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There have been 19 items by pajaro (Search limited from 29-March 23)


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#36109 Just what is considered modern?

Posted by pajaro on 30 July 2014 - 01:31 AM in MODERN PENS. Yes... really.

I suppose stuff made in the 1970s and before is really becoming vintage.  I find this depressing, because I graduated from the university in 1970 and bought a new Parker 51 at that time.  So, the pen and I are both vintage.  Thirty to forty years ago becomes a fuzzy border between vintage and modern.  Think about all the stuff from the sixties and seventies.  You will no doubt think of it as vintage.




#33246 Learning my lesson about modern pens

Posted by pajaro on 12 February 2014 - 03:11 AM in MODERN PENS. Yes... really.

The main problem I have with modern pens is the tendency in many of them to dry out too quickly in writing pauses and overnight.  Parker Sonnet to 51 comparison, for example.  Modern Pelikans and some other pens stay moist longer.  This drying up issue is a real aggravation.I don't care about the weight of some modern pens.  I get used to it.  The Pelikan M640 Northern Lights is a pleasant pen to use.  The nibs for this series are quite special.

 

The drying out of modern nibs did push me to use my 51s more and to use the Sonnets less.  The Sheaffer Prelude, weight apart, dries up also, and the Imperial Touchdown pens are better.  Even the Touchdown Cadet is a better pen for staying moist longer and not needing much to get started if dry.  All the modern pens I have used are a nuisance about drying out except Montblanc and Pelikan.  A very few Sonnets have been sort of passable.  I prefer Sheaffer Touchdowns and Parker 51s, Pelikan M200/400 and Montblanc 144 and 146.

 

I almost think makers have forgotten how to make nib and feed work properly.




#32755 Parker Insifnia FP

Posted by pajaro on 23 January 2014 - 02:34 AM in PARKER: (USA "Big Five")

The Insignia works better for me than Sonnet.  It doesn't dry out as fast, even with a Sonnet nib.




#32752 My brand new, 45+ yeard old, Sheaffer.

Posted by pajaro on 23 January 2014 - 02:27 AM in SHEAFFER (USA "Big Five")

I used them 1960 to 1970.  I recently bought one with an Esterbrook cap and put a Chinese converter in it, like the converters in JinHaos. 




#32228 Parker's home town... frozen.

Posted by pajaro on 11 January 2014 - 06:33 PM in What's New in Your Life

In Tecumseh, Michigan, in southern Michigan, we were in the same boat.  The worst part was the cold in my hands even with heavy gloves.  My hands hurt for half an hour after snowblowing the driveway.




#32227 Have I just missed a bargain??

Posted by pajaro on 11 January 2014 - 06:28 PM in BRITISH PENS

For every bargain you miss, there will be another possibility along soon.

 

There are too many to grasp them all.

 

Yet, there are some you lament years afterwards.




#31696 TWSBI FP Review

Posted by pajaro on 02 January 2014 - 10:21 PM in MODERN PENS. Yes... really.

I have a 530 clear that I bought NOS for $20 on ebay.  It's a very nice pen and writes a nice, fine line.




#31351 Pick YOUR choice of "The Quintessential Esterbrook"

Posted by pajaro on 30 December 2013 - 09:58 PM in USA "Other": Bexley; Cross; Esterbrook; Carter, Chilton, Moore, Leboeuf, Dunn, Triad, etc.

On second thought we should forget about moving the Estie Loaner Program.   Too much hassle.




#31313 Pick YOUR choice of "The Quintessential Esterbrook"

Posted by pajaro on 30 December 2013 - 06:03 PM in USA "Other": Bexley; Cross; Esterbrook; Carter, Chilton, Moore, Leboeuf, Dunn, Triad, etc.

The Visumaster is a rare pen.  I don't expect I'll ever see one.  Even the Transitional J is not exactly run of the mill.  I would think it would have to be one of the Js.  If you wanted to actually name one of the oddball Esties as quintessential, how about the pump filler or even the M2?

 

I don't really like lever fillers, because they tend to dig me under the fingernail.  So, I like the M2, because it is the Estie that fills most like the Parker 51 aerometric.  Please don't belabor me about the swirl ecstasies of the Js or the all plastic Estie squeeze fillers.

 

I wonder if we could move the Estie loaner program to this site.  This site is way faster than the other place.




