Fountain pen, someone?

[telenous]

What rabbit hole?

rabbit hole by Strangefinder, on Flickr

 

[Bolo Kukus]

The Contax G1 is a mechanical camera? I thought they were all electronic... 🤔
I had a Contax G2 ... it was definitely all electronically powered.

But back to fountain pens ... I was looking for something today and discovered I still had an old Parker fountain pen in my drawer. Lovely thing: I have the nib and ink reservoir soaking in some light solvent to clean them out at present. I don't think I've used it for forty years, and the old ink that was in it had turned to a hard dust.

G

Yes, they are electronic. Not mechanical. I tend to forget this at times.

The Contax Gs are not as good as the Leica Ms. But they suit their purpose, and they are unusual. People tend to notice my G1 when I'm out with it, especially so if I have the Zeiss 21/2.8 on board with its Martian ray gun viewfinder.

I also have a (so I'm told, rare) Contax G yellow filter. When shooting B&W film I often put it on, especially on sunny days. People on the street notice it, and usually comment, often along the lines of "I really like your yellow lens". Ha...

Truly, the Zeiss G lenses are what make the Gs so, well, superb as shooters.

Now let us return to fountain pens, yes?

Your Parker pen is a tough cookie. Every few years I rinse mine out in a solution of distilled/demineralised water and a dash of Sunlight dish detergent. A few rinses and they are as good as ever. The plungers too. As for hardened ink, a soak in warm water will dissolve them back into liquid form, but alas they cannot be used to write with.

Too bad our cameras don't benefit from such simple home treatments...

 

[Richard G]

I just soaked my 51 in a glass of water overnight after flushing it several times. And then several times more after the soak. We have very soft water here.

 

[Godfrey]

Yes, they are electronic. Not mechanical. I tend to forget this at times.

The Contax G cameras are in no way as good as Leica Ms. But they suit their purpose, and they are unusual. People tend to notice my G1 when I'm out with it, especially so if I have the Zeiss 21/2.8 on board with its Martian ray gun viewfinder.

The Zeiss G lenses are what make them so, well, superb as shooters.

Your Parker pen is a tough cookie. Every few years I rinse mine out in a solution of distilled/demineralised water and a dash of Sunlight dish detergent. A few rinses and they are as good as ever. The plungers too. As for hardened ink, a soak in warm water will dissolve them back into liquid form, but alas they cannot be used to write with.

Too bad our cameras don't benefit from such simple home treatments...

I thought so... 🙂 Yes, the Contax' Zeiss lenses are excellent, why I bought the G2 in the first place. I just found the camera somewhat irritating in how it worked and, at the end, traded it away to help fund another M.

The old Parker is now clean. I put some ink in it and tested it ... working perfectly! ... but since I'm likely not going to use it for the present, I emptied it, gave it a bit of a flush with distilled water, and put it away. I remember it was a pen I had wanted for a year or so when I was in High School, finally spent the Big Bucks then (what, maybe $25 in 1971?) and enjoyed it. A keepsake now, mostly. 😀

It is this one, a 1970ish Parker 75 with the sterling silver finish and gold highlights.

G

 

[titrisol]

I'm with you on that one, although I did succumb to a brass Lilliput before slowly backing away from another deep, dark money pit. 😅

Until you go in the rabbit hole of vintage parkers and sheaffers.... oooh boy

 

[titrisol]

I just soaked my 51 in a glass of water overnight after flushing it several times. And then several times more after the soak. We have very soft water here.

If you add a little cleaning ammonia any old ink will be gone quickly
I ave done overnight soaks in that (1 part in 20 of water or so) with flush, works like a charm

 

[titrisol]

I thought so... 🙂 Yes, the Contax' Zeiss lenses are excellent, why I bought the G2 in the first place. I just found the camera somewhat irritating in how it worked and, at the end, traded it away to help fund another M.

The old Parker is now clean. I put some ink in it and tested it ... working perfectly! ... but since I'm likely not going to use it for the present, I emptied it, gave it a bit of a flush with distilled water, and put it away. I remember it was a pen I had wanted for a year or so when I was in High School, finally spent the Big Bucks then (what, maybe $25 in 1971?) and enjoyed it. A keepsake now, mostly. 😀

It is this one, a 1970ish Parker 75 with the sterling silver finish and gold highlights.

