Pre 10,000th Post Pen and Ink giveaway

[calhoun1]

I have been using a fountain pen for about 4 months. I think I have a schaeffer that I found in a Michael's craft store as a calligraphy and a pilot varsity that I don't really like due to the ball on the tip. I only have 1 cartridge that is currently in the pen.

I enjoy the old school way of writing. And really want to work on improving my atrocious handwriting. A pen that is nice, makes me want to take pride in my writing.

And thanks for the PIF.

 

[dgreene120]

Awesome PIF. I do not qualify, but thanks for offering this and good luck to the guys who participate!

 

[gvillecreative]

Wow! This is great! Thanks! I'm in!

I've just started researching fountain pens and ordered my first one (since middle school) earlier this week. It's a Metropolitan. I haven't ordered any ink samples yet or a converter, but I'm researching that too. I am in awe of the Caran d'Ache line of inks. The bottles look so weighty and askew, lying on the angle. Life feels like that sometimes-- perfectly out of balance.

The Metropolitan will be my first, but I'm already drooling over the Kaweco Sport. I wish I had ordered that one first, but I read that the Metropolitan is a good place to start.

What made me (re)start this hobby? I loved my fountain pen in middle school. I'm an executive in a semi-creative department, but I'm not a creative, and I prefer to use pen and paper for notes and organisation. A lot of my coworkers use ipads, but I really prefer the old school methods. What ruins it for me is that our company orders very crappy pens and notebooks. It's literally the same pen and paper that I used in middle school, and I sometimes feel embarrassed going into a meeting. I look disheveled using this stuff. I decided that I'd enjoy writing with a nicer pen and on nicer paper, and I started researching, and I fell in love with many of the modern fountain pens and inks. I've lost myself looking at ink swatches and close up photos of nibs in the last few weeks. I discovered jetpens and the blogs, and then ended up here looking at images of pens in google image search.

Thanks for entering me! and thanks for allowing new hobbyists the opportunity to try new stuff.

I love the color of the ink btw. It looks almost the color of blue sea glass.

 

[coyotewhisper]

I have no fountain pens, and always thought they weren't for lefties. But I have been lurking on the Nib for a while now, considering one after reading that it isn't so bad after all. So I'm in!

As a bonus, my (left handed) wife would be keen to use it too - she enjoys writing correspondence and buying stationary, so both of us would put your PIF to double good use!

I 'm lefthanded, fountain pens work better for me then a ball points. Yes left handers use fountain pens.

 

[OtherMoe]

Not in, but great PIF!

 

[Fozziebear]

This is a very generous PIF. I'm definitely not in (on any of the criteria), but I think it took me longer than 6 months to accumulate the gear. In fact, this time last year I would have been abl to throw my hat in the proverbial ring.

But I've been bitten and so it goes. Good luck to whoever gets in and wins. I don't know much about the pen, but the ink (like most Iroshizuku inks) is fantastic.

Thanks for doing this!

Cheers to all!

 

[SixStringPhil]

I'm in, thanks for the opportunity.

You must be fountain newbie within last 6 months - Jan. 28th
You have less than 10 fountain pens tell what pens you have. - Pilot Metropolitan, Jinhao X750, Jinhao 599, Lami Safari
You have less than 10 bottles of ink tell what inks you have. - Noodler's Black
Briefly describe your interest in fountain pens and ink.
I have always enjoyed drawing and writing. I received a pair of nice rollerball pens as a gift that recently sparked my interest in nicer pens. I stumbled into the Nib through my participation in the shaving forum of Badger and Blade. My first fountain pen was a Pilot Metro and then a couple of cheap Jinhaos off Ebay. I bought a Lami from a forum member this week. I'm enjoying the variety of pens, nibs, and inks and look forward to growing this hobby.

 

[Thu'umhammer]

Not in, but great PIF

 

[Penknight]

I'm in, if it's alright.

My only fountain pen is my black Pilot Metropolitan. I just started using a fountain pen this month, but used a cheap model in high school until it had to be thrown away.

The only ink I own aside from the cartridge that came with my pen in the box is Noodler's Bernanke Black because I'm left handed and read that it is a good ink for left handed people to use.

