the tip size that you want. Which in my case did not happen, I wanted a F, I got a M. One day that M nib will get changed out for a F nib.

 

Most people who bought a 51 on ebay and got a medium would be happy. Most of the 51s are probably fines. I prefer the fines too. You could probably turn around and sell the medium and buy a fine fairly easily, unless you are unlucky.

[Inkysloth]

I quite like the lucky dip aspect of Ebay.

 

I've bought 5 51s on Ebay, trying to get nice nibs, knowing I can just pop them back on Ebay if they're not my cup of tea. The three in the picture are the ones I've kept. I did "cheat" and buy an XF nib to fit to one of them, so now I have a medium, an oblique medium or fine (I can't work out which it is), and an extra fine nib.

 

None of the pens above have cost more than £40, most were less than £30. Not all came from Ebay, Greenwich Market also helped!

[rahulg]

Hmm. Five months, did you say? Astounding, what you have done in this time.

 

Hope to see more more Parkers join the flock soon.

 

Best,

Rahul