Jump to content


Photo

His Nibs.com update -- Getting my Buzz on


  • Please log in to reply
No replies to this topic

#1 HisNibs

HisNibs

    journeyman

  • Members
  • 133 posts
  • LocationAllentown, PA

Posted 23 September 2016 - 08:43 PM

HisNibs.com update -- Getting my Buzz on!

September 20th, 2016

Greetings,

http://www.hisnibs.c...ngDay_small.jpg

My Giants are still undefeated at 2-0!


Alright, we'll get to pens in a minute. First though, I had a really terrific experience this past Friday -- I got to shake hands and say hi to one of my boyhood heroes -- Buzz Aldrin!

Buzz was being honored by his hometown of Montclair, NJ (where I lived for about 20 years), with the renaming of the middle school which he attended. I went to the evening party for Buzz (the theme was 'Party like it's 1969!' and I brought along a Monteverde Stylus Tool Pen http://www.hisnibs.c...stylus_tool.htm that I hoped to present to him (see, I told you we'd get to pens).

I've posted a short clip from the video that I shot that night, which captures my forcing my way (hey, I drove 2 hours and he's my hero!) to get a quick handshake and a 'Hi' from Buzz. My subsequent "Colonel Aldrin" was in the hopes of giving him the pen, but there was never another opportunity. He's 86, had been running all day, and basically stopped by the party to give a quick 'thank you' and detail his ideas about reaching Mars. You can see the short video on the homepage http://www.hisnibs.com/.

Now, unfortunately at this point, there may be a sizeable portion of younger readers saying 'Who the hell is this 'Buzz' he's talking about'? I've discovered in the past week that this is a surprisingly large contingent, which is a bit sad. To put it succinctly, he was on the Apollo 11 mission which was the first to land on the Moon, and the second human to walk on the surface (after Neil Armstrong).

buzzaldrin-71.jpg


I planned to give him the pen and say "Should you ever again find yourself in the situation where you need to fire your ascent engine, I hope this comes in handy!". The story behind that -- which was only revealed several years after their return -- was that when Neil and Buzz climbed back into the cramped space of the LEM (Lunar Excursion Module) after their walk, one of their backpacks apparently broke off the circuit breaker switch which was to fire the LEM's engine and blast them back into lunar orbit to rendezvous with Michael Collins in the Command Module, so that the three of them could return to Earth.

After radioing back to Earth and saying in effect 'Houston, we've got a problem', NASA told them to get some sleep and they'd work on a solution. After unsuccessfully trying to sleep, NASA still hadn't come up with a solution. If they couldn't fire the ascent engine, they were dead men and would have been entombed in their spacecraft to this day. Finally, Buzz had an idea and reached into his suit's sleeve pocket and pulled out his Duro Pen QB-2 Astronaut felt tip marker (I know, we're all disappointed it wasn't a fountain pen) and found that it just fit into the circuit breaker opening -- and would allow them to fire the engine to blast off from the Moon. They were literally saved by a pen! https://youtu.be/OkWTZ54DWwk

I could go on and on about the excitement of the space program in the 60's -- and July 20th, 1969 in particular -- but I've already written a bit about it on the 35th anniversary here http://hisnibs.blogs...roes-still.html, if you'd care to read more.

OK, back to our pens. I have two new models for you from China, the Baoer Mako Pinstripes http://www.hisnibs.c..._pinstripes.htm and the Uranus Quilts series http://www.hisnibs.com/quilts.htm.

We're restocked on the Duke 962 series http://www.hisnibs.com/duke_962.htm, the Delta Unica http://www.hisnibs.com/unica.htm and some scary items for Halloween http://www.hisnibs.com/halloween.htm!

Also, I won't to mention the last of the Monteverde Poquito http://www.hisnibs.com/poquito_fp.htm fountain pens, as well as the Monteverde Catalina  pens. As I write this, I'm down to one each of every color/pattern, so first-come, first-served!

As this newsletter goes out to a mailing list of thousands of customers, please understand if there's a delay in answering your email queries or orders after one of these is sent. We will respond in order received and as soon as possible!

IMPORTANT SERVICE NOTE: Every nib that ships from His Nibs is closely examined under high magnification and tuned or adjusted if needed. About 85% of modern nibs need some adjustment out-of-the-box from the manufacturer for an optimal writing experience. Most commonly, the tines of the nib are misaligned -- which would cause scratchiness at the minimum; the slit between the tines is partially or fully closed -- which would starve the nib of ink and at best cause skipping; or the slit between the tines is too wide -- which will either again cause skipping, or conversely, flooding. There are other factors -- such as separation of the nib from the feed -- that are inspected and repaired before any pen leaves the Palace.

