Stationery: pens, pencils, notebooks,etc.

[Vitamian]

Post all stationary-related items - pens, pencil, notebooks, etc.

 

I like using fountain pens. For the sakes of brevity, I will not expand upon some recondite reasons why I do, but I'd like to know if there are any others who share this habit.

I have:



I also have a Delta Nautilus which unfortunately the nib needs to be fixed; and a Parker 51, and an OMAS 360.

[poly800rock]

i don't know if it's considered at all in the same calibir as what you posted, but i used to work for A.T. Cross and have/had a TON of American made pens from them, a few fountain pens. It's pretty sad how that company completely tanked once they moved their operations to China. Their 2 product designers left as well.

[Vitamian]

i don't know if it's considered at all in the same calibir as what you posted, but i used to work for A.T. Cross and have/had a TON of American made pens from them, a few fountain pens. It's pretty sad how that company completely tanked once they moved their operations to China. Their 2 product designers left as well.

Cross is a very good company; or at least they used to be.

Indeed, most of the American firms were at one point, at the top, but of course, diminished usage of expensive fountain pens and a general American habit of corporate stagnation (e.g. Detroit's auto industry) led to these companies either producing ugly Taiwanese made Desk Sets or just ambling by with derivative limited editions.

Somehow, the German companies fared better.

[poly800rock]

Cross is a very good company; or at least they used to be.

Indeed, most of the American firms were at one point, at the top, but of course, diminished usage of expensive fountain pens and a general American habit of corporate stagnation (e.g. Detroit's auto industry) led to these companies either producing ugly Taiwanese made Desk Sets or just ambling by with derivative limited editions.

Somehow, the German companies fared better.

the former designer had won tons of awards, he was schooled in germany and then i want to say swiss, but it's been a while. the other guy went off to motorola and gregor is doing a bunch of stuff in boston at a design firm i believe. He used to play all this downtempo stuff while i was hanging out in their office. He stole my idea for the glow in the dark ion pen!

[Gabriel]

[superdupersang]

had various parkers over the years

beleive it or not, i used to go to a very old skool grammar-prep school back in the early 90s.

we had the wooden desks with ink well and the lift up tops.

had a pump action parker.

come to think about, the school was called Emmanuel.

nowadays, Pilot hi-techpoint v7 for writing, 5 for sketching and a berol Notewriter in the office.

my trust lammy for correspondence (hate letters to celebs, fake notices of resignation, that kinda stuff)

[ayn]

I have Pelikan M800, M405, M600, M200 demonstrator (steel nib sucks, so never use it)... Also have B&E from FPH (now discontinued, they make Crone FPs), a Waterman, and a few others... Big fan of piston filler and Pelikan... The M405 is my every day pen and it's been flawless for 2 years...

[denimdestroyedmylife]

i use a lamy safari w/ a fine nib

i like the darth vaderish feel

using lamy blue ink now

waiting on noodler's zhivago ink to arrive (a very dark green ink)

madmen use green ink, no?

i'm new

wish list: shaeffer balance oversize------black

[mlproject]

i've had several fountains, but lose pens like a motherfucker and quit buying them.

lately i've been using koh-i-noor pens for sketching and rendering. not as many style points as some of the pelikans or that lamy, but i love the flow.

[superdupersang]

in art college, my friend had a mont blanc pencil type thing. looks kinda like the fisher space pen but a lot fatter with a bigger lead.

that was cool, and as much as i found it too in your face, still want one

[Vitamian]

I never handwrite my, granted infrequent letters. I use a grey and chromed '50s German Olympia typeriter.

However, my daily user these days is a Parker 51 which is a nice pen, quite retro.

I used to have a Pelikan M800 which was a very lovely piece of work and a nicely flexed nib.

Madmen use scented violet ink. But for my brand of madness, obscure Italian blue-black suffices.

[Vitamian]

in art college, my friend had a mont blanc pencil type thing. looks kinda like the fisher space pen but a lot fatter with a bigger lead.

that was cool, and as much as i found it too in your face, still want one

That is Mont Blanc's sketcher item:

[alterion]

i use a lamy safari w/ a fine nib

Me too!, brilliant pen because the nib is the same as the one they use on the lamy 200 and all thier $100+ pens, except its like $15. I'm using lamy black/blue ink. maintains formality but is a bit classy. I had a black lamy originally, but it was too easy too leave behind... so i now have this one :

[dumadiscount]

props to the lamy owners.

i got the demonstrator safari / medium nib... cheap and effective

[superdupersang]

pen porn.

keep em coming

[Vitamian]

Vintage Pelikan:

[soraanaam]

montblancs are nice

[denimdestroyedmylife]

that pelikan is handsome--------is it comfortable? it looks heavy.

