======================================================================== Nib Noise * Volume 7 Number 12 * March 2009 ======================================================================== Welcome to Nib Noise. This e-newsletter is a joint effort of Richard Binder and Don Fluckinger. We hope you'll enjoy reading this month's issue. PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS NEWSLETTER! For comments or questions, send email to: richard@richardspens.com To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit the Free Email Newsletter page on our site: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=nibnoise ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** The Third Annual Long Island Pen Show Is Only Three Weeks Away! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mark your calendar for March 21 and 22 -- that's Saturday and Sunday this year! -- at Hofstra University in Hempstead, Long Island. I'll be working on nibs as I do at every show we attend, and Barbara will manage the table, handling sales and making sure I keep my nose to the grindstone. Just a reminder: We bring most of our normal pen stock to shows, but we can't bring everything. If there's a special pen you've been thinking of, please feel free to send us an email to ask us to be sure we bring it for you. At the table next to ours will be Ron Zorn of Main Street Pens, handling on-site general repairs, with his better half Robyn directing traffic at his table. Bring a pen or two to keep them busy! The Long Island show is a treasure that deserves to be looked over, not overlooked. It's not crowded, parking is free, the selection of pens is great, there's an ink testing table, the show-floor shmoozing is fantas- tic (with extra tables set up especially for you to sit down and enjoy your pens and the day), there's the whole Hofstra University student union food court at your disposal, and more. Regional show? Yeah, so what. You NEED to come to this show! For more information, visit the show's site: http://www.lipenshow.com/ And make your reservations TODAY! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Next Month: A Classic Returns *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Pilot MYU is back! Pilot USA has finally begun importing the M90, a limited-production reprise of the legendary MYU. We've already ordered some, and we're expecting them to arrive in April. Another long-sought Pilot is also scheduled to make its U.S. debut in either March or April. Watch our What's New page for announcements of these pens' arrival! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Looking Aslant at the World *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ For those who prefer oblique nibs, we have now increased our Pelikan nib selection to include obliques in most standard sizes. Please remember, modern Pelikan obliques are not made to give line variation; they are made only to work better for writers who rotate their pens counterclock- wise. If you're an oblique person, please check out our Pelikan obliques. http://www.richardspens.com/?newp=pel+nibs ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Field Notes: Have It Your Way! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Now available three ways! Field Notes now come in the traditional graph-ruled style, lined for note taking or journaling, or plain for the doodler or artist in you. And if you're the indecisive type, you can choose a sampler pack containing one book of each design. For more info, check it out here: http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=field_notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Bexley's 56 Is Back, Now in Ebonite! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We did it! The Bexley 56 is back, and it's better than ever! Bexley has always loved vintage pens, and the Bexley 56 is seriously modeled on Waterman's Ideal No 56. Best of all, these new 56s are all made of ebonite, just like the Waterman 56 that inspired them. But the quantity is seriously limited, so you 56 lovers (and Bexley lovers, and just plain lovers of great pens) need to act promptly. http://www.richardspens.com/?newp=bex+f56 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Touchdowns and Snorkels, Done Right! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The problem: Restoring the filler in a Touchdown or Snorkel pen is easy, if you have the right parts. Commercial O-rings with a 1-mm cross section (71 and 81) are readily available and appear to work -- but they don't seal as tightly as Sheaffer's original O-rings, and pens in which they are installed don't work as well as they should. The solution: custom-made exact-replacement O-rings from RichardsPens.com. http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=orings ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Don's Cigar Box Pen Chests; Black Is the New Blue *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Black is the new blue: This month, we're selling the last of the blue- interior boxes are here as black takes over from here on out. We've got a great selection of both. http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=dons_boxes ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** The RichardsPens.com Vintage Pen Show Is Back *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ It never really went away, but this month it offers some exciting stuff you won't see every day, including an NOS Parker "51" Mark iII and a collector-grade Parker Big Red Duofold. Better stop reading Nib Noise now and snag your new old pens while they're still there for you! http://www.richardspens.com/?newp= ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Broad Strokes" by Richard Binder ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Only two years after Pelikan took the market by storm with the pen that became its Model 100, the Conklin Pen Company of Toledo, Ohio, brought out a piston filler with a well-engineered mechanism designed by industrial designer Louis Vavrik. http://www.richardspens.com/?prof=nozac ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Extra Fine Points" by Don Fluckinger ------------------------------------------------------------------------ While most of the world uses ballpoints for everything instead of fountain pens, there's one place where fountain pens work 100% of the time and ballpoints don't: Credit card slips printed on thermal paper. Don and Richard break down the technicalities and explore the best pen-in-pocket choice to autograph these babies. http://www.richardspens.com/?xf=0903 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Pens That Write Right! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Unless otherwise requested at the time of sale, I tune each new pen or nib at no extra charge before shipment. I fill the pen with Waterman Blue-Black ink and write with it on paper from the same fountain pen friendly pads we sell, adjusting as necessary to bring it up to the RichardsPens.com "factory" standard for smoothness and flow. If you order a new pen with a customized nib, I will modify the nib (for an extra charge) and ship the pen immediately instead of putting it into my regular queue. Remember, we are authorized retailers for Aurora, Bexley, Classic Pens Inc., Conway Stewart, Namiki and Pilot, and Pelikan. We don't always have a complete line up on the site, but we can get anything our manufacturers offer -- if you don't see it, just ask! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Subscribe to our RSS Feed *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RSS means Really Simple Syndication. You can subscribe to our RSS feed by clicking the orange RSS button at the top of any page on our site or by plugging the following URI into your browser or RSS reader: http://www.richardspens.com/richardspens.rss If you're not already hooked up to RSS and what it can do for you, take a peek at our introductory page: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=rsshelp ======================================================================== If you received this newsletter from Richard Binder, you are a Nib Noise subscriber. If it came from someone else, I invite you to subscribe. To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit the Free Email Newsletter page on my site: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=nibnoise Note: We will never sell your name or email address. Your privacy is as important to us as it is to you.