Best. Seller. EVER.

As you may remember, I remarked on having trouble with my "new" Snorkel a few days ago. First, an update on him. As I mentioned then, a good soak and flush got the fill working again, and that half of the problem was happy. As for the cap, I decided to try sealing the hole with wax, as I had seen suggested for Park Sonnets. I didn't figure I could do any harm, as both inner and outer cap are metal, and it'd be easier to undo if it didn't work. Well, it did work, the cap is now air-tight, and we have been good friends since then. He's written well every time I picked him up since, and I plan to leave him in my usual rotation for a while. Well, the seller found the thread in the FPN Repair forum asking if the pen's behavior was normal or not, wherein I discovered the hole in the inner cap with the help of some of the other members. He then PM'd me saying he felt terrible that the pen didn't work. He apologized that, although he had similar problems, he'd thought that the repair he'd done had worked; and explained that he hadn't realized there was a hole in the cap, and that was probably causing the ink to dry out, which caused the pen to clog. (All makes sense; that's my end conclusion as well. The cap issue probably undid his clogged snorkel repair.) He reiterated that he felt bad to have sent me a "non-fully working pen" and asked that I send it back for repair or refund. (No! It's mine! Mine, I say! ^_~) I assured him that I'd gotten the problem fixed and the pen was working just fine. If he had the ability to permanently repair the cap, I'd be happy to send that part back once I'd written him out of ink, but otherwise the fix was working and I was happy with the pen. Also, I don't blame him at all for missing the hole in the inner cap, because I don't know what possessed me to check the cap for air tightness to begin with. I think it was because I had recently read a repair thread where that was the problem, but it's certainly not something I would expect for a normal checkout, and it's mainly coincidence I found him. Now, let me say that I don't feel bad about the price I paid for the pen at all. It was completely reasonable, maybe even a little low, for a Snorkel in working condition. Even when it was giving me trouble, my whining aside, I wasn't thinking "I got ripped off!" so much as "well, sometimes you'll see that with a vintage pen". So, seller wrote me back asking me to let him know if the cap started leaking again, and although he didn't have any spare Sovereign caps, he would send me a spare from another Sheaffer the same size. And, because people I buy from see my real name on the payment, asked "Out of curiosity, and considering your name: do you have any Mabie Todd SWAN pen?" Now, for the non-pen people, Mabie Todd is a well known vintage brand that started in, I think, the 1880s and stopped US production in 1941 (continued in the UK for a while). They are upper second-tier/lower first-tier pens (i.e. well regarded today, although not a Parker, Sheaffer, Waterman, Conklin, or Wahl.) Swans were their premier line, intended for upper class users who could afford some extra bling. They are also known for having marvelous nibs. As vintage pens go, their prices aren't as insane as some (at least, not always ^_~), but they are typically not what I would call cheap pens, either. I keep my eye out for them, but I've yet to find one at a price I was willing to pay. I kind of wondered if he was going somewhere with this question, but at the same time, it could also be a very conversational thing to ask another vintage fountain pen user who shares a name with a well-known brand. So I truthfully wrote back that I didn't have one yet, but I desperately wanted one, both on principle and because I hadn't yet found one I liked at a price I would pay. He wrote back that "a nice one" with some "unfixable surface flaws" in the cap would be coming my way. I squee'd. Loud. I love writing with vintage pens, so surface flaws aren't a problem to me on a pen that's structurally sound. (In fact, sometimes they're a perk. They keep people from trying to take my nice pens. ^_~) And the simple fact that he's sending something at all has me absolutely gobsmacked.

1. I didn't contact him with the problem. He actually sought me out.
2. The Snorkel works just fine now; there was just some birthing pains.
3. I'm sure he didn't make a profit on the Snorkel sale. Again, I think I got a good deal, even with the initial issues.
4. He's sending me what I'm sure will be a very nice pen to make up for the trouble.

Best. Seller. EVER.

Crăciun Fericit!

.... It's Romanian. ... I looked it up! Merry Christmas, everyone, in whatever language!

A bratty user deserves a bratty pen?

My "new" Snorkel is fitting the bill. I had enough problems getting him started writing and keeping him going that I finally asked for help at FPN's repair forum, and have diagnosed two problems with him: First, he was a little gunked up somewhere between the snorkel and the feed. Not enough to keep him from writing, but enough to make him hard to start. Got that flushed out and he's working fine on that regard now. If that were the only problem, we'd be friends again. But then, what I thought was a minor thing turned out to be a bigger issue: there's an air leak in the cap, which causes relatively fast dry-out. He needs to be a daily user when he's inked. I tracked down what causes that, and there's a 2-3 mm hole in the inner cap. *headdesk* I'm not entirely sure how to fix that. The problem is that where the hole is, the outer cap is hollow behind the inner cap, so there's not really anything to press a patch against. Someone suggested two-part epoxy, which would be a permanent fix if it works, but will be a pain to get back out if it doesn't. I've seen wax suggested to plug errant breather holes on Parker Sonnets, so I may try that. If it doesn't work, the wax can be melted back out. Which has a bit of a pain factor to it, but is possible as it is a metal cap. Or maybe I'll put a "Want To Buy" up and see what I can get. ^_^;; It wouldn't hurt just to check, would it? And since the only way to get parts for a snorkel is to take apart another snorkel, maybe someone's got spares running around from parts pens.

Oh dear, my self control is being tested

Two of the in-working-condition vintage pens I had coming arrived today. Which might actually be the only two coming in working condition. One is my Snorkel (fast delivery on that), and the other is a 1924 or before BHR ringtop with a flexible nib. (Dated by its material, because BHR basically died in 1924.) And ooooooooh, I want to go ink them both up. But I know I shouldn't. I'm trying to empty out the Charles Hubert so I can fill it with bulletproof Noodler's black for check writing/other responsible stuff, and I'm trying to empty out the Pelikano so I can pack it up. (Nothing wrong with it, but it doesn't make me as happy as some of the other pens I have.) So I'm allowing myself to ink up one, and only one.

