Fountain Pen Esoterica: Used Vintage Pen Update

Back on June 8th, I mentioned that I had placed an order for a used Sheaffer fountain pen on Mercari. 

It never came. I was forced to cancel the order on the 12th, even though I had given the guy 2 weeks to ship the darn pen. Original order was placed on 2024/05/29. Took him 3 days to create the tracking number, and it NEVER came off "label created" status, which means the pen never got to the post office to be mailed/shipped. 

He could have cancelled my order, if he can't find the pen. But he didn't. I have no choice but to get Mercari customer buyer support involved, and I got my refund, plus $5 credit for my troubles. Eh... okay, thanks. My first order EVER on Mercari, and it was a dud. 

Probably should have ordered on eBay or Etsy instead. 

Still, I kept looking. This time I set my bar a little lower, and I found a Sheaffer No Nonsense vintage (probably from the 1970s?). With the $5 credit, I'm paying less than $15 including shipping. It's not worth more than that, but those old pens are supposedly smooth. This one was listed as in good condition with an italic broad nib. 

Sheaffer No Nonsense Fountain Pens, photo courtesy of
https://www.peytonstreetpens.com/sheaffer-no-nonsense-fountain-pens-original-version-various-series-new-old-stock.html 

Label's created, but that's easy. We'll see if it gets shipped on Monday. THAT will tell me if this seller is serious. 

EDIT: USPS tracking says it'll be here by Friday 21-JUN-2024. 

And that is one old pen, almost as old as I am. But you can find even older fountain pens for under $100 USD. With some proper maintenance and some parts, these fountain pens, unless they were loaded with corrosive ink and left to dry and clog, should last almost forever until they are physically damaged beyond repair. I've seen some fountain pens from the turn of 20th century (early 1900s) that can still be bought for about 100 - 200 USD. Rare, yes. They are probably worth a bit more than that if they survived this long and is in a decent condition. Could be over over 1000 if the right model or right provenance. 

But remember, the Sheaffer No Nonsense, already a cheap pen, is pushing 50 years old, and can be had for under $15 shipped. 

There are some Esterbrooks from WW2 years (1940s) complete with a desk holder that can be bought now for $25 or so. Look on eBay. 

As long as you hunt for it, you don't need to spend a lot of money collecting fountain pens, even ones that are older than you. 

P.S. Pen is here ahead of schedule (on Jun 20th, 2024). I'll post an update in a day or two complete with writing samples. 

Fountain Pen Esoterica: bargain hunting cheap pens and used vintage pens

The problem with fountain pens and related items is they tend to... multiply,, as you end up buying more and more of them even though you don't really need all of them. And the pens aren't exactly... cheap, unless you intentionally limit yourself to buy the lowest end of the market, i.e. Chinese (and sometimes, Indian) pens. And these are so generic, you may decry the lack of "quality". But is it really that lacking? And let's also discuss two alternative sources of fountain pens that are a bit better, but with their own set of risks and rewards. 

Photo by Digital Content Writers India on Unsplash

Buying Used Vintage Pens

There is another source of pens... used vintage pens on sale at eBay, Mercari, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and so on. Fountain pens lasts almost forever with some proper maintenance, unless they suffer catastrophic damage like broken barrel. Usually nibs or nib units can be replaced, and internal bits can also be replaced with rebuilt or replacement parts. Eyedropper conversion may also be possible (where with addition of O-ring, the entire interior of barrel is converted into an ink reservoir. The sellers can easily look up what similar items sold for, so you are unlikely to pick up something for a small fraction of its worth, However, you can pick up something vintage for not a lot of money. For example, I ordered a Schaeffer fountain pen, probably 20+ years old, with an Italic M nib, for about $25. We'll see when it gets here. Mercari will often sweeten the pot by giving you $5 credit for your first order. eBay often have coupons for certain market segments. Keep an eye out for them. 

Buying Chinese for "Commodity" type pens 

Chinese pens offer tremendous value with virtually no brand at all. It's all about the price. I picked up this set of 7 pens for less than $6 on Temu, and it contains a whole set of pens and nibs, preassembled, with nib sizes as follows: 0.5, 0.7, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0. And these aren't dip pens, but cartridge fillers with converter included. So what we have here is M, B, 1.0 stub, 1.5 stub, 2.0 stub, 2.5 rake, and 3.0 rake. While I doubt I'll get much of a chance to use the super-wides, I probably will ink up the 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 and try them.

Also, if you plan to share the hobby, you probably should buy some REALLY cheap Chinese fountain pens to give away. Recently Chinese markets are flooded with the retractable tip fountain pens with plastic barrels and if you buy 4, it's just $3.59 on Temu. And yes, it has ink. You would rather lose these than your $25 pen, or godforbid, $250 pen, right? I actually bought one of these before, in .38 nib, and it's actually VERY smooth writing pen. 

I also picked up a glass dip pen for $1.99, just for funsies, and a desk pen holder for it also for $1.99. I have plenty of ink for the moment, that's mainly for show and funsies. 

Ever thought about buying Indian? 

If you want something with a bit more support, another source of pens that's slightly more premium with a good choice of nibs, but still very affordable, is Fountain Pen Revolution of Texas. They have a hook up with fountain pen factories in India so they can offer brand new fountain pens that don't look like generic Chinese pens, yet are affordable starting as low as $15, with some premium versions costing quite a bit more, of course. Their pens use either #5.5 or #6 nibs. And they can be fully disassembled for cleaning and some parts replaced if need be, esp. the nib and feed. I actually ordered 2 pens from them, with 2 extra nibs and feeds that's a bit different. The two Kanwrite pens are about $25-35 each with premium flex and omniflex nib. I've already received them and I need to ink them up and test them this weekend. Checking their catalog shows that they have some brand new but older model pens, such as the Darjeeling V1, that starts at $15. 

