Sheaffer Snorkel Special (Medium) Review

Hello fellow pen and pencil enthusiasts,

I hope everyone had a great Fountain Pen Day 2015 yesterday. I decided to try out my "new" vintage lap desk for this review. The handwritten review is below, and I will transcribe it below. I also sincerely hope you enjoy reading about one of my first fountain pens that I ever purchased, as it is also one of my favorites.

Last night I looked through my pen collection and decided to ink up an old favorite. This was my 1st Snorkel that I bought at a book store, of all places. I remember getting it for an amazing deal, probably $20, if I remember right. It did need restoration, but it was so worth it! For being the lowest tier Snorkel, the nib is better than all of my higher end Snorkels, aside from my Statesman that needs to be repaired again.

This pen is a bit too slim for me, which is the only real issue I have with Snorkels. I much prefer the girth of the PFM, however, these are much more affordable.

This pen is the "Special" trim, which as I mentioned above was the entry-level, non-white-dot, Snorkel. The only real difference is that it has a basic Palladium Silver open nib. The rest of the pen is the same, I believe. It writes way better than one would think!

(I also wanted to add more to the review that I forgot to touch on, so what's below is not in the written review)

In the review, I forgot to mention that I also have another non-white-dot Snorkel in my collection, the Admiral. It also has a standard open nib, but in 14k gold. That one is also a fantastic writer, but needs to be restored again as well. There is one other issue with Snorkels that I forgot to touch on as well... they are very finicky. I have had my Admiral and Statesman restored before, but they need to be restored again as both stopped filling/working after just a couple of fills. In fact, I was only able to fill the Statesman once before it stopped working again. This Special has been restored probably 3-4 times now. When working properly, these are fantastic pens to use and the Snorkel tube used for filling really makes using up the last bit of ink in smaller bottles/samples much easier. 

- Derek (ThirdeYe)

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Montblanc Meisterstuck Blue Hour: Twilight Blue Fountain Pen Ink Review

Phew... just typing that post title was strenuous. Here is my review of Montblanc's new Meisterstuck Blue Hour: Twilight Blue ink. Why they chose to give it two names is beyond me, but hey. I just like saying MBMBHTB for short. :) I like this ink, but I wasn't really blown away by it. For the price I paid ($16), I'd rather just pay a couple more dollars for a 50ml. bottle of Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo on Amazon. It can routinely be found there for around $20 a bottle, and you get almost twice as much ink. To my eyes, I can hardly tell a difference between the two inks, anyways. Plus, the Iroshizuku bottles are better to fill pens from (and look cooler!)

I meant to post this about a week ago, but the weather has been so cloudy and rainy that there has not been enough sunshine to take any relatively decent photos when I get home from work. I finally caught a few brief moments of sunshine this morning before the storms roll in again and snapped a few photos. One of my good penpals (and fellow blogger), Laura, has also posted a great review of this pen that I will link at the bottom of this page. I highly recommend checking her blog out. Her posts are very thorough and detailed and she updates the page quite regularly. I hope you enjoy the review!

p.s., I should mention that the pics make the ink actually look blue, but in person it looks more like a light blue-ish green or teal. I'll add a few more pics and a scan soon.

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Click to enlarge. Water resistance test of 5-10 seconds under a faucet and left to dry for 30 mins.

Please visit Laura's review here!

Warm Regards,

Derek (ThirdeYe)

Lucy approves of My Supply Room's care package

Hello fellow pen and pencil enthusiasts!

George of My Supply Room was nice enough to send me a fountain pen related care package from his collection. Not pictured is a yellow Pelikano Junior that I am letting my girlfriend use. I have been using the Parker 45, but I have yet to try the others. I can't wait to try them out. While taking this photo, our cat Lucy also approves of the gift and also wants to send her thanks. The one in the brown box is a nice looking Hero with some Russian cartridges. There are also some violet Pelikan cartridges, a Hero 616 "Doctor", and the blue one on the bottom is a Jinhao (Lamy Safari clone).

Thanks George! Visit his blog here, it is one of the main inspirations for starting this blog in the first place -- his pen and pencil collection is astounding.

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Take care, and happy writing,
Derek

Pen Addiction - Comes and Goes

I'm assuming that most readers of this blog are pen/pencil enthusiasts. Has anyone else noticed their "addiction" coming and going in waves? I go through periods of months where I put my hobby on the shelf, but something will trigger it and it comes flooding back into my life like it never left. It can be a dangerous hobby if you do not utilize self-control. :) It's like this with a lot of hobbies in my life... video games, cars, music, etc.

I theorize that part of my cyclical behavior is due to the fact that I already have such a large collection that I'm hardly even able to use all of the pieces I have in my collection already. Conserving money is another large factor. With a lot of disposable income, I could easily see myself enlarging my collection even with other items sitting on the back-burner waiting to be used.

I must say that there are still quite a few gaps in my collection that I've never been able to fill completely. I've always wanted a very high-end pen, like a Pelikan M600/M800 or a Montblanc 146, but I've never been able to afford one. I'd also like to find a good, durable kick-around fountain pen that writes finely without drying out or leaking/flooding. I've tried quite a few, but I've never been able to find just the right one to put in my pocket. The Sheaffer 100 would fit the bill if it wasn't for the clip and cap being so stiff and difficult to use. The Platinum Preppy or the Parker Reflex would work fine, but the plastics are so thin that I'm afraid they'll break in my pocket. I think the closest I've found is probably the Pilot 78G (but it also feels quite breakable) or the Cross Solo. Ideally, though, I'd like to find one with a metal barrel that could hold up better in my pocket. I've also pondered the Lamy Al-Star, but it's a bit large and the clip doesn't look good in a pocket, in my opinion. How about the Pilot Metropolitan?

Just some random thoughts for the day. Have a good one!