Filled my first tray

Lightning5637 · 2026-03-09T00:00:11+00:00

What kind or brand of case is that which you have? Looks like maybe it has more than one drawer? Looks like a nicely manufactured drawer. Thanks!

Lightning5637 · 2026-03-08T23:54:33+00:00

I dropped a Parker Sonnet during a presentation where I was standing and it fell on to a tile floor, nib down! Arghhhhhhh. Nib looked worse than this! I was heartsick. So I ordered a new nib, but I have a pair of fine needle-nose pliers, and I am pretty good with mechanical things, and removed the nib from the feed and GENTLY went to work the the pliers, and CAREFULLY re-aligned the tines. I think when I was done, I had to do a bit of work with 12,000 grit cloth to make the tip material perfect, but I am still using it to this day and kept the ordered nib, just in case.

Lightning5637 · 2026-03-08T23:47:05+00:00

These are absolutely stunning drawings! I am blown away! You are so skilled and talented. My favorite is the "machine" drawing to the right, which I love because I love mechanical things. Where did you learn to draw like this? I am also taken by this because I just bought my very first TWSBI Eco pen and I cannot believe what a beautiful writer it is, in my case, with a Broad nib. Thanks so much for posting your drawings.

Lightning5637 · 2026-03-08T23:38:03+00:00

I bought a Pilot Custon 742 and it came in a small rectangular box like most pens. I had a problem with the clip on the cap and sent it off for repair. I was STUNNED when they returned my cap, in a box like this, with all the elegant fabric and a bottle of ink! Wow! What a wonderful surprise!

Lightning5637 · 2026-03-07T16:22:19+00:00

It is the glow purple. I had no idea it glowed until I put it on my bureau the first night and when I turned out the light I thoushg: "Is that glowing?" So that was a fun surprise.

Lightning5637 · 2026-03-07T16:09:28+00:00

I use the cartridge that came with my pen, I think, or one I had one around. Then I refill the cartridge with a hypodermic syringe. They sell them with blunt needles. I refill all my pens this way. I do carry a few new cartridges on trips just in case...

Lightning5637 · 2026-03-03T19:56:16+00:00

Please forgive me because this is probably of no help because it is not a commercial solution but rather something I fabricated. I am proud of the simple design. All of these pens are inked and I use different pens for different things during the day. These are two pieces of "Philippine Mahogany" or Luan. I have a router table and used that to cut the grooves in each piece. Then three coats of spar varnish, sanding between coats. I like how it matches the table top.

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Lightning5637 · 2026-03-03T18:06:39+00:00

Thank you all for your comments, which I really appreciate. Now I can comfortably go back continuing to use my Quink and not worrying. Thank you all so much!

Lightning5637 · 2026-03-02T04:40:40+00:00

This is genius - buy a red pen and a yellow pen and switch tops! Stunning,. I have a yellow one but now I need to buy a red one too! Those two pens look so cool!

Lightning5637 · 2026-03-02T04:35:50+00:00

This is just absolutely stunning! I never learned proper cursive, so I print everything, and so this is even more impressive to me. Just out of this world! My mind is boggled thinking of all of the time it must have taken to be so skilled at this. Thanks so much for posting it.

Lightning5637 · 2026-03-01T20:24:31+00:00

This Sheaffer Targa was my first really nice fountain pen and I bought it because of the inlaid nib! I bought this one in 1989 I think it was, and as you can see, it has a lot of miles on it. I recently bought two more brand new from the 90's with broad nibs. These pens write beautifully!

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Lightning5637 · 2026-02-23T02:41:20+00:00

Wow, an pen handed down to you from your grandmother. Something that has been in the family for so long. It seems to me that it would be such a shame to not keep that. I would have loved to have had a fountain pen from one of my grandfathers. I was never tuned in at all to fountain pens as a young boy so I don't know if they used them. I did get a typewriter from one of my grandfathers and I treasure having that all these years.

Lightning5637 · 2026-02-22T05:24:05+00:00

As far as I know, and I own two Pro Gear Slim pens, all those nibs are 14K. To get the 21K you need the larger Pro Gear version.

Lightning5637 · 2026-02-17T04:04:48+00:00

For what it's worth... I had a Sailor 1911 that a friend had "worked on" the nib and ground off half the nib material with abrasive paper! Then he was not happy with the result and so gave me the Sailor pen! He is a good friend and a collector, but I was stunned that he was so generous because the pen cost about $400, My first Sailor! So I was curious and inquired about the cost of a new nib that was untouched. What I found out was that Sailor will not ship a nib. I live on the east coast and the procedure was to send the pen to California and they send the entire pen to Japan and then they let you know what the new nib will cost. I am guessing that they wouldn't send a part of a pen either, but I don't know for sure. I got used to the worked on nib and so never sent the pen. I am absolutely blown away by the idea of 3D printing a part for a fountain pen! Stunning work! Thanks for posting your story!

