Complete Information on Pens

Fountain pen collectors classify pens manufactured before 1965 as vintage fountain pens. Fountain pen lovers have stored and passed on pens from one generation to another. Pens appreciated for their looks, designs and efficiency in writing may be stored, in some cases with little or no practical writing use. A vintage pen does not only have nostalgic or display value; many vintage pens are used actively for writing purposes, too. And it’s true that vintage pens aged thirty to fifty years surpass the new fountain pens in the writing department for the reason that then they were considered as the main tool for writing, unlike now. As more skilled labor went into producing fountain pens, vintage nibs are smoother than their modern counterparts.
Some vintage pens may be in mint condition, while others might be fragile and require delicate handling. There are vintage pens in possession of pen collectors and museums with jewels and gems studded in them. Vintage fountain pens are inlaid with lacquer designs known as maki-e. Vintage fountain pens are also made up of bamboo, glass, hard rubber and celluloid.
Utmost care must be taken for maintaining a vintage pen. Hot water and solvents should never be used to clean a vintage fountain pen. The material used in vintage pens may not be sturdy enough to withstand hot water and solvents. Direct sunlight may cause color to fade, so vintage fountain pens should not be exposed to it. It’s advisable to carry a vintage pen in the outside pocket rather the inside pocket to preserve from heat. Fountain pens, especially vintage pens, should not be soaked in liquids.
Repair of a vintage pen should be left to an expert. A slight extra pressure here or there while mending parts by an amateur may cause breakage because of the fragile condition of the pen. Parts for replacement in vintage pens are being sold as factory-made originals and reproductions. Most vintage pen parts are not interchangeable. One should be very careful about 100-year-old pens, hard rubber and casein and Coronets.
Numbers of manufacturers competed with each other during the Golden era of fountain pens (1880-1930) and produced durable, efficient and stylish products, which are much better than those being produced now. A vintage pen is worthy both for its writing as well as its display value.

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The manufacturers of fountain pens apparently have not seen such increase in sales since the year Lewis Waterman made the 3 key inventions that allowed the mass-production of quality writing instruments. While ballpoint and rollerball pens were reported to kill the market of fountain pens, and hi-tech presented by email and cell-phones was to eliminate writing as activity, something unpredicted happened - and changed the world of writing instruments.
I believe this can be explained by several factors.
First, writing made a man, as many of us were taught at school. No technology can replace the art of writing and diminish the value of habit. Spell-checkers in Word make us rely on automatic scripts which, as we all know, cannot guess our thoughts. You never can trust a spell-checker to make your article grammatically correct, and human reviewing is always necessary, be it a term paper, an agreement, or some internal company policy. Typing involves making more errors than writing with a pen, that’s for sure.
Second, email servers for conveying information, and not empathy. Writing involves much of emotional component, changing the style, pressure on the paper, and handwriting. A hand-written letter tells the reader a lot about the writer, while typed email is a pure text lacking soul.
Finally, fountain pens are a tradition - and this is something we badly need in the unstable world. We all lack connections with the past. Gadgets we use lack the spirit, lack humanity, and are considered as devices only. You can’t really express your personality, your attitude towards assets and values with an iPod, which is just about in everyone’s pocket.
So fountain pens have seen the second birth, so to say. Enthusiasts started the wave, collectors supported it, and then ordinary white-collars joined the craze.
So why do you need a fountain pens?
Here’s a short list of reasons that might urge you to have a look at reviews of different brands.
1. Fountain pens are easier to writer with than rollerbals and ballpoints. Thanks to construction and special mechanism, fountain pens do not need additional pressure on part of a writer. The ink literally flows onto the paper itself.
2. If gold is best investment of money, then fountain pens are sure to hold the spot among five most reliable investments. While cars are too huge to keep and normally drop in prices quickly, fountain pens are often made in limited quantities. If you ever got a slight interest in Mont Blanc Limited Editions, then you might know that these fountain pens become rare too fast, and their price tag literally sky rockets. Every broker will tell you that this isn’t that bad
3. Fountain pens reflect personality thanks to all kinds of models, manufacturers, filling mechanisms, etc. The world of fountain pens probably is way more diverse than the world of computer games.
4. If you care about you health, a fountain pen can help you. Yes! Doctors say that muscles involved in holding a fountain pen release tension on heart. Besides, people with some diseases like arthritis have difficulties in writing with ballpoints, but fountain pens help to alleviate the pain.
5. Collecting fountain pens is a great hobby; many people find it to be a great fun. There are online communities with thousands of members enjoying communication and sharing experience, posting reviews, solving repair troubles. Every year Pen Shows take place in cities all over the world, like those in Chicago and London. These are spectacular events where every fountain pen lover can look at and feel almost any pen displayed, and receive most accurate information about all aspects of collecting fountain pens.
So owning fountain pens is something you might really enjoy for the rest of your life, and your children and grandchildren will have s chance to inherit the asset that never looses in price - your fountain pens.

