Save your pennies Dan!
Thanks to whomever put the Hero 616 and ink on the free table. I cleaned it out, put some fresh ink in it and have been using it for the last two days. In the future, when someone asks me how I started using fountain pens I can tell them the exact date and circumstances. I foresee another AD.
Remember that MWF I showed around that had the crystalline stucture on it? I thought that crystal had developed over the course of a year or so, because that's how long the bowl sat undisturbed before I opened it again, and I decided to just leave it that way and covered it with Saran Wrap to protect it.
But I decided to start using the soap again, and guess what? That crystalline lather reappeared the very next day! And it looks even better than it did before ... I'm more of a cream guy, so I don't know that much about soaps, but I've never seen any other brand do that besides MWF.
I don't think its the Tallow, because my other Tallow soaps don't crystallize like that ... so what is it? Could it be the Lanolin that's in MWF?
Might be five o'clock shadow, put a little on a towel and you could see a bright green halo.
The brush is treating me very well. I've wanted to try TGN finest for a while. I face lathered with a BEA stick two days a row with very good results. I'll give the Cade I got from Rudy a go for the next two days but I'll be using my Caravela.