Mmmm Vacumatic!

There seems to be a rather ravenous bunch in the fountain pen world that simply must collect every Parker Vacumatic ever made. Luckily, I haven’t been bitten by this bug yet but I now have my first working Parker Vacumatic and I thought I’d share it with you.

I picked this Vac up at an antique store in Houghton Lake Michigan, it came in a pen box with another Vacumatic, a Wahl Eversharp with a nice flexy #2 nib, and a broken Eversharp pen/pencil set. I picked all those up for $40 so I count my purchase price of this pen as $10. Of the two Vacs, the 2nd gen was in the best shape so I sent it off to Daniel Smith to be restored. More on that later.

The pen in question was made in the 4th quarter of 1939 and it sure doesn’t look like it. I showed it to a couple coworkers today and they both couldn’t believe it was a ‘39. Let’s take a look shall we?

This color is what I believe to be called “Golden Pearl”. There’s some transparency to the barrel although I’m not sure how it stacks up to better examples.  The body was in decent shape but the blind cap had some teeth marks on it but Dan managed to polish those out. It turned out pretty darn nice!

The nib is a two tone with the Parker arrow. I think it’s a fine but it’s not so fine that I don’t like it (I’m a medium kind of guy). If it were up to me, I’d rather it be a fatter line but I’ll be happy with what I have.

Here’s the whole pen in the 3 pieces. The blind cap jewel and the cap jewel don’t match, not sure if that’s how it should be or not. Feel free to hit the comments and tell me.

How does it work? Well, it’s pretty much everything I expected from a vintage Parker. The nib has a nice size to it, slender but with a bit more size to it than the other nibs I’m used to. There’s a slight spring to the nib as well which you don’t get from a lot of modern pens. I haven’t really tried to put any pressure on it since it’s not a flex nib but a little bit of pressure does cause the line to fatten up. Ink flow is on the wet side which I very much enjoy.

Now a note on the restoration. I sent this pen out to Daniel Smith for restoration and I can’t say enough about the service I received. The pen arrived to him on Monday night and I had a message on StyloForum on Tuesday morning saying it was on the way back. Yes, less than 24 hours turnaround. Obviously your mileage will vary but I can’t complain. I had the diaphragm replaced, the nib/feed straightened, and had the body polished. I’m very happy with his work and he has my recommendation from now on.

If you want to contact Dan, you can find him on Twitter as @mr_maxim or at his website dannzeman.com.

Review: Custom ground italic Pilot Varsity

Did you read that title and say “What? Who grinds disposable pens?” Good, that was the point. I myself had never considered messing with the Pilot Varsity but if you think about it, what better pen to practice on? They’re only a couple bucks a piece and if you ruin one, who cares?

But this isn’t about me trying my hand at grinding, this is a plug for the work of Dan Smith. You may know him as @mr_maxim on twitter or by his website, dannzeman.com. He’s been doing pen repair for a while and when he offered me a custom ground Varsity to try, I jumped at it.

Why would I be excited about such a lowly pen? If you’ve never used a Varsity, you’re missing out. It’s the poster child for how great fountain pens can be without costing a fortune. I absolutely love the blue ink color and when I opened the package from Dan and saw that he had ground a blue one, I was elated. I’d keep blathering on about it, but I already sat down and did a mini-review with my chicken scratch. Click the below picture to see a much larger version.

As you can see, the line variation is just about perfect. In fact, I think it has inspired me to get something a bit more expensive ground in the same fashion. As noted in the written part, I’m sending him a Vacumatic to repair after the holidays so I’ll have more info on Dan’s work very soon.

As a disclaimer, I never checked with Dan to see if he sold these. I know he gifts them to some of his customers, but don’t be offended if he won’t sell you one. I’m just giving him props for a job well done, I don’t want to put words in his mouth.