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Each Sheaffer fountain pen, as almost any fine writing instrument using ink, can get clogged. The ink flow can be stopped by two main factors: improper care and bad ink.
Improper fountain pen care implies, for example, keeping the fine instrument in the wrong position. When not used for some time (over several hours), a pen should be put in uphold position, the nib up.
Fountain pen can get damaged if wrong ink is used for filling and writing. No pen-o-phil in the world will ever recommend waterproof or Indian ink for fountain pens! It is like one of the commandments for any pen lover. Unless you want to make serious damage to your precious pen, never use waterproof or Indian inks in it.
There are special inks aimed just at using in fountain pens. Sheaffer itself produces nice ink of many colors, and what could be better of using Sheaffer ink in Sheaffer fountain pens? It gives you an absolute guarantee that no damage to the pen will ever occur. Of course there are superb inks made by Mont Blanc and Waterman, or you may find Noodler’s to be what you really like most of all inks. I personally use Noodler’s in my Sheaffer Agio Limited Edition.
With the above said, I am going to name some steps that will help you to unclog Sheaffer fountain pen.
Don’t get nervous and stay away from panic. Avoid excessive shaking or other physical measures. It is that kind of things that need special care – always.
If you just don’t know what to do or can’t make up your mind, it is a good idea to bring the pen to a pen shop (if there’s one in your area). For about some dollars, they will clean the pen out and return it back to you in perfect condition. Cleaning may take up to one day, so probably you won’t get your pen back the day you bring it.
However, there’s a good chance you can unclog Sheaffer’s pen at home conditions. If you have any high soluble ink at hand, like Sheaffer Skrip, you may try to clean the pen with it. Such inks are reported to clean the clogged residues of ink.
But in most cases it is not enough, and you have to use some chemicals for proper cleaning. Usually it is a mixture of ammonia and water (1 part of ammonia, 10 parts of water). Use a converter, or a piston from your Sheaffer fountain pen to fill the nib section with the solution, drop it and leave it in the mixture overnight. Flush it well with water after soaking it. Gently blow water through the nib section toward a nib to clean up softened ink residue. Try not to use more than 5 parts of ammonia because it can seriously damage the precious writing instrument. Normally ammonia:water as 5:10 is used in most serious cases with stubborn clogging which happens quite rarely.
By the way, the last method is exactly what pen shops use to unclog fountain pens. So you’ve just save yourself a lunch.

