#conklin fountain pen

[goodnight-ensign]

Treated myself to a new pen today

[chaosandorder46]

Kind of obsessed with this pen today.

[syncallio]

About that Conklin Crescent: I actually ended up with two. Much to my surprise! A small one, 25P, and a large one, 211L. It's the 211L that has a big ugly crack in the cap.

And here's how I made ABSOLUTELY SURE that crack would stay closed.

Not a pretty fix, but it'll do the job. Once the epoxy is fully set I'll clean it up a bit.

Sad to say I'm not sure I want to ink it because the cap wasn't the only thing that was cracked. The nib has a nasty long crack along its length, starting at the base. You can't see it unless you take the nib out. Maybe someday I'll pick up a homeless Conklin nib to replace it.

Anyway, here's some shots of these iconic pens:

Some fun facts about the Crescent: it was wildly popular when it was first introduced, both for its fine quality and for the fact that you could fill it one-handed. Among its fans was Samuel Langhorne Clemens - Mark Twain - who was then paid to endorse it.

Clemens's own Crescent is on display at his home/museum in Connecticut. And is apparently badly discolored and missing some bits. Proof of how much he loved it!

Conklin was so proud of their Crescent that they were reluctant to try anything new and fell behind in the game. Everyone else was doing things like using plastic instead of hard rubber and inventing new, more convenient filling systems. Conklin eventually caught up (the Nozac and Endura are both highly regarded) but they didn't survive much past World War II.

[eggbunni]

Pen: Conklin Mark Twain Crescent Filler in Black Chase with Rose Gold Trim

Ink: Monteverde USA Chameleon

Paper: Leuchtturm 1917 & Tomoe River Paper 52gsm (Old Stock from Hobonichi)

How cool is it that Conklin Pens revived one of their most famous vintage pens, the Crescent Filler, complete with a rubber sac + spring loaded filler system and all?! This exact design (from the chase pattern to the filling system) is over a century old, and the original crescent filler was legendary American author Mark Twain’s daily carry.

“I prefer it because it is a profanity saver; it cannot roll off the desk." - Mark Twain 😂

I have mine in an Extra Fine, and it is wetttt. 💦 But then, most sac filling systems are! It’s just so COOL to see a modern sac-filling pen with upgraded materials. The only downside to a sac-filler is I wouldn’t recommend this pen-type for air travel as the latex sac can compress during elevation and cause leaks. But it makes the perfect daily carry! Especially since the clip is so easy to maneuver + attach to your shirt lapel, pen pocket, or stow away in a bag nib-side up!

Plus, I mean… It’s pretty. And it’s a replica of the exact pen Mark Twain used. Cool points all around. 😎

Ink is Monteverde USA Chameleon! It’s a DEEP burgundy grape red/purple. You’d mistake it for black very easily if it wasn’t side by side with actual black ink. Thus, it makes an excellent ink for work, school, and other situations which call for a saturated, readable, and well-behaved wet ink. Can definitely recommend if you’re in the market for something with a little character!

[archilich]

one last thing before i do the adulting thing:

emmrich would be a fountain pen snob send tweet

[pocketwish]

the fountain pen community: fountain pens don't have to be old fashioned! look at all these modern designs! bright colors! dynamic shapes! not your grandma's pen!

me: tortoiseshell........

[evitcani-writes]

Restored Conklin Slim Pocket Crescent Filler from 1923

Here’s my process of restoring it! I didn’t take great before pictures, but it wasn’t in great shape (and certainly didn’t work).

Below the cut is the original state and my process of restoration.

Original State

It came with a cracked and scuffed lid. The lid was pretty fragile. Light pressure would likely break it. The crescent and nib are 14k gold and the body was pretty “sunburnt” ebonite. The filler sac had melted and the shellac had calcified.

Process

First was a LOT of cleaning. By hand, sanding off the white… stuff from the lid. Then a lot of rounds of a hypersonic cleaning before everything was ready.

The ebonite needed re-dyed. I decided to go for a matte black and went the route of using Black 3.0 in light layers. Once completed, I painted the engraved letters to match the nib and crescent which was tricky.

On the lid, I used UV resin on the crack to strengthen it. Then sanded it mostly flat. It got the same treatment as the body with coats of Black 3.0.

I left everything to dry after spraying a coat of protectant. After another round of UV protective sealant and drying, everything was reassembled.

Attaching a new sac was interesting. As the shellac used in attaching latex ink sacs had calcified, I began a process of carefully whittling away each layer of old latex until I reached the ebonite feed tube. Finally got to that satisfying cinch of dropping the tube onto the feed tube and testing it worked.

Writes great! Has some feedback, but is very flexy. Fun to write with.