Review: Quo Vadis Habana

In my handful of years deep in the midst of the crazy pen people (that’s what I call you all, don’t worry, I’m included in that grouping), I’ve went through a bunch of phases.

The first phase was the “any paper is fine” attitude, we’ve all probably been there once we learned that it simply wasn’t true. That quickly let go to the second phase which was when I discovered Black n’ Red notebooks and decided I had no reason to look further. To be honest, I probably could have kept using their notebooks and been perfectly happy, the Black n’ Red line is great. But alas, that’s not what happened, I started trying to branch out. And that brings us to the third phase where I just went nuts buying notebook after notebook trying to find something else I liked.

Of course we all know I’m a Rhodia fan (who isnt?) and I’m also a fan of Piccadilly and I bet if I ever opened this Ciak journal I bought months ago, I’d probably love that too. Hmmm wasn’t I supposed to be reviewing something? Ah! I remember where I was going, I wanted to point out that I learned something else about myself; I hate small notebooks for journals. At the moment, I’m trying to use a small Rhodia Webbie as my journal and I find I rarely use it because the small size is uncomfortable to me. The notebook itself is great, I just don’t care to use the standard 5×5.5″ notebook for a journal. Lucky for me, the Webbie comes in a larger size so I’ve just added that to my list of things to purchase in the future. It’s a long list.

You’re still wondering what that has to do with the Quo Vadis Habana, right? Well let’s just cut to the chase, this notebook embodies the notebook I think I can see myself using as a journal. It’s the right size, it has the right paper… I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let’s start off with the form factor. The Habana I’m reviewing is the large version and it measures 6″x9″ according to the packaging (Quo Vadis website says 6 1/4 x 9 1/4). That, in my mind, is the perfect size for sitting down at a desk and cranking out page after page of … whatever you put in your personal journal.

The cover is a bit hard to explain, it’s soft to the touch yet slightly rigid. The top layer is so soft, in fact, that the elastic enclosure (which isn’t strung super tight) still leaves marks in the edges of the cover. While it feels soft, I don’t think you’ll be bending it into a U shape, I sure didn’t try it for this review. There’s something to be said about the appearance, it’s one of understated elegance and I’d have to say that something about it makes it one of the sexiest notebooks I’ve reviewed thus far.  It also opens to almost flat which is something I really look for in a bound notebook.

The Habana seems to take cues from the ever popular genre of the black notebook. From the elastic enclosure, to the marker ribbon, to the expanding rear pocket, it offers all of the most popular features of the genre. Is that wrong? No way! It’s what the people want and have come to expect and there’s a reason for that.

Let’s face it, the sexiest notebook in the world doesn’t mean squat if the paper isn’t quality stuff. If you’ve read my reviews on the other Exaclair products, you already know where I’m going with this. Inside the beautiful cover is 80 sheets of crisp white 90 gr Clairefontaine paper. Do I even need to say anything else? Ask 25 notebook fanatics who has the best paper and I bet Clairefontaine falls into the top of your answers if not the very top. I’m not even going to bore you with a writing sample as I plan on using this for my personal journal and well, I have problems writing on beautiful objects. The first words to be entered into these pages shall be personal, it’s just that nice of a piece.

What I have here in my hand is a very sharp notebook that’s just waiting to be filled with your deepest darkest secrets. At the $20 price tag, I assume you won’t be buying this for meeting notes at work but for filling with words that might mean something to you or someone else one day, it’s the perfect choice.

Thanks to Karen at Exaclair for providing me this notebook to review. I feel truly honored to have had a chance to test out their products and as you can probably tell I haven’t found one I don’t like yet.

Review: Clairefontaine Basic Notebook

Nothing makes a review harder than trying to write about something that’s high quality. I’m staring at this Clairefontaine Basic notebook on my desk and I’m tempted to make this review as complex as “It has Clairefontaine paper. You know what to expect.” and call that good. But alas, I think I’m supposed to say a few more words than that.

