Wearever Vintage Fountain Pen

Back about a month or so ago I was trolling through a website that auctions stuff off. Wink, wink. And found a lovely green marbled fountain pen. This pen has expanded my fountain pen experience. First it needed a new ink sac, then the gold plated nib needed to be straightened cause it was seriously wonkyjawed. For those unfamilar with wonkyjawed it means messed up pretty good.

The really neat thing about this pen is how old it is. My best guesstimate is 1940s to the 1950s. If so this pen is in it’s 60 or 70s. My dad is going to be 75 this year. My grandmother was a school teacher and she probably would have used a fountain like or very similar to this one. I love the connection because I really never knew who she was outside of being MeMa. I have some stuff that belonged to her, the seashells she used in class and a piece of her jewelry and all the memories of her.

Once I got the pen back I tried the Pilot Iroshizuku Syo-ro ink in it. The good folks on Goulet Nation mentioned it was possible for the ink to melt the latex sac. So I cleaned it out and got a bottle of Waterman’s Harmonious Green fountain pen ink.

So far both pen and ink have gotten on well with each other. I think the ink is getting low because when I start writing I get a drop of ink. Bleed it off and the pen is good until I cap it and then pick it back up.

The Leverfill mechanism is interesting and will take some practice. It makes it a lot harder to judge how much ink is in the pen when you can’t see it or feel how full the ink sac is.

Quirks and all I am rather pleased with my first vintage fountain pen and the discovery of a new ink. I can’t say it will be my only vintage or my last vintage, but for right now it checks all my boxes.

Cheers, james

Quote of the Day: Graham Greene

New Journal

I recently finished my journal that came with my cover. So excitedly I went new journal hunting. I found out that the refills I used to use in my old journal cover will fit the new cover. They are produced for Barnes & Noble in Italy and come in the 6×8 size.

The pages are a smooth cream color and resist fountain pen ink bleed through admirally. The lines are the right distance apart, neither too wide or too narrow. That was one complaint I had about the notebook received with my cover. The line widths were huge, in my humble opinon. And I have lots more pages for writing. My previous notebook was 200 pages. This monster is, I believe, 240 pages with a ribbon page marker. Which makes the cover look stuffed, but that is okay, leather is forgiving and will adjust. (I hope)

Pen Review: Wing Sung 3009 Mint Green Fine Nib

Wing Sung 3009 fine nib fountain pen inked with Monteverde California Teal

Wow! I purchased this pen cause I had heard a lot of folks talking about how good a pen and the ink capacity of this bad boy. This is another Wish pen purchase, a single mint green fine nib piston filler fountain pen. The pen itself was priced at $2 plus another $2 for shipping. So $4 bucks for a nice hefty plastic pen that looks awesome.

The suction to pull the ink up is strong and holds quite a bit of ink. I was leery about the horror stories of reviewers that accidentally twisted the piston while posting or taking the cap off and torrential ink spill.

Fingers crossed, I played with it all last night, capping it and posting it, writing and doodling with it. It maybe the piston on my pen is a lot stiffer than others or possibly because it is new. The piston makes a click sound when it is locked in place. I didn’t have any trouble with the cap moving or twisting as I wrote with it. My biggest problem is remembering it is a screw top pen, not a pull top like my others.

The nib on this pen writes better than any of my other pens. I thought they wrote really well until this pen. This nib just glides across the page. No feedback, no pressure, just a nice smooth flow of ink. It lays down a nice line that is a lot bolder than the other fine nib I have. So I am not sure if that is normal. It’s inked with De Artementus Aubergine since I couldn’t get my Monteverde California Teal bottle open. I got it open and filled then took the picture. I had to see my fave ink in this pen. I love the way the clear feed looks with the green ink.

The pen writes well on my journal paper and the Staples Arc notebook. I took it to work today and used it on regular copy paper. One plus is it didn’t bleed through any of the papers I tried it on. It writes better on better quality paper. Although I am pretty sure this is most to all fountain pens. I did figure out if I put a piece of card stock under the page I was writing on it wrote better.

