fountain pens Archives - Page 4 of 6

Montblanc Violet Ink Review

December 20, 2009 By Matt 1 Comment

Montblanc Violet [full size photo] – This color is a very nice deep violet, with hints of black in it. Please note I did have a lot of issues trying to get the scanner to pick this color up correctly. It kept seeing more black than violet. After a few tries I finally got scan to show more of a true color, but its still a little more black than it really is.

I inked this in my Lamy Safari and have been going to town with this ink, it produces a very smooth, wetish line, with a hint of show through. I do occasionally have some nib creep issues, but I think that may be indicative to the fountain pen I am using, more than the ink itself. I don’t see any real issues with feathering or bleed through. The ink is pretty well behaved, I did have one hard start one morning, but I think it was more of an anomaly than anything else. There is a bit of shading you can see in the right light, but the light at my office defeats that, so I don’t normally find much shading when inked in my Fine Point Lamy. Montblanc Violet will continue to be the counterpart of my faithful Lamy.

I left the ink at work on Friday, so I apologize for the lack of an action shot. Ill get one up in the next few weeks.

Matt

Matt is a Systems Development Director for a multinational franchise. Matt has lived and worked in Hawaii, Chicago, South Florida and currently resides outside of Atlanta. He enjoys his hobbies including Technology, Gadgets/EDC, Fountain Pens, Wetshaving, Clocks, Antiques & Coffee. He even roasts his own coffee weekly.

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Sabonis Fountain Pen Review

December 19, 2009 By Matt 5 Comments

This is a review of the Sabonis Fountain Pen. This fountain pen brand is primarily marketed in Latin America. This specific pen was sent to me from Mexico. I am not 100% sure what model this is, as it came to me without a box or any paperwork. There doesn’t appear to be any markings that reflect a model on the pen or nib.

The first thing I noticed about this pen, was the weight – it’s pretty darn heavy. Much heavier than most of my other pens. The pen is pretty plain looking – in a good way, it also does look more expensive than it is. The cap is very tight fitting, it requires a pretty good grip to pull the cap off. There is also a noticeable click when the cap is removed and or reinstalled.

The dimensions of the Sabonis Fountain Pen are as follows:

Capped – 5.25″
Cap removed – 4.75″
Cap posted – 6″
Weight – 1.1oz (this was using a digital scale that was zeroed & includes the converter plus what ink is left inside.)

I was surprised that this pen didn’t include a cartridge and or converter. I tried using the extra Platinum Preppy and the Waterman converters I had… neither one fit correctly. I ended up ordering an International Piston Converter for a Pelikan (from my friends at Pear Tree Pens) and it ended up fitting perfectly.

The nib seems to be a fine-medium steel nib. It has the Sabonis logo and is made in Germany. It originally was difficult to get inked up. It was having a lot of problems starting up, even after I let the ink prime in it for 24+ hours. The next day I decided I needed to floss the nib (this opens the tines up a bit & allows for a better flow). That ended up working perfectly. Now the pen starts much faster and flows a nice fine-medium line.

The nib is nice and smooth and it produces a nice wetish line that has a nice bit of shading to it. I recently did an ink review with the Sabonis, it can be found here: J Herbin Bleu Azur Ink Review

All in all, for an inexpensive fountain pen, this is a pretty nice pen. I won’t say it’s my favorite, but its fun and will stay in my rotation.

Full sized images can be found on this set on my Flickr account.

Matt

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J Herbin Ambre De Birmanie Ink Review

December 19, 2009 By Matt 2 Comments

J Herbin Amber De Birmanie [full size photo] – This color is pretty cool, I really dig it. It has a nice bit of shading, and looks really nice on bright white paper. Its a warm ink that is rather fun to play around with.

A friend from work thinks it reminds him of a color, found in some Starbucks coffee drink. I don’t personally see it, but hey each to their own. I think it reminds me of Diamine Pumpkin (I will be reviewing Diamine Pumpkin soon).

I inked the J Herbin Ambre De Birmanie in my Reform 1745 German piston filler fountain pen. It seemed to play pretty nice in this specific pen. There was a bit of show through and a tiny bit of bleeding on the Hammermill Laserprint I used for the test. I found it to play a bit nicer on Bagasse paper. An odd observation I found — on the Laserprint paper, the pen felt dry. The line didn’t look really wet, but it seems that the dry test proved otherwise. Not 100% sure what that’s about, but it actually took a bit to dry all the way.

All in all this ink is really a fun color, and is a great conversational ink. I got some nice comments at work the other day. I think this pen would really shine with a broader nib and or flex nib, something to really bring out the shading.

Here are some of the other J Herbin Inks I have reviewed.

J Herbin was established in 1670, when Louis XIV, the Sun King, was 32 years old.

M. Herbin was a sailor, and from his many journeys to India he brought back to Paris formulas for manufacturing sealing wax. His special lacquer formula improved the quality of the seals in adhesion and neatness, helping him to become famous throughout the kingdom.

j-herbin-logo

J. Herbin is also the oldest name in ink production in the world.

By 1700, the company was producing “l’Encre de la Tete Noire,” followed by “Perle des Encres,” (The Jewel of Inks) and “l’Encre des Vaisseaux” (The Ink of Ships).

J. Herbin made ink for Louis XIV, and a black ink for the sole use of Victor Hugo, author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables. These formulas still reside in our company archives in Paris.

This ink was purchased from: Peartreepens.com

Matt

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Vintage Esterbrook & Waterman Ideal

December 14, 2009 By Matt Leave a Comment

Well, I couldn’t help myself they were $20 bucks.

The Esterbrook pen is in its original box with a piece of paper showing how to fill the pen and different nibs you could purchase. The pen is 4 3/3″ long and is a pretty copper color with black ends and silver nib #1550.

The Watermans Ideal pen is black with chevron design and marked Pat. Aug. 9, 1906 Watermans Ideal Fountain Pen,Canada, Feb. 9,1909. This pen has a gold color nib and is 4 ½” long.

There is also an empty Sheaffer’s pen box measuring 6 ¼”. It’s a bummer that the box is empty.

Here are some pics…

Esty & Waterman