The Parker 45

You can see the slight curvature of the barrel in this picture.

Greetings from Augustana College! Baseball season is underway even though there is still freezing weather predicted for the next week.  I apologize for the slight delay in this post, but my schedule has been hectic as of late.

My uncle's reward during service week in Singapore.

This wonderful fountain pen was awarded to my uncle in 1976 for volunteer work for the Singapore government. What a gift it was!  It hearkens back to a day when a prize/award was useful and didn't just sit on a shelf like a trophy.  I found it in my basement along with the rest of my older pens and this one was in the worst condition of the bunch.  That's really not saying much, seeing as it still has the tag on the clip! 

Upon initial inspection, this pen has a slight bend to the barrel, which does not inhibit the writing process whatsoever, but does look weird at times.  I can't be sure of exactly what caused this warped body, but it was either great force or a combination of that and heat.  The filling mechanism of this pen was stained black, but had very little encrusted ink within.  This pen was taken care of, though less than my Parker 51 which I reviewed here.

Until I get the opportunity to inspect the rubber on this pen and replace it, I'm not going to use this pen as anything but a dip pen.  I don't want to risk a spill in my pen case or major leaks and spotting on a homework assignment. It's unfortunate, but I already have a TON of pens that I carry around with me everywhere.

Red-Black, you never cease to amaze me!

I do like the color of this pen, and I actually wish I had a pen with a green barrel that I could use on a daily basis, because I usually end up buying blue pens. The nib is a smooth writer indeed and not completely different from that of the Parker 51, granted however that I am using it as a dip pen. The balance of this pen isn't terrific because of the materials used in making it (let's get real here, it's not a higher end pen).  Posting the cap partially brings balance back to this average pen, but it's still darn good and holds a lot of meaning and history.  Overall, I'm happy to continue using this pen for writing letters and taking notes at my desk, but there isn't anything about this pen that blows me away. 

Χαιρετε παντες!

The Classicist

Best Fountain Pens for writing the Arabic Language

One of the reasons that I find fountain pens to be useful is because they're the ultimate writing tool.  Not only can they be used for writing, but they can be used for drawing as well. They're the ultimate calligraphy tool, seeing as calligraphy is the art of writing.  Tracing the roots of the word calligraphy, we arrive at the Ancient Greek word καλλιγραφος which is a combination of the Greek words καλος and γραφος.  Καλος means "good" or "nice" and γραφος means "writing" or "letter". Together we get a word that means "nice letter".

I'm not good enough at reading Arabic to know what this
says, but it sure looks REALLY cool!

Now, Arabic is a language that is different from what we are accustomed to in English, because the script for the language is much more common as an art form.  Because of the religious devotion of early followers of Islam, the people in the Middle East were afraid to draw pictures out of fear of creating idols, something that The Prophet Muhammed warned against.  Searching for an outlet for creative endeavors, the Arabic speakers (since Islam and the Arabic tongue are inextricably connected) put all their energy into mathematics, architecture and handwriting.  The Arabic script can be as beautiful as English cursive or more beautiful.  Both have a lot in common in the way that they flow and rise and fall with twists of the pen and more pressure on down strokes.  While ballpoint pens may work alright with the Arabic language, a pencil is preferable over a ballpoint and a fountain pen over a pencil.

Practicing my Arabic alphabet. Each of the
28 letters has 4 different forms that must
be known. That doesn't even count the short
vowel marks.

I've been trying different fountain pens to see which ones work best with the Arabic language.  The Sheaffer Italic that I used was probably the best one overall, but as far as standard pens that I would carry around with me for use in other languages, I would say the Noodler's Nib Creaper Fountain Pen (filled with Noodler's Bad Green Gator) performed the best.  I was also able to apply more pressure with the throw-back nib and make line width variations, placing it at the top of the list for writing Arabic.  My Platinum Preppy .03 was the runner-up. It was filled with Noodler's Polar Blue.


I tend to use legal pads most of the time because of their convenience and price. Don't worry, I'm moving to bagasse paper as soon as I run out!  This pad has narrower lines than most and as such, wet writers or pens with medium nibs aren't as functional.  This isn't to say that the Parker 51 (medium nib/Noodler's Polar Black) that I used or the Pilot Petit1 (wet writer/Noodler's Polar Blue with a drop or two of Polar Black) aren't great for this writing, but they most certainly need more line space than this legal pad allows.  Other pens I used were my Lamy Safari with EF nib (filled with Noodler's Polar Black and my Noodler's Piston Filler (filled with my favorite ink, Noodler's Red-Black).  Both the Lamy Safari and Piston Filler were too scratchy for a comfortable flow that is necessary for the lines prevalent in Arabic. The Sheaffer Italic F was used as a dip pen in Noodler's Russia Series Ахматова.

