It’s been two and a half months since I last cleaned and refilled some pens, so now it was well overdue now. Some of the pens I filled back then have lasted a long time! It was early February, and I took inspiration from the songs on Sleep Token’s album Take Me Back to Eden in my choice of pens and inks. This time I‘ve made it significantly easier for myself. The pen case I usually bring to work holds six pens, so…
It’s been a while since I last wrote a post where I went through my whole pen collection, and I figured it might be time for a little update. So here are some numbers, and a rough overview of fountain pens, inks and other relevant things in my collection. To do the inks first: I currently have 228 bottles of ink. This includes 100 small bottles (30 ml) of standard Diamine ink. I also have an almost complete collection of…
This post was originally published in Norwegian at pennenermektigere.no on April 19, 2020. Fountain pen, reservoir pen, stylo plume, stilografica, self-filling pen. Fountain pens are called many things in different languages, and etymologically some of these terms have very different origins. In this post, we take a closer look at the different words used for fountain pens around the world. The Italians call fountain pens “penna stilografica“. Elsewhere in the world, however, a stylograph is often described as a pen where the tip is a…
So you have bought your first fountain pen? In this post, I share my tips for (re)discovering the joy of writing by hand. With your newly acquired fountain pen, the stage is set for you to find this joy. Whereas in the past you may have primarily written by hand because you had to, and with a bad ballpoint pen or pencil, with a fountain pen you may find that you actually want to write. The pen itself inspires to put nib to paper. Why…
Although I probably have 50 fountain pens in my collection that per definition is in “use rotation”, and probably at least 250 bottles of ink (I’ve lost count a long time ago), I have a tendency to go for the same pens and inks time and time again. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about how I can spice up my pen and ink choices, and force myself to use more than just the 10-15 go-to pens and inks. In…
Last year, Jinhao launched its new pen, the Dadao 9019, and it quickly gained traction in the pen community. Many have compared it to the X159 from the same brand. It’s about the same size and both have #8 nibs, but there are also some notable differences. While the X159 is strongly inspired by the Montblanc Meisterstück 149, the Dadao 9019 rather resembles some of the high-end Namiki pens. It annoys me a bit that Jinhao has chosen a design that is so…
In the spring of 2018, I inherited a pair of Pan pens, and started looking for information about this Norwegian fountain pen brand. At first it was difficult to find any reliable information, but as I managed to uncover little hints here and there, those hints could be used to dig deeper. I have written about Pan and Eberhard Bredesen Oppi several times in the past, and the most recent example up until now is an article in Norwegian from May 2020. Since…
Earlier this autumn, I wrote a blog post where I tried to get to the bottom of why I always prefer to write with modern fountain pens, and not vintage pens. As soon as I had published the post, an idea began to form: maybe part of the problem was that I hadn’t given the vintage pens a good enough chance? Were the points I listed in the August post actually based on empirical evidence, or just an outlet for my own prejudice against…
A couple of weekends ago I decided to fix up a couple of Parker pens I’ve had lying around for a long time: a Vacumatic and a 51. These are two legendary pen models, which, together with the Duofold, takes much of the credit for Parker in its time becomming the world’s largest and most-selling fountain pen brand. Vacumatic and 51 have very different filling mechanisms, and different considerations that must be taken when repairing them. They are also quite different from most other…
Fountain pens are amazing writing instruments, and as pen enthusiasts, we know that a good pen can be a powerful tool. But with great power comes great responsibility. You have to take good care of your pen, be kind to it, treat it well. If you do, it will in return give you years of writing joy. But if you’re mean to it, the retaliation can be swift and merciless: ink leaks, scratchy nibs, bad ink flow and much more….