If you are willing to risk losing your heart to a fountain pen this is one to try. I just ordered a second one, with a possible third. If I can get my mom to try it out. She hasn’t cared for the grip section of the other pens I have. This one I think she will like, I hope. Fingers crossed.

Cheers on this dark chilly evening, james

Pen Review: FPR Darjeeling

Part of the Facebook pen group means I get different posts for different pens. One post was a survey to name a new pen design last summer. I voted for Darjeeling and low and wow that was the favorite choice. Yay! I should have played the lottery that day. Never mind. Back to the pen, I have been sticking with the Hero brand of pens from China. I have several of the 221, the 901 and 7022. And of all of them only the 7022 wasn’t to my liking. Not that it is a bad pen, just to high maintenance for me. But since I saw the Darjeeling offered by Fountain Pen Revolution they are a Texas based company. I wanted one. I finally lucked up on their deal of the day and picked up a dark green medium nib pen for $9 plus shipping.

After some growing pains and converter hicups I love this pen. It is a wet writter and the nib is very smooth. However it takes a good high quality paper to keep up with this pen.

I use this pen for my journaling which has good paper that doesn’t mind fountain pens. Long story short a worthwhile purchase at $14 plus shipping. And a steal if you luck up and get it as a deal of the day. Customer service was good when I emailed them about the converter and they sent me a new right out.

If you are looking for a new company to try give FPR a try. Cheers, james

Finally Writing again

I am finally writing again. I started playing around on my lunch break this week. And there seems to be merit in the idea. A sort of sleeping beauty/beauty and the beast kind thing. Cursed king that the world has forgotten and he is frozen in time, except he is awake and cranky. Very cranky. So how do you break a curse when nobody remembers you exist.

Fun idea right. I’m thinking so. I will keep you guys updated. Writing on my lunch break is nice cause it gets me away from a computer screen. And I haven’t given up on my other stories. But I can’t afford to get that sucked into my writing while at work. Otherwise nothing gets done because I am continually distracted thinking about the writing. Yep not ready to let my day job. So must stay focused on work during work time.

So I am safe working on this one cause it is the sum total of 3 or 4 pages. But I am super excited to be writing and writing with my fountain pen. Have a wonderful Saturday.

Cheers, james

Hero 7022 Pen Review

I just inked up a nice Hero 7022 with a nice purple ink. The nib is a medium fine and the ink flows nice901.The 7022 is a nice weight, heavier and slightly thicker than the Hero 221, yet lighter and slimer than the Hero 901. The 7022 is a good compromise between the 221 and the 901. The ink flow is almost as bold as the 901 and the nib writes and draws smoothly across the page. It has a piston fill converter included and will accept cartridges. However I haven’t tried using them.

I am pleased that I bought two of these pens for gifts. They are a lovely red and gold solid metal bodied pen. The cap is tight fitting and posts securely. Overall a very nice fountain pen.

Cheers on this chilly evening, james

Something New

I have decided to bite the bullet and give bullet journaling a try. I have mentioned it in a previous post, and I mentioned I didn’t believe I had the proper qualufications of anal retenative and OCD. However desperation has driven me foward. Every since my “zombie” episode, see Zombie Factor, I have been trying to catch everything up and I feel things are slipping through the cracks. 

Work is getting back on track, thank you Dear Lord, so now to get the other stuff caught up. I have taken on a new project and I am still learning my way around. As for my writing I am creeping back into it. I finally picked my fountain pen back up and realizing how much I missed watching the ink flow when I write. I was lucky the notebook I chose to Bullet Journal has fountain pen friendly paper. At night after filing out my Bullet Journal entries, I turn to my regular journal and write until I’m satisfied or until I’m sleepy. 

I am on day three of my bullet journal experiment and I’m starting to get the hang of it. I like the repeating entries, it helps cement it that I need to do x,y,z on such and such day. I didn’t set the monthly calendar up exactly since we are close to the end of August. I’ll set September up right and who knows I may keep my weekly overview. I am staying open minded to making this work for me. 

I’ll keep you guys posted on how it goes. Cheers, james