Fountain Ink Pen Acquisitions

[jimmyc]

Order fron cult pens arrived today.
Lamy al-star bronze, converter, and diamine violet ink.
The al-star is a wee bit thicker than my safari but the part your fingers grip is exactly the same so it feels and writes just as good.
The violet ink is a lovely colour, a bargain for just over £20. Very happy with purchase but I hope don't end up with a coloured ink collection.

 

[BigBruce]

Seems I've "converted" a few members.
(Here all week)

 

[Blademonkey]

Seems I've "converted" a few members.
(Here all week)

Converted......I see what you did there!

Paul.

 

[Blademonkey]

Order fron cult pens arrived today.
Lamy al-star bronze, converter, and diamine violet ink.
The al-star is a wee bit thicker than my safari but the part your fingers grip is exactly the same so it feels and writes just as good.
The violet ink is a lovely colour, a bargain for just over £20. Very happy with purchase but I hope don't end up with a coloured ink collection.

You can't restrict yourself to just one colour...... well I can't anyway.
With the converter at hand the sky's the limit!

Paul.

 

[culcreuch]

but I hope don't end up with a coloured ink collection.

Like me!!!. I am afraid I have another 7.... apart from those in the photo. But I didn't buy them this month!

 

[Digimonkey]

Now I need to find a cheap suitable hole punch.

Yeah - f**k - the dedicated one - how much can a hole punch cost? I mean, really? - I.

Extracted - from - http://unitedinkdom.uk/the-disc-binding-system-and-the-bounteous-joy-thereof/

'Hang on, you missed the DIY option! Big, cripplingly expensive and seemingly impregnable, it was never going to be any match for a moment’s onslaught from precision German engineering. But enough about the Maginot Line. Atoma also make a big Belgian punch for home use, which enables one to make up A4/5/6 binders with any paper that suits; Clairefontaine writing pads work very well, for instance. The twin catches of this arrangement are that it can only handle a few sheets at once (even thick card will flummox it), and it costs an eye-watering £139 at UK retail prices. On balance, the compatible Arc punch at £34 is probably a safer bet for now, although we think there is room for some competition at a better price than Atoma and greater sturdiness than Arc.'

Cheers - hope this helps - I.

 

[BigBruce]

Yeah - f**k - the dedicated one - how much can a hole punch cost? I mean, really? - I.

Extracted - from - http://unitedinkdom.uk/the-disc-binding-system-and-the-bounteous-joy-thereof/

'Hang on, you missed the DIY option! Big, cripplingly expensive and seemingly impregnable, it was never going to be any match for a moment’s onslaught from precision German engineering. But enough about the Maginot Line. Atoma also make a big Belgian punch for home use, which enables one to make up A4/5/6 binders with any paper that suits; Clairefontaine writing pads work very well, for instance. The twin catches of this arrangement are that it can only handle a few sheets at once (even thick card will flummox it), and it costs an eye-watering £139 at UK retail prices. On balance, the compatible Arc punch at £34 is probably a safer bet for now, although we think there is room for some competition at a better price than Atoma and greater sturdiness than Arc.'

Cheers - hope this helps - I.

Thanks @Digimonkey,
I had already read that article, but considered £34 still too expensive for a hole punch, as it would only be for very infrequent use. I'll risk one of the Amazon ones for £10

 

[BigBruce]

..... £10.99.
And blow the remaining £23 on stuff for writing and shaving or drinking that I don't need!

 

[jimmyc]

Two bits of wood clamped over the notebook and a five mill drill bit, jobs a good one. I have all of these but I don't have a hole punch.

I got my Atoma A5+ notebook this morning. Tried the paper with various nibs and inks from fine(0.3 Platinum) to stub (1.5 Kaweco Perkeo) and was impressed. Now I need to find a cheap suitable hole punch. Anyone tried the single hole punches from Amazon?

 

[BigBruce]

Yeah - f**k - the dedicated one - how much can a hole punch cost? I mean, really? - I.