What the Process Should Look Like

If you can't tell, I'm not an expert at this. I don't know how well this will hold up to wear. The cap cracked in the same place when I screwed it on. I'll have to fix it again, but it doesn't affect the function of the pen, the ink has stayed pretty wet.

Many people think re-dyeing the ebonite to any capacity is hurting a historical object. I went this route so as to bring the pen in line with my own aesthetic (and its original state) while also being temporary and harmless to the pen itself. The paint and sealant can be easily peeled away without taking off the UV affected layer of ebonite (something which could cause significant harm).

I also used a lot of hypersonic cleaning to avoid having to use brushes which could harm the ebonite. The objective was preservation while wanting to keep the pen used as it was intended to be.

And what a beautiful little pen I've found in this one. Nothing writes quite like it except a dip pen. The tines flex beautifully, able to create wide pathways and sharp points in a moment while still easily writing as well as any rollerball for quick notes.

If you manage to get your hands on one, I urge you to consider restoration. They are beautiful little things, made to last. Plenty of videos on youtube can walk you through restoring the ink sacs.

[inkophile]

Frankly Walnut Ink From Robert Oster And Federalist Pens

Federalist Pens sent a bottle of their exclusive ink Frankly Walnut from the Robert Oster Signature collection. It flows very well in the Conklin Duragraph 1.1 stub that I have had since 2015. Not too wet as some inks can be from such a wide nib. This is definitely my kind of ink since it wrote without a skip after over a week of no use. Swatches are good for relative comparisons. Here Frankly…

[chaosandorder46]

New pen day!

Fountain Pen Revolution, Himalaya v2

I was hoping this nib would be super flexy and it's not (but does have some flex), but I love the look and feel of this pen.

The nib is stiff enough that I can use it for normal writing which I really can't do with my other flex nib fountain pen (Conklin endura).

Compared to the Conklin, this pen isn't nearly as smooth or flexy, but at less than half the price, that's expected.

[syncallio]

Hoo boy, there's a new pen repair I'm gonna try. Yesterday I won a very old Conklin Crescent with a cracked cap. Which is to say, it's hard rubber, which is considered unrepairable. Most things won't stick to rubber, let alone bond well enough to fill a gap.

But some madperson on Reddit fixed a hard rubber cap with Milliput epoxy, and according to them it's holding up nicely. So I'm gonna give it a shot.

I hope it goes better than those Sheaffer Triumphs I tried to fix. I still don't know why the seals won't seal.

[dear-ao3]

i live under a rock so all i know about katya is that they have an edward cullen mug and sparkles and a bf and are saph's friend who came in while she was doing.. some college stuff? idk.

anyway hi katya! what are your pronouns? do you like cookies? you like cats i know that (ah. i probably don't live under a rock. how scientific of me to find that out.) do you like fountain pens? have you ever seen an erasner? can you help me with my homework (no one can, this was a rhetorical question)

anyway here you go *gives you a cookie and a link to the bollywood song besharam rang*

hi! i use he/they pronouns, yes i like cookies, but i hate chocolate chip. i love cats. i have a really nice conklin fountain pen that i adore, i have no idea what that is, and unless its history, probably not

[penhero]

This is a Stratford fountain pen in emerald green metallic pearl c. 1940.  It is very similar to and appears to be the immediate predecessor if not the basis for the the c. 1940-1943 Stratford 77.  Advertisements for this pen appear only in 1940.  The primary differences are the clip style, cap bands and nib.  It's a 4 7/8 inch button fill fountain pen that uses a striped celluloid very similar to the 1st generation Conklin Nozac Penline.  The pen fills by removing the blind cap from the end of the barrel, inserting the nib in ink and pressing the button to compress the ink sac and fill the pen.  The clip is stamped with the Stratford logo.  The cap band has a fletching or arrow feathers design.  The cap top band has two thin lines.  It features a Lucite ink view section.  The trim and the nib were lightly gold plated and shows typical heavy plating loss.  The nib is stainless steel and stamped Iridium over TIPPED over MADE IN over U.S.A.  The color has faded and the blind cap is brown.  The similarity of the celluloid to the Stratford 77 probably means this model was also offered in striped emerald green, silver grey, and golden brown metallic pearl and jet black.  It sold for 49 cents in 1940.

[grimawormtonguenamesyoulathspell]

I've been asked to create a weeks-worth of creative prompts for this fountain pen community I'm a part of.

I really enjoy getting to draw and write my favorite book quotes. Today's quote was for Frodo Baggins...and J.R.R. Tolkien.

I picked my most Frodo-looking pen I could think of. This Conklin Toledo in Burgundy was the one.

