First fountain pens

Blooze · Aug 17, 2011

Thanks to DET (and B&B) I made a great trade for a couple of Estie FP's and a pencil as well. The J has a 1554 Gregg firm fine nib and the SJ has a 1461 rigid medium nib. No idea what the lead size is for the pencil yet. These are the first real pens I've ever owned and am so new that I don't even have any inks or paper yet. It was kind of a "I've always wanted to try that" moments, so I'm a little short on supplies and really short on knowledge. I did use a really cheapo FP way back in college some, but it was a piece of junk and leaked more than it wrote. Anyways, here's the pics and here's to another dang addiction I can't afford :lol:

bbarton713 · Aug 17, 2011

Very nice!! I love my Esties!!

Altair · Aug 17, 2011

nice colors, I've never heard of these are they vintage pens?

Blooze · Aug 17, 2011

Altair said:
nice colors, I've never heard of these are they vintage pens?

I believe the Esterbrook models I have were produced from 1948 to the late 1950's. But I'm so new to this I could be wrong.

airmech · Aug 18, 2011

Esties are great pens I have about 6 of them. One of the great things about them are that the nibs are easily interchangeable, and can be found fairly cheap. The best place on the web to find info on Esties is Richard Andersons site. He is the mod for the Esterbrook forum on the Fountain Pen Network. I can't tell from the angle but that "SJ" may be a "LJ", if it is the same length as the "J". You will really enjoy using them as they are great writers. Forget the word afford, just go take a second mortgage on the home and be done with it :lol:

Tom

Greyfox · Aug 18, 2011

Congrats and enjoy.

JPDyson · Aug 18, 2011

It's shorter to my eyes (and being closer to the camera at this angle would normally make it appear larger than it actually is). So, looks like an SJ to me.

Blooze · Aug 18, 2011

It is an SJ. The camera angle just makes them look the same length.

MaxP · Aug 18, 2011

Fine looking pens. Do enjoy them.

I don't think there's a cure for ADs, only modest success in managing them.

MaxP
(suffering from a severe flare-up of SBAD at the moment)

nemo · Aug 18, 2011

Nice, you sure started off with a bang! Esterbrook is a great first pen, vintage or otherwise -- quite robust.

Blooze · Aug 18, 2011

nemo said:
Nice, you sure started off with a bang! Esterbrook is a great first pen, vintage or otherwise -- quite robust.

Your recent for sale post is what got me going. I wish I would have really wanted one then as that green one was calling to me bad. I'm still waiting on ink, but I'm not sure I'm going to like the nibs that came with these as they look as if they could be pretty scratchy, especially the 1554 with it's flat tip.

DET · Aug 18, 2011

I think you'll find they're smoother than you expect, Blooze. The trick with fountain pens (and especially Esterbrooks, which need little encouragement to lay down their ink) is to write with a light touch -- the opposite of what you'd do with a ballpoint, that is. Kind of like shaving with a DE razor, let the weight of the pen do the work -- just enough pressure to put the ink on the page.

That all being said, an Esterbrook nib still won't be as smooth as a Sailor or Pilot nib, and fine nibs are always a bit toothier than wider nibs, but these shouldn't give you too much problem once you've gotten used to the light touch needed for a fountain pen.

And, man, your photo is making me miss these pens already. But I think you'll love them.

Blooze · Aug 18, 2011

DET said:
I think you'll find they're smoother than you expect, Blooze. The trick with fountain pens (and especially Esterbrooks, which need little encouragement to lay down their ink) is to write with a light touch -- the opposite of what you'd do with a ballpoint, that is. Kind of like shaving with a DE razor, let the weight of the pen do the work -- just enough pressure to put the ink on the page.

That all being said, an Esterbrook nib still won't be as smooth as a Sailor or Pilot nib, and fine nibs are always a bit toothier than wider nibs, but these shouldn't give you too much problem once you've gotten used to the light touch needed for a fountain pen.

And, man, your photo is making me miss these pens already. But I think you'll love them.

Thanks. Obviously I won't know till I use it, but just from appearance they look that way. Thanks again for the trade.....and fueling my new AD.

DET · Aug 18, 2011

Blooze said:
Thanks. Obviously I won't know till I use it, but just from appearance they look that way. Thanks again for the trade.....and fueling my new AD.

And thank you for the trade too. I hope you find the nibs as smooth as the razors will leave my face. (I know, that was terrible, but it was worth a try.)

bobr · Aug 18, 2011

Seeing these Esterbrooks takes me back. I went to school in Camden, NJ in the mid-50's. Esterbrook was headquartered in Camden at that time. We learned cursive using fountain pens and Esterbrooks were the weapons of choice. They were sold at the school at 25 or 50 cents each if I remember correctly. Initially, I hated them because as a left hander I would always land up turning in smeared work. Eventually, I became an over-the-top lefty in order to overcome this problem, and I still write in that way to this day.

I probably owned scores of these pens as a kid. Red, green, grey, blue, a myriad of colors. As much as I hated them then, I'd sure like to have my Esterbrooks back now.

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