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Thread: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

  1. #21
    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    I haven't plowed all the way into all the posts (I will, Wuddus, I promise) but noticed Vert's bit above. Two thoughts I'd share regarding vintage:

    1. Yes, don't do it blindly, consider buying from a dealer. Nibs.com is one place, though their inventory is somewhat pricey. I would consider checking out Peyton Street Pens. Teri Morris has been in business for around 10 years, is *wonderful* to deal with, and stocks both a large array of restored vintage plus a pretty good amount of NOS (New Old Stock) pens that they go over thoroughly. I bought a number of my first vintage pens from her when I was starting out and I was never disappointed.

    2. While this dump has seen a scary-large growth in the sales threads (i.e. people who come here only to sell, not to be part of the 'community'), there *are* people who both post regularly as well as sell pens, many who have vintage. Watch for a while, get to know the names, and consider that an entry point. Will Gunadi is posting a bit less frequently here these days, but I can point you in his direction. His main focus is moderatly price, entry-level vintage primarily for people who are getting some of their first vint pens. He's a good guy to deal with.

    You'll get there. Hell, drop me a line some time if you want to, I have a bunch of pens I could offload that will be good starters.
    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
    and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    Good advice, something I wish I had been given when I was starting out. Alas, I got taken to the cleaners by some of the less scrupulous sellers out there. Mr Szanto is not one of those, and neither is Will, or Teri (bought my first vintage from her too).

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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    Thanks folks,

    I do genuinely appreciate your insights in what may lie ahead, but I don't think i'm ready to move forward yet. I still have much to learn from what's already here, and am not ready to stray into vintage pens or more expensive pens.

    Why do I say that?

    I'm still acclimatising to fountain pens, and my opinions and writing style may continue to evolve. I don't yet know how much feedback I like. I don't yet know how different inks may affect my preferences. I don't yet know how papers will do the same. I haven't spent long enough to know if I prefer a fine nib or broad. My brain still sees shading as a misbehaving pen, and it will take time to appreciate it as an ink characteristic. Do I prefer to post or not? Do I prefer screw caps or click on? What is my preferred clip? The journey I detailed above has taught me a lot, but if you look at my decision making for the next pens, it's still in the realms of how it feels in hand (which might change as I continue to acclimatise and my handling evolves), and what colour pen I want to put a certain ink colour in. In short, what I am saying, is despite everything that I've learned so far, I still don't know what I want, and I'm not prepared to pay more than £10 on a pen until I do know. I doubt that will be this year, as I still have too much learning to do first.

    I'm already starting to feel overwhelmed with what I've already bought. Putting aside the spare 3008s, I now have 7 different pens, and another on the way, and only have a superficial understanding of any of them. I need to spend a few months with what's already here, and put different inks through them, and on different paper, and carry them a while, and drop them, and make mistakes, and generally get to understand them more. Maybe next year I'll be in a better position to decide what (if anything) is next, but otherwise, I think I'd just be spending money for the sake of it.
    Last edited by Wuddus; May 9th, 2018 at 06:47 AM.

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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    I think the most important lesson that I have learned so far, was learned before I ever made the move to fountain pens. This is something that I have learned with other interests in life, and I learned it the hard way. What I am about to say may hit a raw nerve with some, so please forgive me in advance.

    There is one thing that I specifically do not want, and that is to turn shopping into a hobby. It's a very easy trap to fall into, and I have seen it on many different forums of various themes. I have fallen into the trap before several times. It gets to a point where shopping is the primary hobby, and pens, or photography, or cycling, or vintage block planes, or whatever, just becomes the theme with which you focus your shopping hobby. This is in no way an attack on anyone else who gets a dopamine hit from acquiring new stuff, but I have no interest in going back down that path again.

    It's tricky squaring the circle on this one, as I know that I have to try new stuff to find what I like, but I always want the focus to be on what is here, and not what isn't yet. This is one of the reasons that I have started to feel overwhelmed already, echoes of buying far too much stuff in the past. I am happy for writing with fountain pens to become a new hobby, but not happy to let shopping become a hobby again, and I hope not to buy any more pens this year. Pens aren't addictive, but shopping is. That's a lesson that I don't want to have to learn the hard way again.

    Again, this is purely a personal perspective, and is in no way a judgement on anyone else's preferences, hobbies, or enjoyment of the pen world.

