I also can NOT recommend the Jinhao x450 pen from Executive Vibe. The feed can not keep up with an ink-hungry G nib. The nib and feed are glued into the segment so they can not be removed to use the pen with a different nib. There was a lot of grit (corrosion) in my water when I tried to clean the segment/nib/feed. I tried to pull the nib after soaking it in hot water, but the glue did not give away. I hoped to replace the segment but the pen is extremely inexpensive, so buying parts would cost more than replacing the whole pen.
I love everything Waterman. Maybe they haven't come out with interesting products in a while, but the old ones are generally beautiful and of great quality. I'm not a collector, so I like to see someone who understands the subject share them with us. A relative of mine had the same disease as your friend and the truth is that we should enjoy what we have. If we can strive for more and get it, great. If not, enjoying what you have is the key. A while back, another UA-camr featured a Montblanc model that was worth over $75000. I'm not going to criticize anyone who can afford a pen at that level. But if I'm being honest, it doesn't make me unhappy that I can't have one. 😊
I am sorry to here about your friend, he is right though.. you are such a nice person, and I am glad you share your joy with us .... have an absolutely spectacular and safe trip ....!!!
I’m sorry to hear about your friend. He is right though…you have the right attitude and it is completely apparent that you enjoy life and the little things. Thank you for bringing us joy my friend. I look forward to all of your videos nowadays…your spirit always brightens my day. Thank you my dear Vincenzo.
Vincenzo ti auguro 100 anni e più di vita serena! I think you ave the right spirit! Enjoy your trip and enjoy fountain pens! I can probably take this for me as well! All the best!
Dracula is a shimmer ink, You may have left most in the bottom of the bottle. It is a favorite ink of mine. Thanks for the video - as usual informative, interesting and fun. I've has some B and BB Nahvalur nibs with borderline Baby's Bottom. They work OK now, after being worked on by a professional nib smith.m I had a wonderful time in Firenze and Tuscany a few years back. Sicily a few years later was great fun, with a small Etna eruption.
Vincenzo, I am so sorry to hear about your friend. His advice is spot on as none of us is promised tomorrow, only today. If I may be so bold as to offer advice on pens to take to Italy, I have 2 for you to consider. First, a Delta pen is a must and the Gallery Blue Moon is a piston filler that holds a lot of ink and the nib is wonderful, too. Second, another Italian pen that holds a lot of ink and is a piston filler is the Stipula Etruria Ebonite with their T-Flex titanium nib. Bon Voyage et Bonne Chance, mon ami!
@@fountainpentherapy you are very welcome. I do not know if that Stipula Etruria Ebonite with the T-Flex nib is still available on the current pen retailers. Good hunting!
I always enjoy your videos. You are so genuine and real. I am the one that sent you the picture of the genuine MB Shakespeare. Not only do we share the same first name, Vincenzo v Vicente, but we have the same initials VG. Gregorio is my last name; which is yours? Enjoy your Italy trip! A year and half ago I was with one of my daughters in Rome for 12/31 we had dinner at La Pentolaccia,(I hope I spelled it right) excellent dinner. The funny thing is that the waiter, the maitre’d and the owner were all named Vincenzo, I still have the picture of all the V’s. If you can, go visit, you will not regret it. Best!
In Florence are several good fountainpen stores. But Casa della Stilographica is really good and has a lot of stuff. I´ve been there a couple of times.Good service.
Hi Vincenzo, nice video as usual ! I've completely discovered "Fine Writing International" and I will clearly keep an eye on their pens ... Your waterman 52 1/2 seems excellent, a lot of fun in perspective ! (thank you for the kind words and video mention). I hope your friend will be better with the medical treatments 🤞.
