![[WTS] - Wancher tame-sukashi ivy leaf](https://external-preview.redd.it/kqxryqQpJl_yVyY0zsfhOnTYjb3_OFYSNxpNE645ZR8.jpeg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=aa11c9172fb49deabc2abc1c26c78b94e04dd6cc)
Wancher semi-translucent urushi pen. Jowo steel nib <M> and old-style Wancher international converter are included. The use of converter is optional, pen can be used as eye dropper.
Asking $300 USD + 31 for international shipping or best offer.
Also, can fit one of these nibs. To be discussed separately: Jowo 14k <F> and / or Jowo steel Monti custom grind.
Pen Lamy Safari, decoration - red tamenuri with some raden chips. Every piece of shell was manually cut, glued and every corner and edge were individually rounded. My intention was not to fully submerge shell into the lacker, but have it partially exposed providing a tactile feel.
As can be seen in the provided media, the shell shifts in colour between greyish, pale blue, and reddish tones depending on the viewing angle. From time to time, subtle hints of green also appear.
Here is the new gallery under natural light. Its probably the best way to capture urushi. However, at home it will look darker, while under direct desk lamp the red will look brighter as the top coat is semi-translucent. With time passing, the overall look of the pen will brighten up.
Nib: Z57 14k <M> nib (text me if you prefer Z56 14k OM nib) + Lamy converter.
Now asking $310 USD + shipping 31
P.S. Condition - as for customised item consider its B? Its was recently made.
Selling old vintage Japanse ebonite pen. Its original look was pretty sad. I gave it a new appearance. It is has rough and raw look. Don't expect any fancy neat maki-e :) However, the new appearance isn't random. Read up about it in the linked post.
Clip - brass under polished black urushi.
Cap - ebonite under ishime-ji with two big polished raised roses and a streak of randen threads. Roses occasionally flash in red from under semi translucent top coat. In time, the red will peek out a bit more. Blue / green sparkles occasionally flush from under raden threads (its a multilayer composition).
Body - ebonite under ishime-ji with raised falling petals and leaves. Some created using the same technique as main roses, the others are laid out of raden chips. Three kinds of shells used - bright blue/green, pale/purple and yellow/pale green.
Knob - ebonite under ishime-ji.
Section - ebonite under polished black urushi.
Feed - original ebonite, multi-channel, very wet.
Nib - not original. The original has rusted away over those years from pre-war era. The new #7 nib is installed. Nib is made of steel. Features Naginata-like tipping, it delivers tons of ink. Writes from MF to B depending on pen angle. Normal angle produces solid B line.
Ink system - eye-dropper with shut-off rod. Read below for the operating procedure. Its the whole ceremony LOL.
Asking $210 USD + 31 for shipping or best offer.
P.S.
Filling system and manual ink control. In short, turn knob to seal the opening through which ink flows into the feed.
Tighten the knob so that it is fully closed
Unscrew and remove the section
Put ink directly into the barrel
Put ink directly into the section until it drips out of the nib
Screw section back in place. Now we can write until there is ink in the section
Unscrew the knob, just a little. This action will cause rod to move up and open the hole through which ink will flow into the section. The more we open knob, more ink will come out. This way we can control wetness of the pen. Opening it too much may cause the burp. This way we can prime feed. Once feed is wet, we can close the knob sealed or leave small opening.
After writing, turn pen so that nib is pointing up and unscrew the knob for 3-5mm, allowing ink to run from section into the barrel.
Close the knob. Closing knob pushes rod into the section and at the same time pushes air into the section. If pen is not pointing up, it may burp.
Screw the cap onto the barrel.
Pretty fun :)
This is my second attempt to list this pen. The first time I listed, pen was still undergoing some finishing work. Now, "the early bird" sale window has closed. Maybe this time pen will find a new owner, lets wish it a good luck.
Here is pen gallery and video
Pen comes with converter and 14k nib of your choice - either <M> black or <OM> silver.
Condition - B as it is customised. You will find minor imperfections here and there (well, I am not Nakaya, sorry). As described in the linked post, cap fitting and threads are rather tight.