And ooh, I'm struggling over which one. I want to try out the Snorkel, since I have no idea what the nib feels like and want to find out, and it does have the coolest filling system in the world, but at the same time I also want to play with the flexible nib. It's a hard decision.

I'm just going to have to write more so I can empty out pens faster so I can ink up the ones I want to play with. :)

Things I've already learned about Shaeffer Snorkels.

1) They're not kidding about that thing being able to squirt water 1-2 meters. 2) They're kind of hard to clean out real good. There's really no good way to force water through the feed and nib. 3) The previous owner liked blue-black ink. ^_~

Oh, I also have to say that I am very impressed with Tryphon Enterprises. I placed an order for some more repair tools, and they accidentally miscalculated the total by only adding one of an item I'd ordered two of. When they realized it, they sent me a note saying what had happened and telling me they were shipping the second as well, and would also include an extra converter and a pack of ink cartridges with their compliments.

They're sending complementary gifts to make up for charging me less than they should have. *jaw drop* I am very impressed. We'll do business with them again.

Also, um... I'm sick. I went in on a lot of vintage "vest pocket" sized fountain pens, about half of them ringtops and all just needing resaccing according to the listing. And I've got several other things on my watch list at eBay. (Although in my defense, it's mostly stuff that "ah, I'll throw $5 at that if no one else bids.)

Actually, I did realize why I like ringtop pens so much. (Or at least came up with an excuse.) Ringtop pens were women's pens. They were meant to be worn on a chatelaine or ribbon, because women rarely had pockets. It's neat to be able to connect with my foremothers that way, imagining what women owned it before and how they used it. My little black rubber ringtop, did that belong to a suffragette? A flapper? Was she in the Temperance movement? Did she write love letters with it, or did she write to her congress people? Did she work inside the home? Outside the home? Was she well-to-do, or was that pen bought with preciously saved pennies? A gift from a suitor? Oh, it's so fun to think about.

Geekiness Update

What's more geeky than vintage fountain pens? Vintage stylographic pens! More geeky, less loved. Eventually evolved into modern Rapidograph pens, when they no longer got any respect as writing instruments. I've got a vintage Ink-o-graph coming, as well as 2 actual Koh-i-nor Rapidographs. (Those can't be vintage, though. They've only been made for 30 years. If it was made in my lifetime, it's not vintage, dammit! ^_~) Also in that lot was the virtually unheard of Ink-o-graph fountain pen, the Ink-D-Cator. Pretty, though; a nice marbled red.

I also went and proved my theory that it can be cheaper to buy an Esterbrook pen with the Renew-point nib you want, than it is to buy the nib alone. Got a red Esterbrook J with a 2048 flexible nib coming as well. One of the photos made it look as though the outside of the barrel were stained with ink. If it's just an optical illusion and the barrel's fine, perk! If not, I bought it for the nib, so no biggie.

My restored Esterbrook SJ from Richard Binder did arrive, but I haven't inked it up yet. It has the default 1550 nib, which no one likes. No tip on it, so it tends to be scratchy. I did a dip test with it, making sure to soak the feed this time (figured out what was wrong with my dip tests), and it was terrible. I may eventually ink it up anyway to see how it performs with a full sac behind it, but I'm trying to empty out some of the pens I have inked now, so no sense adding another to the rotation.

I also started pulling apart some of the junker pens I already have to fix them up, although the sacs won't arrive until sometime later this week. One is a green stripe-y Diamond that I bet has an amusing story behind how it ended up in someone's junk drawer. When I cleaned it out, there was a ton of dried ink in the barrel and a positively ungodly amount in the cap (I'm still trying to clean out the cap, actually). On that one, also, what I thought was a badly gunked up steel nib turned out to be an even more gunked up yellow metal; I'm guessing brass. Looks pretty nice now, although there seem to be some burrs or something stuck in the nib slit. :P

One think I note about the fountain pen fandom, especially vintage pens, is that prices seem to be all over the board. For example, take the Parker 51, a relatively common but highly desired vintage pen. I've seen working 51s go anywhere from $35 to $200. The condition and restorer have some effect on it, but there doesn't seem to my untrained eye to be $165 of variation there. It's certainly not obvious to a noob what, if anything, causes it.

Actually, this brings up another acquisition that is on its way to me. I got it in my head that I wanted a Shaeffer snorkel. At the same time, four of them came up for sale over 2 days, so I was able to get one pretty reasonably. (I'd like to say it was serendipity, but actually, the first one that went up is what gave me a craving for one. ^_^;) Ironically, one of the reasons I want one is to get ink out of the little sample bottles I like to get from Pear Tree, and yet I don't think I'd have the guts to run a lot of those through a Snorkel. ^_^; But it's got the coolest filling system in the whole world, dammit! And that's enough!

I've also developed an irrational hatred of Wearever pens. I've been joking that the only good Wearever is a dead Wearever. Which isn't quite how I feel, but... Well, while a Wearever in an eBay lot isn't a show stopper, it is a mark against it.

Book Darts!

They still make 'em!  I love book darts.  I want a big ol' tin of them.

In other musings, I would like to try my hand at repairing/restoring old fountain pens.  Nothing rare or valuable or anything, just play around with some no-name pens.  Start with a sac replacement and go from there. Now, I am aware that could be dangerous.  It's a "you can pay as much as you want" kind of thing.  But... If I'm careful to start small, maybe it'll be fun.