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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    Quote Originally Posted by Wuddus View Post
    Conclusions:

    If your budget, or your principles, prevent you spending £50+ on a pen, there's still nothing to stop you enjoying using fountain pens. I‘ve had a lot of success exploring the ultra cheap pens. Yes, some of them needed a little refining, but over several months I got a good range of different pens for less than £30 total. Yes, I could have gotten one low end TWSBI instead, or maybe one half decent vintage pen, or even one cheap pen and then upgraded the nib, or I could have tripled that amount and just got one nice Platinum 3776.

    I'm really glad I didn't.

    Not only did I get 7 very different pens (plus a few duplicates) for less than £30, I now have a much better understanding of what I like and what I don't in a fountain pen. I have different options for different moods or different writing tasks. I have also learned to refine and swap out nibs, write with obliques, and fix a choked feed. If I had spent the same money on one lower-mid range pen, I wouldn't have learned any of this, and more importantly, I wouldn't have had as much fun.

    Money. Well. Spent.

    In another thread on this forum, I mentioned that I wanted to learn all these lessons £1 or £2 at a time, and not spend big money finding out what doesn’t work for me. I also said that by the time I’d spent £50, I wanted to have discovered at least one of my ideal pens. As it happens, I found one by the time I’d spent £30. That was the OHTO Tasche. Three pens is really what I wanted to achieve. A pocket pen for away from home, a general scribbler for grocery lists or phone notes, and a desk pen for writing letters. I thought I had found my ideal pens for all of these three categories, plus have others to play around with too. But I hadn't ...

    Close, but no coconut!

    Attachment 39530

    In theory, these three should have been it. Job done. Unfortunately, I was only really satisfied with one out of the three. I'm also going to bring inks back into the equation here too.

    The OHTO Tasche is a perfect choice for pocket carry should I chose to leave the house armed with a fountain pen. I’m really chuffed with this purchase. For this pen I use what I consider to be fairly conservative ink colours. Good looking inks, but not too informal or off-piste. Being a blue bodied pen, it made sense to stay within the blue spectrum with inks. I already have Diamine’s Twilight, and Teal, and plan to add Sargasso Sea. All three should look great coming from this pen. I have now tried Teal, and it was flowing a little too dry, so I'll probably tweak this pen similar to what I did with the 250. If I can get the flow the same, I'll be as happy as I can get with this pen

    Cheap as it is, the Dollar calligraphy pen is the nicest writing italic pen I have, and it has the good sized piston filled tank too. While it looks and feels cheap, as a desk pen, nobody else see that. It's comfortable, the ink flows freely (now) and the oblique nib adds a little extra character to my writing. However, I still wasn’t completely happy with it. It just feels TOO cheap, even for me - and that's saying something! One evening I sat staring at it, giving it the evil eye. Why couldn't it feel like the 3008? Those piston fillers cost even less, and yet felt like far superior pens. If only the 3008 had an italic nib ... and that's when the penny finally dropped. I shopped around on ebay, and for a couple of quid, I found a 1.5mm stub nib to fit to one of the Wing Sung 3008 Demonstrators. While even cheaper than the 717, the 3008 feels a much nicer pen to use on those long letters to penpals, and now I should be able do that with a nice italic nib. In fact I liked the 3008 so much, I ordered another couple of spares for £1.23 each in case I can’t get them in future, bringing the total to four 3008s – three with F/M nibs, and one with a 1.5mm stub. For writing with this, I can either use the conservative colours listed for the Tasche, or my slightly more adventurous yet still elegant inks, namely Chocolate Brown, Grape, and potentially Oxblood too, but I still haven't pulled the trigger on that one yet. All these inks stand proudly off the page, with just a hint of non-conformity. Stylish, elegant, different.

    The Jinhao 250 is perfect for chucking any ink in, including the dregs in the bottom of a bottle (by using a syringe) that the piston fillers can’t access, and just being a general purpose scribbler about the house. It’s also smart enough to chuck in a pocket, irrespective of what I’m wearing, and I’d be less upset about losing that than the Tasche. Being of a bulkier size, it’s a lot less pocketable in summer when pockets are sparse, but it’s still another option if I don’t fancy carrying the Tasche for any reason. In fact, I would go as far to say that the 250 would be a perfect one pen solution for me, if only I could trust that cap. If I had to pick just one out of my entire array and ditch the lot, this £1.80 bargain would probably be the one so far, with the Tasche a close second. For inks, I can use any of those listed above in the 250, of either of my two “fun” inks, Diamine’s Burnt Sienna and Sherwood Green. Those eight inks should cover everything I ever want to do with a fountain pen. They give me a good working spectrum, with plenty of options to suit my mood, but without me hoarding more ink than I'll ever get through.