Asking USD $350 + $31 shipping if buyer is not in Australia.
Hi, selling my experimental Urushi pen. The experiment was on the Urushi techniques for submerging patterns as well as I wanted to see how Majohn flex nib is performing. (pretty well). The condition is B, its custom decorated, there are minor imperfections as expected from manual work.
Takes international converter. Majohn #6 steel yellow nib. Nib is smooth, more rigid than FA #10, or FPR Ultra. However it does not require force to open tines (I tried a few, some Majohn flex nibs are more rigid, but also there are softer ones).
Pen photos, video and description are here
Price - USD $270 plus $31 shipping.
If you ever run out of your favourite quotations... just grab the nearest vintage PILOT leaflet and translate it.
I just wanted to share a few observations about nibs so popular in our community. But its a long read....
Most of us like when nibs are labeled as flex. If we do not enjoy writing flex ourselves we still curiously follow the subject.
It is not a scientific experiment, just me messing around as I needed to finish last drops of Diamine Red Dragon ink. When it comes to draining ink from the bottle, pens with gushy flexy nibs are always up for help!
Picked four nibs:
Pelikan M1000 medium 18k
Pilot Custom Urushi #30 fine-medium 18k
FPR Ultraflex extra fine steel
Namiki Emperor #50 medium 18k
You are probably thinking something like "what the strange selection! I am sure CU and Namiki are not flexy, in fact only FPR is known to be flexy".
Now... Pelikan and FPR nibs are incorrectly labeled. Namiki Emperor is not even a soft nib. Pelikan says M but it is not anywhere near medium. And similar story with FPR, it says EF but hell no. Knowing the FPR is going to be gusher I paired it with Dadao ink supply system, which I find to be brilliant. Their feed design is shamelessly stolen from Montblanc. The unique ink converter is by far the best in the industry. All that for silly $9 - Dadao 9016.
Lets have a look at writing samples. The same content, the same paper (Rhodia) and ink (Diamine Red Dragon). But Pelikan dried out on me, so I had to get the substitute ink to continue testing FPR nib.
What can I say. It is evident that with some effort all these pens can produce lines featuring "line variation". Pretty lettering can be achieved. If that what we mean when we mention "flex" then they are all full flex as the lines were up to 1mm wide, which is seriously wide.
However, what writing samples do not demonstrate is the feeling. Based on the feeling alone... under any circumstances I could say that FPR is a flex nib. Absolutely not. The same goes for Namiki Emperor. These two are not flex nibs. They can produce nice looking letters, no joke. Comparing to flex nibs (like CU#30 and M1000) the FPR utterly lacked the elasticity. I had no control of the tip, I missed the snapback, the nib was not working with me. I had to draw letters by controlling the whole pen. The sound nib is making is fairly loud.
Somewhat similar story with Namiki Emperor. Thanks to its size it does not need to bend to open tines wide enough for line variation. Thanks to good springiness in the gold, it still provided enough cushioning to kind of simulate flex writing. And also, thanks to smoothly tuned tip, writing with pressure does not tear paper. This pen can certainly be used for pretty writing with line variations. I believe the strength of Emperor in its versatility. It is sort of "can do it all" kind of instrument. It can take "half" of your ink bottle. It can impress your colleagues by its size and Urushi lustre. It can upset your wallet big time. It can shut all your other pens silent when you uncap it. Its ink supply system is genius, allowing you to control the inkflow from dry to wet as you please. It can also produce thin and thick lines. Truly universally unique instrument.
Now the M1000 18k medium. Elastic. I deliberately reached out for medium. It is the one being bashed and cursed the most. I was of the similar opinion like mainstream, supporting the idea that M1000 <M> is the nonsense nib. Makes too wide lines, it is hard to write and it often skips and blah... However, recently I emptied a few full refills in a row and now I am sorry for being wrong. This is a wonderful nib. As per my own nib categorisation I treat M1000 as speciality nib. Its not your regular medium. Go for M400 - M800 <M> if you need one. M1000<M> behaves like a dream flex with good snapback under high pressure and low angle. It lays down lines with good variation and even generated two levels of shading, while gliding smoothly and silently. But the most importantly it does feel elastic.