Extracted - from - http://unitedinkdom.uk/the-disc-binding-system-and-the-bounteous-joy-thereof/

'Hang on, you missed the DIY option! Big, cripplingly expensive and seemingly impregnable, it was never going to be any match for a moment’s onslaught from precision German engineering. But enough about the Maginot Line. Atoma also make a big Belgian punch for home use, which enables one to make up A4/5/6 binders with any paper that suits; Clairefontaine writing pads work very well, for instance. The twin catches of this arrangement are that it can only handle a few sheets at once (even thick card will flummox it), and it costs an eye-watering £139 at UK retail prices. On balance, the compatible Arc punch at £34 is probably a safer bet for now, although we think there is room for some competition at a better price than Atoma and greater sturdiness than Arc.'

Cheers - hope this helps - I.

I got one of the cheap single hole punches on Amazon (<£10) and it works perfectly well for an Atoma style notebook. The only slight difference is in the radius of the punched shape, which may lead to tearing if a sheet isn't removed carefully, but I've tried removing and replacing a page more than 20 times with no problem. So that's me sorted for making my own notebooks!
I've tried Rhodia, Clairefontaine and Oxford Paper ( all great for fountain pens) as well as premium printer paper, bog standard printer paper and cheap "3 for a pound" notepad paper as well as thick card, all fine.

 

[Tony'schin]

Another delivery today, just need to get my finger out, although I am still practicing my writing I need to actually write a "real" letter. Something I have not done since my early teens.
The journal is, hopefully, something I will start to use daily, to keep my hand in.

 

[Digimonkey]

Waterman vintage ink.

Provenance - It was rescued from the store cupboard of a primary school in North Lanarkshire that was being demolished in the mid-nineties. It ended up in an artefact collection that my partner curated. She saved it from a skip when the council shut the service down. It was new and unopened until last week - the rubber seal was intact and not perished.

Dating - This was surprisingly hard - given the vastness of t'interweb but initially the best clues were the label and bottle. I could find very little hard and fast information - if anyone knows better I'd be delighted to hear from them. This size was primarily supplied to educational users - it would have sat on the teacher's desk and been used to fill up the inkwells in the desks of pupils. Initially I discovered, due to the style of label and the bottle design - art deco - it cannot be later than the early 50's - Waterman changed all their packaging at this point. What is also unusual is that it was made in England - the vast majority of Waterman ink was made in the USA or Canada - but the reason for this becomes more obvious later. Upon further examination of the bottle I found a code on the underside that indicates that it was packaged in January 1940! It is probably around 81 years old. The empty bottles - due to the deco design - change hands around $100 - people make lamps out of them for a period look.

Usability - We opened it and did a swab test - it is in perfect condition - no mould and no separation. The shading is amazing compared to modern ink but the clue is in the description 'permanent' on the label. It is iron gall ink - and indeed it is permanent - I ran water over a sample when it was dry and nothing shifted - no run, no smudging. The down side of this - as to writing with it - is that ink of this type is - relatively - very acidic, so will corrode a modern pen from the inside out. A gold or rhodium nib won't be affected but the ink supply mechanism won't be made from these materials. The ink looks just blue when wet but if you leave it 24 hours it starts to oxidise and it darkens considerably - a proper blue/black.

@Blademonkey and myself were thinking it might be quite cool to write with it - that is after all what ink is for - the best solution might be to get a couple of cheap Chinese fountain pens and it doesn't really matter if the ink ruins them. We'll take one for the team and see what happens.

I though this was a nice find - it is remarkable it has survived this long - yours - I.

 

[Blademonkey]

View attachment 70246

Waterman vintage ink.

Provenance - It was rescued from the store cupboard of a primary school in North Lanarkshire that was being demolished in the mid-nineties. It ended up in an artefact collection that my partner curated. She saved it from a skip when the council shut the service down. It was new and unopened until last week - the rubber seal was intact and not perished.

