I was let down quite a bit too.  They must have spent all the creative juice on the Anniversary show and had nothing left for the Christmas show.

 

The fact that I watched the show wearing my "Exterminating in the Rain" tee shirt, armed with my Sonic Screwdriver and 11th Doctor Mr Potatohead, eased the pain a bit.  I'm looking forward to Peter Capaldi's portayal of the Doctor now!

 

Tim

 

Breaking pens into clusters

 

Please don't

 

Not even clusters of red grapes? 

(Or perhaps orange...)

"Nice" is a remarkable understatement!

 

Tim

It sure looks like an overfeed, doesn't it?  Are we certain it's actually soldered?

 

Tim

The Estie did set me back nearly four dollars, so there was a moment of internal conflict.  If I'd had two or three more dollars cash in my wallet (which would have been enough to pick up the Sheaffer) I would have had to pass on the Estie.  But I couldn't very well pass on the Sheaffer... which meant the debit card came out.  I didn't have authorization from the CFO (the lovely mother of my five kids), so I fugured another four bucks wouldn't really get me in any additional trouble.  Besides, it was blue.

 

Tim

Looks like fun!

Went for my first antique shop crawl in a couple months last Saturday.  My first stop was at a recently opened place that I hadn't been to before.  There were about a dozen pens lined up in a display case, and a blue Esterbrook LJ and an orange Sheaffer of some sort both grabbed my eye.

 

The orange Sheaffer was in great shape; clearly whoever O. W. Haney was didn't use it much.  Then I looked at the bottom of the pen... "R3-25C Semi Fine $3.00".  Yep, stickered!

 

As if that wasn't thrilling enough, I walked out with both pens for under 30 bucks.

 

Dandy way to finish the year!  Now I guess I should take a picture or two...

 

Tim

Looks downright Demi-esque!

Tim

My "Sumgai" story for the week!


I won a two pen lot on the bay this week- a Sheaffer Craftsman, and an Estie Trans J pen in black.

When the pens arrived yesterday, I was really pleased to find a "toaster" jewel up top, and a 2314B nib!

I got both pens for $25!!

Sweet! A free Craftsman with purchase of an awesome Estie. Can't beat that with a stick!

Tim

Sweet! Right through my neck of the woods.

I'd love to see about 3000 more!

Tim

Sweet little pen!

I see an intriguing combination of details. The nib says "14 CT.", which I generally equate with English manufacture (vs the 14KT of typical U.S. made gold stuff)... but the barrel clearly says "Made in U.S.A."

Thoughts?

Tim

Must be Canadian.

Tim

Yikes!

Perhaps if the seller realized how much rarer a nice Waterman stub is than a flex he wouldn't be trying to snap the tines off that one.

Can't stop cringing!

Tim

Page 163 of the Shepherd book says this:

"A mystery remains as to the meaning of the letters imprinted below the name Duofold. The letters N, P, Y and Z were stamped there for some reason, possibly to identify the group or company that made the nib and in order to maintain quality control. Unsatisfactory nibs might be returned to an outside manufacturer as rejects."

See, I think Paul was a clever guy who figured nobody would ever figure out he was adding his initial to nib imprints. Everyone would just assume it meant "Parker". Norman spotted what Paul was doing and for awhile the two enjoyed their little inside joke. Yancey and Zachary ruined the whole thing by getting caught right off the bat. The shop foreman, fearing repercussions, kept the whole thing quiet.

Tim

Lately I seem to be very fond of Esterbrooks (various Js, Dollars, and a Visumaster) and most mornings one of those goes in my shirt pocket as I head out the door. Thus far today I've used two different Esties (one with a 2556 nib and the other with a 2788 that's like butter), a '51 "51" (1951 Parker 51), and a 95 year old or so Moore's Non-Leakable.

I also frequently carry a Sheaffer TM Sentinel, a Wahl Rosewood, or a gorgeous little coral orange Mabie-Todd from the '30s. When I reach for a pencil it's either a Snorkel or a Skyline.

The only time I ever use a ball pen is when I have no other option, which generally means thermal print receipts from debit purchases.

Tim

So don't forget that although these are screw-in nibs, you can actually treat them like any other friction-fit nib/feed.

Sometimes.

Look before you go whacking away to knock the feed out.

If you look at the underside of the collar around the nib, you will see that many have an indentation where the plastic has been pressed down. There's actually a cut at the deepest point, and it points toward the BACK of the nib. There is a corresponding notch in the feed. The purpose is to lock the feed in position so that the nib and feed don't rotate as you screw and unscrew the nib unit in the section. If you knock the nib out on one of these nibs, you can break the collar. At the least this pushed in piece will break off. At worst, the whole collar can break.

The way to handle this is to coax the nib out, warm the collar, rotate the feed so that the indentation is pushed up, then work the feed out.

I've been pretty successful with this method as well. Matter of fact, based on my not extensive experience, Esties aren't the only ones that don't like to let go of a feed until the nib has been teased out of the way first.

Tim

[Of course, I probably should also shoot my possible heretofore unseen Olive Ripple Waterman variant. Of course, that claim does rather throw down the gauntlet

regards

david

Doesn't it always?

Tim

Perhaps the cash register was made by the Wahl Adding Machine Company?

Tim

My own experience would suggest that BHR benefits from usage. That is, the oils that transfer from hand to pen seem to diminish the appearance of oxidation. Perhaps that's just wishful thinking on my part, but I believe my HR pens look better the more I use them. I also give 'em a wipe-down once in a while with a soft dry cloth.

I have a pen I treated with a little olive oil to see what it would do. It did seem to make the pen look a bit younger and it hasn't done anything bizarre yet after more than a year... so at the least it doesn't appear to cause any harm.

Tim

I'd try to locate a finer gauge wire before resorting to enlarging the pin holes. It's much easier to make a hole too big than it is to make it smaller again. Then I would cut to length prior to insertion so as not to inflict any scars trying to cut the wire flush with the barrel.

Hope this helps.

Tim

Thanks, David. Have you seen a red "twist-sac"?

Is it just me, or does that sound like a horrible medical condition?

"I'm very sorry, Ma'am, but your husband has a rare case of red twist-sac and is asking to be euthenized."

Tim

I have a Koh-I-Nor pen with a Yugo badge. You guys are pikers.

A couple decades ago I owned both a Koh-I-Nor pen and a Yugo at the same time. Thankfully only one of the two is still around.

Tim

Note that the logo looks a bit like a goat leaping in the mountains. "Bock" means "buck", which along with male bunnies and male deer can refer to male goats. That would be why bock beers traditionally have a goat on the label somewhere. It's a German thing.

Tim

Falling behind on your what?

Tim

Always happy to see stuff.

Just call me Peeking Tim!