Jetpens Alert!

Jetpens just announced something with gorgeousness.

Kaweco Eyedropper 1910 Fountain Pen with Luxury Gift Box - Fine Nib - Limited Edition It's up there in pricing ($487) with the choice of a broad, fine or medium nib... but if you have the means this would be a great addition to your collection,  and no I don't have any affiliation with them.  I just love this pen.  Here's the linky:  http://www.jetpens.com/Kaweco-Eyedropper-1910-Fountain-Pen-with-Luxury-Gift-Box-Fine-Nib-Limited-Edition/pd/10450 Cheers. Seth

Muji to Go

Seriously. Do yourself a favor. Next time you are passing through Terminal 5 in JFK, swing by "Muji to Go" and pick up a few good pens.  I don't want to say that I have purposefully flown through New York just to go pen shopping...so I won't actually say that.  However,  I have suddenly found myself in Terminal 5 with a itch and a twenty in my hand. Usually later...the flight attendants are wondering why I have a silly smile on my face while crazily switching pens back and forth in my journal. This is the Gel-Ink Ballpoint in 0.38. and you can buy them online for $1.25.  That hurts to say. It's not fair.  Good Pens like this at this price point make me want to buy handfuls of them. (I have.)

There's the goodness above. 0.38 might be my happy place when it comes to pen widths.  Pens that help my handwriting better are always welcomed and this one is just right for me. There are other flavors if that's not your bag,  but the skinny ones work for me.

 It's a really lightweight pen- but not so much that it bothers me to write with all day.  If you are saying to yourself that you do not want a pen that has a cap but you like the idea of this pen...fear not- they make a clicky version that I will post about later.

 Here's a link to get some of these: http://www.muji.us/store/stationery/pen-pencils.html if you aren't lucky enough to get to NYC.   I doubt you will be disappointed.  I think that I have seen You've Got Mail...but I don't remember the line.  Good one though.

So,  if you have been on the blog lately.  You will notice I have been making some small tweaks.  I got rid of all the pay to click ads (Amazon and Google).  They were just distracting and I was always donating the proceeds anyway. I added a Paypal donate button in case anyone wants to keep the lights on for me.

Back to shoveling.  Elmo was a little nuts.

S-

Pilot Penmanship Tip!

If your Pilot Penmanship is acting up and not giving you a proper flow of ink...pop off the cartridge and take a look.   There is a little disk (that stays in the cartridge) that could possible block the ink,  take a needle or something and just make sure that the disk is turned sideways and not blocking the cartridge.  I refill mine and just noticed this.

Enjoy!  This little thing is still one of my favorites.

Winner Winner

Leo Mitchell!  Ping me,  you are now the proud owner of a Baltz Mincey!  Congrats! and thank you to everyone that donated.

The race was awesome,  I set a personal record and if you are a runner, the Philly Marathon is spectacular.

Seth

Win a Baltz Pens "Mincey"

This is going to be difficult one to giveaway.  The extra fine gentlemen over at Baltz Fine Writing Instruments (earlier review here)  were willing to jump in and help out with the donations for my Philadelphia Marathon charity run which is in less than two weeks.  (Yes, I am running another marathon.)

With a tear in my eye, mainly because I cannot tuck this one into my shirt pocket and go show it off in the office, I am offering this one up to you:  the faithful and loyal readers of Good Pens and the money is going to support a Childrens Cancer Research Foundation.  Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.  All for a great cause.

The great news:  if you haven't seen it yet, Baltz Pens has launched a brand new pen line and they are busy cranking them out. You can get all the details on it here: http://baltzpens.com/exemplar-plus.php but I can offer a sneak peek of un-wrapping one of the models.

In my opinion...no one packages a pen up better than Baltz. Not only is the pen well protected during shipping,  it's presented in a way that makes the received feel like they are getting something special (and they are.)   If I were graduating, or celebrating a big win or needed something nice to add to my Christmas list and this showed up on my doorstep, I would be very happy.

Did you notice the subtle little tweak here on the "B" from the last line?     Nice touch.  I thought just  having the engraved  B was a nice touch,  but highlighting it is even nicer. Oh, and it's 22 ct. gold by the way, oh and these are numbered pens. Amazing.

So...do you want a chance to win a $280 pen? It's simple.  For every dollar you donate to my page at Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation...you get 1 raffle ticket to win this pen. On November 19th,  I will put every one's name in a randomizer and pick a winner. Make a two dollar donation and get two chances to win.  Simple.

The link to donate is here.   Please enter Good Pens in the field or shoot me an email (goodpensblog@gmail.com) to let me know you donated and I will get you in the running and if you have already donated you are on the list as well. It's for a really good cause people.  Anything helps and a dollar could win you a very nice pen.

Thanks again for looking and good luck!

Seth

It's a Good Day: Win an Explorer

I am feeling generous.  Anyone who leaves a comment below is in the running for a Pilot Explorer.

This one will only run for 24 hours starting at 9:00 Eastern Wednesday October 3rd..  Which means you could have this in your hot little hand by Saturday.  As always...there will be a bonus giveaway if you make me laugh hard enough to spit coffee on my monitor.