    That leaves the Parker Vector set relegated to a drawer where it belongs, only seeing light of day for the occasional greetings card written with a broad italic nib. Unfortunately, it also leaves the spare 3008 Demonstrators, the 6359, and the X450 (all pens I really like using) relegated to the sidelines too. Time will tell if these all continue to get occasional use, or get gifted away, or just reside in a drawer waiting for one of the others to break or get lost. Out of everything I bought, only two were disappointments. These were the Parker Vector (the first, and most expensive acquisition), and to a lesser degree the Dollar 717 Calligraphy. However, these two pens account for about 40% of the total spend. With the other 60%, I got eight pens that I really like. That’s all part of the learning curve though. I’m just glad it was a cheap learning curve.

    My concern about the cap on the 250, led me to try out one more uber cheapo pen, and on order with the italic nib for the 3008 is a Baoer 388. That again was ridiculously cheap, another stainless bodied pen, but with a cap that is renowned for being stubborn to remove. With the new nib for the 3008, and with this last pen, that SHOULD be me finished. If the new nib isn't great, I'll tweak it. If I'm still not happy, I'll risk regrinding the original nib on that pen. One way or another, I will get one of the 3008s up and running to replace the Dollar 717. As for the Baoer 388 and Jinhao 250, they'll do battle, and the best of the two will become the everyday scribbler. I am now confident that I've got what I want, and I will have gotten there without hitting £35, and with learning a lot in the process. As of right now, I am still waiting for the nail buffers, the italic nib, the extra 3008s, and the Baoer 388 (which altogether cost less than a tenner). However, I am still enjoying my array of new pens each and every day.

    At the moment, I have no desire to "progress" to more expensive pens. If I do, one of two things will happen. I'll either buy something that'll make me disinterested in pens that I currently enjoy using, or I'll keep using the old stuff, and feel I've wasted my money on the more expensive buy. Either way, I'll not feel I'm getting full value from my purchases. However, as so many pens that I like using have already been demoted to "secondary" choices, this really is a good incentive for not buying any more pens. I got back into fountain pens to use them instead of ballpoints, not to fill drawers with them.

    So this is my journey so far. Cheap, fun, and hopefully the start of many more years of fountain pen use. Enough choice to not get bored, but so much as to feel swamped, and owned by my own possessions.

    Thanks for following along, and even if my choices and preferences differ from yours, I hope it was worth taking the time to read.
    Thanks for a great read!!!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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    Senior Member gbryal's Avatar
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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    I think my first were 80s/90s Parkers, maybe an "88" or Rialto or something. I think the first got lost and I probably bought it at my college bookstore, and the next one I got at a drugstore, and it disintegrated within a couple of years, just sort of shattered. Neither one wrote well with the cartridges they had and were very frustrating and made me hate fountain pens. When I came back around 2014 I started with similar pens to yours but also some inherited vintage pens, and I got an Edison early on.

    I do have a cheap Parker that writes well: a matte black Frontier. I kept seeing them on ebay for cheap in their hilarious packages with Bush, Clinton, Reagan and Thatcher on them. I feel like I probably just happened to get a good one. With Pilot, I always feel like I could buy any pen in their line at any price point and get consistent quality but I don't feel that way with Parker/Sheaffer/Waterman today.

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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    The spare 3008s arrived today, and I left them in their wrappers and put them straight in a drawer.

    Still awaiting the nail buffers, 1.5mm stub/italic nib, and Baoer 388

    Lessons learned:

    • Buying something that I don't imminently need, doesn't make me feel good.

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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    Wuddus, that was a very thoughtful post and I agree 100% about the 'shopping hobby' thing. A good hobby, I'd say, needs to be a 'learning hobby' - if you are only buying things but not learning anything, you've jumped the shark.