Dating - This was surprisingly hard - given the vastness of t'interweb but initially the best clues were the label and bottle. I could find very little hard and fast information - if anyone knows better I'd be delighted to hear from them. This size was primarily supplied to educational users - it would have sat on the teacher's desk and been used to fill up the inkwells in the desks of pupils. Initially I discovered, due to the style of label and the bottle design - art deco - it cannot be later than the early 50's - Waterman changed all their packaging at this point. What is also unusual is that it was made in England - the vast majority of Waterman ink was made in the USA or Canada - but the reason for this becomes more obvious later. Upon further examination of the bottle I found a code on the underside that indicates that it was packaged in January 1940! It is probably around 81 years old. The empty bottles - due to the deco design - change hands around $100 - people make lamps out of them for a period look.

Usability - We opened it and did a swab test - it is in perfect condition - no mould and no separation. The shading is amazing compared to modern ink but the clue is in the description 'permanent' on the label. It is iron gall ink - and indeed it is permanent - I ran water over a sample when it was dry and nothing shifted - no run, no smudging. The down side of this - as to writing with it - is that ink of this type is - relatively - very acidic, so will corrode a modern pen from the inside out. A gold or rhodium nib won't be affected but the ink supply mechanism won't be made from these materials. The ink looks just blue when wet but if you leave it 24 hours it starts to oxidise and it darkens considerably - a proper blue/black.

@Blademonkey and myself were thinking it might be quite cool to write with it - that is after all what ink is for - the best solution might be to get a couple of cheap Chinese fountain pens and it doesn't really matter if the ink ruins them. We'll take one for the team and see what happens.

I though this was a nice find - it is remarkable it has survived this long - yours - I.

Ubercool!


Paul.

 

[BigBruce]

View attachment 70246

Waterman vintage ink.

Provenance - It was rescued from the store cupboard of a primary school in North Lanarkshire that was being demolished in the mid-nineties. It ended up in an artefact collection that my partner curated. She saved it from a skip when the council shut the service down. It was new and unopened until last week - the rubber seal was intact and not perished.

Dating - This was surprisingly hard - given the vastness of t'interweb but initially the best clues were the label and bottle. I could find very little hard and fast information - if anyone knows better I'd be delighted to hear from them. This size was primarily supplied to educational users - it would have sat on the teacher's desk and been used to fill up the inkwells in the desks of pupils. Initially I discovered, due to the style of label and the bottle design - art deco - it cannot be later than the early 50's - Waterman changed all their packaging at this point. What is also unusual is that it was made in England - the vast majority of Waterman ink was made in the USA or Canada - but the reason for this becomes more obvious later. Upon further examination of the bottle I found a code on the underside that indicates that it was packaged in January 1940! It is probably around 81 years old. The empty bottles - due to the deco design - change hands around $100 - people make lamps out of them for a period look.

Usability - We opened it and did a swab test - it is in perfect condition - no mould and no separation. The shading is amazing compared to modern ink but the clue is in the description 'permanent' on the label. It is iron gall ink - and indeed it is permanent - I ran water over a sample when it was dry and nothing shifted - no run, no smudging. The down side of this - as to writing with it - is that ink of this type is - relatively - very acidic, so will corrode a modern pen from the inside out. A gold or rhodium nib won't be affected but the ink supply mechanism won't be made from these materials. The ink looks just blue when wet but if you leave it 24 hours it starts to oxidise and it darkens considerably - a proper blue/black.

@Blademonkey and myself were thinking it might be quite cool to write with it - that is after all what ink is for - the best solution might be to get a couple of cheap Chinese fountain pens and it doesn't really matter if the ink ruins them. We'll take one for the team and see what happens.

I though this was a nice find - it is remarkable it has survived this long - yours - I.

Or a cheap dip pen with various nibs?

 

[culcreuch]

View attachment 70246

Waterman vintage ink.

Provenance - It was rescued from the store cupboard of a primary school in North Lanarkshire that was being demolished in the mid-nineties. It ended up in an artefact collection that my partner curated. She saved it from a skip when the council shut the service down. It was new and unopened until last week - the rubber seal was intact and not perished.