[poly800rock]

still want an american made verve.....hmm....

[thomas_highstreet]

probably a bit new school for you chaps, but;

[mizanation]

great stuff! thanks for the info. please keep it flowing....

btw, typewriters are great. the fact that there's no cut and paste, that every letter requires a bit of manual force--it makes writing very stream-of-consciousness, and adds gravity to each word. like most of us around 30ish, i learned on a typewriter and i really miss the satisfaction of "real" typing.

that being said, i am very new to fountain pens. the lamy pens look beautiful.

i would also like to see what people write in. meaning what kind of stationary, notebooks, etc.

[denimdestroyedmylife]

this may interest you, miz.

noodler's makes a bulletproof black ink that can't be tampered with------they offer a $2000 reward to anyone that can remove their black ink from a check

SECURITY CHALLENGE BY NOODLER'S Black™ TO THE WORLD OF FORGERS AND IDENTITY THIEVES!!

(Updated January, 2006)

Noodler's Ink is offering a $2,000 reward/prize to the first person who can safely remove "Noodler's Black™" ink from a security bank check (watermarks, numbered signature line, all standard security features present, standard check paper containing no gloss or polymer coatings, no plastic or wax content!). The ink must first be permitted to dry completely upon the cellulose based check paper, then the ink must be completely removed without altering the paper or its security features such as watermarks.

As many people know, ball pen ink and many roller ball and fountain pen inks can be removed through the use of alcohols/acetone and carpet stain removers respectively. Noodler's Black™ ink cannot be removed...but if you can figure out how to remove it without voiding/altering the security features of the check...and do so before anyone else - then the prize is yours. You must disclose HOW you did it in detail to the company, however (process must be capable of being duplicated on standard checks repeatedly including cellulose security checks provided by the company as a final test, which are cellulose standard security checks made by Harland Inc. - this is to exclude checks people print on plastic sheets, plastic or polymer paper composites and other such possibilities...Noodler's Black™ washes off plastic with tap water) ...as this information is desired in the company's quest to make Noodler's Black™ ink the most forgery and fraud resistant ink in the world.

If nobody is able to safely remove Noodler's Black™ ink from a security check as explained above by November of the following year...the prize will increase by another $1,000...and so forth each November until it is claimed - if ever.

"Noodler's Black™ - bulletproof on cellulose paper, yet washes off plastic with plain tap water...100% water based ink - counterintuitive design at its best!"

[Vitamian]

Is that some sort of "Catch Me If You Can" contest?

[Vitamian]

great stuff! thanks for the info. please keep it flowing....

btw, typewriters are great. the fact that there's no cut and paste, that every letter requires a bit of manual force--it makes writing very stream-of-consciousness, and adds gravity to each word. like most of us around 30ish, i learned on a typewriter and i really miss the satisfaction of "real" typing.

that being said, i am very new to fountain pens. the lamy pens look beautiful.

i would also like to see what people write in. meaning what kind of stationary, notebooks, etc.

There's a certain visceral gravitas with typewriters, especially the manual ones. The electronic ones are a bit like computers.

But then, "cut and paste" was I believe, for use for traditional typing (newspapers?) since one had to literally cut and paste the words.

[Vitamian]

that pelikan is handsome--------is it comfortable? it looks heavy.

I've not used that one, but it appears heavy what with the sterling silver body. It's quite nice though.

[denimdestroyedmylife]

i had a hermes 3000 typewriter that i loved, but lost it in a move. looking for another.

anyway, here's my journal. started it in 2001, forgot about it, and resumed using it recently:

[Vitamian]

I like the Hermes 3000--distinctly retro, especially in their colorways like the light greens and blues.

I've never kept a journal, however.

[Vitamian]

I'm also a fan of the Sheaffer Triumph Model, but the problem with many American pens are their rather stiff nibs. Indeed, they even boasted of stiffness in their vintage advertisments. Perhaps Viagra should take a note.

However, the greater question is when people use fountain pens, what is their penmanship like? Most people these days--whether adults or children--have atrocious handwriting that an illiterate African immigrant would do better at.

[mizanation]

ddml: interesting post about the noodler's ink. i think $2000 is a little low, though.

vitamian: i read an article, i think in the new york times, about manual typewriter repair experts. they are almost extinct. but the ones that are still around are highly valued by those who still use manual typewriters. these repair experts can charge a steep premium for their services since their knowledge is so rare.

btw, i've never met an illiterate african, but i get what you were trying to say.

[Roland]

waiting on noodler's zhivago ink to arrive (a very dark green ink)

Nice ink Lizard King. I would call it a green black, but so distinctive. Wouldn't mind using the stuff for the rest of my life.