u/Recent_Average_2072

Jingles, offering her services as my desk assistant this evening.

Opus 88 Mini Celestial Zodiac

Parker IM Midnight Astral

Hypergraphia: The driving compulsion to write; the overwhelming urge to write. 

I am not anti ball pen and still use those for a lot of things but I would never really enjoy sitting down and copying a book using even my favorite rollerball pens. So, I don't think the general diagnosis of Hypergraphia would really fit me since I would presume anybody who had that condition would write with anything they could get their hands on.

What would you call somebody who has an overwhelming urge to write but with the caveat of "only with fountain pens?"

Pen in the photo is an Asvine C80 1.1 stub filled with Monteverde Mulberry noir and the writing is about 20 or so pages I did over the past 3 nights after work.

The big stack is the last book I copied which was 335 pages. My current one (in the photos) is in-progress and I'm 100 or so pages in.

I look forward every day to returning home, sitting down at my cozy desk and spending a few hours writing with my favorite fountain pens. I believe this enduring habit/urge/compulsion which I think is familiar to many of us deserves its own unique name but I can't really come up with a good one.

Asvine C80 with a 1.1mm stub filled with Monteverde Mulberry Noir ink. Paper is Tomoe River 52gsm.

I am currently transcribing a book using Chinese pens and inexpensive inks and plan to go through this whole set of Monteverde Noir inks. So far I've used the
Coal Noir, Copper Noir and this Mulberry. They've all been good and Mulberry is nice and wet and perfect for this Asvine stub.

The bottles in this set are 30mL and I paid $80 bucks for it on Amazon so $8 a bottle and I felt that met a threshold for "inexpensive ink."

My only complaint with this set (it's a heavy cardboard box with a magnetic clasp on the lid) is that the glue has failed on most of the seams so the box doesn't really stay closed properly and when you open it, the sides kind of flop down.

I don't care since it's mine: it holds together good enough to keep the inks safe and I put tape on the seams but it would kind of suck to buy this for somebody as a gift and have it happen.

All-around, though, I consider the set a good value and the colors I've tried so far have been good.

Did some matchy-matchy with some of my pens and razors.

Descriptions of the items are at the top of each photo.

Note that most of the pens and razors are not actually made from the same material, they just kind of look the same for the most part color-wise.

The last one is actually probably the best match. It's not captured well in the photo, but I swear that pen and some parts of that razor are made from are the exact same bluish-gray plastic.

Ahhh, Sunday, and really nothing pressing to do today so the day will consist largely of a lot of coffee-drinking and writing.

I'm copying a book and am currently using a Majohn P140.

This is my only currently-inked pen. Majohn P140 Transparent Green Medium filled with Hongdian Peacock Blue ink. Paper is Kokuyo KB office paper with French-ruling I printed on it.

I guess New Nib Day, not New Pen Day. I swapped out the original nib in this Esterbrook desk pen I already had for an Osmiroid Italic Fine Straight nib I just received today and I really like writing with it.

It's not my best writing as this is the first page I wrote with the pen/nib so wasn't really familiar with the properties of the nib yet and wasn't really warmed up so my writing was a little herky-jerky.

The ink is darker at the top of the page: there must have been a little residual blue/black in the pen from the last time I had it inked.

Ink is Waterman Tender Purple and paper is Midori MD on which I printed my own French/Seyes-ruling.

Thanks again to Querybird for enlightening me on this outstanding combination of Esterbrook pen and Osmiroid nib!

My collection of Asvine pens. Sorry, but I was too lazy to take them out of the case.

The second image is a listing of the pens, left to right, top to bottom.

While I like the feel of the ebonite J16 and C2000, I would have to say my overall favorite is still the very basic C80.

I consider Asvine pens, at least the ones shown here, a very good value for the money.

This pen has been around awhile and I never paid much attention to it because I wasn't a big fan of the stringed instrument clip and always figured based on its price that this pen was on the small side and super-cheap.

I recently learned the pen was larger than I thought it was and, at $14.99, I decided I could adapt to the clip and decided to buy one. This pen comes in Black, Blue, Green, White/Ivory, Clear Demonstrator and Red, which for some reason, was $1 less than the rest.

As far as I know, this pen only comes with a M or F nib. I chose the black version with a medium nib.