The only 100% guarantee of course comes when the pen is actually filled with ink and written with for the first time, but our pre-shipping inspections and tunings have eliminated 99.99999 (my finger is getting tired) of the frustrations that a customer experiences when first using a new fountain pen. Although this can be time-consuming on occasion, it affords our customers a much more pleasant experience when receiving a fountain pen from His Nibs -- and saves us the frustration of dealing with returns!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~in this issue
* Uranus Quilts series
* Baoer Mako Pinstripes
* Duke 962 series back in stock
* Delta Unica back in stock
* Halloween time!
* Last of the Monteverde Poquito fountain pens
* Last of the Monteverde Catalina fountain pens
* 'His Nibs' page on Facebook

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Uranus Quilts series

UranusQuiltsGroupRandom_small.jpg

Uranus introduces another fun pen model in multiple colors. The Quilts model measures 5" capped, 5-3/4"posted and 4-3/4" with cap held aside. So, it's a fairly narrow pen in a somewhat compact size.

Although Uranus identifies the pen by a number, I chose the name 'Quilts' based on the appearance of the patterning on the barrel. Interestingly, the pattern has a texture, which is discernable to touch.

See more here... - http://www.hisnibs.com/quilts.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Baoer Mako Pinstripes

BaoerMakoPinstripeMain_small.jpg

The 'pinstripes' in the pen's name refer to those on the cap. 'Mako' refers to the rather distinctive hooded section, apparent in profile. It sort of reminds me of something.

The pen's overall design is an amalgam of other pen models (the arrow clip and the S.T. Dupont-like center cap ring, as examples). Somehow, they come together to make a very attractive whole.

The metal slip cap, which re-seats with a satisfying snap, has an angled top above the pin striping, which makes for a sharp look when peeking out of a shirt pocket. The pen measures 5-1/4" capped, 6" posted and 4-1/5" with cap held aside.

More here... - http://www.hisnibs.c..._pinstripes.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Duke 962 series back in stock

Duke962GroupCross_small.jpg

 

These Duke pens appear very different due to their very distinctive patterns-under-lacquer. It's something of an optical illusion that held side-to-side, they seem to be different models. The Autumn Impression tricks one into thinking that it has a greater girth than the Woodgrain, all due to its more flamboyant and busy coloration. I also have a very hard time believing that the Woodgrain isn't made of wood, as the apparent grain and coloration is very convincing.

These slim beauties measure 5-3/8" capped, 6" posted and 4-5/8" with cap held aside. So, although slim enough to fit in many organizer loops, the pen is certainly of a size to fit the largest hand with posted cap.

The latest versions I call Mondrian, due to their caps.

Duke962MondrianGroupAngled_small1.jpg

See more here... - http://www.hisnibs.com/duke_962.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Delta Unica back in stock

DeltaUnicaGroupRandom_small.jpg

I'd describe the Unica as a mid-sized pen these days (pen sizes, like cars and waistlines only seem to increase with time), measuring 5-18" capped, 6" posted and 4-3/4" with cap held aside. That's plenty long enough to use unposted, which is my usual choice. There's a nice girth to the pen which I personally prefer, but all who I've had try it (small hand, large hands, women, men) have commented on how comfortable the pen is to use.

Long a premier fountain pen company, Delta pen prices have also been rather 'premier' -- in large part due to the fact that most models have been limited editions. Now, Delta is making a real push to broaden their line to create superior pens at a price that the rest of us can afford. I never really thought I'd see a Delta pen that retails for less than $100.00!

Read more here... - http://www.hisnibs.com/unica.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Halloween time!
DTGothicSkullPenSet.jpg

See everything here... - http://www.hisnibs.com/halloween.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last of the Monteverde Poquito fountain pens

MonteverdePoquitoFPGroupPosted_small.jpg

The pen measures 4-3/4" capped, 5" posted and 3-3/4" with cap held aside. Of brass construction, with either a matte finish (in the case of the Stone Grey) or a metallic gloss lacquer for the other colors, this is one pen that won't weigh you down.

More photos here... - http://www.hisnibs.com/poquito_fp.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last of the Monteverde Catalina fountain pens

MonteverdeCatalinaGroupRandom2_small.jpg

The Catalina is a full-sized pen, measuring 5-1/4" capped, 6-1/8" posted and 5" with cap held aside. Let me start by quoting Monteverde's description of the pens:

"The bold and stunning rings on the cap and the pearlized colors of the Catalina collection immediately take you on a nautical journey to your favorite island getaway. A quick one hour boat ride from the coast of Los Angeles, California and you arrive at the incredible beauty of crystal blue water and sandy beaches of Catalina Island that are awaiting for you. The revolutionary clip with a roller wheel facilitates easy placement in your pockets, and like a trustworthy anchor, provides firm adherence."

The two upper chrome rings are engraved with Monteverde and Catalina respectively, and each cap has five resin rings that rather spectacularly define the overall look of the pen (black for the Butterscotch version, and white for the Blue or Black).

See more here... - http://www.hisnibs.com/catalina.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'His Nibs' page on Facebook

Join us for daily news updates from around the world about fountain pens, ink, handwriting and more!

Click here to visit our Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/HisNibs1/


Regards,

Norman Haase
www.hisnibs.com
www.facebook.com/HisNibs1






0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users