An afternoon at the pen spa
One of my local pen shops ran an outdoors pen sale. The tables were spaced out to encourage proper physical distancing. A handful of people from my local pen group attended.
I offered to run a pen cleaning station during the event. Folks would drop their pens off with me to be cleaned while they shopped and chatted. How great would it be to pick up a new bottle of ink and have your pen cleaned and ready to be inked right away? We called it a “pen spa.”
And, selfishly, running a small pen spa gave me a chance to say hi to old and new pen friends as they rolled in.
I brought my toolkit. Bulb and blunt syringes, a self-made shim for tines, and a loupe. Every container had a lip to prevent pens from rolling off the table to meet the asphalt.
All told, I did more pen tuning than cleaning. I cleaned a new pen friend’s Pelikan m400. She shared that her pen had grown scratchy. A glance under the loupe showed me that the tines were misaligned. A gentle, careful tweak with my fingernail and the EF wrote smoothly once again.
Evidence of nib-tunery
Another friend brought in his Sailor Pro Gear. Scratchy. The tines were perfectly aligned. However, I noticed a mass between the tines under the loupe. I flossed those tines. I flossed them good.
As fountain pens write, especially narrow nibs like EF, small paper fibers can gather between the tines. Flushing with water or ink will usually clear the paper solids without much fuss. However, ink can then dry amongst those fibers if the pen sits on your desk for a week or two. Now you have a small clog, like a dam in a river. Your ink’s pathway to your notebook is partially obstructed. That can lead to a scratchy writing experience.
Both friends left smiling. I love this hobby.
This week’s Inked Tines update includes my most recent currently inked writing tools.
Toolset
Pens. No single combination of pen and ink stood out for me at an emotional level this week. That said, I continually reached for my Pilot 912 throughout the week.
Sailor Pro Gear (Z) — Empty. A wet combination. Inked without shimmer, Kyanite is a lovely dark blue with red sheen and excellent shading. A wonderful journaling pairing. A bit too broad for accent notes. Journaling.
TWSBI 580-AL (EF/M) — Feed. This nib. This glorious multitasker nib from Mr. Bacas. Excellent as a daily driver, especially with the combination of the TWSBI’s massive ink capacity and the narrow EF grind. Earl Grey was excellent on every paper I used it on: Stalogy, Rhodia, and Cosmo Air Light. Task management, journaling, reading notes, livestream notes.
Pilot CH 912 (SF) — Feed. An all-or-nothing combination. A letter is either fully dark-red-orange or completely bright orange. The SF nib helps to control when a letter is dark (write with light pressure) or light (no pressure). Journaling, manuscript marking, accent reading notes.
Delike New Moon (EF) — 1/5. The generous feed, paired with Rose Noir, lead to lovely shading, even with only an EF nib. This combo was a go-to accenting pen while reading. A fun journaler, too. Accent notes, journaling, some manuscript outlining.
TWSBI 580-ALR (B) — 1/4. The TWSBI B nib and feed are stingy. They write more like a M. That’s a positive for someone with small handwriting. My goldilocks B nib. Brings out the most fun aspect of Yozakura. An excellent journaling pen, and a great accenter while reading. Journaling, accent reading notes, manuscript drafting.
Montblanc 146 (EF) — 1/2. Effective minimalist accent pen. Brings the dark side out of Chushu. No shading, even on Cosmo Air Light paper. Wet, but still behaved. Feathered a bit on Stalogy paper. Accent notes, scratch notes, poetry, journaling.
Gratuitous Montblanc picture
Notebooks. Work bujo. No new writing in my work bullet journal. Distance away from teaching means I can come back with fresh eyes after next week. Fresh eyes help new ideas grow.
Journal. 14 new pages over four entries. Most of this week’s long-form journaling was used to continue thinking through how to best make an iPad work as my only computer. Most of my peripherals would still work: wireless keyboard, trackpad, and wireless speakers.
My iPad would become my scanner, so my current scanner can go. Do I want a traditional iPad stand? Would I prefer a mount to free up desk space for notes and books? Which app will help me manage all of the pdfs, images, and annotated lecture notes I need for work? iPad’s OS doesn’t have a sophisticated native “Finder” app. I’m leaning towards DEVONthink.
There is clearly more reflecting and more research to do.
More journaling is good news
Pocket notebook. 8 new pages, mostly of scratch notes. I’m nearly finished with my Fieldnotes. When I travel, even on a day trip, I like to write each of my stops into my pocket notebook. My accuracy when searching for directions is greatly improved when I have the actual name of a shop written down, beyond what I remember the name was.
Written dry. I wrote one pen empty before Saturday: the Sailor Pro Gear. The Zoom nib made for a smooth journaling experience. The pen ran dry Thursday evening, just as I wrapped up a journal entry.
Two more can be expected to dry up soon. Both the turquoise TWSBI 580 and Pilot 912 are down to only their feeds. Such narrow nibs usually give me another two full pages of writing once I’m down to the feed.
Newly inked. No newly inked pens. With both the Pilot 912 and TWSBI on only their feeds, I expect to ink some pens during the coming week. Hoo-ah!
The collection
Incoming / new orders. No new purchases or arrivals this week. In all honesty: I’m having a blast with my current collection of pens, inks, and notebooks.
Outgoing / trades or sales. My number came up on the vaccination list this week. Plans for moving the Parker Vacumatic were pushed to next week while I reorganized my schedule to accommodate a day of travel and a day of healing.
Currently reading and listening
Fiction. Heir to the Empire is a quick read. I added 10 more chapters to my current read-through. Thrawn’s uses the religious beliefs and cultural norms of his opponents to learn what they fear. Then he works at embodying those fears. It’s refreshing to have a thoughtful, intelligent antagonist. Especially in a science fiction world.
Nonfiction. I’ve been reading quite a bit on politics and the messy functioning of democracies. Catie Edmonson over at the NY Times wrote a lovely (well, worrying) report on the state of political motivations. She cites a cadre of political strategists on recent shifts in how federal politicians gain stature: making bloated threats on television. Legislating, strategists like Corry Bliss suggest, simply isn’t rewarded by voters.
Music. Chillhop’s newest seasonal mix dropped this week. A good friend and I timed our respective writing schedules so we could stream Chillhop’s Essentials Spring 2021 at the same time. It’s one of their better mixes to date. And the playlist is a wonderful writing companion.
Oh. And now I’m a pen and ink mule. These are destined for a friend who couldn’t make it to the pen sale last weekend.
I am the fanciest of delivery services