#31055 Carter's Ink Ephemera

Posted by pajaro on 29 December 2013 - 04:33 PM in USA "Other": Bexley; Cross; Esterbrook; Carter, Chilton, Moore, Leboeuf, Dunn, Triad, etc.

Fantastic collection!  I have never seen any of those items before, but I used to use Carter's red ink to write letters to a girlfriend in the early 1970s when I was in the Air Force.  Used my midnight blue 51 back then that I bought in the BX.  Carters was a nice ink. 




#30876 Carved Fish Inkwell

Posted by pajaro on 27 December 2013 - 11:52 PM in Miscellanea: Ink, Paper, Calligraphy, Journals, Storage, Turning, etc

That's truly kick-ass.  Don't let that Noodler's guy see it.




#30766 Why more P51 medium & broad from UK than US?

Posted by pajaro on 26 December 2013 - 10:04 PM in PARKER: (USA "Big Five")

Europeans in general seem to prefer broader nibs.  They must use better paper than us Americans, to not have a lot of bleed through.

 

I find the fine nib better, because we Americans seem to use cheap-*ss crummy paper that bleeds through too easily.  Broad just blobs.

 

Note to America:  USE BETTER PAPER!




#30677 Parker Aztec up for auction

Posted by pajaro on 25 December 2013 - 12:04 AM in PARKER: (USA "Big Five")

I don't care how rare something is, if it looks old it's not attractive. 




#30650 Another Monster Parker/Wahl Hoard: Ohio Pen Show 2013

Posted by pajaro on 24 December 2013 - 02:20 AM in PARKER: (USA "Big Five")

I enjoy reading about this stuff more than having pens.




#29969 Anonymous E-Bay Seller

Posted by pajaro on 26 November 2013 - 02:17 AM in Elements of Collecting: Hunting, Valuing and Polemicizing

I have bought a few impossible to get nibs from this seller.  It's amusing that payment has to be within 24 hours, but it is several days before stuff ships.  However, I get the stuff within the week.  That's a lot faster than shipments from Argentina.  I am glad this seller is around, and same goes for Ariel Kullock.  Glad they are doing business when I need parts.




#29787 Why So Low?

Posted by pajaro on 19 November 2013 - 04:22 AM in PARKER: (USA "Big Five")

I think the lucite on these pens is too clear.  I have seen quite a number of offerings of Ariel Kullock clear demonstrator productions, and they don't appear aged like originals.

 

I think it's wonderful that some like Ariel Kullock have made the clear demonstrator replicas, giving more people the possibility of having such a reproduction pen like the originals.  We needn't be so credulous, however, as to believe they are original Parker demonstrators.  They are not so rare, not so valuable but you get to have the Parker demonstrator kind of experience, like people had back in the day. 

 

I have an violet pink AK 51 fantasy aero double jewel demonstrator, and I think it's interesting, but not to be passed off as some "rare Parker demonstrator."  Enough people are familiar with AK's work that that isn't likely.  Those pens in the auctions went for about what they were worth, maybe.




#29776 Can this be a Parker 51??

Posted by pajaro on 18 November 2013 - 03:56 PM in PARKER: (USA "Big Five")

The barrel and hood color are reminiscient of a Kullock 51 "cocoa" barrel and hood, which have always looked like pale beige to me.




#29774 Parker Insignia--Curious To See If Cap Seals Better Than Sonnet

Posted by pajaro on 18 November 2013 - 02:02 PM in PARKER: (USA "Big Five")

I bought this pen because I wanted to see if it would have a better cap than a Sonnet.

 

http://www.ebay.com/...nc#ht_808wt_880

 

Apparently I'll find out soon.  Some of my Sonnets seem to dry out too quickly, and research found that in the manufacturing process the riveting on of the clip broke the inside cap of many early Sonnets.  I am hoping the Insignia will be better.  I am hoping to be able to use the sections of the various Sonnets that have nice nibs into pens that have better seals.  One good point of the Sonnet is that all the sections are black, allowing you to mix and match.




#29773 Why So Low?

Posted by pajaro on 18 November 2013 - 01:51 PM in PARKER: (USA "Big Five")

These look to like Kullock pens.  Especially all sold at the same time by the same seller.  These would be some kind of Sumgai buys if original Parker creations.