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A big part of obsessed pen collectors, passionate amateur lovers of fine writing instruments and all those “in-the-know” can easily draw a solid distinguishing line between professionally manufactured, mass-produced, mechanically engraved and encrusted writing instruments, and hand-crafted wood fountain pens. The latter items are pure gems in the eyes of connoisseurs treasuring the delicate uniqueness of each of the crafted pens.
When you buy a pen from a world-renowned manufacturer like Mont Blanc or Waterman, you cannot really expect to receive a unique piece of art. With wood fountain pens carved by skilled craftsmen it is quite a different story.
You can communicate directly with the craftsman – talk face-to-face, discussing the chores and every aspect of final design. You can order the material, the type of wood, the nib, discuss texture and size, choose the filling mechanism (piston of converter), participate in designing the gift box, etc. That is, your input is significant at every stage of making the wood fountain pen. And you are in control of every step; from developing the idea into the final piece of art to presenting it to someone you care for. With the help of a skilled craftsman who “feels” the wood and truly treasures the art of writing, you can materialize just about every idea; turn your vision of a dream fountain pen into reality!
If you choose a wood fountain pen as a gift to someone loved, a friend or a colleague, you can have no doubt that your present will be like no one else’s. It is just impossible to carve two identical pens from wood — at least the texture pattern will bi different on each piece.
One cooler thing about personalized fountain pens made of wood is that people tend to care more for such fine writing instruments because of the uniqueness the latter possess. Every such pen intensifies the emotional ties, accentuates the personal attitude, signifies the strong friendship or respect, and lets everyone stand out from the crowd.
With the help of Internet, it is easy to find a skilled craftsman to do the job. Of course you should plan your order well in advance – a wood fountain pen can’t be made in a hurry, it is a living material that needs special conditions to be prepared for crafting process. So if you think of presenting someone with a memorable gift, I suggest that you consider ordering a wood fountain pen.

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I would say the answer is a definite yes, but you must follow some basic principles. Firstly, doesn’t use an ink that is considered wet? Pick an ink that will dry quickly for you. The paper is also important; some papers have an almost glossy feel to them, with very poor absorption. You should also avoid any broad nibs on the pens you use, as writing from a fine nib will dry more quickly. Fountain pens are a lot less trouble than rollerballs and ballpoints. Gel pens can be pretty good, but suffer from the ink smearing.
Ink drying is a combination of the ink and the type of paper. Most inks these days dry very fast; this is all the more important for left handed writers. If you use a few piston fillers in your fountain pen, make sure it carries a good amount of ink and you top it up regularly. Preferably you should use a cartridge pen, as you can keep a few spare cartridges of different types in your college bag. I wouldn’t recommend you keep spare cartridges in your pockets as they could break or leak, and that’s a mess!
Fountain pens write using their own weight on paper; you do not need to apply additional pressure as you do with other types of pen. This generally leads to minimal hand cramping, which can be a real problem when writing pages of notes with a ballpoint. You should be able to write an awful lot quicker with a fountain pen, which is of course a real benefit when taking notes down.
The last thing to bear in mind is cost. It could get lost, stolen, or someone could borrow it from you and you never see it again!
Talking from experience, whilst in college there is an awful lot of note taking. This means using a reliable pen, one which writes quickly and smoothly. One that fits the bill is a fountain pen. However, will a cheap fountain pen do the job? These are important questions to ask you.
Firstly, your fountain pen should not have sporadic ink-flow issues that require you to revert back to using a ballpoint too frequently. It also needs to write smoothly on regular notebook paper. There are pens around that refuse to write on anything but the finest cotton paper or in a moleskin notepad. Another aspect to bear in mind is ink smudging. You need to make sure this does not become an issue, especially those of you who are left-handed.
What about nib size? For note taking you would be better off with a fine nib. However, don’t go for extra-fine as this tends to be a bit scratchy, you could end up with holes in your notes. I would also recommend you steer clear of italic nibs if you are left handed as they do require to be pulled to have a decent ink flow, and the writing angle probably wouldn’t suit you. A round tipped nib is best for all round writing.
If you can, I would also recommend an 18k nib, as they tend to be smoother on porous surfaces and are a big improvement on steel nibs. You also need to bear in mind your own writing style, as if you tend to press when you write a nib with more flex could cause you problems. Try not to press at all when using a fountain pen, try to glide the pen over the paper. You will definitely like the results.

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