The reason I got into using a fountain pen is because I am about to be a new dad this coming Wednesday to a baby girl. I decided some time back that I wanted to keep a journal for her of her growing up. The first entry will be her birth, how I feel, and talking to her. I plan on keeping the journal until it is full, setting it aside, and starting a new one to eventually give to her on her birthday at some point, likely her 16th because it is a special age. They'll be filled with moments of her life from her father's point of view, like her first time being sick, or scared of the dark, her first day of school, first steps, and things like that.

I selected the large Bombay leather journal from Barnes and Noble for my chronicles, and felt that I needed a real pen to write in it with rather than a simple ballpoint.

So you know I'm speaking the truth, here is the post I made earlier this month about the pen and journal...

I just recently read this thread, and purchased a Pilot Metropolitan in Black with the Medium Nib on Amazon for $13.52. I haven't had a fountain pen since I was a sophomore in high school, and that was only a cheap pen for $5 from Wal-Mart. This will be the first one I've used of any real quality or reputation as far as I know.

I purchased it to use for writing in a journal I purchased from Barnes and Noble. The large Bombay leather journal. I bought it to write in for my soon to be born baby girl, so I can chronicle events from her life from a father's point of view - the day she's born the first entry, special moments in between other events, the first time she smiles, is sick and I stay up with her, her first word, etc. I plan on later in life giving it to her as a birthday gift. One of real meaning that has taken years of her life to complete, with other journals following. That's just me though, and something I've chosen to do for her and for me.

I felt that I needed a classic, classy pen to be my instrument to flow through the days with me rather than a simple ballpoint pen. I trust I have chosen wisely and well. Thank you gentlemen for giving such thoughts on this pen and being honest on its performance. From all that I've read on this pen, I'm sure it will do well for me and suit my needs. While it is true that this isn't a pen that has seen grand events from history play out and the world evolve, this will be the pen I use to record my thoughts and feelings of raising my daughter. To me, that is just as special, if not more so.

 

[Claudel Xerxes]

You must be fountain newbie within last 6 months
Received my first "real" fountain pen (I had one when is was in 4th or 5th grade, but the novelty of it wore off after a year or two) on April 15th or 16th

You have less than 10 fountain pens tell what pens you have.
Lamy Safari (F), Pilot Metropolitan (M), Noodler's Nib Creaper, Esterbrook J Series (1551), Esterbrook J Series (9556), Nussbaum Nicholas (Knox #6 nib), Jinhao x450, and a Platinum Preppy (M)

You have less than 10 bottles of ink tell what inks you have.
Noodler's B&B 5 O'clock Shadow, Noodler's 54th Massachusetts, and 6 samples: 3 Diamine, a Noodler's Liberty Elysium, Parker Black Quink, and Rohrer & Klingner Scabiosa.

Briefly describe your interest in fountain pens and ink
My interest in fountain pens was sparked after reading the "John Hancock's "H"" thread. A few weeks later I was accepted to a business school to pursue a bachelor's in Business Administration. I wanted to get something that I could use daily to remind myself to stay focused. I decided to get a couple of fountain pens to use during class. Since then, I've discovered that I really enjoy using fountain pens and exploring different inks, and I'm also enjoying the process of trying to improve my penmanship.

Thanks for the wonderful opportunity! I'm in.

 

[ruckin]

This is an cool PIF but I don't come anywhere close to qualifying. It has taken quite some time but I have managed to get SWMBO and my son addicted to using bottled ink. I am on the lookout for other victims
.

 

[yakster]

Very gentlemanly PIF, I'm in.

You must be fountain newbie within last 6 months

I'm a fountain pen newbie, just got my first pen, a Pilot Metropolitan from Massdrop on April 17th and have only recently filled the converter for the first time.

You have less than 10 fountain pens tell what pens you have

I have a Pilot Metropolitan with a Fine NIB. Picked up two in the Massdrop, but gave one to my Wife.

You have less than 10 bottles of ink tell what inks you have.

I picked up a bottle of Parker Quink at a brick and mortar store and have a bottle of Noodler's Black Waterproof / Bulletproof ink on order (and a CON-50 converter)


Briefly describe your interest in fountain pens and ink.

I picked up a fountain pen to try and improve my handwriting and get back into writing things out by hand like a journal instead of typing everything. My handwriting has always been messy and my hand tends to cramp on ball point pens, never used a fountain pen before.

Thanks.

