Happy new year! I decided to kick off the new year by inking up many of my favorite fountain pens. I started December with only seven pens inked and wrote four of them dry, the other three are still going. As January begins I’ve got 13 pens fountain pens inked and another few I’m eager to use. My current obsession arrived early in the month and has nearly monopolized my fountain pen usage since then.
I have cartridges in three of the pens which is a bit rare, but seemed appropriate when I made the decision for each pen. After the converter mess with the Regency Stripe the last time I switched to a cartridge. I do have a couple Sailor converters that are fine, but I figured a cartridge would give me more ink plus it was the color I wanted – black dark enough to see with the thin nib.
The Pelikan Edelstein Garnet was Pelikan’s 2014 Ink of the Year which I had in long international cartridges. This seemed like a good choice for the needlepoint nib on the F-C Model 02. A least until I remembered that I had a similar ink and nib in the Sailor Pro Gear. Since the thin nibs are miserly with ink they may both remain inked a very long time.
I missed having vintage pens inked up so pulled out two of my favorites. The Sheaffer was dropped from my last top 5 vintage list because it hadn’t been used in the previous six months. I fixed that problem and guarantee it will be back for the next list.
I was surprised to see the Edison Menlo has been unused for nearly a year. That’s been remedied too. Brown ink seems to be a requirement for that pen so I picked one that rivals Montblanc Toffee Brown as a favorite.
The Conway Stewart is the only inked fountain pen that I wouldn’t describe as a favorite. It’s inked because it will be the next pen I review. While nice enough, there are many pens I’d pick over this one if I had to (a little foreshadowing of the review?). The name of the pen also includes the word “vintage”, but the pen is not vintage so I won’t call it that.
After nearly a year, the inkwell is empty and flushed out. It’s not on my desk as the year begins so off the list. I;m not sure when it will be back. I’m re-organizing my desk a bit and I clipped the pen with my hand a couple of times. Although it was undamaged I’ll take it out of the line of fire until things settle down.
I really wanted to ink up at least one Sheaffer Balance II but I held back. This will be an incentive to write a pen dry as quickly a possible.
I’m looking forward to a January of fountain pen use. It will be interesting to see how many I write dry. Will the Visconti continue to monopolize my fountain pen time?
As usual, the pens are in the same order as the writing samples. Links are to a review or ink notes if they exist, or a “This Just In” post if there’s no review.
Visconti Homo Sapien Bronze Age (extra fine) – Montblanc Bordeaux // Edison Huron Grande (extra fine) – Montblanc Bordeaux // Franklin-Christoph Model 66 (extra fine) – R&K Blau Schwarz LE // Pilot Vanishing Point (Maplewood) (XXXF) – Pilot Black Cartridge // Sailor Pro Gear Imperial Black (fine) – Graf von Fiber-Castell Garnet Red // Pelikan M805 Stresemann (extra-fine) – Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black // Conway Stewart Marlborough (m. stub) – Sheaffer Peacock Blue // Franklin-Christoph Model 20 (m. stub) – GvFC Moss Green // Sailor Pro Gear Regency Stripe (extra fine) – Sailor Jentle Black cartridge // Edison menlo Pump Filler (extra fine) – Athena Sepia // Sheaffer Balance Oversize c.1935 (broad stub) – Montblanc Racing Green // Franklin-Christoph Model 02 (needlepoint) – Pelican Edelstein Garnet // Parker Vacumatic Maxima c.1942 (fine) – Montblanc Albert Einstein (Grey)
Filed under: This Week's Ink Tagged: daily carry