The picture you’re looking at above this sentence is the Clairefontaine Basic notebook. I think Basic is a good name for it although at first glance you don’t see “basic”. When I think “basic” I think about the Mead single subject notebooks I used in school. I suppose putting this next to the Quo Vadis Habana or the Rhodia WebNotebook might force you to focus on the “basic” Basic but we’re not going to do that here. Instead, I’ll just run over the basics (yes, pun intended) of this notebook.

The Basic has nice textured hardboard covers with a raised Clairefontaine logo in the bottom right hand corner. It might not be super fancy but I think it looks great. It’s low key yet a lot better looking than a lot of other notebooks. Besides, I don’t think we buy notebooks for their looks… do we? Oh maybe we do and if that’s the case, this is a handsome notebook so you should be delighted. It’s also nice and flexible as I shall now demonstrate in the ever classic “bent notebook” picture.

Perhaps the “basic” name comes from the binding, unlike everything else I’ve held in my hands that came from Exaclair, this notebook has a cloth binding. I don’t know that I own any other notebooks with this kind of binding, in fact I know I don’t. The beauty of this type of binding is the flexibility that allows the notebook to open flat on your desk. I think we all know the pain of dealing with a bound notebook that doesn’t lie flat. Basic yet functional, no complaints there.

And now we’re at the part of the review where one would typically scribble some random gibberish on a page and take a picture of it. Well guess what, I’m throwing that part out the window. This is a notebook made by Clairefontaine so I think you know what paper it uses. All you have to do is open the cover and caress a sheet to know it’s going to be a delight. I’m so confident it’s going to be an absolute dream to write in, I’m not even going to try. It’s Clairefontaine! Why bother? I’d bet we see the Lions in the Super Bowl before you find yourself disappointed with the 90g Clairefontaine paper inside these covers. It has the same amazingly bright white color you are familiar with in the Rhodia pads. The line spacing’s the same as well and the lines are just a bit brighter blue.

Let me break it down to you. If you’re picky about your notebooks and you want something light years ahead of the stuff you’ll find at your local drugstore, go get yourself a Clairefontaine Basic. It’s 192 pages of pure Clairefontaine bliss and if you’ve touched anything with Clairefontaine, you know I’m not exaggerating.

And now I must get back to my NaNoWriMo writing! And you need to go shopping for a Clairefontaine Basic.

A closer look at the Lamy Safari

Oh the beloved Lamy Safari, what can be said that hasn’t already been said a hundred times? This pen is probably one of the most reviewed pens on the ‘net right now. By now, you’re probably bored to death with Lamy Safari reviews! When I decided to do this, I asked myself what I could talk about that might be slightly different from all the other reviews out there.  That’s when I came up with the idea of focusing on the various design aspects that set this pen apart from the others.

Obviously the biggest selling point is the price. Yes, that’s a lame joke, ignore it and move on. Go read just about any “what pen” thread and you’ll find numerous people suggesting the Safari, regardless of the question. Why? Well it’s a flat out good deal. This pen delivers more in the sum of $30 or less than a lot of much more expensive pens have ever managed. Granted, you need to buy the converter separately but it’s an amazingly versatile pen for the few bucks the converter might cost you.

Let’s look at some of what makes this pen great shall we? To start, we’ll head to the top of the pen and check out the clip.

Look at that, it’s a monster! In the world of the utilitarian, this pen has a clip to put all others to shame. Need a firm grip on your shirt pocket? You got it! Need to slip it on your notebook cover? No problem! It’s a simple wire loop that just plain works. Sure it’s funky looking but this isn’t a normal pen so who cares?

Next up, let’s look at the body. I’m not sure how exciting you might find this feature, but it has a built in window that gives you a glimpse into the ink reservoir.

