u/bioinfogirl87

I want to customize one of my pen cases with Quenya and Sindarin phrases. r/Quenya members kindly helped me with translation into Quenya (English - You will never know, Quenya - Lá istuval). The Sindarin phrase I'm using is Gilraen's Ónen i-Estel Edain, ú-chebin estel anim.

I used Tecendil to transcribe both phrases into Tengwar. Here are the transcription screenshots:

https://preview.redd.it/gwbxlpjlzh9h1.png?width=1810&format=png&auto=webp&s=3c5c4e9e5ef77487f522c967e97ccbbf7a0c5166

and ​

https://preview.redd.it/m4x7l0pmzh9h1.png?width=1842&format=png&auto=webp&s=6a0ff2b0e0df2559f5cce41b7e43f6f1e3797918

Before I write these phrases in permanent marker on my pen case, could someone please check these for transcription accuracy? Thank you.

I have a pen case that I'd like to customize by adding the phrase "You will not know" to the border. Could you please help with the translation into Sindarin (if that is what Celebrimbor would have used with Annatar/Sauron)? Thank you.

I have a pen case that I'd like to customize by adding the phrase "You will not know" to the border. I'd like to do it in Quenya, but am unsure of an accurate translation. Could you please help? Thank you.

One thing I’ve noticed while reading fountain pen discussions is how often brand-new pens that don’t write properly out of the box are treated as needing “tuning,” “adjustment,” or a trip to a nibmeister rather than simply being considered defective.

I don’t mean normal preference adjustments (making a nib wetter/drier, changing feedback, custom grinds, etc.). I mean cases where a new pen hard-starts, skips excessively, has alignment issues, or otherwise doesn’t perform as expected for a writing instrument.

In a lot of other hobbies or professional contexts, a new tool that doesn’t function correctly would usually just be returned or serviced under warranty. For example, I remember a number of professional colored pencil artists moving away from Prismacolor after repeated issues with off-center leads and breakage. Some users came up with workarounds like microwaving pencils, but many artists still treated the underlying manufacturing problem as exactly that: a defect, not simply part of the hobby experience.

That’s part of why I sometimes find fountain pen culture interesting. There can be an expectation that the owner should troubleshoot, floss tines, smooth the nib, adjust flow, or seek tuning for a brand-new pen before it reliably writes. To me, that can feel a little like buying a new car and being told to change the oil yourself before driving it off the lot.

Again, I completely understand customization and preference tuning once a pen is fundamentally working properly. I’m more wondering where people draw the line between:

• normal fountain pen setup/tuning culture
• and a product simply not working as it should out of the box.

Has the hobby always been this way, or is this more of a modern community norm?