======================================================================== Nib Noise * Volume 16 Number 9 * February 2018 ======================================================================== Welcome to Nib Noise. We hope you'll enjoy reading this month's issue. PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS NEWSLETTER! The robot that sends it out hasn't yet learned to read. If you have 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** No, You Haven't Missed Two Issues *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you keep track of these things, you will notice that this is Nib Noise, Volume 16 Number 9, not Number 11. For various and sundry reasons that are much too boring to go into, there were no December and January issues. But I'm back, albeit a fortnight late, so Happy Valentine's Day! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Baltimore Is Coming Up Next Month! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This year, the Baltimore-Washington International Pen Show has new digs at the Marriott Inner Harbor Camden Yards, right in the middle of downtown Baltimore and just a stone's throw from a great variety the good eats for which Baltimore is justly famous. Why a new hotel two years in a row? As the show continues to grow bigger and better, it just needs more elbow room, and there simply wasn't enough growing space at the hotel last year. A-a-anyhow, the show will begin on Friday, March 2, and run through Sunday, March 4. Pre-show activities will commence on Thursday, March 1. Baltimore is known not only for its good food but also for some very interesting tourist spots, among them Fort McHenry ("Oh, say can you see...?") and a world-class aquarium, so there's something there for your family members who don't care about pens. I'll be working on nibs as I do at every show we attend, and Barbara will be making sure I keep my nose to the grindstone. PLEASE READ OUR "TABLE TALK" FAQ TO LEARN HOW WE OPERATE AT A SHOW: http://www.richardspens.com/?info=shows 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 For more information, visit the show's website: http://www.baltimorepenshow.com/ We look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones. We hope to see you there. And speaking of fortnights, we will be driving to Baltimore at speeds up to (or maybe a little in excess of) 174,720 furlongs per fortnight. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Long Island in April! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Long Island Pen Show will be running late this year, on Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22. This is another show that keeps growing, and it's more than ever, very much worth your attention. We'll be there, and we look forward to renewing auld acquaintance! Check out the info on the show's website: http://www.lipenshow.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Hands-On Nib Workshop in Baltimore *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ably assisted by my protégé Linda Kennedy, I will be giving my hands-on nib smoothing seminar at the Baltimore show. It happens Sunday morning, beginning promptly at 8:30. Attendance for hands-on guidance is limited to 12 registered participants. Registration for the workshop will open promptly at 9:00 Eastern time on Friday February 16 (the day after tomorrow), at this page: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=workshop If registration is filled up before you get to the page, you are still welcome to audit the workshop; we'll have extra copies of the handout for you, and we'll take questions from auditors just as from paid participants. If you decide after the workshop that you'd like to try working with your own pens, Mike and Linda at IndyPenDance will have complete kits of the workshop materials for sale at their show table, including the pens we use in the workshop. DON'T LEARN ON A PEN YOU CARE ABOUT! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Broad Strokes *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Pen Doctor dropped in during the recent hiatus and left some inter- esting new prescriptions. http://www.richardspens.com/?pendoc=xxx Now, that article number (xxx) might suggest something that's NSFW, but it ain't so, it's just that the Pen Doctor likes to use Roman numerals. In case you're still leery, you can also access any Pen Doctor article by entering its number in Arabic numerals: http://www.richardspens.com/?pendoc=30 To help you find reference articles on our site that have been edited recently, here is a handy heading right at the top of the reference index, listing the five most recently added or edited reference pages. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Where is Richard's "Pen Show Tray"? *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ There is a cure for depression born of the disappearance of my monthly "Pen Show Tray." Just point your browser at this page: http://www.indypendance.com/mailchimp_news.php#subscribe ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Barbara's Attic Is Gone *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Barbara and I have finally reached the point at which we don't have any more pen stuff to sell. So Barbara has closed down her Attic page; it's gone from the website. However, for those who like to go digging in attics and other unusual places, there is a Crypt at IndyPenDance, and I think you may find many of the same sorts of things there. http://www.indypendance.com/the_crypt/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** The Pen Doctor *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Pen Doctor is a regular visitor to the Nashua Pen Spa, and every so often he puts a few prescriptions up in our site's reference section. Each month, I'll be reprinting one of his prescriptions here. -------- Q: I just acquired a used Pelikan 605 with an EF 14 K nib, which I like a great deal. What I'm wondering is: can I buy and use an M700 18K nib in the 605? A: The nib will fit, but it will be slightly smaller than the original nib and may not please you aesthetically. If what you're after is an improved writing experience, you should know that 18K does not write better than 14K. The whole myth of 18K has been foisted on us out of necessity by pen makers who need to justify using 18K but don't want to admit that they do so because they have to, not because they want to. It all started centuries ago with a still-on-the-books French antifraud law that says you can't sell something as gold unless it's at least 18K. In France, if it's not 18K or richer, it has to be labeled METAL, so pen makers try to convince us that 18K is better because it has more actual gold in it. As it turns out, however, 18K is not as good as 14K for making nibs. NOTE: As I write this, with gold selling at $1,663.80 per Troy ounce, the gold in an M700 nib, at $146.00 street price, is worth about $4.23 more than the gold in an M400 nib, at $98.00 street price. [Editor's note: those prices were current in 2012, but the Pen Doctor's point about value still stands..] If you really want an 18K nib anyway, the right nib is an M620/M640 nib. These nibs are made for the M640 Beauties of Nature series and for the (retired) M620 Cities and Famous Places series. They are the same size a your M605’s present nib. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Follow Us on the Internet with Facebook *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We'd like to be liked on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NashuaPenSpa ======================================================================== 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.