Pen Asceticism

 

Its been about a while since my last pen post and the hiatus, while greatly needed, allowed me to perform an experiment on myself for the benefit of my readers and fellow pen enthusiasts.  I consider myself new to avid fountain pen use and my experience comes from full immersion into using this utensil, but I have found myself with so many options as far as pen and ink combinations go.  While I enjoy using the different combinations of inks and pens, I felt that I might try to truly enjoy one ink and one pen combination for a full month.  I figured it would be best for me to pick my favorite ink and my favorite pen and carry it around everywhere I went.

I'm a kid in a candy store, but is it possible to eat just one type of candy in only one flavor for an entire month?

The ink I decided to use was Noodler's Red-Black and the pen, a Parker 51. My notebook of choice for this term is a Moleskine mid-sized notebook, which I have found is not conducive to feathering with either this ink or pen.  Now, using a Moleskine for taking class notes is not a new concept for me, but with this project I was much more interested than usual in keeping this notebook in as near to immaculate condition as possible. I happen to really enjoy the combination of cream paper, red-black ink (with beautiful shading), and the medium nib and flow of my Parker 51.  With ingredients as great as this, the end product certainly would be great.

Notes from Ancient Greek History class with my favorite professor!

It wasn't long before I found myself enjoying the writing experience more than ever before and finding excuses to write where I wouldn't have otherwise.  I found the experience to be interesting on a number of levels. I found myself really enjoying the time I spent writing, whether for class or fun, but I have to say that it went deeper than that.  I really found myself feeling a deeper connection to something greater than just the physical pen and paper.  I found that I had discovered a zen in writing. Yes, I feel silly thinking about it now, but it's the same kind of feeling that you get when you pick up a very old quarter and you think to yourself, "I wonder how many hundreds of people have held this coin?" It was being part of a greater writing tradition. There was something simple, antiquated, and gratifying to join the ranks of thousands before me.


During this month-long period, I found myself romanticizing what could be written with a fountain pen, and how so many authors/thinkers/inventors in the past had written with one as well.  The fountain pen is fundamentally different than a ballpoint because of what it symbolizes.  My only issue is that I feel this way about a pen.  How long ago would I have considered myself a total whacko for thinking this way? Through my fountain pen I can feel a connection to the past and to an era when the world was much more physical and more lived. So, yes, I feel stupid, saying it, but I would say I have developed a near spiritual relationship with my pen. The ink and paper are a significant part of it, but writing in a notebook for any reason is to almost enter into a trance. Paper, pen and author all become one. Its a feeling I'm not entirely accustomed to yet, but when the feeling washes over those of you who have experienced this feeling before, it is relaxing and invigorating and empowering all at the same time.

Eternally Inked,

The Classicist

Caran d'Ache Ecridor 55

What evening ensemble wouldn't be enhanced by such a fantastic pen?

The elusive luxury pen.  Elusive for your average college student. I am still an average college student, but I got extremely lucky when filling out a fountain pen survey online and I was one of the selected winners.  Sometimes you just get lucky.  Maybe it's karma, or maybe it's just about time for the world to treat me well for once, but regardless. I won a magnificent Caran d'Ache Ecridor 55.  A luxury pen is within my reach for the first time in my life.  It is quite exciting.  The only pen that I have to compare it to is a Parker 51 (M), which is approximately 45 years old. I'll do my best to review it, but I have to say that luxury pens aren't exactly my specialty.

Extremely smooth medium nib, and it looks pretty too!

The Ecridor 55 is a pen that upon first glance is extremely stylish.  A fountain pen isn't a fashion accessory, but if you're paying enough money for it, it might as well be.  This pen truly fits that label.  Crafted from silver and rhodium, with a stainless steel nib, the Ecridor 55 has a beautiful "S" pattern that is meant to mimic the air intake "gills" of the 1967 Ford Mustang. I honestly can't attest to any similarities that I know of, but it is beautiful indeed.  I can really imagine this pen peeking out from a suit's front pocket.  I don't believe that a pen can define a person, but I do respect someone with a fountain pen... as long as it is being used.

Now, on to the writing experience, because a fountain pen is completely worthless if it doesn't write well.  I found overall that the Caran d'Ache Ecridor 55 was a fantastic writing experience, on par with the Parker 51 (but then again, I don't have tremendous experience with the world of luxury pens).  The balance of the pen is quite possibly the best that I have experienced in any fountain pen (cap posted or unposted), even better than my Parker 51. The nib is the critical part of the pen and this medium nib does not disappoint.  The nib is as smooth as the Parker 51 and the flow is a little bit slower, but not too much slower, so unless you're an artist or have an extremely quick hand, it's nothing to worry about.  The included adapter holds a lot of ink.  I've been running tests on this pen for about 3 weeks and have used almost 2 full legal pads and I've only refilled it 7 times. I have been using Noodler's Polar Black, my standard ink. I'm sure that in time I will find an ink that works best with this specific pen, but even with Noodler's Polar Black, this pen writes fantastically.

I would love to review more high end fountain pens, but unless they fall in my lap, that won't be happening any time soon. Regardless, I enjoyed the experience tremendously and look forward to possibly reviewing more in the future.

Eternally Inked,

The Classicist 

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

Parker 51 Dark Blue Fountain Pen

What a cougar!

I suppose I've been on a bit of a fountain pen tear lately, but after the recent discovery of a veritable trove in my basement, I've been itching to try them all out so this is the first in a sequence of six pens (more if I can get all of them to work).  There is always that exciting feeling that you get when you try a pen for the first time, laying down line after line of pure bliss or agony, depending on the pen.  What makes the experience with the fountain pen different is that it was used by someone else.  This was when pens were made to last and be reused countless times.  A vintage pen hearkens to a time when people had a "go-to" pen and they actually carried it with them at all times. The excitement I feel is that someone lovingly filled this pen with ink,  just like me, all that time ago. I used Noodler's Polar Black by the way.

It was in this era the Parker 51 1/10 12k Gold Filled Cap Dark Blue Fountain Pen was made and purchased by my grandfather or grandmother in Singapore.  As it turns out, in the 50's, my grandmother worked at a department store in Singapore as a fountain pen salesperson.  That also explains the excellent quality that the pen was in when I found it, despite the fact that it is guaranteed to have not been used for almost 40 years.  The reputation of this pen is undoubtable and the quality has so far proven to be unmatched.

The true worth of a pen is that which the owner puts in it.  This pen by modern standards writes very well and lays down a nice wet line, in a pleasant way of course.  I'm personally a bit more of a fan of EF, but this is a case where F is quite fantastic.  We all need to remember that the nib is the most important part of the pen, and here, Parker combined a very good nib with a cheap body and an extremely smooth filling system.  The weight of this pen is great with the cap posted and a little on the light side without it.  The grip is non-existent, but the barrel tapers and fits well in the hand.  So far after a few days of carrying it around with me, there have been no leaks or any problems or issues to speak of.

Sorry, I didn't have the time to take a different picture with the paper.
I wish I had more Rhodia paper!

 They just don't make 'em like they used to.  If you're a user of modern fountain pens, I highly recommend picking one of these up.  I have heard that the best way to find one is to go to garage sales and estate auctions.  Antique stores will usually cost a bit more, but will have them.  Talk to family members and friends first though, because they just might have one sitting around.  Most likely it hasn't been used in years and they'll be happy to let you have it. There is nothing more exciting for me than following the path that a pen has travelled, being a part of that history and then ensuring that it continues.

Salvete omnes!