    For instance, I love acquiring good old vintage pens in the wild - but often the real fun comes identifying the maker or the company brand. For instance I got a 'Mory et Cie' stamped pen and found this wasn't the maker, but a huge shipping company that had gone spectacularly (and sadly) bust - a whole fascinating history. I also like buying knives (Opinel and Laguiole, mostly) from sales, but I am learning how to grind them and sharpen them properly - I have now 'rescued' some really beaten up knives and I'll shortly start on my first Opinel that needs a new wooden handle to be made for it; I have a little piece of blackwood available, so it'll be a stunner when it's finished!

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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    Quote Originally Posted by amk View Post
    Wuddus, that was a very thoughtful post and I agree 100% about the 'shopping hobby' thing. A good hobby, I'd say, needs to be a 'learning hobby' - if you are only buying things but not learning anything, you've jumped the shark.

    For instance, I love acquiring good old vintage pens in the wild - but often the real fun comes identifying the maker or the company brand. For instance I got a 'Mory et Cie' stamped pen and found this wasn't the maker, but a huge shipping company that had gone spectacularly (and sadly) bust - a whole fascinating history. I also like buying knives (Opinel and Laguiole, mostly) from sales, but I am learning how to grind them and sharpen them properly - I have now 'rescued' some really beaten up knives and I'll shortly start on my first Opinel that needs a new wooden handle to be made for it; I have a little piece of blackwood available, so it'll be a stunner when it's finished!
    A "Learning hobby" is a good way of looking at it. Good to hear that you've identified what you like, and are pursuing it. Restoration is another good hobby aspect, resurrecting discarded items and getting them working again can be very rewarding.

    For me the shopping trap is not just about buying without reason, or in straying beyond your budget, but that horrible (to me) feeling when you look at your drawer full, box full, or garage full (depending on the hobby), of stuff you've bought. The stark realisation that acquiring all this stuff was just for fleeting dopamine hits which have all since ebbed away, is a cold and hollow feeling. The echoes of this are what I see when I look at my growing pile of pens, which is why I have said no more purchases for me for a while.

    I fully accept that I wasn't going to find ideal pens immediately, as I didn't know what ideal pens were, until I bought ones that weren't ideal and learned from them. However, it's all too easy to remain unsatisfied if you've developed that underlying need to always buy another. Good enough can only be perfect if you're not craving that next fix.

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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    As a fellow fan of inexpensive pens (and former owner of a Parker Vector), I'm enjoying this thread.
    My other pen is a Montblanc.

    And my other blog is a tumblr!


    And my latest ebook, for spooky wintery reading:

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CM2NGSSD

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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    Quote Originally Posted by Sailor Kenshin View Post
    As a fellow fan of inexpensive pens (and former owner of a Parker Vector), I'm enjoying this thread.
    Thanks Sailor. Were my findings similar to yours?

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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    Wise words. I do chase the dopamine hit of a good find and need to be careful and mindful not to get trapped. I like the comments about learning. Definitely that is a more lasting source of enjoyment for me. And also helpful in selectively hunting the next pen.

    Whether learning about various pens, pen makers, or learning to repair (almost every hobby turns into this), it is a fun journey. The skills and knowledge gained no doubt will be useful in future hobbies as has been true thus far.

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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    Quote Originally Posted by Wuddus View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Sailor Kenshin View Post
    As a fellow fan of inexpensive pens (and former owner of a Parker Vector), I'm enjoying this thread.
    Thanks Sailor. Were my findings similar to yours?

    Yes, in many ways. The Vector, while a very nice and reliable writer, had this slippery metal section I just couldn't manage. I went through buying frenzies, though, and have given away or sold more pens than most people ever owned.

    Now, my buying of pens and inks has slowed to a crawl...but I'm repairing vintage pens, which I swore I'd never do.
    My other pen is a Montblanc.

    And my other blog is a tumblr!


    And my latest ebook, for spooky wintery reading:

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CM2NGSSD

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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    Quote Originally Posted by azkid View Post
    Wise words. I do chase the dopamine hit of a good find and need to be careful and mindful not to get trapped. I like the comments about learning. Definitely that is a more lasting source of enjoyment for me. And also helpful in selectively hunting the next pen.