Another nib which is very cleverly ground and labeled as FM is CU#30. Elastic. I know that most of CU owners are dead scared to press on it fearing to spray it. Yep, do not press, especially if you yet to learn about nib mechanics and still developing the control of the tilt. All soft nibs are scared of side drag under pressure and non equally distributed force which happens when you tilt and rotate the pen. Any tilt and rotation makes one of the tines to work more. The absence of low angle under pressure causes the nib to bend inward. It is easy to damage. But if we take it slow and apply correct controlled pressure, the simple FM turns into good elastic flex. It opens wide enough, it snaps back very well (notice letters "l", "y", "h"). Elasticity is very prominent.
To me the nib is no way flex if it does not deliver elasticity, which in my experience I witnessed only and exclusively with gold nibs - 18kCU#30, 18kM1000, 14kFA#10, a bunch of vintages, 14kGK nibs found in Ban-Ei pens, flex modified (no cut outs) 14kJowo from FPnibs. Maybe I could include Elabo 14k but unfortunately pens themselves are too small for me be certain about elasticity factor.
Hi there, I am finishing customising Lamy pen. The major work is done. I am doing fine detailing as well as polishing. The advanced Urushi polishing takes several weeks, as such, please expect delay in shipping (around beginning of July).
As this board does not allow to upload images and video directly, I made complimenting post here
Verification and small gallery
Nib is 14k <OM> silver, writing samples are in the link above. Condition - B. It is hard to determine. It is new pen, new nib, which I used for testing. Is "B" a fair grade? Anyway, asking USD $350 + 31 shipping.
Thank you!
Have you ever dipped a big red cherry into a spoonful of white sugar? Well, I think I just did. :)
The shell pieces were deliberately arranged in a slightly chaotic manner, without following any specific pattern. I chose the side that faces the writer, so that when the pen is in use, the raden pieces can do their magic.
Its hard to catch on camera, but maybe video will show some of it. The pieces are semi-translucent. When they catch the light and fire, they come at you in purple, pale yellow, and subtle pale green sparkles. The light rays that are not reflected from the surface pass through the shell, reflect off the red bedding underneath, and return to the viewer with a warm red glow. Under different lighting conditions, the shells sit there as modest white pearl.
I am not completely sure, but I think this is called "harigai", or something close to it. Unlike "togidashi", here the raden is deliberately left half-buried. At first sight, it might look as if this technique requires less work. It turned out to be the complete opposite. In "togidashi", when the pieces are flush with the surface, polishing removes the excess lacquer so that the raden is just barely exposed. Here, however, every piece needs to be rounded. Oh my, when they just sit on top of the lacquer, they are very sharp and pointy. I had to attend to every piece separately, round the corners, and apply about three layers over them so that the lacquer could creep up the walls of each piece. I think the effort was worth it. To the touch, it feels pleasantly rounded and warm thanks to the coated sides, but still bumpy and textured, like foreign objects attached to the surface.
To complement the chaotic arrangement of the shell, I also decided to give the pen a random brushed look. In classic urushi work, the underlayer is usually made very even, so that the top layer can sit beautifully on it and reflect the light evenly. With this design, I deliberately chose not to make the underlayer even. Instead, I gave it a slightly bumpy texture, hoping that when I glaze it with wine-red tamenuri, the valleys in the underlayer will appear as darker shades while the raised areas will come out brighter.
I let the viewer to decide whether it worked or not. To me it was another interesting journey into complexities of urushi work. And I paired this Sugar Cherry with 14k Oblique Medium nib so that it could write as sweet as it looks.
Add $30 for shipping from Australia. US buyer are still expected to pay 10% duty (will it ever end?)
Sailor wood makie-e 18k A2 / B medium (#4) + box with blue silk as pictured; Good healthy click from the snap cap. Please note that the wood is not exposed, it lacquered; $450USD
Sailor 1911L maki-e large old style nib 14k B. The nib is unmarked, writes like F, noticeably bouncy, not flex but not rigid either; $350USD This is precision instrument to be used with shading inks. Do not expect the ink gusher or a buttery smooth gliding. The nib is wonderfully tuned for what it was intended - thin precise line with flair (if pushed).