In conclusion

Not all of us can afford to buy an Esterbrook Estee, a Pelikan M800, much less a Namiki Emperor. However, that should not stop you from enjoy the hobby. You can look for a sale, or you can simply shop the lower end of the market, and enjoy the different nibs and designs available on the lower end of the market. 

Restaurant Review: Ikea Food Hall San Francisco, specifically the Ikea Cafe (will try others next time)

The Ikea Saluhall opened in San Francisco (5th and Market) back in April, and I've been inside Ikea before, but never visited the food hall. Well, I'm going in today, as I've read about it in both the SF Standard and SF Gate, and apparently it gets rave reviews... if you pay for the top-end entrees. Being a relatively poor guy, I want to see what the low end taste like. 

It's NOT great. 

Photo by Jueun Song on Unsplash

I went inside and walked around. The ground floor has 2 bars with food, and a soft-serve stand. As I don't drink and don't need a softserve, I headed upstairs... Only to find out that the elevators are back OUTSIDE. I had to walk up the stairs, yikes. 

Okay, got up to 2nd floor... Seems half of the food upstairs are vegan. I have no problem with vegan food, but they don't exactly come cheap. Fortunately, the lines to each are minimal, and choices are certainly eclectic... Vegan tacos, Sichuan noodles, open-faced vegan burger (made with Beyond Meat), mushroom nuggets... Indian street food curry, Algerian dish... But as I said, they ain't cheap. So I opted for the cheapest option... Ikea's own stuff. 

I was going to order the meatball, but in the end, I chose "pulled pork sandwich" with mac and cheese on the side, a diet pepsi, a regular hot dog, and a cinnamon roll, for about $12+tax. 

I think I made a mistake in choosing these items. 

Apparently so few people chose the pulled pork sandwich, they have to toast the brioche rolls from scratch, and that takes an extra five minutes. By the time I got the sandwich the rest of the items are cold (and the diet pepsi is warming up). 

This is what it looks like, BTW...

Pulled pork w/ mac and cheese,
hot dog, cinnamon bun, Pepsi
at Ikea Saluhall, San Francisco

The mac and cheese... tastes a little strange. The first few bites are okay, but the last half of it got a strange chemical taste to it I can't quite describe... a certain... funk? 

The sandwich itself... the roll is okay, it's toasted so the wet pulled pork didn't soak through, but they also squeezed quite a bit of liquid out of the meat so it's a little dry and thus, a bit short on flavor, mostly sweet, not much salt or spice. Pretty much tasteless. 

The hotdog was 6 inches long, and extremely thin. Like a fat-fountain-pen type of thickness, nowhere close to American hot dogs like Nathan's or Bar's or even Oscar Meyers. There's almost no snap to it, and when paired with tasteless hotdog bun, means there's also no flavor in the dogs. I ended up munching on the dogs alone, without the bun, and that made it slightly more palatable. I guess I could have tried to drown it with mustard and ketchup, but there's really no point to that. Sure, it's cheap, but Costco have no need to be concerned. They are are in no danger from Ikea dogs, regular, veggie, or plant versions. 

All in all, not fun to eat, but it does fill the stomach. Will have to go back and try the other places, even if they're vegan. 

Ikea Cafeteria: C+

Oh, and the cinnamon roll... It's tiny. While it's only 1.50, I should have just sprung for the cake. The rolls by that time is room temp and hardened up, sweetness barely showing, and icing no longer sweet. 

Not So Crap Stuff from China: Generic "F9" True Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds with Charging case (and acts as battery bank for other stuff)

This is only Bluetooth 5.0, so it's being sold as low as $4.99... with free shipping by Amazon via their outlet, Woot.com. They sold out, but they have a slightly better version also for $4.99 (claims to have better battery life?). You don't expect much for $5, and this overdeliver at $5. 

It can recharge itself from the case in about 30-60 minutes, and one full charge should lasts you at least 3-4 hours of non-stop play-time. And the case itself should be able to recharge the earbuds at least 4-6 times. And I'm being relatively conservative. Oh, and it claims to act as a small 2000 mAh powerbank and has a USB-A output port (it charges via the old-fashioned MicroUSB though). 

The fit is relatively comfortable once I got both buds fitted  properly. The eargel portion goes into the canal, then rotate the body until it fits into the crook of the ear. It won't stand up to rigorous exercise, but it should not fall off with walking or stair climbing. If you need them to be tighter, you need better eargels, which you can find on Amazon. But that introduces us to the nags and niggles. 

Now for the nags and niggles... this thing is very sensitive to the size of the eargels. Beware, that if your eargels are too large, your buds won't fit back into the case and may not recharge. I tried replacing the eargels with foam tips... Won't fit nicely back into the case, even with pressure on the main lid. Also, the indicators of charge are pretty much junk. When it's out of power, it shows 2 out 4 bars. And one side runs out of power first (though only by a few minutes). And 2000 mAh battery... Who uses that? 

Still, it's great value for a measly $5. It may not looks as clean as the Xiaomi Airpod clone, but at least this ain't a "homage". And no, I won't pay $100-200 for earbuds, not even if its Bose or Sony.