    Whether learning about various pens, pen makers, or learning to repair (almost every hobby turns into this), it is a fun journey. The skills and knowledge gained no doubt will be useful in future hobbies as has been true thus far.
    Absolutely! I will get more out of writing with them, now that I understand what some of the problems can be, and how to fix them. The lessons learned have not just guided me towards tweaking what can be tweaked, but also recognising what can't, and what I need next (by which I mean genuine need for functional purposes, not just a collector's need or desire for the sake of ownership) in order to be happier in my writing with fountain pens.
    Last edited by Wuddus; May 11th, 2018 at 11:14 AM.

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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    Quote Originally Posted by Sailor Kenshin View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Wuddus View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Sailor Kenshin View Post
    As a fellow fan of inexpensive pens (and former owner of a Parker Vector), I'm enjoying this thread.
    Thanks Sailor. Were my findings similar to yours?

    Yes, in many ways. The Vector, while a very nice and reliable writer, had this slippery metal section I just couldn't manage. I went through buying frenzies, though, and have given away or sold more pens than most people ever owned.

    Now, my buying of pens and inks has slowed to a crawl...but I'm repairing vintage pens, which I swore I'd never do.
    I think restoring vintage stuff can be a worthwhile hobby in it's own right. I haven’t sworn off that, I'm just too early in the journey to have any understanding and appreciation of what to buy and how to address any issues. However, already owning "too many" pens is an obstacle to buying any vintage pens in the first place. I don't see buying more pens as a remedy for already owning significantly more than I need

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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    And yet another entry to make...

    Pen #9 - Baoer 388

    IMG_20180512_153836_edit_edit_600_800.jpg

    Scobby's Mystery Ink #17 fell through my letterbox today, but so did a Baoer 388. This is a pen that I was looking forward to as a potential general scribbler instead of the Jinhao 250. The pen is noticably slimmer and lighter than the 250, and I decided to photograph these two side by side, rather than with the Parker Jotter. The cap is also a really nice fit, and instills a lot more confidence than the one on the 250 for chucking in a bag or jacket pocket.

    IMG_20180512_153950_800_600_edit.jpg

    Lessons Learned:

    • This is the one! This is absolutely the pen I want for general day-to-day scribbling. Cheap, light, unassuming, compatible with every ink colour, secure cap and clip, good flow rate, comfortable, and takes standard international cartridges and converters. You can keep your high priced swirly acrylics with their fancy nibs. This is the daily pen I want.
    • Inertia. There's a word I didn't expect to use when discussing fountain pens. Uncapped, this is a very light pen. In fact the cap almost weighs as much as the rest of the pen. My kitchen scales say 14g for the uncapped pen with a full ink cartridge, and 11g for the cap. In comparison, the Jinhao 250 is 25g uncapped, and the cap is an extra 10g. Why am I telling you this? Because right off the bat on first usage, my handwriting was messier with the Baoer. I noticed this with my other lightweight pens too, and I think it's because there's very little inertia to the pen, and my fingers don't have any resistance in flailing the pen around on the page. A heavier pen neatens my handwriting a little more than a light pen does, as the inertia adds to the element of control.
    • Comfort beats inertia. My handwriting isn't as neat initially with this pen, but I'm pretty sure that when it comes to endurance, I'd be happier scrawling illegibly with this pen for more pages than I would with most pens. I'm sure I'll get neater with this pen when I get used to it - but if I don't, it matters not. The job of the daily scribbler is for scrawl that others don't see anyway. I'm hardly likely to be exhibiting my phone notes and grocery lists
    • Sometimes earlier lessons are worth ignoring. When my spare 3008s arrived, I "learned" that buying stuff I don't have an immediate need for doesn't make me feel good, and I've also said no more pens this year. I don't care. I want spares of this pen. This is the pen that is most likely to be subjected to "life", and get dropped, dinged, scratched, and lost. There's a good chance this could actually get more pocket time than my "pocket pen", and while I might not be particularly heartbroken about being down less than £2 should this get lost or broken, I want to be sure it can be immediately replaced if I do, and it's worth having a couple of spares tucked in a drawer for that eventuality.
    • Threaded inserts can be a pain. While I don't particularly like carrying a spare international cartridge reversed in the barrel, mainly because the pen then rattles and becomes annoying, sometimes it might be a sensible precaution. However, the construction of this pen uses an insert pressed into the spun stainless steel shell. This means that there is a void behind the threads, and it's a bugger to get the spare cartridge back out. Maybe someone should have put a decent taper on the inside edge, to help guide the cartridge back out. It's hardly a deal breaker for me, but so far this is the only downside to this pen that I've found.



