Tradeshow Pen Surprise

Last day to enter for the giveaway!

As always click for bigger images. My work takes me to some trade shows and I rarely pick up pens, (because generally they are crap) but this one was given to me in a drop bag. I am working on a project that I am collecting pens for (more on that soon) but for some reason I picked this one up to write with. Zip twang!

Some surprises are bad. Like hearing "hey, was that your car?" or "You got tested for that, right?" or your Proctologist calling you up asking if you found his ring. (Sorry about that one.) This pen was a pleasant surprise. It really writes well.

Dissected... we see a no name filler stamped with 07 on it. In terms of writing it is an 07 and normally that's a lot fatter than I like to write with but the ink this thing is laying down makes up for it. We are talking free flowing goodness that makes me just stare at this pen wondering where it came from.

I don't think this changes my mind about trade show pens but this was a nice surprise. Seriously, if you been reading you know I am a pen snob and discourage the use of cheap pens, but this one is a little different. It's a good pen.

Tornado by Retro Pen

The contest is in full swing from yesterday and the "bring the funny" is coming along nicely. I think I have my randomizer just about tuned up and ready to go.

Now back to today's pen.

I have always gone back to this pen when in need. It's substantial. It has some weight to it. Some pens feel like in these tough times, they could snap in two. Not this pen. It sort of feels bulletproof and is sitting here on a Foray notebook.

No this isn't a pen holder, it's a reclaimed chain and rim from a bicycle made into a business card holder. Cool. This pen and the holder were both gifts that I received years ago. I own a few pens from the Retro Pen line and they have always been rock solid without question.

I've had a serious addiction to The Avett Brothers lately. It's not my usual brand of music, but it's really working for me right now. Check them out if you get a chance.

Monday Giveaway

First of all, I really wanted to give a fountain pen away. Unfortunately, after inking up and checking out a few, I could not decide on which one to give away and that will have to be for another day. Instead...I am offering up some choices.

You could win these:

Fountain pen inky goodness.



or these:

Enough ink and refills to last a long time.


Here are the silly rules, contest ends 8:00 pm Eastern on Wednesday. My crack legal team is dreaming up my own (funnier) version of the randomizer and I will announce the winner in Thursday mornings post. All you have to do is leave any comment on this post and as usual, there will be a special separate prize sent out to the person who comes closest to making me laugh so hard I shoot coffee out my nose.

We can catch up with email after the contest to sort out which you like.  That's it.  Have a great day.

Seth

Papermate Gel -Writer

I have 2 distinct memories from 1996. One was living in Georgia for the Olympics in Atlanta and the other is buying this pen. (Only one of those is true, I don't actually remember buying this pen.) But I am pretty sure this pen came out around then.

Feel free to ask, but I am not sure why I still have this pen, or why it still writes pretty well. I don't use it, it's not cherished, it just is here if I ever need a 12 year old Gel point that writes a .7ish blue line. Oh, the writing on the end of the barrel says "fine." Yeah, right"

It wasn't exactly the prettiest of pens, but it does stand out a little with the black and blue swirls.

Googling for this pen, I came up a little empty other than someone selling an ad for this exact pen (dated 1996) Let me know if you remember this one from back in the day.

Have a great weekend, the contest annoucement is coming on Monday and I think it's a fountain pen.

The Before Shots: A new Fountain Pen

Part of the fun of getting a fountain pen for a dollar is seeing what it's inside. It could be a shining star or it could be less than stellar.

Aha! A Gold(ish) nib that is fairly smooth. I will take that any day. A few ink stains that I am sure will come out. Should be a nice Wearever when I am done.

And a busted sac. No biggie, came out clean in two pieces. I didn't have to scrape out 50 years of crust and ink and whatever in there. The filler lever was in good shape, it should be a simple fresh sac, polish and enjoy. Some may argue that it doesn't really make sense to put a $4 sac in a $1 pen, but I disagree. I will get the afters out in another post once I finish it.

This has nothing to do with the post other than that is a camera shot of a camera looking at pens. Click for a better view and have a good day.

Multi Pen Hell (and new contest tease)

I own at least three multi pens. I do not love any of them. There are some things that can be combined nicely. For example:
1. Mp3 player and a phone--Check -I use those.
2. Baseball and peanuts (der)
3. Bacon and Everything. -awkward silence- (Sorry, I just wandered off for a few moments for a stroll down Bacon lane.)

The problem is that I am picky about individual pens and when you add the opportunity for multiple bad pens in one pen housing. I suddenly lose interest and wander back to the pens I know will write red when I ask. Did my friend George S. Parker back in the day as he was about to put the finishing touches on a Parker 51 say "you know, we should add a stylus to this?" No. he. did. not.

It's also sort of a pen lotto when I click the button to see which tip might pop out. I don't even own anything that uses a stylus anymore. I know there is a new breed of multi-pens out there and I probably should give them a shot and I might one day. But these three are going back into the drawer neatly labeled "Do not talk about."

Ok, sorry for the rant. There will be a new contest coming this week or Monday latest with some fun new rules in place (as soon as I think them up) and a cool prize. More to follow.

Esterbrook Advanced Flo-master

Happy Presidents day (belated). As most of you know I take holidays off on Good Pens but wanted to pass along a little knowledge to you.
Did you know that President Harding wore size fourteen shoes? He had the largest feet of all the presidents. It's true. Feel free to tell all your friends.

Remember back in the day when markers first came out? Yeah, I don't either. But my pen collection has an old reminder and here we have the Esterbrook (That's right I said Esterbrook) Advanced Flo-master writing thingy.

I have a deep love for my Esterbrooks, although the love sort of stops here. I guess the idea of a refillable felt tip pen full of lead based ink appealed to some people in the world in the 50's. You still see these in the marketplace every now and then, usually for a ten spot or less and I am not sure anyone is actually doing anything with these other than staring at the Esterbrook marking on the cap.

It does have a good look to it, parked here on top of my Storm I could see carrying this around. I understand there were different tips and colors you could purchase. I will stick to my Sharpies (which first showed up in 1964)