Namiki maki-e "flower basket" from 2006 (brass), 14k medium #10 size Fuji nib, A2 + box as pictured; $450USD
Nakaya Equilibrium, "my precious". Old model, not in production. Not listed here. A2 / B. Nakata 14k nib, broad or even coarse? Red tame-nuri; + full set of brass balancers (eight rings) and ebonite wrench to service balancers. It is not Sailor which looks small. Sailor is normal size pen. This Equilibrium is a monster. Can be made light or heavy with these balancers. $1150USD My previous pricing was off, apologies.
Model - wood series from 1980, decorated with maki-e gold and probably silver dust. Pretty neat and clean application. USD $490
Condition - A2 / B, there are few faint marks on the section (see photo), trait of this model.
No threads - tight snap cap with satisfying lock click. All plating remarkably preserved, washing produced no ink.
Outstanding nib: 18k medium (no M mark, instead "4" for size). In "like new" condition. Tines are in perfect alignment. Writes smooth, no feedback. Takes standard Sailor converters.
Comes in wooden presentation box. Box is very clean inside and outside. There are few dents on the wood from handling.
I don't have any more stubs nibs. The next one up is Platinum 3776 Music. The three tines design is what attracted me, I absolutely needed to try it.
The immediate thing I felt when nib touched the paper was the classic Platinum feedback. Here it is even more pronounced as the surface is bigger. Also, it can be seen in macro shots, my Music is kind of playing some melody on its own, so to speak. The three tines are not in a perfect alignment and present themselves as piano keys during composition frozen in time Lol. With any other nib I'd call it "misaligned" and needing a fix. But with this nib such tiny misalignment cannot be felt. There are no sharp inner corners, nib glides perfectly.
In writing I don't really feel anything special apart from double delivery of ink comparing to normal stub. This 3776 model features different feed, not compatible with standard 3776 model. Platinum people really know what they are doing, very undervalued brand. (I take Platinum over Pilot any day, cause smooth nibs are easiest to make. But nibs with consistent feedback across the range is something special!)
The cool feature of this 3-tines nib is that one may angle the nib as they please and at least two tines will still come in contact with paper, meaning you still get your line.
And... this nib has hidden feature, not widely advertised. This is the second reason I bought it. It is actually a dual nib. In reverse it writes like small stub with feedback normally felt in architect nibs, sort of sharp precise contact (not scratchy). The difference can be seen in the last slide on the last line at the bottom or in the video here. So three tines design is pretty cool.
P.S.
Btw if you want to take your nib out for cleaning, better not to, they sit really tight in there. But if you managed to remove, then be careful when assembling. This Platinum feed does not have saddle for the nib, but section has. However it is very tiny and easy to miss. Installing feed into the section off saddle will cause troubles. For correct assembly make sure feed goes all the way, it has stopper flooring inside section and nib should sit in the cut out.
Moving on from Jowo to Asvine, still around 1.1 size. This Asvine nib itself is obviously bigger as its #8. I put it into my C2000 ebonite model which made an extremely wet pen. Asvine known for insane ink flows thanks to their very capable plastic feed. I believe feed is modelled after MB 149 (why do you need to invent a bicycle... its already invented and kind of perfect, right? Just copy and be done with it Lol)
As already mentioned, mine Asvine 1.1 writes very wet, to the point that I am considering closing tines down. During writing, however, it did not bother me too much, the proper ink manages to dry until you get to the next line notebook. Unfortunately, due to wetness it is not possible to produce script with sharp corners, pouring ink sort of rounds letters out. So, twisting pen 30 degrees while writing meant to amplify properties of stub, and 1.1 is the best size for it. But not with Asvine.
What is good about extra wet nibs is that you may write with no pressure at all. One can even go a step further and deliberately lift the nib off the paper but only a little, so that it hovers just above the surface while ink is still in contact with the paper (thanks to the surface tension in liquids). This kind of writing by "hovering" nib over the line is quite fun. It is possible to produce F line using B nibs! Sometimes I play like this, especially using Sailor KOP B! The only catch is that its hard to execute if you are using wrist muscles to drive the pen. Much easier when driving is done with arm (shoulder), at least partially.