Seth

Call Me Mabie

So...Sunday was rough.  A crushing Patriots defeat left me with a few options.  I could go crazy or I could go downstairs, pull out a few pens and get some work done.  I opted for the pens. (Crazy right?)

I was rummaging through the archives and came across a Mabie Todd Eternal 44 that I had forgotten about.  I wrote about it back in 2008 and one of the comments from Mr. Munson was to "restore this, it's a beauty." So that's exactly what I did. 

The usuals were needed; a good breakdown (I am talking about the pen, my emotions were already shot) ultrasonic bath, scraping and probing (again...the pen,) new sac, polish, polish, polish and I was really happy with the results. Its near perfect and if I were shipping this one out, I would have spent a little more time on it,  but in the end this one is for me and I wanted to see how much it would come back while still catching some of the 4:00 Eastern games. 

There's what I was looking for: "ETERNAL" hanging out near the end, gleaming. There's huge sense of accomplishment in restoring these pens.  I am glad I took the time to notice the details and what needed repaired.  Eternal apparently stood for the Lifetime guarantee.  Right below here on the end is 44 over the E.T.N. initials.

I reassembled everything,  threw in some ink and good news...no leeks!  Happy day. Of course I used this for two days straight before the review, so it could use a little wiping down but you get the idea.  (You foodies got the joke right?)  Leeks?  Not funny if you have to explain it.

I am guessing this was built somewhere around 1927, but I am not exactly sure.  There's a ton of history out there on the Mabie & Todd company,  but I struggled to pinpoint the true date of this pen.

Here's a better shot of how the shiny bits shined up.  I like the Swans with the logo on the clip- but the Patent info is fun also.  They made this pen in some funky colors and I will be on the lookout for those now. Shiny!

 So thank you Mr. Mabie, Mr Todd, Mr Munson and Mr. Tom Brady for allowing this pen to get restored and back into the rotation. I would also like to thank whoever owned this pen before me and decided not to chew on it. You have saved me a ton of work by not doing that.  I have seen prices all over the place for these.  Some people are selling the nibs for $60, but I am keeping this one.

The nib is a #4 and BROAD!  Tasty, wet and fun to write with. To be honest...broad nibs are not exactly my cup of tea.  I like to write tall and skinny and these just do not allow for and I feel like my handwriting suffers.  EF is usually best for me but in this case it is a welcomed change.

I am not positive why I went with brown ink- other than it was handy and it feels a little like Fall. I know soon I will switch over to some black ink,  but not until I go through this filling.  Next Sunday might mean another restore depending on the games outcome but restoring this pen was the bright spot in my Sunday afternoon.. But I am still hoping for a win next week.

Call me Mabie...(funny right?)
Seth

Zebra Trio

I have reviewed a few Zebra's here at Good Pens in the past. Here's the list and some have even made my top tens.  So, I was pretty stoked when Shoplet.com sent over a pile of the little fellas for review.  I was pretty familiar with this line of office supplies and Zebras and I knew they had a gel version (G 301) but had never written with one.  I like this line of pens,  they look good in combination. Sort of how matching pens and pencils should look.  

I see a lot of pen and pencil sets on eBay and on the pen forums from back in the day and I wish they would not have gone away. In fairness...these are not sold as a set-but if you get creative on your shopping and you can have a nice ballpoint or gel /.5 mechanical "set" that looks nice.  These Zebras are a little bit lighter than I remember mainly because they are not solid metal.  There's enough plastic on the front and the back to lighten the load.

So here they are:  being watched over by Marty.  It's pretty clear, Gel is Gel, BP is ballpoint and 0.5 is the pencil.  What I did not know until I looked in the product guide that they also make a Fountain Pen. What?  Why didn't I know this? (The search has commenced.)

Here's the business end of all three.  I have bigger hands- so writing with these for a long time is a little strenuous.  More-so with the ballpoint than with the gel.  The plastic isn't rubbery at all,  it's a harder plastic that doesn't give a ton of grip but still works because of the knurling.

 Ooh,  Gel, thank you...nicely done.  The ink is thick and puts itself on the paper nicely.  It's pretty close to a true .5 even on bad paper.  Black and consistent= Exactly like I like my coffee. Just my opinion,  but I prefer the gel over the bp for my writing.

 Again,  the ballpoint is a little odd for me, because except for reviews or in extreme emergencies,  I rarely write with a normal ballpoint. Clicking the picture makes this larger and you get a better feel for the way the rubber meets the road.

The other thing I noticed about these pens (and pencils) is that they are really clicky. If I were in a conference room and someone was consistently clicking this thing unconsciously I might have to jump across the table and silence them, but in reality that means a solid working mechanism,  so I won't argue.  So, thanks Shoplet.  They are also kicking off a contest that is fun here.

I will get the winner of the August contest out and change the rules a little for September.  The Tumblr is getting some good stuff on it and there's always Facebook if you like that sort of thing.

Seth