Yes, I’m aware this isn’t an amazing feature but hey, take a look at the pen with the body unscrewed. That ink window is an exact science. There are 2 indentions in the section that match up perfectly with the windows in the body of the pen. Unscrew the body a tiny bit from the section and half the window is obscured. When the body is screwed tightly onto the section, the window is all you see. That’s engineering!

While we’re talking about the exterior aspects, check this nib feature out.

Yes, the nib just slides off the feed. Why is this great? You want a Fine point today and a Medium tomorrow but don’t want to pay for 2 pens? Buy 2 nibs! The nibs slide off and back on with an ease that I’ve yet to find in any other pen. What’s that? Your Esterbrook has interchangeable nibs? Bah! This is even easier! No unscrewing required, you just slide the nib off and slide a new one on. Want to sign that birthday card with an italic nib? Slide your current nib off and slide the italic nib on, sign the card, and swap them back. This is pure genius.

You want more? Take a look at any inexpensive pen you own that has a converter. Chances are it just slides on like a cartridge would. This means it can be slid off without much thought. Sure, that’s not a big deal but what if you were a German, would you really engineer your pen that way?

Yes, you’re seeing correctly, the converter has little bumps that lock into the section. Seems like such a little thing but it really makes the converter a part of the pen instead of just something you stuffed into the front section. I know what you’re thinking, the German’s can really engineer a pen! This thing is starting to seem more like a BMW than Kia right?

While we’re on the subject, check this converter out.

Yeah it looks like your normal piston style converter but it’s SOLID. I’m not kidding, don’t mistake this with a cheap converter, this thing is precise. Sure, that’s not a a huge deal but trust me, it matters.

And finally, I want to take a look at the section. Most pens have a round section and we’re all quite familiar with that. Lamy threw the normal design out the window and made the Safari section a little differently. Or if you want me to be candid, they made the darn thing comfortable.

See that? Those 2 flat spots are perfectly placed for a proper pen hold. I love writing with this pen!

And there you have it, a glimpse into something I hope most reviews have ignored. If you want to hear people gush about how great they write, there’s a ton of reviews for that and just between you and me, those other reviews are absolutely correct, this thing is a joy to write with. But I won’t get into that, because you came here for a funky review and I hope I delivered.

I’ll toss you one last tip. If you head to Lamy USA’s website and click on the Care, Repairs, & Parts link, you can find parts for your Lamy. Say you wanted a Lamy Safari in Charcoal and you can’t find it anywhere (a quick Google search proves this to be false but play along anyway). You can actually build the pen from parts right on their website. I don’t know if they ever release any of the limited edition colors but right now you could get the parts for 5 different colors. If you happen to find one of those colors sold out and you simply MUST have it now, for a few bucks more than a complete pen, you can build your own. Hey, you could even build yourself a crazy multicolor pen!

Now, if you don’t have a Lamy Safari, go get one! And if you already have one, get another! You won’t regret it.

Piccadilly Primo winner!

As promised last Friday, today one of the commenters on my Piccadilly Primo gets one for free. And Random.org has chosen…

Comment #21 which was by Donna Brown!

Donna, I’ll be sending you an email for your details. Congrats!

Review: Doane Paper Idea Journal

Come, let us celebrate the new world of Twitter, for most of us probably wouldn’t know about half the things we do.

For me, one of those things is Doane Paper and their unique stationary offerings. Their website is fun, their products are simple, and they don’t bury you in options. I don’t need 15 different pads; give me a few options in a couple sizes and I’m good. Doane must have the same belief because they offer 3 different style pads, with a maximum choice of 2 sizes. That’s perfect and I must thank them for it.

I’ll admit, I was tempted by their legal pads. There’s just not a lot of good legal pads out there but not being sure what to expect of their paper, I ordered the small “Idea Journal” and figured I’d feel it out from there.

Clearly their most unique feature is the paper and even more odd is the fact that they provide you with the template for free if you want to make your own. Have a love affair with 32lb HP paper but dig the Doane lines + grid format? Not a problem, grab their template and make your own. How cool is that?