[petermorwood]

I was upstairs when I sent @dduane, downstairs, the link to the Conan Doyle version, and got a response that was audible right through the floor. :->

The people who buy these things will never fill them or write with them, they may not even dip them in ink to find out if they're smooth, scratchy, whatever. They'll just put them in a deposit box until enough time has passed that they can sell them on, "uninked", for a profit to someone else who will never fill them or...

*****

It's like owning a classic car and never taking it on the road, or even putting enough fuel in the tank to hear the engine turn over. Check out Jay Leno's Garage on YouTube to see how owning classic cars is really done.

I bet there are people who think the same way about fountain pens. They, of course, will be using proper classics from way back, made for writing with all day and every day - Waterman, Conklin, Parker, Mabie Todd, Onoto, Conway Stewart etc. - not something whose sole purpose is an investment that happens to be pen-shaped.

*****

Despite making pens and mechanical pencils since 1918 I'd never heard of Waldmann before this - which means nothing, there are lots of pen brands I've never heard of, but high-profile ones do cross my radar now and then if only to prompt the same thought: "Uh... Nope."

I was surprised that it uses the same cartridge / converter filling system as any cheap fountain pen - though after a moment's thought, the pen's never going to be closer to ink than the bottle it's packaged with, so how it's (not) filled doesn't matter.

It's probably the reason why a lot of very expensive production pens are also C/C. Why install a filling mechanism that'll never be used?

*****

Their fondness for 925 sterling silver as a material reminds me of Yard-O-Lead, which do the same thing, to the extent of dropping their non-silver "Retro" range a few years ago. Underneath the hand-decorated solid silver, Y-O-L pens are also just cartridge / converters.

IMO once a pen approaches the €-£-$ 1000 mark (many get interesting well before that, hello Lamy 2000) it should be a piston, or vacuum, or eyedropper, or side-lever, or plunger, or something more unusual than C/C.

Just because.

*****

Most of that silly price isn't the pen but the Conan Doyle / Agatha Christie document which is part of the package. Looking at the Waldmann website, a similar pen by itself would probably sell for about or under a grand (silver content keeps the cost up).

And for that or much, much less, the choice of pens to actually WRITE with - backed by lots of reviews about how they do - is far, far wider.

My Book of Wishful Thinking has a list... :->

In the words of my people:

...Yeah, no.

[craftcompare]

Conklin All American Fountain Pen - Tortoiseshell - Fine Nib

This Conklin All American Tortoiseshell Fountain Pen is a prime example of Conklinandrsquo;s thoughtful and innovative approach to design, including t... http://dlvr.it/T9VPFm

[lanierpens]

Experience Timeless Elegance with Conklin Duragraph Fountain Pens

Conklin Duragraph Fountain Pens have been considered a definitive pen since its launch in 1923. The Conklin Pen Company® was one of the first companies to add true mobility to daily writing, and the Duragraph™ model was created to last as an heirloom for many generations. Crafted from quality handmade resins, the Duragraph™ offers a fresh, modern style to the timeless oversize flat-top design.

 The pen's cap top is embellished with the Conklin® Est. 1898 logo, and the cap band is engraved with the famous Duragraph™ model script font with three Conklin® crescent logos on either side of the model name. The clip is mounted at the top of the cap, allowing the pen to sit low in the pocket, making this model a more practical choice for everyday use.

The Conklin Duragraph Fountain Pens come in a beautiful amber color and is equipped with a durable high-quality stainless steel medium tip nib. The postable cap has a screw-close design that ensures the ink stays fresh and the nib remains protected when not in use. The fountain pen uses international cartridges or converter (supplied), making it easy to refill and use.

 Each Conklin® fine writing instrument is housed in a beautiful luxury gift box, making it the perfect gift for any pen enthusiast. The pen is 5.50" (139 MM) in length, with a pen center band thickness of 0.49" (12.5 MM) and a pen weight of 1 ounce (31 grams). The Conklin Duragraph Fountain Pens are of substantial size, yet not so large as to be unwieldy in the hand.

 In conclusion, the Conklin Duragraph Fountain Pen is a must-have for any pen enthusiast who values quality, craftsmanship, and innovation. The pen's oversize flat-top design, combined with its modern style, makes it a timeless classic that will last for generations. The durable high-quality stainless steel medium tip nib provides a smooth and effortless writing experience, and the postable cap ensures that the ink stays fresh and the nib remains protected when not in use. Whether you are a professional writer or just someone who appreciates a high-quality writing instrument, the Conklin Duragraph Fountain Pens are the perfect choice. So why wait? Get your hands on the Conklin Duragraph Fountain Pen and experience timeless elegance today!