After writing 15 A4 pages with it, I am totally impressed with this pen and it's been a real joy to use. The nib is wet and writes flawlessly, quite smooth with a hint of feedback. I experienced zero issues with the nib using Monteverde Copper Noir ink in it. I did have to slightly adjust the tines prior to first use. Writing with this pen is quite effortless and drama-free. It works just as it should, all the time without fail.

The converter is a standard length, but has a large diameter and while I don't really have any feasible way to measure it, a Google search indicates the converter will hold around 1.1/1.2 mL of ink which keeps the Medium nib supplied for a long time.

I consider the build quality to be very good, especially for the price. The grip section incorporates very little taper at all (13.3mm at the trim ring and 12.7 at the front) so feels quite cylindrical when you hold it but is comfortable. The grip is pretty short, 17mm, so my fingers do touch/feel the cap threads when I'm writing with it but I don't consider them too harsh and they don't bother me any.

The pen weighs around 34g total and 19g uncapped when inked. The cap posts securely but not that deeply. Unless you're an inveterate poster, there's no reason post it as the body is plenty long. For those who care, the cap goes on and off with 1-1/4 turn.

I've had the pen inked for about a week but I have been writing with it at least once a day, sometimes multiple times throughout the day so I can't offer any opinion on how well the cap seals. About 24 hours is the longest I've let it sit unused and no problems with that length of time.

I have a lot of other Chinese pens from Hongdian, Asvine and Majohn and this $15 offering from Jinhao compares very favorably to any of them and I consider it quite an impressive value for its price.

I had originally intended on looking into removing the clip, but now that I have the pen I'm not going to bother. I don't post the pen so don't have to look at it when I write and it's not a pen I sit around and gaze on lovingly when it's not in use so I don't see any point in removing it. After having it a week I don't even think about the unusual clip anymore.

I'm going to buy a couple more, probably the same nib size in a couple of different colors.

I'm currently using this one to write a chapter of a book I'm currently transcribing.

The paper in the photos is Tomoe River 52gsm I printed my own French ruling on.

Next-to-last photo shows its size compared to a Jinhao 9019 on its left and the massive Jun Lai 930 on its right.

The Copper Noir is out of a boxed set, hence the rather nondescript bottle. It's a great ink!

I started transcribing Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden on April 15th and finished it up on July 8th.  It turned out being 335 handwritten pages.   I used Tomoe River 52gsm looseleaf paper printed with my own French/Seyes ruling, one-sided only.  The paper would have supported 2-side writing but it’s my general preference to write only on one side of a piece of paper. 

I used a different pen and ink for each chapter (I used pencils for one chapter) and used 17 different pens/inks.   

My writing surface was my desk with a Cossini pleather desk mat.  For some nibs I also added one of those black, floppy silicone craft/kitchen mats on top of the desk mat for a little extra cushion. 

As I finished the pages, I stacked them in a wooden book press to keep them collated, keep them safe from the cat and press them flat after writing on them.   I’m not a bookbinder, I just thought the press was cool and would be a handy place to store finished pages of books I copy.

I timed how long it took me to write a few pages and it averaged out to about 25 minutes per page.  

So, at 335 pages, that’s 8,375 minutes, 139 hours or around 5.8 days of straight writing.  At 84 days total, I that’s an average of a little over an hour and a half of writing every day.  

The only other thing I kept track of was a kind of an informal ranking of how much I enjoyed all the pens I used in respect to one another.

The photos of the pens are presented in sequence with the first being my least-favorite pen of the bunch then successively up to the last photo which was my most-favorite.  I included the photo of the pencils in the lineup but they’re just stuck in at random and were not part of the rankings. 

Note that all these pens were enjoyable to write with.  I had used them all before so chose them specifically for this project and I will use them all again.  There are none of them I dislike.  The only criteria for my informal rankings are how much I enjoyed using the pen and how ready (or not ready) I was to put it away and switch to the next pen in line.

I’m not saying any pen is “better” or “worse” than any other.   I didn’t quantify anything and if you ask me why I ranked one pen higher than another, my only answer will be “Because I liked writing with it more.” 

The pens are identified in the top left corner of each photo.

