What pen(s) are you using today?

[A Smug Dill]

[mallymal1]

A "Kingswood" pen, made by Parker at the Newhaven factory in England. Uses an Eversharp nib, and is inked with Diamine Blue Black.

 

[Gloucesterman]

5 minutes ago, mallymal1 said:

A "Kingswood" pen, made by Parker at the Newhaven factory in England. Uses an Eversharp nib, and is inked with Diamine Blue Black.

 

Now that one I REALLY like.

 

I will be looking for something similar when I attend the Commonwealth Pen Show in September.

Wish me success!

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

10 hours ago, taimdala said:

 

Touchdowns and Snorkels and Vacs, oh my!

 

You are more courageous than I am, @IThinkIHaveAProblem.

 

The most adventurous I've gotten in the vintage category is a sac-filler Esterbrook SJ in blue and burgandy. I have one of each and they actually are filled with ink!

 

At the moment, they're inked with tame Diamine Black Onyx or Ferris Wheel Press Timeless Blue. I have the burgandy installed with an Esterbrook 2198 nib and it gives a nice flexy line. The blue has an Esterbrook 2048 nib also capable of giving a little flex. I don't use them as often as I should. I'm still afraid of breaking them somehow.

 

I also have a vintage Sheaffer sac-filler in a red-veined grey marble without any ink in it. As with the Esterbrooks, it is a touch too-precious to me still to actually use.

 

Like I said, you're more courageous than I am! LOL!

 

Most of my collection, well over 90% id say..) is vintage. The only new pens i own are a few twsbi ecos, a lamy 2k, some wing sung 601s and some safaris. The rest is mostly “51”s, and snorkels. 
 

your esterbrooks are tanks. I encourage you to use them. 

 

that Sheaffer is a gorgeous pen. i have a few balances myself. One from the 20-30s is inked right now.  You should use it for what it was meant to do!   if you are worried about it, stick to “safe” inks and keep it at home. That’s why i have the wing sung 601s. So i can take a “51” clone with me instead of a real 51 (there are modern Balance copies too)

 

the easy way into vintage is to buy “user grade” pens. That way they are less precious. Those esties are a gateway drug! 

 

[irrigger]

Pretty basic line-up that I've been carrying for the last week. 

 

Narwhal Peter Draws Edition medium with Diamine Kelly Green

Pelikano medium with Diamine Imperial Purple cartridges

Pilot Custom 823 Amber broad with Montblanc Toffee Brown

[inkstainedruth]

21 hours ago, taimdala said:

 

It sounds as if you've got a cat disguised as a Montblanc pen. 😉

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[inkstainedruth]

2 hours ago, mallymal1 said:

A "Kingswood" pen, made by Parker at the Newhaven factory in England. Uses an Eversharp nib, and is inked with Diamine Blue Black.

 

Thats a really attractive material that pen is made from.  I'm not familiar with the model at all.  What sort of fill system does it have?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[taimdala]

2 hours ago, IThinkIHaveAProblem said:

Most of my collection, well over 90% id say..) is vintage. The only new pens i own are a few twsbi ecos, a lamy 2k, some wing sung 601s and some safaris. The rest is mostly “51”s, and snorkels. 
 

your esterbrooks are tanks. I encourage you to use them. 

 

that Sheaffer is a gorgeous pen. i have a few balances myself. One from the 20-30s is inked right now.  You should use it for what it was meant to do!   if you are worried about it, stick to “safe” inks and keep it at home. That’s why i have the wing sung 601s. So i can take a “51” clone with me instead of a real 51 (there are modern Balance copies too)

 

the easy way into vintage is to buy “user grade” pens. That way they are less precious. Those esties are a gateway drug! 

 

 

Thank you so much for the advice, @IThinkIHaveAProblem. It does make me sad thinking of my Sheaffer Balance sitting zipped up in my Nock Sinclair case, in the dark, and wondering why I don't love it. 

 

(Anthropomorphize much? Yes. I do.)

 

But I will take your suggestion of using a safe ink and bringing it outside to play. 

