Wednesday, October 5, 2022

Fountain Pens

Like dressing for dinner, writing with a fountain pen helps you to be at your best. The direct descendent of the reed, it is the modern quill. A fountain pen requires focus on the line, the curve, and the mark. Even a quick note, soon to be discarded, carries importance, however briefly. 

 

The fountain pen requires maintenance and demands care and too easily leaves unwanted ink—sometimes alarmingly much—on fingers, papers, desk, and books. And it does not erase. A good ballpoint or roller ball will almost do as well on paper. Pencils have their virtues beyond erasability. The fountain pen needs no justification or excuse because it is the premier writing instrument.

Last year, I enrolled in several webinars about calligraphy that were sponsored by Mont Blanc. (I have a Meisterstück 4810 which was a present from an old and dear friend.) Following those, I unboxed my inventory and cleaned them up. Although I wanted the circa 1967 Sheaffer to be the everyday pen, its barrel was cracked and reinforced with scotch tape and the reservoirs fell off the connector pin. I bought new Sheaffers. One for calligraphy had an extremely lightweight body and never flowed well. I sent it back with a letter. They sent me another, much better. Another with promise of good heft does not accept the standard Sheaffer reservoir or any other from Sheaffer that I have found. So, it was back to ballpoints, rollerballs, gels, and fiber-tips. 

 

Taking the challenge again, I viewed YouTube videos from Gentleman’s Gazette and Figboot, and one from Prof. Richard McCutcheon, Dean of Arts at Thompson Rivers University. Then, I found a Figboot interview with Neil Degrasse Tyson. 

 

I cleaned the Mont Blanc and put a medium nib in another Sheaffer calligraphy pen. Yesterday, I went shopping. Jerry’s Artarama stopped carrying them. They sent me to Kinokuniya, a Japanese store. There, I found a Pilot that fills with a squeeze reservoir. I also bought an inexpensive Kawe Perkeo that accepts the “Euro” cartridges of which I have an unused box. I chose a red body for the Pilot and filled it with red ink (Mont Blanc). The Kawe nib is fine and the ink plain blue. The Mont Blanc and Sheaffer, both mediums, are black, though the Mont Blanc 585 nib is broader.  

 

PREVIOUSLY ON NECESSARY FACTS

 

The Pencil: History, Design, and Circumstance 

Pencil Notes: Reflections on Henry Petroski’s “The Pencil” 

Armadillocon 41 Day 3 Part 2 

Copy Rights and Wrongs 


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