Hi Mr.V! Another GREAT recap this week! Those inks are pretty nice! I like the one Wearingeul ink I already have and have sampled a couple more of them. I am personally excited about the new Hound Of the Baskervilles from them, which will probably be coming my way. I have to say that the Alchemy ink is very interesting, but I can't stand weird bottles like that! Maybe purchasing a few samples would suffice for me. SO glad you showed the green Hongdian A-9, as that was the only color available from the place I ordered mine, and it looks SO NICE! Your vintage Waterman's pen is VERY nice! Glad you were able to snag one of those. I am not a fan of those lever filling systems either. Only have one in my collection that works, and it doesn't seem to pick up ink very well, either. Oddly, it too is a Waterman's. It has been rebuilt, so the sac has to be ok. The notebooks you showed today are really interesting! Your trip to Italy sounds very exciting! Looks like you have your journaling books sorted out, now all you have to do is decide which pens to take!! Have a great week!
Stay tuned for the hound of the baskervilles next week . As to the lever fill: The pen is really giving me quite a bit of ink capacity. I am supervised.
@@fountainpentherapy I think my problem is more not knowing how much ink is actually getting into the pen. Also a BIG problem with vintage pens is they didn't believe in sealing caps! Ir you look closely at the caps of the old pens they almost always have vent holes molded or drilled into them. so they are much more prone to drying out. I could see the vent holes in the cap of your lovely Waterman's 52 1/2 when you showed it on the video. Interesting, but true.
That became almost philosophical today ☺️ But it's true, who knows what's ahead of us. Again a great video with a lot of information, and it's really fun to see how you enjoy the Waterman! I've always been happy when it's Sunday, your weekly reports are my Sunday highlight! I wish you continued to enjoy your fillers, inks, papers and videos! Best wishes and greets from Germany!
I have a couple of pens from Executive Vibe. It took awhile for them to reach me in Canada. I sadly won't recommend it. The one I received does not write well - keeps on skipping and the nib is too sharp that they tear through my paper.
I'm so relieved that you are happy with your vintage Waterman's 52½ .... Congratulations Sir... From here on in you will notice that not 2 pens write the same.. Put in a ½hour a day with your flex practice and you will master it in no time.... main thing is to be aware of how you turn your nib. You tend to write with your pens turned a little to the left.... When using a flexible nib that is not ideal... something about it strain the one tine a little more than the other... but I am so happy for you... it is a fantastic beautiful pen you got there... Regarding the leaver filling system you might look into eyedropper or safety pens then... they don't use leavers... but they might burb instead...
@@fountainpentherapy I will keep watching your videos... I love the fact that you don't let a brand name dictate what pen you have to like... Ooh btw. Don't lose the fake montblanc was that not a gift from your son or something.... keep it as a sentimental value thing... it is a great pen wich write well and as long as you don't try to convince people that it is a montblanc there is no shame in owning that pen... treasure it because it was a gift not because it looks like something...
Hi Vincenzo Can you please detail cities/atores of each Brand, e.g., Florence-Visconti, and so on? I am planning to go to Italy and would be Nice to visit some of theses shops.
Most are stores that carry more than one brand. Rome • Stilo e Stile • Novelli • Stolografica Corsani • Aurora penne boutique Florence • Casa della stilographica • Visconti flagship store • Stipula Pineider
Hello Vincenzo, though I'm not interested in inks so much, I like your ink and paper test very much. A good idea, comparing paper and its reaction to the same ink. Maybe you will add a 5th paper from a cheap legal pad source in future. Speaking about your Fuliwen 017, I saw the same problem of insufficient ink flow after a year of use and rest. My guess is, that the rather cheap converter is the reason for it. I first did a nib swap from the original M to a Kanwrite B nib. This was tricky, as the Kanpur #6 nibs are having a 6.4 mm width , not 6 mm as a Standard #6 nib. Done that, the original converter made suddenly more problems as it was sitting much too loose on the housing end. Now I solved all those problems by converting the FP into an Eyedropper, added 2 O-rings from my PenBBS repair kit and the Fuliwen is again writing without skips. Maybe that or changing in first place the converter (but I dont know if it's a chinese big bore or standard international size) might help you with your Fuliwen.
