TL;DR: Purchasing pens made for a different market can mean some changes are needed to make them fit. In the Japanese market, I often find F nibs thinned to EF and tuned to write glass-smoothly. But, sometimes, I find nibs further turned downward, closer to the Sailor Concord specialty nibs than to the narrow down-turn of the Pilot Falcon or Posting nibs. This rare example of a Montblanc 121 Burgundy with 18k nib, ground from F to EF, turned into a Concord shape, has had artisanal work in these two directions.
Read More
Urban Sketching in Tarragona -OR- Enters a Geha 722 (1970s)
TL;DR: Urban sketching (usk) is what got me to try out fountain pens. This time, I’m usking in Tarragona, UNESCO World Heritage site with, among others, Roman vestiges. The result? See Figure 1.
Read More
Hedgy -OR- Pilot Custom Grandee, Music Nib (1979)
TL;DR: Hedgehogs appear next to wet noodles – juicy, long, flexible creatures. So, when a late-1970s Pilot Custom Grandee shows up equipped with just this kind of nib, a music nib no less, the Hedgy is bound to show up.
Read More
Pallas’ cat, the grumpiest in the world -OR- PILOT Elite with 18k F nib (1974)
TL;DR: Did you know Pallas’ cat is the grumpiest in the world? It must be true, because that’s what David Attenborough said during his Frozen Planet II coverage of this grumpy cat (for the whole series, start here). Great subject for a PILOT Elite tryout!
Read More
Sailor Mini 21 with Zoom Nib (1970s)
TL;DR: In the 1970s, Sailor made its Mini line with 21k-gold nibs. Better, they equipped these pocket pens with various nibs, of which the Zoom is the nib that produces different strokes depending on the writing angle: Hold the pen higher, closer to the vertical, and it writer thinner; hold the pen closer to the ideal hold at 45- to 50-degrees, and it writes thicker. Here is such a Sailor Mini 21 with Zoom nib.
Read More
A 1970s PILOT Elite fountain pen with fingernail 18k SCRIPT nib goes to Basel
TL;DR: And here is this pen, 1970s PILOT Elite fountain pen with ‘fingernail’ 18k SCRIPT nib, visiting Basel, CH.
Read More
Two Platinum Soft-Fine Nibs, From the 2010s and the 1970s
TL;DR: I got to try these two Platinum Soft-Fine nibs, pens attached, one made in the late-2010s and placed in a PNB-13000A Platinum #3776 Century in Chartres Blue, the other in the 1970s and fit into a PB-5000 long black pen.
Read More