 

I know Waterman is considered a safe ink, but am not sure of other brands. 

 

What other brands or colors would you recommend? (Or is here a thread here that you can point me to?)

 

Thanks again! 😃

[taimdala]

3 hours ago, IThinkIHaveAProblem said:

... the easy way into vintage is to buy “user grade” pens. That way they are less precious. Those esties are a gateway drug! 

 

Omigosh, yes. 

 

What attracted me to them was their barrel color, followed quickly by their many different nibs you could swap into them. 

 

Buy the pen once for the barrel/section, then buy all the nib styles you want, and swap to your heart's content. 

 

I was glad that when the Esterbrook was revived a few years ago, Monteverde included a converter for the section to allow use of the vintage replacement nibs in the modern pen.

 

TWSBI has interchangeable nib units for their Diamond 580 and Vac models, but they haven't the sheer range that the vintage Esterbrook nibs had. 

 

I felt extremely lucky to acquire two vintage 9128 nibs (extra flexible extra fine) from Myk Daigle at the Triangle Pen Show this year. The nib isn't a wet noodle gold nib by any stretch but it does give a nice variable line. I plan to use it for drawing. 

 

And signing cards to the family with it. They seem to like my handwriting for some reason.

 

(*asumes innocent expression*)

[taimdala]

7 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

!!!@*@!!!

 

 

 

Doing my best Will Smith/Independence Day impersonation:

 

"I have *GOT* to get me one of these!"

[OldTravelingShoe]

9 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

Wonderful President, @A Smug Dill, and with UEF no less! Too bad they're discontinued now (afaik).

 

Thank you also for the writing sample. Someday... I'll write European cursive well 😆

[OldTravelingShoe]

TL;DR: A set of very diverse pens to draw a great tit, during a moment of rest in the Harz Mountains, Germany. Figures 1 and 2 depict the product and the drawing tools that made it, respectively. 

 

Figure 1. The outcome. A hungry Giant Tit, aflutter most of the time, but temporarily at rest. Like the artist, I guess. 

 

Figure 2. It took all of... multiple pens to get this drawing done. Opus88 with steel 1.5mm stub nib, inked with Sailor Kiwaguro black (a test). Parker45 with steel (?) F nib inked with Noodler's Harold's Hearse yellow-green. TWSBI Eco Green with steel EF nib re-ground to a fude nib by FPNibs, inked with Diamine Sherwood Green. 

 

Enjoy. Comments are most welcome. 

 

 

 

[ParramattaPaul]

Onoto Scholar.

[taimdala]

56 minutes ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

TL;DR: A set of very diverse pens to draw a great tit, during a moment of rest in the Harz Mountains, Germany. Figures 1 and 2 depict the product and the drawing tools that made it, respectively. 

 

Figure 1. The outcome. A hungry Giant Tit, aflutter most of the time, but temporarily at rest. Like the artist, I guess. 

 

Figure 2. It took all of... multiple pens to get this drawing done. Opus88 with steel 1.5mm stub nib, inked with Sailor Kiwaguro black (a test). Parker45 with steel (?) F nib inked with Noodler's Harold's Hearse yellow-green. TWSBI Eco Green with steel EF nib re-ground to a fude nib by FPNibs, inked with Diamine Sherwood Green. 

 

Enjoy. Comments are most welcome. 

 

 

 

Oh this is lovely! You've captured the bird so very well. 💖

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

5 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

TL;DR: A set of very diverse pens to draw a great tit, during a moment of rest in the Harz Mountains, Germany. Figures 1 and 2 depict the product and the drawing tools that made it, respectively. 

 

Figure 1. The outcome. A hungry Giant Tit, aflutter most of the time, but temporarily at rest. Like the artist, I guess. 

 

Figure 2. It took all of... multiple pens to get this drawing done. Opus88 with steel 1.5mm stub nib, inked with Sailor Kiwaguro black (a test). Parker45 with steel (?) F nib inked with Noodler's Harold's Hearse yellow-green. TWSBI Eco Green with steel EF nib re-ground to a fude nib by FPNibs, inked with Diamine Sherwood Green. 