I'm a student of the language first and foremost, not a calligraphist, but that doesn't mean that I can't have fun with practicing calligraphy in other languages from time to time.  Maybe someday I'll be able to write as well as in the picture above.

مع السلامة

The Classicist

Hero 285 in Silver and Gold

This is a modern pen I was surprised to find among those from my basement, especially because it isn't old at all. How it got thrown in with this group I can't be certain, but regardless, I'm pleased to have found it.

She's showin' off her wares...

 I quickly inked this baby up and got her down on paper so that I could try it out. It immediately proved to have a very smooth and yet fairly fine nib.  F nibs tend to be scratchy unless you shell out large amounts of money for them, and this (I'm fairly certain at least) was not a costly pen. Noodler's Polar Black was the ink I used to fill this pen. Aesthetically speaking, this pen is pretty snazzy, though I feel that the black and gold version would be slightly better looking.  The pen is excellently weighted, especially so when the cap is posted on the end.

I found the grip on this pen to be about average as far as fountain pens go, with this pen being one with a narrow barrel. I personally prefer narrow barrels because not only does the pen weigh less overall, but it fits into a pocket with much more ease and fits into my hand more comfortably. Portability and weight don't matter when you have time to sit down at a desk and write slowly, but for the average student, those are critical points in evaluation of a pen. I unfortunately can't think of a pen to compare it to, but with the solid construction and fantastic nib, all that comes to mind is a Lamy Safari, but honestly, it isn't even close.

After leaving it sitting for a few days, this pen wrote immediately, which is a practical quality that modern pens should possess.  I know that the finicky nature of vintage fountain pens can be part of the allure at times, but when I'm in class, having a pen that doesn't need constant care is much more useful. We should have standards for ourselves as fountain pen enthusiasts! If a modern pen costs over $100 and looks pretty, but doesn't write well, then we should discourage others from buying it! This pen definitely doesn't cost $100, looks very nice and writes extremely well, therefore, it is a good pen to purchase.  If you're on a budget and you still want a nice pen, then this will fit your niche very well and you'll spend somewhere between $15-20. When I checked last, isellpens.com had a large selection of pens made by Hero that were similar, but not exactly the same. I've never bought from them, so I can't comment about the retailer, but the members on the fountainpennetwork.com seem to support them.

さようなら！

The Lamy Safari

Those are some nice lines...

Since it is my first official day of fall break, I decided to be productive and get a post online. My mom recently returned from Paris and brought back a fountain pen for me. This is my first real fountain pen, since before this I had only written a few lines with others' pens or just used Platinum Preppy's. I was very excited to start writing with it, yet somehow, the box managed to delay me from my goal. It is quite possibly the coolest pen container I have ever seen, because it can be flipped inside out (kinda) and the pen is just floating there before your eyes, just asking, no, begging to be touched.

As far as writing goes, I went right at it and ended up jotting down the entire set of Greek verbal accidence for the verb "λυω" in my Moleskine notebook.  The nib that came on my pen is an M, which I'm not terribly fond of, but honestly, it still puts down a great line on the paper that isn't too wet or thick.  One thing that I had to remember is that the German nib sizes are larger than the more precise Pilot nibs, probably because of the need for fine detail in writing kanji. The blue ink cartridge that comes with the Safari is more of a blue/black with a hint of purple. It really isn't that far off from Noodler's Polar Blue, which I am really loving.  The cartridge ink also takes very well to the Moleskine paper, with very little feathering if any.  The ink also did not bleed through at all, but at times it can seem a bit washed out. I've got some black cartridges, so I hope to add those to this review as soon as I get to them. Unfortunately, the ink reserve in the cartridges is so large that it is taking me forever to finish them off!  That's how it should be Pilot Petit1!

You take that top off!

One thing that immediately struck me about this pen is that the barrel has a somewhat triangular shape to it, which I assume is intended to make writing more comfortable over long periods of time, which I fully intend to test soon. The steel clip is really strong and allows me to hook this pen into my pocket, so I don't have to worry about it falling out like some of my other pens.  As far as installing a cartridge, there is an interesting little trick to getting it done, which is actually quite nice, which is to just twist the back end of the pen in place and it breaks the cartridge seal for you.  There isn't a whole lot of weight to this pen, but it does have durability going for it, and being a student, that is really the first thing I look for in a pen.

Overall, this is a very practical pen that I can see getting a lot of use for a long time.

Salvete!