What I Bought in 2017: Fountain Pens

Posted on by Laura

2017 fountain pens purchased

I bought eight fountain pens in 2017, which isn’t so bad. And I like every one. (Well, there is one that I don’t love, but that one is “for the collection,” so it’s fine.)

Let’s blast back to … The Pens of 2017.

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13 thoughts on “What I Bought in 2017: Fountain Pens”

  1. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. You have done well, to have such self-discipline to acquire just eight pens and to sell more than you bought. Like you I got the Safari and Al-star. But I got way more others too, (mostly cheap) which I will struggle to justify when it comes to summing up my year. I hope your Dialog 3 is returned soon so you can resume jabbing people. Thanks for all your wonderfully entertaining posts all year.😊

    Liked by 3 people

  2. Terracotta Orange and Savannah Green? Oh wow, I wonder if Ms. Fountain Pen Manners could be consulted for a preferred way of saying, “The designer should have been painted in molasses and fed to a column of driver ants”?

    Love your round-up, I don’t even want to start counting my 2017 pens… and the most colorful I got was a turquoise TWSBI 580AL. Mostly I remained black, silver, or black and silver, or even black and gold 🙂

    I am jealous of your Franklin Christoph medium stub… I love italicised stub nibs, and I have been contemplating an FC Model 31 with a Masuyama medium italic nib for a while. You have tempted me a great deal. I am also very jealous of your access to good pen shows.

    Thanks for your posts, I’ve loved reading your blog this year (as ever). Looking forward to 2018!

    All the very best!!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Thank you!

      For a pen show, heck, just come to Chicago. Remember Crosby, Stills and Nash: “no one else can take your place.” 🙂 Honestly, I resisted for a long time, but it’s really fun, and worth it, even if you have to travel to a pen show. Cubs are in town after the show this year. Also we have Field Notes, if you like that, and if you don’t, someone will. We have world-class restaurants, museums, theater, dance, music. The whole ball of wax. Like, I’ve read pen show websites that brag, “We’ve got a zoo.” Now, I don’t even like zoos, but we have two. Two baseball teams. Two botanic gardens (at least). Two of almost everything! It’s twice as nice here. 😉

      The Franklin-Christoph nibs are a great, affordable way to buy a Masuyama grind. Another option is to buy a pen from the Nibsmith, because at some price level, he’ll throw in a free grind. Now, I usually buy my pens from him with no nib modification, but that’s because I’m cranky and irritable and don’t like change.

      Liked by 3 people

      1. You are an enabler… I love zoos too (a past career as ranger, then a warden working with lions and the like)… THEN you go on to talk about the Nibsmith–a site that has been on my favorites list for soooo long I just can’t remember.

        I’d love to make it to Chicago, but I can just see the look on my wife’s face…

        “You’re going to Chicago… for pens?”

        “No, no my love, pens and two zoos.”

        Liked by 3 people

  3. Wow! Only 8! I think I bought 8 pens in just the last 2 months…. I was a monster that could not be stopped. Hopefully there will be far fewer tealy pens that I MUST have or DIE. 😉

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Oooh! Parker 51 makes a lovely aerometric in teal, and you can get both the standard and the demi sizes.

      I have gone through many stages of buying a lot of pens. Just last year I bought 19. And then there are inks. As I never dared say to my kids, when they reached the teen years, because I didn’t want them to know — “No matter what it is you do, rest assured that I’ve done worse.” 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

      1. I have the new Parker Urban in the Peacock and I LOVE it when it works. By far my favorite pen to write with. But it’s got weird issues with the converters. The plastic is staticy or something, and sometimes just refuses to feed unless I empty and refill it.

        That Parker 51 aerometric teal is a hooded nib! I don’t have one of those yet ….

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Bummer about the converter. In case you haven’t, try filling the converter with warm, soapy water, and flush and refill that a few times — converter only, not the nib and feed. Then flush the converter with water, and dry it. Sometimes a converter is balky because there is some sort of manufacturing residue in there. I tend to do this now with every new converter except for Lamy Safari ones.

          If that doesn’t work, try the soapy water cleaning technique on the pen itself, to get at the feed and nib.

          Finally, you can try a more lubricated ink. Some possibilities are KWZ, Pelikan Edelstein or Waterman Serenity Blue.

          Good luck!

          Liked by 1 person

  4. I liked your pen choices for the year. I am not a Safari fan, but I will admit the Petrol color did catch my eye! You have always got a cool flair going on with your pen and ink choices. I always enjoy reading your blog. I haven’t bought any pens or ink in quite some time. As far as the Dialog 3, it is interesting. I would have to write with it myself to really come to a firm conclusion about it though.

    Liked by 2 people

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