Archive for the 'fountain pens' Category

My Pelikan M450

Published on 11 March 2007 in fountain pens, Pelikan M450, handwriting, joy, love and toys. 4 Comments

I picked up THE pen yesterday - the Pelikan M450, which I have coveted ever since I saw it online a couple of years ago. At a cost of around US$450 I was resigned to only admiring it from afar (it’s not even available here in Perth, Western Australia). What changed? The little windfall from selling our house!

I tried very hard to find someone local (or even Over East) to sell me this pen, but the only vendor who responded quoted a price of AU$1030, and that was minus postage and handling and insurance. After much investigation I ended up buying my pen from Richard Binder in the US. I chose Richard because:

  1. he has a good reputation among pen fanatics online
  2. his price was quite good (US$380). I also ordered a couple of nib inserts for my Namiki Vanishing Point pen, and the grand total, including insurance, was US$450 (around AU$576!)
  3. he tests each pen and adjusts it prior to delivery (he’s also a pen restorer and repairer)

The postie actually tried to deliver the pen on Wednesday, while I was at work. I didn’t have the time to go to the post office until Saturday morning (imagine the anticipation!).

The pen was very well wrapped - no rattling whatsoever in the box. Besides the pen and the nibs, Richard also included a blotter and some instructions on using the pen.

It’s a beautiful pen that feels right in my hand. The nib is very smooth and feels very good on paper.

I’m going to enjoy using this pen very much, assuming I can stop admiring it…

My scribble, using the Pelikan M450.
The first picture is not mine - it’s from Stylophiles.

New toys

Published on 28 February 2007 in fountain pens and toys. 0 Comments
My new pen wrap. No, it’s not edible.

Undo the velcro strap and open it up…

Pens!

Ordered online, from Goldspot Luxury Gifts.
We lovesss it, my precioussss….
Thanks to T. Scott for mentioning the pen wrap and drawing my attention to it in the first place!

The pens I currently have in it are new too, all bought from HisNibs.com, except for one.

From left to right: Duke Mini Torpedo, Hero 329, Hero 237-1 Accountant Pen (Chartreuse XXF), Pilot 78-G (Cinnabar Red M), and the Monteverde Mega Ink Ball.

The Monteverde Mega Ink Ball came from Goldspot, as HisNibs didn’t have the burgundy model in stock when I ordered the others. It is a very unusual pen that has already drawn comment when I’ve used it - it’s a fountain pen, but with a roller ball point.

The notes on the Mega on HisNibs.com are useful:

Some people have experienced poor ink flow the first time after filling the Mega. It’s necessary for the tip to become fully saturated with ink in order for the pen to operate properly. Experience has shown that a good method is to fill the pen with ink from the bottle, and while the tip is still immersed in the ink, to expel the ink by reversing the piston and then to refill the pen. Then, blot excess ink from the tip, place the cap on the pen and allow it to rest point-down for 30 minutes or so, allowing capillary action to fully saturate the tip the first time.

When I first wrote with the Mega I was very disappointed as the pen kept skipping - the ink flow was not smooth, so that some letters didn’t form properly, and it just didn’t feel good. I tried refilling the pen as advised, and true enough, the problem resolved itself. It now writes very smoothly and is a pleasure to use.

I have yet to write (with the new pens, of course) to His Nibs himself, Norman Haase, to thank him for his friendly, efficient service.

Hobbies

Published on 29 October 2006 in fountain pens, hobby, reading, blogging and games. 3 Comments

A comment I just wrote in response to JadedLotus’s comment here made me think about hobbies, and how mine have changed a bit over the years.

Funny things, hobbies. Wikipedia defines a hobby as a pastime:

practised for interest and enjoyment, rather than financial reward. Examples include collecting, making, tinkering, sports and adult education. Engaging in a hobby can lead to acquiring substantial skill, knowledge, and experience. However, personal fulfillment is the aim.

…

An important determinant of what is considered a hobby, as distinct from a profession (beyond the lack of remuneration), is probably how easy it is to make a living at the activity. Almost no one can make a living at cigarette card or stamp collecting, but many people find it enjoyable; so it is commonly regarded as a hobby.

My hobbies definitely fall into the category of activities-one-can’t-make-a-living-from, but thinking about it, some of them have definitely helped me at work.

Reading would have to be my Number One hobby. (If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you would probably have guessed.) My library shows the range of things I read: science fiction, crime fiction, Malaysian, Indonesian, Chinese language fiction, linguistics. Blogs feature here too, as I read a lot of blogs these days… How does reading help with my job? Besides filling my head with all sorts of useful facts and fancies, I’d say it also helps my memory - I seem to have a knack of remembering strange facts, and better still, am often able to dredge such facts up in response to obscure questions, or at parties. It all goes towards The Mystique of The Librarian. Such as it is ;)

I’d have to say that blogging is my next most rewarding hobby, even if it is my newest one. Besides giving me writing practice, I’m loving the fact that I’m getting to know so many people from all over the world. Workwise blogging helps because I learn so much from other bloggers - whether it’s technology related, or to do with my profession as a whole, or just the whole gamut of issues people are talking about these days.

Games - computer games - also take up a bit of my time. At the moment? World of Warcraft. I’m making friends and enjoying it whenever I catch up with Morgan in that world. Workwise: problem solving, lateral thinking, learning interfaces, typing. (Yes, typing - in-game chat has given me hours of practice with the keyboard. I have never learned how to type, formally, but years of chatting - IRC, email, in-game, IM - all great practice. I don’t need to look at the keyboard.)

Finally, my (not so) secret hobby: fountain pen collecting. I haven’t actually bought a single pen this year, not since my self-imposed ban on lurking on eBay. This hobby is an expensive one and after a while I decided that I needed to stop “needing” that Pelikan M400 (or whatever). My credit card can’t take the strain, even if it is such fun getting parcels from all over the world… These days I limit myself to penspotting. Meetings can be interesting (why do so many senior academics own Montblanc ballpens??). Workwise? Well, writing with fountain pens is good for my handwriting. And perhaps it also gives me an eye for detail!