I forgot about my first fountain pen purchase... I have a Pilot Varsity pen in addition to my Metropolitan. I tried to go back and edit my first post, but am not able to, so I quoted the original message to update the thread. Now that I have some bottled ink, I'll have to research ways to refill the Pilot Varsity.

Thanks.

 

[Jut]

Nice PIF. I'm way out, but thanks for offering.

 

[UrbanPrimitive]

I think I just may qualify for this.

You must be fountain newbie within last 6 months - I purchased my first brush pen as a Christmas gift to myself last January. I followed it up this January with two fountain pens.
You have less than 10 fountain pens tell what pens you have. - I currently own three fountain pens. All three are Noodler's Konrads. Two are set up with fountain pen feeds and nibs, while the third is a brush pen.
You have less than 10 bottles of ink tell what inks you have. - Only 3 lonely bottles for me. Noodler's Heart Of Darkness, Diamine Ancient Copper, and Rorher & Klingner Alt-Goldgrun.

My dad bought my brothers and me fountain pens for Christmas roughly 27 years ago. We enjoyed our Schaeffers as much as elementary schoolers could before forgetting about them. My senior year in high school I started making simple line drawings and eventually started filling sketchbooks with black and white abstract drawings. This lead me to a quest to find the perfect pen and perfect paper. I burned through every type and brand of ball point, roller ball, gel roller, and technical pen I could get my hands on. Somehow I completely missed fountain pens and spent untold hundreds of dollars on disposable pigment liners over the years. It wasn't until randomly happening upon the Konrad Brush Pen that fountain pens were on my radar. So I bought myself a pair of Konrads as a belated Christmas gift this past January, heat set the feeds to correct the ink flow, tuned the nibs to get rid of the scratchiness, and haven't looked back since!

Now that I have the bug I've already bought fountain pens for my mom, dad, and half of my staff at the office (there's only five of us, so it was reasonably affordable to pick up some Jinhaus and Metros). In the mean time I've also become an inconsolable paper nerd, hunting down as many different kinds of paper as I can find and making notebooks for my friends and family. My staff have started referring to me as their "dealer" because I gave them their first fountain pen for free, but now I have them hooked!

 

[mcgreggor57]

​Awesome PIF, thank you for offering this.

You must be fountain newbie within last 6 months
My dad carried a fountain pen until the day he died. As a kid I tried to use one and failed miserably. On a visit to mom's last month, she gave me 6 pens she found in a box. First time I've considered trying to use one in decades.

You have less than 10 fountain pens tell what pens you have
A&W. Dark Green
Sheaffer. Blue and Chrome. Name on clip (no ‘S)
Sheaffer’S. Dark Gray and Silver. Name on clip.
Sheaffer’S. Black w/ silver band and clip. Name on clip. Made in USA on barrel.
Sheaffer’S. Gray w/ gold band and clip. 14K marking near nib with Made In USA and Sheaffer’S
Esterbrook (R). Green swirl. Made in USA on barrel. Esterbrook 9461 on nib with some engraved lines above and below markings. Only pen that has a lever on the side.

They haven't been used in over 25 years and I'm sure they need a lot of care before (or if) they will work again. Since they were everyday carry, I doubt any of them were very expensive.

You have less than 10 bottles of ink tell what inks you have.
Sheaffer Skrip blue black
Parker Super Quink black
Samfords black

These were the 3 bottles in the box

Briefly describe your interest in fountain pens and ink.
As I've aged I started to appreciate the finer, more deliberate aspects of life. DE Shaving, slow smoking a brisket, enjoying a bowl full of pipe tobacco, smoking better cigars, sipping bourbons rather than shooting them. LOL

 

[coyotewhisper]

The winner will be announced tomorrow. I have enjoyed reading everyone's entries.

I have also decided to add several surprises for the winner too.

 

[Penknight]

Thank you for this opportunity, and the best of luck to everyone!

 

[coyotewhisper]

Gentleman we have a winner chosen by wife after reading all the entries.

THE WINNER IS FOYLE!! CONGRATS!! Foyle pm me with your shipping info and I will post the package tomorrow.

You will receive the ink, the pen and several surprises. Once you have tried out your winnings please give us a short review.

 

[Foyle]

Wow! Thanks! Much appreciated! I'll send my info asap.

 

[yakster]

Congrats, Foyle, nicely done Brad!