I am waiting for the arrival of the A9. Based on what you described, I should be very happy with the nib. I was hoping for this nib to be a bit smoother than the one on the N10 and it sound like I will not be disappointed. I do wish there was an ink window, though. Thanks for the first impression.
@@fountainpentherapy thank you. Do you know if the Hongdian #8 nibs are available separately? May be they are but Hongdian uses different numbers like 32 or 35, so I do not know if a 35 nib is a #8 or perhaps it is a #6.
Hi Vincenzo! Terrific Update this week, and a nice reminder at the end to enjoy what we have. Thank you for that. Reporter notebooks: at one time I was forced to attend conventions and write about them. I tried a bunch of different reporter's notebooks, and the only one that really worked for me was the Rhodia No. 8 pad. It measures 75 x 210 mm, very narrow and long, and it fit easily into my hand for taking notes "on the go". Of course, it had that great Rhodia paper and came in lined or grid (I much preferred the lined.) Being stapled, there was no spiral to catch on fabric and impede rapid deployment or stowage. And a question: do you change ink colors to match the season, as some do?
Great review! Where did you get your folded pen? Have you seen the new SCHN Design system for flushing nibs and nib units out? You should review it as it’s gotten great reviews!
I had a Fuliwen 017 that was writing well. With the same ink started flaking out on me. I could never get it to write well again. It is definitely not an Asvine. I would like to see you use Iroful paper for ink swatching. I have seen some where the sheen just pours out of it.
I’m wondering if you will allow me to pick your brain. I’m leaving for Italy next week and would love some ideas about pen and stationary stores. I’ll be in Rome and Florence, Milan and Venice. Thanks for any info you can give. Have a great trip.
I don't know about Milan and Venice but: Rome • Stilo e Stile • Novelli • Stolografica Corsani • Aurora penne boutique Florence • Casa della stilographica • Visconti flagship store • Stipula Pineider
@@fountainpentherapythank you so much for the information. Really appreciate it. Tell your wife I really have to watch my budget because I like fountain pens and purses! Grazie Mille.
I also can NOT recommend the Jinhao x450 pen from Executive Vibe. The feed can not keep up with an ink-hungry G nib. The nib and feed are glued into the segment so they can not be removed to use the pen with a different nib. There was a lot of grit (corrosion) in my water when I tried to clean the segment/nib/feed. I tried to pull the nib after soaking it in hot water, but the glue did not give away. I hoped to replace the segment but the pen is extremely inexpensive, so buying parts would cost more than replacing the whole pen.
Thanks for the advice.
I love everything Waterman. Maybe they haven't come out with interesting products in a while, but the old ones are generally beautiful and of great quality. I'm not a collector, so I like to see someone who understands the subject share them with us.
A relative of mine had the same disease as your friend and the truth is that we should enjoy what we have. If we can strive for more and get it, great. If not, enjoying what you have is the key. A while back, another UA-camr featured a Montblanc model that was worth over $75000. I'm not going to criticize anyone who can afford a pen at that level. But if I'm being honest, it doesn't make me unhappy that I can't have one. 😊
I just can't understand why they cannot or do not reproduce those nibs.
I am sorry to here about your friend, he is right though.. you are such a nice person, and I am glad you share your joy with us .... have an absolutely spectacular and safe trip ....!!!
Thank you so much!
I’m sorry to hear about your friend. He is right though…you have the right attitude and it is completely apparent that you enjoy life and the little things. Thank you for bringing us joy my friend. I look forward to all of your videos nowadays…your spirit always brightens my day. Thank you my dear Vincenzo.
I appreciate that
Good ending message. Enjoy travel planning. Ciao.
Thank you! Will do!
I'm with you on everything Vincenzo!
Thank you!
Lisa
Grazie!
Vincenzo ti auguro 100 anni e più di vita serena! I think you ave the right spirit! Enjoy your trip and enjoy fountain pens! I can probably take this for me as well! All the best!
Grazie!