G

OOOOHHHHH The cisele Parker 75!
I lusted after that pen for a long time, and bought it in my 13th BDay, just to have it "dissapear" a few months later 🙁

 

[James Evidon]

Back in the late 1980s (when "Yuppies" were still a thing) I did buy a Mont Blanc "Meisterstuck" fountain pen Model 149 - their big fountain pen, so beloved of yuppies and other wannabes like me. 🤪 I used it for quite a few years and enjoyed using it - especially for signing documents, letters and so forth. I tried impressing people with it in the same way that some people try impressing others with an expensive car. I never found that this worked although I did have a few comments along the lines of "the bigger your pen the smaller your.................(insert insult here)". And I enjoyed trying to use it for writing notes, letters and the like, only to realize that my hand-writing was execrable (yes - in case you are not sure of its meaning, that word is as bad as it sounds!) 😖

I still have it and use it now and then just for old time's sake but mainly for "doodling" and remembering the "good old days" when I was young, handsome and stupid. (Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh they sure don't make nostalgia like they used to!)

Some years ago, I did go through a phase of buying a series of cheap Chinese-made fountain pens off eBay just for the hell of it (as well as a couple of real Shaeffer pens.) The Chinese pens are kind of functional - just. But they all seem to share 3 common characteristics as befits their low price. They are mostly made from cheap plastics which tend not to be very robust and in some cases is downright fragile ; they all share the same cheap low-capacity plunger type of filler and ink reservoir (which needs frequent refilling), and worst of all, they all have the same kind of hard, inflexible steel nib that feels like you are writing with a stick or a screw driver in your hand (or name your other favorite pointy and yet inflexible piece of tree refuse or workshop equipment). You see, to be worth their "salt" a good nib (whether steel or precious metal) should be flexible so that the pen is responsive to hand pressure when writing script - that way you get the lovely thin and thick lines in your writing that are characteristic of "copperplate" script. These cheap Chinese nibs require extreme pressure to achieve much inflection of that sort, if any. More recently I have read that you can buy flexible nib replacements on eBay and maybe this is an option but I have not tried them).

The best pen I ever owned for this kind of characteristic was not the Mont Blanc with its gold and platinum nib, but rather was a vintage Conway Stewart (an English brand) with a solid gold 18 carat nib dating to perhaps the 1950's. Lovely to write with but in its day, it was probably a relatively "run of the mill" model and nothing all that special, I think. I noticed just now one on eBay for 200 UK pounds. (Involuntary choking sounds). Mine disappeared from my work office when working in Canberra - proof if proof be needed of public servants' attitude towards separating other citizens from their belongings if it suits their ends.

For all of that, Chinese pens are probably not a bad place to start if someone wants to start using a fountain pen and just needs something to begin with. But you would be much better off if you graduate quickly from there to a vintage pen made by one of the (then) major companies - Schaeffer, Parker etc. You do not really need to go silly, as I did, and buy a Mont Blanc. Such pens are incidentally, still to be found on eBay as second hand items - but they are mostly "uncheap" if that is a word - witness my example of the Conway Stewart. BTW if you are into old fountain pens, I have it on good authority that the little rubber ink bladder inside many of them are hard to find these days - or were a few years ago when I checked (unless someone has started making them again for afficionados.) Old pens are often found with old and dysfunctional bladders just like old guys......like me. 🤣

I also went for cheap Chinese pens. Attachment shows metal (not plastic) with real ruby (cheap glass) and dragons (oh, my). It actually writes pretty well although I may look into a better nib. It is the heaviest pen I have ever held and the top needs to be set aside in order to write with it, otherwise it is extremly top heavy. Biggest virtue: It's pretty and gets a lot of comments. All in all it was worth the the money. Price? I don't recall but it was under $25.

 

[Bolo Kukus]

I just soaked my 51 in a glass of water overnight after flushing it several times. And then several times more after the soak. We have very soft water here.

This also works well with dentures. But I wouldn't try it with a Leica or, the gods forbid, a Contax G.

 

[Richard G]

There is some horrific Instagram video I see periodically, a young lady rinsing a canon SLR body under the tap.

 

[Disappointed_Horse]

I really enjoyed your post. Ah, yes, the rabbit hole. Which is why I’m reluctant to try other pens. I imagine them accumulating, like unused cameras and lenses. With old age has come an obsessive minimalism. Now, finding the fountain pen equivalent to my M2, that might be a worthy pursuit.

John

Glad you enjoyed it!

 

[Alder Statesman]

After sitting in a drawer for nearly a decade, I repaired my Monthblanc 146 yesterday. I purchased this new in the early 90’s and was my EDC pen. I dropped it and the barrel cracked near the fill knob. It was a clean break and epoxy made for an almost invisible repair. I reassembled the cleaned components with fresh silicone grease on the piston and nib fitting. I aam glad to have one of my best writing pens back in working order.

 

[Bolo Kukus]

If you add a little cleaning ammonia any old ink will be gone quickly
I ave done overnight soaks in that (1 part in 20 of water or so) with flush, works like a charm

Not too much ammonia, please. The older Parker "nipple" ink holders, I have several of these in m older pens, could so easily dissolve if the ammonia-water solution is too strong. Softer is better. Water and a dash of Sunlight dish detergent will clean up 99.whatever% of the guck in your pens.