The Idea Journal is a pretty simple design; thick recycled covers, a strong spiral binding, and bright white 60lb paper with their signature and unusual lines + grid format. I almost hate to say this, but it’s so simple it might cause some people to overlook how good it is. This thing isn’t flashy or trying to be fancy, it’s just a good solid journal. That’s not a bad thing, let’s make that clear. We live in a world flooded with notepads vying for our attention with all sorts of marketing schemes. It’s nice to find one that isn’t trying to act like something special only to leave you annoyed with the lack of quality.

As with every notebook review, it always comes down to the paper. I’ll just come out and say it, it’s good stuff. The lines + grid layout doesn’t really resonate with me but that’s mainly because I feel the, big horizontal lines are too far apart. They’re spaced 3 grid lines apart when I’d prefer them to be only 2. Of course, that’s just an opinion and once you get past the line situation, the paper is fantastic. No feathering, no bleed-through, and practically no show-through even with wet pens and dark ink. Combine all that with the bright white color and I can’t find a thing to complain about except those pesky lines.

I’m not exactly sure where this journal is going to fit into my life as I still haven’t made up my mind on lines yet. For some reason I see this line format working wonderfully for the legal pads but in a journal it seems out of place. As always, you’ll have to get your hands on the design to see how it feels for you and seeing how they offer their template for free, that’s not too hard to do.

If you’re picky about your paper, I’d put Doane Paper in the top contenders. I think I’ll have to get my hands on those legal pads after all.

Quick view: Pentel Slicci

I don’t do many reviews of “normal” pens because quite frankly I find them boring. Does it write? Ok, it’s good.

So what I’m going to do here is a “quick view” of a pen. I’ve been a bit of a fountain pen snob for a few years so I’m starting to feel my way around the world of non-fp pens and am finding things I like. One of those is the Pentel Slicci. My first experience with the Slicci was one with a .4mm tip which is MUCH too fine for my taste. I’ve developed a preference for pens that have at least a .7mm size as I get older and writing with the .4mm was like writing with a needle. I used that as an excuse to place yet another JetPens order and try the .7mm Slicci.

Once I had my hands on my preferred size, I began to really like this pen. My biggest complaint? The barrel is very slender and I’m a fan of a much fatter pen. But something about the needle style tip and the combination of the beautiful blue ink keeps bringing me back to this one. The combination of the price, the available ball sizes, and the great ink make for one great pen.

Hey Pentel, if you’re reading this, can you make one that’s a little bigger diameter?

Review: Piccadilly Primo journal

I don’t think it’s a secret that I’m a fan of Piccadilly. In fact, it seems almost normal to be a fan these days considering the great pricing of their products. Sure, their products are made in China but so is the mega-star Moleskine. It’s also been my experience that their paper is less inconsistent than the beloved M as well. The Piccadilly Primo journal has been popping up a lot on the ‘net so I went on a journey to find one. After 3 tries, I found a Borders that had some in stock.

They come in 3 sizes which are named… ready for this? Small, Medium, and Large. And would you know it, 2 or 3 shopping trips later, I had all 3!

These journals have 100gsm wood-free paper, the conventional ribbon bookmark, a somewhat unconventional elastic band closure, and a nice cream colored paper. But by far my favorite part is the smell. Yes, I like the smell of the cover, I don’t know why, it just smells … booky? I’m not sure what it’s made of, but it seems like rubber and it’s quite flexible. Something about this design screams “I’m a journal!”

But I know you don’t care about the looks, the smell, or how it stays closed as much as you do about the paper. While it clearly performs better than a Moleskine, it still isn’t perfect which I didn’t really expect seeing how the paper is 100gsm. Despite the fact that most pens work well, it still has the same peculiar single thread feathering that the other notebook suffered from. I managed to capture the feathering using the macro mode of my camera.