Note:  A pen and ink are mentioned once in this book in the following passage:

“It was pleasant to see my whole household effects out on the grass, making a little pile like a gypsy's pack, and my three-legged table, from which I did not remove the books and pen and ink, standing amid the pines and hickories.” 

With my advanced age and eyesight, I prefer using a digital microscope over a loupe for inspecting the nibs of my pens, a task that I've found can be very useful at any stage of a nib's life, not just when you first receive a new pen. I consider it one of the most important fountain pen accessories I own and use.

I recently replaced my older 7" Tomlov DM9 with this newer 10.1" version. It has some features I prefer over the older one. The battery in the base for the two stalk lights is independently rechargeable. With my old one, you had to plug in a flimsy little cord connected to a remote to power the base lights. With this one, that's not necessary and the remote is cordless, which is nice. The camera and stalk lights are independently adjustable for brightness but the two stalk lights are paired together and you can't adjust their lighting independently of each other.

Battery life is claimed to be 2-3 hours on a single charge but I haven't tested that yet. I generally only use it for maybe a minute or two at a time, so battery life isn't a big concern for me.

It also has a stand that's tall enough you can fit an entire pen beneath it vertically instead of having to either take your pen apart to fit it under the camera or buy an additional extension/riser. My Ink Miser at times does double-duty as a pen-holding jig but usually if I'm doing a quick nib adjustment I just hold the pen in my hand under the camera.

It comes with a USB cable to attach it to a computer or TV to use their screens but that's not something I'll ever do. It also has a removable 16GB card for photos/videos but that's another feature I'll probably never take advantage of. If I want to save a photo of a nib, it's easier for me to just take a picture of the screen with my phone. It comes with two USB cables so you can charge the screen and base at the same time but doesn't come with bricks to plug into the wall.

So, while I don't take full advantage of all its features, I consider it money well spent. You can look at all kinds of things under it, not just fountain pen nibs, and than can be a lot of fun in itself. I donated my old one to a nearby child's science center so they could have fun with it.

Claimed magnification is "1500X" but, like with telescopes, I consider such a claim, while theoretically true, to be meaningless so don't pay any attention to it. In the photo, I'm operating it at 18x which is more than sufficient to check out a nib.

I've found no fault with this thing aside from it taking up a lot of space because it's quite large. I would recommend it to those who wish to keep a close eye on their defiant nibs and keep them in line. I paid $119 for it on Amazon.

I certainly don't think it's necessary to shell out this kind of money to get a decent digital microscope; in fact I would imagine most of them use the exact same camera but I do think this particular one, at the price I paid for it, is an excellent value compared to a lot that cost less.

Is this a necessary accessory? Certainly not, but I do think everybody should have some kind of magnifying device they can use to view their nibs up close and learn to do basic tine adjustments. Even a tiny bit of tine misalignment can make a big difference in the way a pen feels on paper and thus will affect the writing experience.

Nib in the photo is a Jinhao Tiando I just received and haven't adjusted yet.

If anybody's interested in doing more in-depth research on this model, I think Tomlov makes the Users Manual for it available on their site but you have to download it.

I'm currently transcribing Thoreau's Walden and pulled a few pages out of the stack and took a photo of them. I use a different pen/ink for each chapter.

I already had a clear one in Fine and was looking for an opaque 140 to compliment it but I saw this green one and really liked it. I got it with a Medium nib.

First of all, I would note that if somebody utters that phrase to me, I just ignore anything else that follows. Seemed like a good post title, though 😉

I could not have foreseen that I would accumulate this many clear acrylic pens. I must say I do like them, though.

Sorry, I'm far too lazy for a complicated, aesthetically-pleasing layout or listing for all the pens but will note that's a Longwin 8" crystal ball and if you position one in direct sunlight, it can burn your house down.

Separate photo of the Asvine V200 only because I forgot to include it in the photo with the others.

"Finest acrylic," in my opinion, goes to the Majohn M2. It's probably the same stuff the other Majohns are made from but for some reason it most closely resembles the real glass the crystal ball is made of, maybe because it's a smaller pen and the material seems more dense.

My favorite? Even with two Pilot CH92's in the bunch, I would have to say it's the Majohn P140 with a Fine nib.

Please show us your clear pens!

Some pens paired with my small collection of 3 meteorites.

I thought I would share my setup/ritual for transcribing books.