Dracula is a shimmer ink, You may have left most in the bottom of the bottle. It is a favorite ink of mine. Thanks for the video - as usual informative, interesting and fun. I've has some B and BB Nahvalur nibs with borderline Baby's Bottom. They work OK now, after being worked on by a professional nib smith.m I had a wonderful time in Firenze and Tuscany a few years back. Sicily a few years later was great fun, with a small Etna eruption.
You are so right about Dracula. I will have to re-do it in the next recap. Great places Florence and Sickly.
Vincenzo, I am so sorry to hear about your friend. His advice is spot on as none of us is promised tomorrow, only today. If I may be so bold as to offer advice on pens to take to Italy, I have 2 for you to consider. First, a Delta pen is a must and the Gallery Blue Moon is a piston filler that holds a lot of ink and the nib is wonderful, too. Second, another Italian pen that holds a lot of ink and is a piston filler is the Stipula Etruria Ebonite with their T-Flex titanium nib. Bon Voyage et Bonne Chance, mon ami!
Thanks for the advice. I have both except my Etruria does not have that flex nib. But maybe that's a possible purchase.
@@fountainpentherapy you are very welcome. I do not know if that Stipula Etruria Ebonite with the T-Flex nib is still available on the current pen retailers. Good hunting!
Blesket in Ontario carries Laban 325 and Rosa. BUY FROM CANADIAN COMPANIES!
I always check Blesket before i buy elsewhere. especially my inks. Just received 4 more bottles in just one day.
I always enjoy your videos. You are so genuine and real. I am the one that sent you the picture of the genuine MB Shakespeare. Not only do we share the same first name, Vincenzo v Vicente, but we have the same initials VG. Gregorio is my last name; which is yours? Enjoy your Italy trip! A year and half ago I was with one of my daughters in Rome for 12/31 we had dinner at La Pentolaccia,(I hope I spelled it right) excellent dinner. The funny thing is that the waiter, the maitre’d and the owner were all named Vincenzo, I still have the picture of all the V’s. If you can, go visit, you will not regret it. Best!
Thanks for sharing. Grazie!
In Florence are several good fountainpen stores. But Casa della Stilographica is really good and has a lot of stuff. I´ve been there a couple of times.Good service.
Looking forward to it.
Siento mucho la eliminación de Italia. Me hubiese gustado ver una final Italia-España. Saludos mi amigo. Me encantan las estilográficas Italianas
Spain is too strong for this Italian Team. They played a great game and move on.
Hi Vincenzo, nice video as usual ! I've completely discovered "Fine Writing International" and I will clearly keep an eye on their pens ... Your waterman 52 1/2 seems excellent, a lot of fun in perspective ! (thank you for the kind words and video mention). I hope your friend will be better with the medical treatments 🤞.
So do I for my friend. You keep doing those videos and i will keep supporting you.
Hi Mr.V! Another GREAT recap this week! Those inks are pretty nice! I like the one Wearingeul ink I already have and have sampled a couple more of them. I am personally excited about the new Hound Of the Baskervilles from them, which will probably be coming my way. I have to say that the Alchemy ink is very interesting, but I can't stand weird bottles like that! Maybe purchasing a few samples would suffice for me. SO glad you showed the green Hongdian A-9, as that was the only color available from the place I ordered mine, and it looks SO NICE! Your vintage Waterman's pen is VERY nice! Glad you were able to snag one of those. I am not a fan of those lever filling systems either. Only have one in my collection that works, and it doesn't seem to pick up ink very well, either. Oddly, it too is a Waterman's. It has been rebuilt, so the sac has to be ok. The notebooks you showed today are really interesting! Your trip to Italy sounds very exciting! Looks like you have your journaling books sorted out, now all you have to do is decide which pens to take!! Have a great week!
Stay tuned for the hound of the baskervilles next week . As to the lever fill: The pen is really giving me quite a bit of ink capacity. I am supervised.