I wouldn’t let this keep you away from the Primo, the feathering is slight and really seems to depend on the pen. One thing I notice a lot when reading reviews of paper is the distinction that fine tip fountain pens tend to feather less than mediums. Unfortunately for almost everything I review, I’m a fan of a medium/broad nib and therefore I’m probably a bit harder on the paper than I should be. When it comes to “normal” pens; gel, Sharpie pens, and ballpoints, this paper works great. Unlike my experience with the Moleskine, gel ink dries instantly and without much drama at all. I also managed to find a fountain pen that wasn’t a big fat wet mess and the Primo handled it without any feathering at all.

I do have to give points to Piccadilly for binding this journal so it opens flat on almost every page. There’s also a ton of pages (288) which makes this journal a bargain. The Borders in my area sells the small journal for $5.99 which means you get a lot of space to write for very little cash. In my case, that would probably last me 2 years.

Sure it has its shortcomings but when you look at the price and the fact that not everyone is a fountain pen devotee, it’s a pretty darn good journal for most people.

And now, a contest!  I’m going to give away a FREE small Primo! All you have to do is post a comment. I don’t care if it’s as simple as “I want to win” or you feel like waxing philosophical about my review, any comment gets you entered to win (you can only enter once). On October 30th, I’ll pick a winner at random and that person will get a free small Primo journal! Simple eh?

Cheap doesn’t mean bad

As a person who has had many hobbies, there’s always one adage that gets thrown around everywhere; you get what you pay for. In most cases, this means that you’ve opted to buy something cheap and it failed and someone is lecturing you on the benefits of spending money on quality. One of the best examples that I’ve found where this isn’t true is fountain pens.

If you’re new to the fountain pen scene, you’re probably enamored by the sight of the big money pens. People lust over all different brands and styles and usually these tend to be out of your financial reach. Trust me, I’ve been there before and I still find myself lusting over pens that cost a lot more than I could ever bring myself to pay. The most expensive pen I ever bought was a Visconti Van Gogh Maxi. I was so excited when I got that pen and naturally I expected it to be an amazing writer. Instead I had a beautiful pen that couldn’t get through a single page without drying up. Regardless of what I tried, I couldn’t get it to write with any consistency and it ended up going back to Italy to have the feed replaced. By the time it came back, I wasn’t in love with it anymore and I quickly parted ways with it.

That served as a wakeup call that no matter how much money you spend, you’re not guaranteed a flawless writing experience. The simple truth is, if a pen can hold ink and perform the simple capillary action required of a fountain pen, you’ll have a pen that won’t let you down. There’s a reason so many people swear by some of the cheaper pens coming out of China right now. The Hero 616 is a favorite of many due to its obvious resemblance to the Parker 51 and the fact that it just plain works without breaking the bank.

Then there’s the Platinum Preppy. For a whopping $3 at JetPens, you can own a cartridge pen that writes great and is refillable. If you’re crazy, you can spend 2x the amount of the pen and get a  converter that will allow you to use bottled ink. There’s also a very popular modification that turns these pens into eyedroppers which means you’ll have a literal tank of ink at your disposal, perfect for those times when you need to write a lot.

Move even farther down the scale and you get to the disposables. Pens like the Pilot Varsity, Pilot Vpen (same as the Varsity but just look a little different), and the Sailor Ink-bar are some of the more popular options. These pens are non-refillable (although some resourceful folks do refill them) and are as reliable as can be. Just last night I was using a blue Pilot Varsity to test my new Rhodia Webnotebook and it was as smooth as silk with great color, all for less than $3.

The lesson here is to remember that you don’t need to spend a ton of money to get a great writing pen. I’m not knocking people who prefer pens that cost more, that’s simply a matter of preference. If you’d rather be using a Parker 51, then you should. But if you’re looking for a good fountain pen that isn’t going to give you trouble and doesn’t break the bank, don’t automatically assume the cheap pens are a waste of money.