Dating - This was surprisingly hard - given the vastness of t'interweb but initially the best clues were the label and bottle. I could find very little hard and fast information - if anyone knows better I'd be delighted to hear from them. This size was primarily supplied to educational users - it would have sat on the teacher's desk and been used to fill up the inkwells in the desks of pupils. Initially I discovered, due to the style of label and the bottle design - art deco - it cannot be later than the early 50's - Waterman changed all their packaging at this point. What is also unusual is that it was made in England - the vast majority of Waterman ink was made in the USA or Canada - but the reason for this becomes more obvious later. Upon further examination of the bottle I found a code on the underside that indicates that it was packaged in January 1940! It is probably around 81 years old. The empty bottles - due to the deco design - change hands around $100 - people make lamps out of them for a period look.

Usability - We opened it and did a swab test - it is in perfect condition - no mould and no separation. The shading is amazing compared to modern ink but the clue is in the description 'permanent' on the label. It is iron gall ink - and indeed it is permanent - I ran water over a sample when it was dry and nothing shifted - no run, no smudging. The down side of this - as to writing with it - is that ink of this type is - relatively - very acidic, so will corrode a modern pen from the inside out. A gold or rhodium nib won't be affected but the ink supply mechanism won't be made from these materials. The ink looks just blue when wet but if you leave it 24 hours it starts to oxidise and it darkens considerably - a proper blue/black.

@Blademonkey and myself were thinking it might be quite cool to write with it - that is after all what ink is for - the best solution might be to get a couple of cheap Chinese fountain pens and it doesn't really matter if the ink ruins them. We'll take one for the team and see what happens.

I though this was a nice find - it is remarkable it has survived this long - yours - I.

Basically a verrrry big bottle of what I use in my pen at work. I have Diamine Registrars Ink which is also Iron gall. It doesn't write as smoothly as 'ordinary' ink and I believe may be corrosive over time. A cheap pen is a good idea. Writes blue....oxidizes and finishes as permanent black. That was a wonderful find!

 

[jimmyc]

View attachment 70246

Waterman vintage ink.

Provenance - It was rescued from the store cupboard of a primary school in North Lanarkshire that was being demolished in the mid-nineties. It ended up in an artefact collection that my partner curated. She saved it from a skip when the council shut the service down. It was new and unopened until last week - the rubber seal was intact and not perished.

Dating - This was surprisingly hard - given the vastness of t'interweb but initially the best clues were the label and bottle. I could find very little hard and fast information - if anyone knows better I'd be delighted to hear from them. This size was primarily supplied to educational users - it would have sat on the teacher's desk and been used to fill up the inkwells in the desks of pupils. Initially I discovered, due to the style of label and the bottle design - art deco - it cannot be later than the early 50's - Waterman changed all their packaging at this point. What is also unusual is that it was made in England - the vast majority of Waterman ink was made in the USA or Canada - but the reason for this becomes more obvious later. Upon further examination of the bottle I found a code on the underside that indicates that it was packaged in January 1940! It is probably around 81 years old. The empty bottles - due to the deco design - change hands around $100 - people make lamps out of them for a period look.

Usability - We opened it and did a swab test - it is in perfect condition - no mould and no separation. The shading is amazing compared to modern ink but the clue is in the description 'permanent' on the label. It is iron gall ink - and indeed it is permanent - I ran water over a sample when it was dry and nothing shifted - no run, no smudging. The down side of this - as to writing with it - is that ink of this type is - relatively - very acidic, so will corrode a modern pen from the inside out. A gold or rhodium nib won't be affected but the ink supply mechanism won't be made from these materials. The ink looks just blue when wet but if you leave it 24 hours it starts to oxidise and it darkens considerably - a proper blue/black.

@Blademonkey and myself were thinking it might be quite cool to write with it - that is after all what ink is for - the best solution might be to get a couple of cheap Chinese fountain pens and it doesn't really matter if the ink ruins them. We'll take one for the team and see what happens.

I though this was a nice find - it is remarkable it has survived this long - yours - I.

Can't visualise the size. Is that a pint of ink? If so you better start on writing the biggest novel ever.