 

Enjoy. Comments are most welcome. 

 

 

 

Awesome. I wish i had your talent/skill. It’s something i have not been able to develop. I’m glad you are putting it to good use. Thank you for sharing it with us

 

ps: great pen choices

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

@taimdala

 

re safe inks: 

http://www.richardspens.com/ref/care/inks.htm

http://www.richardspens.com/ref/care/care.htm

Waterman, Pelikan, Sheaffer and Parker (Quink only! Not Superchrome or “51” ink!) and most Diamine (non shimmer, non sheen ) inks are usually considered “safe”.  Generally, if a pen company made it, it should be ok. 

I DO use Noodler’s inks, but I’m careful which ink goes into which pen.

Ex: “51” aerometrics are battle tanks that i don’t worry about one bit. Twsbi eco? 54th Mass?.. let’s do this!  But i won’t put a “Bulletproof” Noodler’s ink in a Sheaffer with a visualated section or a vacumatic.  And since i do my own repairs (I’m weird, i find fixing snorkels to be relaxing…), if a sac gooifies, I’ll be annoyed but i can fix it, admittedly not everyone can do that.

 

for threads here about safe inks?…

use this as your google search:

safe inks site:fountainpennetwork.com
 

tl;dr. Massive can of worms that often, but not always, degenerates into Noodler’s lovers and haters yelling at each other  
 
i am by no means an authority on this stuff. (Or anything for that matter…) I’m just a dude, who likes pens, and reads about them… a lot.

So i advise you to do a lot of reading too and draw your own conclusions.  

 

re storage of your Sheaffer:

Your pen is made of celluloid (i think). Celluloid needs to breathe. The link below is excellent. I suggest the “storage” section of the page

http://dirck.delint.ca/beta/?page_id=16#FEEDING

here’s another:

http://www.richardspens.com/ref/care/dos_donts.htm

 

Both Dirck and Richard’s pages are AMAZING resources. You can (and I HAVE) spend literally hours and hours reading them and learning

 

re esties: I would be a bigger fan of current esterbrook if the would restart manufacturing of the old style nibs. They ARE a finite resource…

Also since the colours are what drew you in, google “icicle esterbrook” if you don’t already know what they are. (I’m sorry for the damage i just caused your wallet…)

[N1003U]

On 8/3/2022 at 10:50 AM, OldTravelingShoe said:

TL;DR: I just returned from a trip to the Harz Mountains, Germany. For those who don't know, it's an area with many rolling hills and some mountains, beautiful nature and towns, and many man-made lakes (UNESCO Heritage). Was a blast, but with very limited digital access. Well, more time to try out pens in the wild. 

 

Figure 1 depicts one of the sketches, done with a Sailor (long-short) pocket pen from the 1970s, 21K fine, smooth nib with kind line variation, inked with Akkerman's Steenrood van Vermeer. It was at the end of the hardest ascent we did during this trip, so one more excuse for my amateur strokes. 

 

Figure 1. The Brocken Peak in the Harz Mountains, Germany. 

 

Enjoy and glad to be back. I may post a few more of these sketches... pen of the day examples. 

That is a lovely area, and you have created a lovely sketch! I am also envious of both your sketching skills and that very nice-looking Sailor pen. 

 

Thank you for sharing.

[N1003U]

Deleted duplicate post.

[A Smug Dill]

10 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

Wonderful President, @A Smug Dill, and with UEF no less! Too bad they're discontinued now (afaik).

 

 

I ordered mine last year from a seller operating out of Japan, after it was known that the President line was discontinued. As far as I know, that seller from whom I bought still has more of the same pen model in blue and with UEF nib, although I'm not going to post the details here in the open to direct traffic/business to that shop. (@OldTravelingShoe please feel free to ask me in private if you want to know.)

[mallymal1]

18 hours ago, Gloucesterman said:

Now that one I REALLY like.

 

I will be looking for something similar when I attend the Commonwealth Pen Show in September.

Wish me success!

 

Hope you find what you are looking for! 

 

☘️