======================================================================== Nib Noise * Volume 12 Number 1 * April 2013 ======================================================================== Welcome to Nib Noise. 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/?info=nibnoise ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Springtime in the South *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Great Southeastern Pen Show, aka the Atlanta Pen Show, is a great show in a great city in a lovely season. After we missed it last year, we're thrilled to be going this year. The show will be open for business not this weekend, but next weekend: Friday, April 12, through Sunday, April 14. Barbara and I will be on hand for all the festivities -- where will YOU be? With the fun and games beginning at noon Friday and running for two full days on the weekend, this year's show should be great. For more information, visit the show's Web site: http://www.atlantapenshow.com We'll have a broad selection of new pens from Bexley, Edison, Gate City Pen, Namiki/Pilot, Onoto, and Pelikan. THESE CAN HAVE THEIR NIBS CUSTOMIZED WHILE YOU WAIT. As always, I'll be regrinding and tweaking nibs while their owners wait. Bring a pen, and share in the sparkling repartee while I put a new spring into your pen's step. PLEASE READ OUR "TABLE TALK" FAQ TO LEARN HOW WE OPERATE AT A SHOW: http://www.richardspens.com/?info=shows+faq We look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones. We hope to see you there. If you plan to come and haven't ever been to a show before, you might want to read my article on Your First Pen Show: http://www.richardspens.com/?shows=firstshow ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *** Shipping Schedule for April *** ----------------------------------------------------------------------- We're going to take a few days after the show for a mini-vacation. Our "shop" will be closed from Wednesday, April 10, through Sunday, April 21. We invite you to visit and enjoy our site, but you will not be able to make purchases. As soon as we're back, we'll reopen for purchases, and we'll begin shipping on Wednesday, April 24. Email received during our absence will be answered by an automated response; we will respond personally as soon as possible. We appreciate your patience. During April, we will be shipping on the following dates: Wednesday, April 3 Saturday, April 6 Wednesday, April 24 Saturday, April 27 If we're able to ship any purchases on Tuesday, April 9, we'll do so, but as of today we can't make promises for that date. We now return you to your regularly scheduled Nib Noise. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** In Case You Need a Case, We Have Just the Case You Need *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ When you went into a stationer's shop 70 or 80 years ago to buy a pen, you made your choice from ranks of pens in luxurious dark hardwood countertop display cabinets. If you can find vintage cabinets like those today, they're either prohibitively expensive or reduced to a near shambles by age and wear. So we are offering superb reproductions. Better made than the originals, our cabinets are handmade in the U.S.A. of solid poplar, stained a rich walnut brown, and finished with a durable urethane varnish. Each cabinet holds 48 pens in slotted trays that lift off the hinged back panel for adding or removing pens. Check them out, and make your choice! http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=edelstein ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Pelikan Prices Rising *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pelikan has notified us that prices will rise effective April 15 -- ironic timing given when income tax returns are due. We'll be traveling on that date, but when we reopen on April 22, our prices will be adjusted to the new catalog pricing schedule. If you've been dithering about a Pelikan, you might want to order it before then. See our shipping schedule above, and note that orders we receive before 9 a.m. Eastern time the day before a shipping day will usually go on that day. http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=pel ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Master Classes This Summer at the Nashua Pen Spa *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ All slots for the June master class on nib repair and customization have been filled. My thanks to the Bexley Pen Company, which is donating the Poseidon fountain pens that participants will use as we work on nibs -- and take home with them. We still have spaces open for the general repair and restoration class that will run 4 days, July 15-18. The student fee for this class is $1000. Students will learn basic and advanced restoration techniques, repair of lever, Vacumatic, and Snorkel fillers, and nib removal, installation, and adjustment. I will also demonstrate how to repair the seals in a plunger filler and the Conklin Nozac. If you're interested in attending this class, please contact us this month. (We need to begin making the arrangements.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Speaking of June, Let's Speak of Raleigh *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ There has been a lot of wondering going around, and I'd like to put it to rest. If you haven't already learned this, you will be happy to know that the Raleigh Pen Show is ON! It will run Friday, May 31, through Sunday, June 2,with pre-show events cranking up on Thursday, May 30. More info on the show's site: http://www.raleighpenshow.com/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *** The Gate City READYFILL, Launched Last Month, Has Taken Flight *** ----------------------------------------------------------------------- We introduced the brand-new READYFILL at the Baltimore Pen Show in March, and the feedback we're getting from owners is terrific. Don't miss out on this unique writer's pen. Check our ad in the April issue of PEN WORLD, and then follow the QR code -- or the link below -- to the READYFILL on our site. http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=gct+readyfill ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Freshly Primped Gang of Five Tray Pens! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I've finally had time to restore all of my remaining Gang of Five pens, and there's a new Gang tray for you. Some of these pens have not seen the light of day since last November. http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=gang Don't wait around; these are magnificent pens, and you may never see some of them offered again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Springtime in Trayland *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I was working on pens for the April tray last week when one of the people I'm training as a nib worker was here, and the comments on the tray then were quite enthusiastic. The pens that drew those comments are now available for you to take home with you, but do act fast. http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=tray ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** The Attic Got a Spring Cleaning *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Barbara went through the attic again, and she found some pens that I'm just never going to restore, a few interesting pen adverts, and other stuff. Check it out. http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=attic ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Pen Numbers Looking a Little Odd on the Trays? *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you haven't yet noticed, the pen numbers no longer duplicate on our various trays. Instead of starting at 01 on each tray, Pen Show Tray numbers now run from 01 to 20, Gang Tray numbers run from 21 to 40, and Attic Tray numbers run from 41 to 52. Why did I do this? More than once in the past we got confused: "Is this pen 7 on the Pen Show Tray or on the Attic Tray? Are you sure??" This kind of thing was causing delays in getting pens marked as sold, and we were going crazy sorting it out. This change will save time and also preserve what little sanity we have left. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** "Broad Strokes" *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Early fountain pens were made of hard rubber and had caps that slipped on -- and too often slipped off at the wrong time. Ink in the pocket was a problem. The solution was a pen with a screw cap, a "safety" pen. This month, I show you what safety pens looked like inside. http://www.richardspens.com/?anatomy=safeties ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Pens That Write Right! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Unless otherwise requested at the time of sale, we tune each new pen or nib at no extra charge before shipment. We 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 Bexley, Edison, Gate City Pen, Namiki and Pilot, Onoto, 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! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Follow Us on the Internet with RSS, Facebook, and Twitter *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Follow us on the Internet by subscribing to our RSS feed. Click the orange RSS button at the top of our site -- or plug the following URI into your browser or RSS reader: http://www.richardspens.com/richardspens.rss We'd like to be liked on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NashuaPenSpa And you're invited to follow us on Twitter: @RichardsPens ======================================================================== 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 our site: http://www.richardspens.com/?info=nibnoise Note: We will never sell your name or email address. Your privacy is as important to us as it is to you.