Unexpected Pen Hack (Nakaya Piccolo)

[ethernautrix]

I am literally singing out loud, "I fixed my pen! I want the world to know, got to let it show!" And who would understand this joy? YOU GUYS! (Non-gender-specific guys.)

So. One of my favorite favorites, the unpolished shu Nakaya Piccolo Cigar with a ruthenium-plated F (RU-F) nib that I occasionally "fixed" (instead of testing papers, cos jestem głupia), has troubled me for a couple of years. I haven't been able to use it with any joy, cos nib. (My mistake, I know.)

Someone mentioned swapping nibs between Nakaya and Platinum 3776 (basically the same nib). Monkey wrench: Old-style versus new-style feed; feeds and nibs are not interchangeable. UShu (my nickname for this Piccolo) is old-style. By the time I thought about swapping nibs with the less-expensive 3776, new-style had been on the shelves for a couple of years already.

I bought a 3776 UEF and swapped the nib with my new-style Kuro (Piccolo Cigar kuro tamenuri). That worked fine, so I kept thinking about putting out a WTB ad for the old-style 3776.

MEANWHILE... I kept swapping nibs around like a crazy person. Naka-ai's ruthenium-plated F for Heki's EF and back again, and, lately, the Naka-ai's RU-F nib for Kuro's (3776) UEF nib. And I got to thinking... the RU-F nib will stretch out Kuro's nib collar over time, making standard (unplated) nibs loose (I noticed this in the Naka-ai). So I returned Naka-ai's RU-F nib, where it fits properly, and returned Kuro's original F nib before I could damage its nib collar (stretching it out). Whew.

Now, what to do with this UEF nib? Truth is I don't really care for the translucent blue with gold trim of the Platinum 3776.

And this poor UShu's RU-F nib. I can use it for drawing....

Gears in the brain spin. UShu's nib collar is already stretched out, cos its original nib is plated. UEF is not plated. New feed does not fit UShu, I know. (I try again, to confirm.) But thinner UEF nib with old-style feed in the slightly larger nib collar? Let me test this hypothesis. For science.

Since I'm writing this on my phone, putting a photo on this post will be unwieldy, so I'm going to go ahead and post and hope that all the paragraph breaks compensate for my long-winded explanation (celebration). I really am beside myself with joy. I don't have to buy any more 3776s. Naka-ai is happy with its RU-F, Kuro is fabulous with its original F, and UShu is back in the game, baby!

[ethernautrix]

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[jar]

But what have you done lately?

[ethernautrix]

But what have you done lately?

*Laughs*

Well, a couple of weeks ago, a couple of friends and Łapa (dog) and I toured a bit of southeast Poland on our bikes. Next on today's list is to choose some photos and write about it for my long-neglected blog.

[ethernautrix]

Here's one photo of Łapa w przyczepce, attached to my bike. This was after leaving Lublin, heading for Kazimerz Dolny. 20180515_141155.jpg

[ethernautrix]

And, since I'm already switching between full-site and mobile to add photos, here's one of my favorites of Łapa, happy on the beach in Mielno or Łazy on the Baltic Sea coast in April. (No bikes. Road trip with a friend from Germany.)

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[jar]

Gotta ask; why is the dog named "Paw"?

[penwash]

Long time no see! Any more road trip photos? How did you find lodgings along the way? Sounds like a super fun trip!

You have, with this post, illustrated why it is so satisfying to solve a problem with fountain pens. Yes, most of the times it takes a long time, and the trial and error could be quite vexing at times, but when it works out, the feeling is GREAT!!

[ethernautrix]

Gotta ask; why is the dog named "Paw"?

Legend has it... No. That's not it. Łapa's owner says that a friend suggested the name after watching Łapa lift her paw while looking inquisitively at something.

If she were to be named for a habit she demonstrates more often, she should have been named Barky or Bike-Chasy (or Chaser) (or Racer, cos what she loves is racing; she loves to run, but not without purpose) or Eater. Actually, Łapa uses her łapa to ask for food, so maybe it's more fitting than the actual explanation.

[ethernautrix]

Long time no see! Any more road trip photos? How did you find lodgings along the way? Sounds like a super fun trip!

You have, with this post, illustrated why it is so satisfying to solve a problem with fountain pens. Yes, most of the times it takes a long time, and the trial and error could be quite vexing at times, but when it works out, the feeling is GREAT!!

Yeah, cos I haven't been buying pens, so it seems all I'd have to talk about is my same-old same-old. (Beautiful and lovely pens.)

I starting vetting the photos earlier this evening. Still at it. Have a draft for the first day of the bike trip. It was a super fun trip! It was the SECOND super fun week-long bike trip. The first one, which I haven't written about, either, despite promises to myself, was two years ago, along the Baltic Sea coast.

For lodgings, we just roll into town and start asking around. Well, not quite true. Sometimes. But my friends have phones with data plans (I don't; kindv a long story), so they're on booking.com and other websites, but I remember two years ago, we mostly just rolled into town and looked for places. They looked. They're Polish. They know the secret superhard language. (My Polish is coming along slowly cos I'm not taking lessons consistently, with long, long breaks between, and *long story* so... you know, I can write it better than I can speak it, and I can speak it (SLOWLY) better than I can hear it. On this bike trip, I noticed that I was understanding conversations, even if I didn't hear individual words and could not repeat sentences. So. Progress! (Hahaha.)

As for my Nakaya Hack, I had to hack the feed. Very gingerly, I deepened the channels. The ink flow is still on the dry side, but it's satisfying. I like the sensation of the nib--and the quality of the ink--on the paper. So far so good.