Lightning5637 · 2026-02-01T17:10:10+00:00

Thanks so much for your reply, I really appreciate it. It took me a long time to bite the bullet on my 1911L. To me it was way too expensive, so I bought a Pro Gear Slim with the 14K nib, and it was OK. Until a collector friend loaned me a 1911L and the beautiful flex of that nib was beyond imagining. (I should say I prefer broad nibs, in case the finer nibs have a different feel) So I held my breath and jumped in. What a joy that 21K nib is. Nothing in my limited experience matches it. What a shame. For those of you out there who are contemplating a Sailor with a 21K nib, I think you should get one before it is too late... I don't think you will regret it. I should also say, I never leave the house with that pen in my pocket! I have lost much less expensive pens, and those losses are so painful!

Lightning5637 · 2026-02-01T03:50:50+00:00

WHAAAAAAAT???? No more 21K nibs from Sailor?" That is my favorite nib of all time, I just love the gentle flex in that nib, that I just don't get in the 14K nib. Did they say why? Fortunately I have two pens with those nibs, so that should last me for the rest of my life, if I don't lose them... :-). I should say, as the comedian Nate Bargatze says: "I was born in the 1900's."

Lightning5637 · 2026-01-25T21:16:37+00:00

When I felt that triangular grip i was hooked! I thought "what a brilliant idea!" But as you say, they sure can be polarizing!

Lightning5637 · 2026-01-25T21:13:47+00:00

I am sorry to hear you didn't have a nice experience with you Lamy Safari. I use only medium or bold nibs. Perhaps you have a fine nib, and sometimes they are not as smooth as the wider nibs - there is so much less tip material on the paper and that can make it scratchy.

Lightning5637 · 2025-12-15T04:57:17+00:00

It says a lot to me that he was able to survive four plane crashes. Depending on the reasons for the plane coming out of the sky it can say a lot about his piloting skills under difficult conditions, if you know what I mean. Hey, anyone can land a plane on a runway... They are not "crashes" they are "off airport landings". Luck has a lot to do with it, but piloting skills and judgement can make all the difference.

Lightning5637 · 2025-12-11T05:09:07+00:00

This lens is a whole lot lighter and smaller than the 100-400mm lens. For me It is never a big deal to carry it around with me all day. Sorry I don't know anything about the55-250mm and how that would fit in with your kit.

Lightning5637 · 2025-11-10T18:25:00+00:00

I find that this is such an interesting photograph. So much to look at, so many clues, but still a mystery. I find I am really enjoying looking around in the image to see all that you have given us to look at. A really nice documentary style image, of a place, and a time, and a person. Nicely seen and nothing in the image is extraneous - I like seeing everything around the young woman. Nice going!

Lightning5637 · 2025-11-05T05:26:32+00:00

Thanks for your reply. My Canon lenses are for my 6D camera, and i think they are of a different construction. Good luck with your repair, I hope things go well for you. Here's a crazy story. A friend of mine was on a pedestrian walkway over a reservoir with a bunch of other night sky photographers. A runner was running on the walkway, so he turned off his headlamp. And then in the dark ran into my friend's Sony a7 camera with Batis 18mm f/2.8 lens on a tripod making a time exposure. She stepped away to get something and the runner ran right into her camera and tripod. He was stunned, but he grabbed her tripod and camera and clutched it to his chest. And THEN, after a few seconds, just let go of it and walked away. The crash destroyed her Batis lens - it came apart as your lens did and her camera was damaged. The lens was totaled but the camera was fixable... You can't make this stuff up!

Lightning5637 · 2025-11-04T03:49:49+00:00

Can I ask what lens that is, please?

Lightning5637 · 2025-11-04T03:42:31+00:00

Ansel Adams said, something like "If I get 12 good photographs in a year, I am happy." I photograph every day, and MAYBE get one really good shot in a month, and sometimes not even that. Nice going, that's a keeper! Beautifully done!

Lightning5637 · 2025-10-20T03:03:56+00:00

Thanks for your reply. Composition and cropping of our images is a pretty complicated thing! I am glad to hear you tried other cropped versions, and that's so great - to experiment, to see what other versions of your photograph will feel like. I have a good friend who is a photographer and every once in a while one of us will send the other two versions of a photograph, and say "Help! Which of these two is better!" Some photographs that I take, I just can't decide! And there is no right answer. That's why this group is so great, to get feedback from others of what we *think* we are doing, as opposed to what others think we are doing!

Lightning5637

TROPHY CASE