23 Friday Oct 2020
Posted in Pens
Den’s approach to pen making has been slightly different from the norm. Using a lathe for work he moved towards combining a newly discovered love for fountain pens with his professional skills, with the twist being a very public learning experience as he has covered his trials and tribulations on his Facebook page, warts and all.
Continue reading22 Thursday Oct 2020
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This is one really just for fellow Brits, but feel free to read on if you’re from another country. This year due to COVID-19 there will be a lack of collection tins and poppy sellers around. For those of you, who like me, normally do give each year, do not forget that you can do so online, where you can also download a poster to display in your window.
07 Wednesday Oct 2020
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OK a slightly misleading title, but presently I am spending time going through my late father’s documents and making notes with my pens, rather than my laptop (who would have thought I have been working in IT for over 20 years, much of it hands on the technical side). With that in mind I’ve actually assembled a slightly different set of pens from normal, and these I’ve been carrying up to my mother’s for a few weeks now.
Continue reading18 Friday Sep 2020
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What no Parker?! – I know readers were expecting me to cover the pen that moved me on from that one manufacturer and kindled the start of my collecting, however as previously mentioned I had bought a Lamy as a second pen to use with red ink a few years before (and strictly speaking I had previously owned some cheap Reynolds pens bought from hypermarkets in France).
Continue reading11 Friday Sep 2020
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Just a quick note to explain my unusual level of quietness over the last few weeks. Anyone who has access to my Facebook account will know the reasons why but at present I’m coming to the end of a period where I’ve put my family first and played catch up. I will try to post a ‘Pens from My Past’ item within the next few days.
21 Friday Aug 2020
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As a kid I have memories of my father, an architect, trying to clean out and get ink to flow from his Rotring Isograph pens. The issue was the need to use a dark permanent ink, traditionally in the UK Indian Ink (known as India Ink in the USA). This would quickly dry in the pen, clogging it. I have no clue if capillary/tube nibbed pens are easier to clean than more traditional fountain pens but it always seemed to be messy and a cause of frustration.
Continue reading14 Friday Aug 2020
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In some respects this was a key pen for me. This was the first fountain pen I bought with my own money (as opposed to being a present or using holiday money, the latter being used a few times on cheap French hypermarket sourced pens). Based on where I was working at the time it will have been around 2003-2005, though where I bought it from I no longer remember.
Continue reading03 Monday Aug 2020
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It’s been four months since my last update, since when I went from working from home to being put on furlough, so the pens in use have been those at my PC not in my daily carry case.
Continue reading30 Thursday Jul 2020
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Just a quick update to say the final three will be covered later. Both the Parkers are inked and being used, but I’m taking a break and will go back to reviewing new and recent pens and those I think will be of interest to you (or which I have been asked to cover).
26 Sunday Jul 2020
Posted in Pens
While I don’t think this was my first pen, the Parker 25 set certainly saw me through much of my teen school days. I’m certain at one point I had most, if not all the pens in the range, though alas at present I can not find the fibre tip or roller ball. Thus below you’ll be able to see two of my two fountain pens, plus the propelling pencil and ballpoint.
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