    I do appreciate that I have posted these lessons learned within only a few hours of receiving this pen, and so my opinions may change in time with prolongued exposure and usage. However, these are things that I noticed very quickly with this pen, and often first impressions matter immensely in how you appraise the pen (or any other item) later in it's working life.

    I should also point out that while this post says Pen #9, that is actually misleading. This is actually the EIGHTH different pen I've tried, as the 3008s were listed as pens #4 and #5 in the same post, and I've added a couple of extra spares since.

    I believe that I am now satisfied with my pen array. I'm certainly very happy with my daily scribbler and pocket pen, and just need to furtle with the nib on the 3008 to get one italic. I do love those pens, but want just one to have a stub, either via the one that's on order or a bit of regrinding. Aside from this fine tuning, I exceptionally happy with where this journey has led so far, and feel very comfortable lingering here a while and enjoying putting some pen-miles in with my humble assortment of pens and inks.

    Dare I say it....?

    Mission accomplished!
    Last edited by Wuddus; May 12th, 2018 at 10:21 AM.

  29. #37
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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    I know some of you will shudder at me becoming settled on the same few pens, and that some may shudder more with them being cheap items. I do not intend to try to compete with any of you as to what is right or wrong, or better or inferior, all I can do is share what I believe is right for me.

    As to variety, I prefer familiarity when it comes to tools. I like to vary what foods I eat, and will often experiment and try new recipes and new ingredients, but appreciate the familiarity I have with my knives and pans. I can get by in life with one pair of dress shoes, one pair of boatshoes, and one pair of hiking boots. I would rather put a thousand miles on one pair of boots, and walk a hundred different paths in the same pair, than change boots on every hike. I can take a million different pictures with the same camera, or visit a myriad of different towns and village in the same car.

    My fountain pens are tools that I want to develop the same trust and familiarity with. My variety will be where they were carried, and what I achieved with them. The problems I solve, doodles I pass time with while on hold, bad sketches to illustrate a point of conversation, incompetent attempts at poetry and prose, recipes discovered, letters written, stories shared or created, an impromptu map for a stranger, or a phone number passed to someone who hopefully wants more than just a drink sometime. This is my variety. The pen is my faithful companion that enables this.

    We all have our different ways of appraising the world around us, and I wouldn't want to tell anyone else how to fine their own enjoyment, but I would rather be familiar with what holds the nib, and vary what is created by it, rather than rely on the pen to BE the variety. I'm not a sentimental creature, but I suppose I just like to have some constants in an every changing world.

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  31. #38
    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    Get thee to a pen show to help find your path. Wuddus, where are you located?
    Last edited by FredRydr; May 13th, 2018 at 04:24 AM.

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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    Quote Originally Posted by FredRydr View Post
    Get thee to a pen show to help find your path. Wuddus, where are you located?
    I'm in the UK. I have located a show that I could get to, but the travelling costs and entry fee would be more than I'd be willing to spend when I there. I don't think that I or the exhibitors would benefit much from my attendance at the moment

    I already have two and three quarters of the three pens that I'm looking for, and want to spend some decent time with them before considering trying anything else. All I expect to get for the rest of this year, is a couple of spare 388s, maybe a couple of inks (although I already have enough to easily get me through 2018), and then possibly explore a couple of paper options.

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    Default Re: What I've Learned So Far - A Noobs Tale

    Quote Originally Posted by Wuddus View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by FredRydr View Post
    Get thee to a pen show to help find your path. Wuddus, where are you located?
    I'm in the UK. I have located a show that I could get to, but the travelling costs and entry fee would be more than I'd be willing to spend when I there. I don't think that I or the exhibitors would benefit much from my attendance at the moment

    I already have two and three quarters of the three pens that I'm looking for, and want to spend some decent time with them before considering trying anything else. All I expect to get for the rest of this year, is a couple of spare 388s, maybe a couple of inks (although I already have enough to easily get me through 2018), and then possibly explore a couple of paper options.
    Wise approach, and I often wish it was the one I'd taken, rather than buying EVERYTHING. But on the other hand, it's been a fun, wild ride, and I made lots of people happy with my mistakes.
    My other pen is a Montblanc.

    And my other blog is a tumblr!


    And my latest ebook, for spooky wintery reading:

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CM2NGSSD

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