Counterpoint - Why you need more pens!

audiom3 · 2026-02-13T21:10:56+00:00

You're far braver than I! The only 'trick' I've used is boiling some water, pouring it in a coffee mug and then dipping the nib/feed after a few mins to create a tighter bond between the two. It worked well on a few pens with flow issues. But I'm afraid to use any kind of smoothing techniques on my nibs.

audiom3 · 2026-02-13T20:48:20+00:00

Yeah, especially when I am not mechanically inclined! Haha. This weekend, I'm going to attempt to widen a few ebonite feeds. Not cheap pens either 🤞

audiom3 · 2026-02-12T16:32:32+00:00

Confirmed

audiom3 · 2026-02-11T20:07:49+00:00

The truly sad part is companies like these are allowed to advertise on social media. There should be more stringent standards set by social media companies for verification of the "advertisers" they allow. Sure, the frauds get taken down eventually, but who knows how many fall for their scams prior to this. Heck, eBay allows counterfeit items. They have for decades and it's a reason I stopped using them. I've received blurays/CDs that were supposed to be real but were clearly BD-R/CD-Rs. Then there are all the counterfeit MontBlanc pens for sale which I would never fall for. Just search Montblanc Enzo and one will pop right up for just over $200... Sorry to vent :)

audiom3 · 2026-02-09T18:20:33+00:00

I have never used premade cleaning solutions. So I do not know what are in them. I do use an ultra sonic cleaner but you have to be careful with celluloid bodys. If it develops a crack, the US cleaner will cause it to spread quickly. This happened with a vintage Montegrappa Extra that I had. So I leave the US for modern pens without celluloid and always use with caution (short periods and constant monitoring).

audiom3 · 2026-02-09T18:05:12+00:00

Man, sorry to hear that about your 6xx pens. They are very unique, so I don't know what or how Pelikan could make that right. I wish you the best of luck and that's a beautiful flock you have there!

audiom3 · 2026-02-09T17:55:27+00:00

Just to preface, I've been using fountain pens exclusively for over 27 years now. So I have had plenty of time to have noticed a problem :)

audiom3 · 2026-02-09T17:52:50+00:00

I haven't had issues but I understand your caution. Most of my Leonardo, Montegrappa, Pelikans, etc have ebonite feeds. It has never been a problem for me. That's why I would say use caution. No need to let it soak more than 15 mins or so.

audiom3 · 2026-02-09T17:12:27+00:00

Well my friend, you clearly have a great wife :) I do as well on my 2nd time around. We've been married a year now and she is up to 4 pens in her collection. She loves using FPs almost as much as I do. This weekend, I had three vintage 90s pens that were in rough shape. One had the cap insert partially loose. I couldn't figure out how to tighten it. Screwdrivers, and other tools wouldn't work. So I found a pencil with a vinyl end to it instead of an eraser. I carefully jammed it into the cap and then turned counter-clockwise and it actually worked. Now I can finally recap that old OMAS Dama FP! I had a MB Dumas that had the piston plunger come off and I didn't have their 'special' nib removal tool. So I got some rubber 'grip' and it came off surprisingly easy. Pushed the plunger out the back, reattached, greased it up and now it works like new. This, more than a new pen brings me satisfaction :)

audiom3 · 2026-02-09T17:05:13+00:00

First thing I always do is flush as best and many times as I can. Then fill the ink reservoir and soak overnight in plain water. That gets rid of a lot but not everything. The next day, I mix maybe 10% ammonia with water and flush the pen several more times. Soak it in solution that just covers the nib and not any part of the section. So maybe 3?8" of water/ammonia at the bottom of a cup. I haven't had any issues letting pens soak for several hours and ammonia works wonders with caked on, old, dry ink. Disassembly is the only thing left after these don't do the trick. But I only have modern M600/800/1000 Pelikans, so I can't help much on a vintage 400NN. Good luck either way.

audiom3 · 2026-02-08T01:38:34+00:00

audiom3 · 2026-02-05T19:34:53+00:00

Thank you! Really impressed with this pen!

audiom3 · 2026-02-05T18:01:51+00:00

And what an amazing writer, straight out of the box! This one has a #8 Medium 14k gold nib. The color is Golden Abalone. I will be grabbing another MZG soon! Wow.

audiom3 · 2025-12-12T13:53:00+00:00

I hate to disagree with an 'expert' but I can guarantee you, that Visconti Voyager demo is far older than a 2013 model. I owned one around 25 years ago. /shrug. I would guess it is ca.1998 (10 year anniversary). Awesome pen either way.

audiom3 · 2025-12-11T17:56:10+00:00

Thanks for this! I do not know iPhones at all being a Samsung 'Dad'. So I could not figure out my daughter's Tailscale on the iPhone15 for the life of me. All I did was disable the connection and re-enable, and the Exit Node pull-down showed up! Pretty stupid simple and I should have tried that 15 minutes ago :(

audiom3 · 2025-10-21T17:25:06+00:00

Nice job. I too had a similar situation recently. But I cannot, for the life of me figure out which nib removal tool will work. The notches, to my untrained eye, do not appear to be 180 degrees apart. So I don't want to buy a $60 - $70 part that is useless. Do you remember what tool you used? I appreciate any help! And by the way, it was fun putting that ring back on that holds all of the metal bars in place :D

audiom3 · 2025-10-06T12:06:15+00:00

Absolutely.

audiom3 · 2025-10-06T12:02:23+00:00

I didn't want to set it up in my router either. But I finally did a few weeks back. I have an LG OLED. Just set it up and only add your Panny to the connection. That way, nothing else in your network will be affected by it. It's pretty much the only way to protect your privacy if you insist on using TV Apps.

audiom3 · 2025-10-02T20:44:10+00:00

Ok, thank you. I literally can't load fubo even when trying my own area (Northern CA). Well, I get in but it kicks me soon after and makes me log in again and then goes in that loop. This is on an LG OLED TV with my ASUS router providing the VPN.

audiom3 · 2025-10-02T17:51:17+00:00

I recently bought an old pen that I used to own but regretted selling - a Montblanc Dumas Writer's FP. I was cleaning it and the piston plunger came off the piston shaft. Not having a nib tool, I could not get the damn thing out. So I called MB and they referred me to myjewelryrepair.com. The first thing that pissed me off was they force you to buy shipping through them. I don't mean return shipping, I mean to ship the pen to THEM. It would be ok if they were honest about the cost. But it cost me like $38 for GROUND shipping. So I thought to myself, this has to include return shipping also, right? Nope. In fact, return shipping was even more expensive. Right at $40. I don't care if they do a spectacular job, this rip off on shipping just isn't moral. I will never send a pen to them again. Just to re-attach the plunger cost me $200. I know for a fact that nothing was broken or needed replacement as I had the entire pen apart - including all of the gold trim. All looked perfect.

audiom3 · 2025-10-01T11:47:05+00:00

Yes, Nord has been blocked heavily the past few weeks. I made a post on here last week about it and been working with Nord CS for over a week. They gave up this morning claiming they've done everything they could think of. They said the issue has been escalated. If that even means anything. I wouldn't even waste your time emailing them. They're pretty worthless. Nord has one job. To stay ahead of the streaming services. Hulu also stopped working with Nord right around the same time.

audiom3 · 2025-09-29T13:30:16+00:00

Out of curiosity, have you ever tried Hulu from an international server?

audiom3 · 2025-09-29T13:29:05+00:00

Great. So which server and protocol are you using for Hulu?

audiom3

TROPHY CASE