Photo 1 is my desk. If I have an actual printed book, I prefer to use one of those for transcription but also have no problems using my Kobo if need be. On the desk I have a pleather desk mat and on top of that one of those roll-up silicone kitchen/craft mats I use for writing. When I'm not writing, I just roll it up and stash it.

I only use single sheets of looseleaf paper and find the silicone mat provides the perfect writing surface; firm yet with a little cushion. I only write on one side of the page even if the paper/ink support 2-side writing and I stick with the same paper throughout a project, usually either Tomoe River 52gsm or Kokuyo KB printer paper that I print my own French/Seyes ruling on.

A burning sage/citrus candle and cup of coffee are usually involved in this process.

Photo 2 features the most important writing accessory I have, which is a 3-inch memory foam cushion for my desk chair. Without it, everything else involved in this endeavour fades to insignificance. 😉

Photo 3 is a wooden book press where I store my finished pages when I'm done to keep the cat away from them and to press them flat as a lot of papers tend to curl a little by the time you finish with a page. I have no intention of doing any bookbinding, I just like the looks of the press and it's a handy place to store the finished pages. I propped it open with a bottle of ink for the photo.

The stack of pages in it are from the book I'm currently transcribing, Thoreau's Walden. I'm up to page 217 in the book and have done 250 written pages on Tomoe River 52gsm. I find it interesting how much more bulk there is to 100 pages of TR52 that's been written on compared to what it's like when you open a fresh 100-page ream.

I use a different pen (and throw in some pencils as well) for each chapter and this book has around 20 chapters so I'm getting to use a lot of different pens/inks for this one. I tend to avoid books with a lot of conversations in them because I find it annoying to make thousands of quotation marks when copying a book. I suppose I could just skip the quotation marks and it wouldn't matter but it just seems "wrong" to do that 😆

Pages written per day varies. Some days I'm more into it than other days. I would say, between work days and weekends I average about 5 pages a day. I don't attempt to make my handwriting perfect but I'm not in any hurry either and just enjoy the process. It takes me about 20-25 minutes to write a page.

There are some days I'll take a break and won't write at all.

I'm very familiar with the book I'm currently doing but I think transcribing a book gives you a unique insight/perspective on it that reading alone doesn't provide.

The last book I transcribed was Mark Twain's Life On The Mississippi (which I had also read before at least once) and it's the only book I've copied using only one pen, a chrome Conklin Mark Twain Crescent Filler with a Fine nib, as kind of a tribute to the author.

Next up after Walden is a book by Tony Horwitz called A Voyage Long and Strange which I've never read so that will be all new to me and should be quite enjoyable to work through.

Edit: Almost ran afoul of Rule #5. Pen being used is a Diplomat Excellence Marrakesh <F> and the ink is Conklin Rich Mahogany, Desk pen in the background is an Esterbrook Desk Pen and the pen in the skeletal hand is a Lamy 2000 rollerball.

Kaweco AL Sport Olivine <M> with bronze clip filled with Monteverde Olivine ink. Paper is Tomoe River 52gsm.

After recently acquiring a Liliput in the Fireblue finish I thought it would be nice to have the Supra in the same finish and just received it today. It's not quite as varied/colorful as the Liliput but I'm still happy with the finish so it's a keeper. I'm going to do some nib-swapping and put a Broad in it.

I bought one of these at an antique shop in Denver last week and it was missing the chrome trim ring on the base around the hole the pen goes into. That didn't bother me much, but I was browsing around eBay to see if maybe I could find one and came across this new-in-the-box one and got a Buy It Now on it for a little less than $30. So, now I have two of these things.

The two halves of the disassembled pen and the nib were all still sealed in their original cellophane wrappers and the only damage to anything was the torn box lid.

So far the fill mechanisms on both pens (the first one was full of old, dried ink) are functional so I'm happy about that. The first one I bought was a Firm Extra Fine and this one is a Firm Medium. I think I'm going to look around for a stub nib for it. I plan to keep it on my desk inked with blue/black ink for everyday use.

There's a lot to be said for a long, skinny desk pen and I like the translucent tail, which I understand was a way to tell pens apart in the same location that had different colors of inks in them. I believe there was at least the clear tail one and one that was all black to differentiate them at a glance.