But the combination of Maruman, Diamine Maureen and wet Asvine 1.1 still produces interesting lines - in the last slide I noticed lots of sheen going on, as expected from Maureen, but also there is pretty shading. This is the property of the nib.
The "live" version of these slides can be found here
Sailor KOP Sakura Nagare original model (not modern version).
Nib - Medium, 21k, large KOP.
Pen condition A2 - amazing, like new. See video and verification
Box condition - very used and neglected.
Pouch condition - like new, don't think it has ever been used.
RE: Ink bottle. Note for buyers not from Australia - the bottle will come empty due to custom regulations.
Asking price USD $1500 + 30 shipping.
Pilot maki-e pen from 1991 with Namiki Kokkokai signature. Condition A.
Nib - 14k, #5, Fine
Sorry, cannot provide writing sample, pen is new. The nib is in superb condition, tines are aligned just fine.
Comes with in wooden box with old but not used con-70 converter, old documents (what is typically found in Pilot boxes)
USA $450 + 30 shipping. USA import duty is 10% on top.
Work done on the pen - re-polished Urushi and nib. Now it shines as it should. Deep black Urushi, gold shiny maki-e lines. Quality item!
This is continuation of my 4 parts series starting here
The next box revealed nice little Justus. All evidences suggest it is New Old Stock pen back from 1979 (the feed has no traces of ink, the inner side of the nib is also clean, which is, I think, impossible to clean unless pen disassembled). After testing how nib stiffens and softens depending on the setting, I could not resist and dipped into Namiki ink. Anyway, here is the full version of Justus with writing sample.
I've got a pack of four pens delivered today. All for "restoration", all from used pens market and I had no idea what are they until I opened those boxes. (My Japanese "ninja" agent is hunting them for me).
When I saw old Pilot box I was expecting maybe Custom 67 or 92. But this little buddy got me frozen when I opened the box! Also I was very surprised to find out that this pen has never seen any ink. That is the reason I am not providing writing sample. In fact, two of four pens ended up being NOS!
Here is a long version - Namiki NOS!
This is not a high-end pen from Namiki. This is a pen made by an unknown Japanese artisan from the pre-war era. Given the age of the pen, it is sad to realise that the pen master has passed away, while their creation still lives on. The pen was made not so much for writing, but rather as “click bait” to be displayed in a shop and attract customers. The “bait” here is its huge size. Despite the size, it is surprisingly comfortable to hold, and it writes.
While the pen master has passed away, I put a huge effort into giving this pen a second life by restoring it to the best of my abilities. I assume you may occasionally take it out to have fun, but mostly keep it in your display cabinet as a tribute to your hobby.
I call it “The Midnight Dew”, referring to ever-wet roses with a subtle shimmer which, depending on the mood and viewing angle, sparkles either green or blue.
Verification and size comparison
Writing sample and current pen look (its in progress until surface looks properly uniform and presentable; turned into deep black mirror. It takes time, hence we will discuss the shipping date separately).
Asking price: USD $300 + $30 shipping. Importing to the USA will attract 10% duty. I am not sure about other countries.
The Inki-dome Shiki filling mechanism demands patience and a bit of skill to operate. When the valve is fully closed, the pen will write until the feed dries out. To continue writing, you need to open the valve. Depending on the ink and how patient you are, you have two options.
You may open the valve wide and allow the pen to burp a drop of ink, then carefully close the valve again. The feed is now wet and ready.
Or you may open the valve just a little and wait until the feed refills. After some time, you will develop a feel for the pen and be able to predict when to open the valve, how much to open it, and when to close it, so that ink flow remains steady. This is part of the fun, I guess. By the way, this is my favourite filling mechanism. Despite being a bit of a hassle, I like the fact that I can control the ink flow. I take my time with pens and do not rush. For quick note-taking and carrying around, there are plenty of Safaris 😄
Anyway, thanks for looking. Btw if you missed this one, I have a few more jumbos in the lineup, so watch the space!