Vacation -- What pens to bring?

Next week I will be going on vacation and I'm having a difficult time picking out what pens to bring with me on the voyage.

I'll be going to the Sheaffer Pen Museum in Fort Madison, IA, as well as the southern Wisconsin area (including Janesville, where I plan to drive by the famous Arrow Park), so I'm naturally planning to bring Parkers and Sheaffers with me on the trip. Also on the agenda are plans to visit antiques stores in the areas I am visiting. Maybe I'll find a good pen or two.

In my pocket, I plan to use either my Parker "51" Special with 1940s Parker Quink Washable Blue, or my Sheaffer Snorkel Statesman with 1950s Sheaffer Skrip Peacock Blue (depending on which state I'm in!). I will be keeping those company with a Parker Jotter ballpoint or a Sheaffer Sentinel ballpoint (again, state dependent).

For permanent writing in my journal while on vacation, I am bringing 3 pens: my 1940s Sheaffer Tuckaway with Noodler's Bad Belted Kingfisher, my 1970s Sheaffer 444x with Noodler's Black, and my 1970s Sheaffer 330 with Noodler's Blue-Black.

Picking out the "permanent" pens was the toughest task for me. My Tuckaway starts hard if I don't use it everyday, so I wanted to have a back-up with me in case it failed to perform. I couldn't choose between the 330 and the 444x, so I just decided on bringing both.

This is subject to change, of course! :) I'm tempted to bring a Parker in place of one of the two 1970s Sheaffers... or maybe I won't bring the unreliable Tuckaway with me, even though it should be a great travel pen (in theory). Perhaps another Parker "51" or a Parker 45? Decisions, decisions... :)

Have a great week,

Derek (ThirdeYe)


Edit: I decided not to bring the unruly Tuckaway and I'm going to be bringing one of my Parker 45s instead. Now I have a nice, comfortable mix of Parkers and Sheaffers for my pilgrimage ;)

Parker "51" Special -- Diamine Syrah

Here is a short review of my "new" Parker "51" Special in Burgundy, with Diamine Syrah ink. The paper used was Staples Sustainable Earth.

Enjoy! :)

Left to right:
1944 Parker "51" Vacumatic in Dove Gray
1950s Parker "51" Special in Burgundy (reviewed)
1942 Parker "51" Vacumatic in Cordovan Brown

Click to enlarge

-Derek (ThirdeYe)

Sheaffer Valor Fountain Pen Review -- Fine Nib, Blue/Rhodium Trim

Here is a small review of one of my favorite fountain pens, a Sheaffer Valor with a fine nib that I received for Christmas. I can't seem to put it down, so I thought I'd review it.

Please note that the Skrip Blue looks nothing like it does in the scan. It's much lighter and brighter than it appears. I also apologize that my camera isn't the greatest, but hopefully one can get the gist of the look of the pen from these pictures.

Normal lighting, no flash.

With flash, to bring out the blue shimmer detail of the amazing looking acrylic.

Questions/Comments Welcome!

To purchase the Sheaffer Valor from Amazon: Click Here

-Derek (ThirdeYe)

Yankee Pen Review

Back when I first started getting into fountain pens a little over a year ago, I had a Yankee that my dad found in the garage restored. Sadly, I was never able to use it much because of the fact that the little plug that went on the end of the cap was missing. Thus, it would always dry out between uses and became a chore. I loved the pen, and really wanted to be able to use it again so I had a little plug fabricated for it. I am now able to use it more without it drying out, so I thought I would do a short review of it. I apologize that you can see through the paper -- I wrote one of my other reviews on it thinking it wouldn't show through, but it does.

Here is my original post on this pen: http://derekspensandpencils.blogspot.com/2010/11/vintage-fountain-pens-restored-new.html

Click to Enlarge

Yankee pen - Freshly restored, no endcap

Yankee pen -- With new endcap

Yankee pen - Disassembled before restoration

Yankee pen - Freshly restored, posted without endcap

-Derek (ThirdeYe)

Purple Ink Comparison

Here is a short comparison of some fairly similar purple/lavender inks.

Click to Enlarge

- Derek (ThirdeYe)