@@fountainpentherapy I think my problem is more not knowing how much ink is actually getting into the pen. Also a BIG problem with vintage pens is they didn't believe in sealing caps! Ir you look closely at the caps of the old pens they almost always have vent holes molded or drilled into them. so they are much more prone to drying out. I could see the vent holes in the cap of your lovely Waterman's 52 1/2 when you showed it on the video. Interesting, but true.
That became almost philosophical today ☺️ But it's true, who knows what's ahead of us. Again a great video with a lot of information, and it's really fun to see how you enjoy the Waterman! I've always been happy when it's Sunday, your weekly reports are my Sunday highlight! I wish you continued to enjoy your fillers, inks, papers and videos!
Best wishes and greets from Germany!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I have a couple of pens from Executive Vibe. It took awhile for them to reach me in Canada. I sadly won't recommend it. The one I received does not write well - keeps on skipping and the nib is too sharp that they tear through my paper.
Thanks you for the warning.
Write notebooks have a reporter style notebook that’s pretty good.
I will check it out
I'm so relieved that you are happy with your vintage Waterman's 52½ ....
Congratulations Sir...
From here on in you will notice that not 2 pens write the same..
Put in a ½hour a day with your flex practice and you will master it in no time.... main thing is to be aware of how you turn your nib.
You tend to write with your pens turned a little to the left....
When using a flexible nib that is not ideal... something about it strain the one tine a little more than the other... but I am so happy for you... it is a fantastic beautiful pen you got there...
Regarding the leaver filling system you might look into eyedropper or safety pens then... they don't use leavers... but they might burb instead...
Thanks for your tips and help. I look forward to the 2 I just ordered. You will let me know when I feature them on my recap.
@@fountainpentherapy I will keep watching your videos... I love the fact that you don't let a brand name dictate what pen you have to like...
Ooh btw. Don't lose the fake montblanc was that not a gift from your son or something.... keep it as a sentimental value thing... it is a great pen wich write well and as long as you don't try to convince people that it is a montblanc there is no shame in owning that pen... treasure it because it was a gift not because it looks like something...
Hi Vincenzo
Can you please detail cities/atores of each Brand, e.g., Florence-Visconti, and so on?
I am planning to go to Italy and would be Nice to visit some of theses shops.
Most are stores that carry more than one brand.
Rome
• Stilo e Stile
• Novelli
• Stolografica Corsani
• Aurora penne boutique
Florence
• Casa della stilographica
• Visconti flagship store
• Stipula
Pineider
Hello Vincenzo, though I'm not interested in inks so much, I like your ink and paper test very much. A good idea, comparing paper and its reaction to the same ink. Maybe you will add a 5th paper from a cheap legal pad source in future. Speaking about your Fuliwen 017, I saw the same problem of insufficient ink flow after a year of use and rest. My guess is, that the rather cheap converter is the reason for it. I first did a nib swap from the original M to a Kanwrite B nib. This was tricky, as the Kanpur #6 nibs are having a 6.4 mm width , not 6 mm as a Standard #6 nib. Done that, the original converter made suddenly more problems as it was sitting much too loose on the housing end. Now I solved all those problems by converting the FP into an Eyedropper, added 2 O-rings from my PenBBS repair kit and the Fuliwen is again writing without skips. Maybe that or changing in first place the converter (but I dont know if it's a chinese big bore or standard international size) might help you with your Fuliwen.
Interesting comments re the Fuliwen.
I am waiting for the arrival of the A9. Based on what you described, I should be very happy with the nib. I was hoping for this nib to be a bit smoother than the one on the N10 and it sound like I will not be disappointed. I do wish there was an ink window, though.
Thanks for the first impression.
The A9 is a cartridge converter so need.
@@fountainpentherapy thank you.
Do you know if the Hongdian #8 nibs are available separately? May be they are but Hongdian uses different numbers like 32 or 35, so I do not know if a 35 nib is a #8 or perhaps it is a #6.
Hi Vincenzo!
Terrific Update this week, and a nice reminder at the end to enjoy what we have. Thank you for that.
Reporter notebooks: at one time I was forced to attend conventions and write about them. I tried a bunch of different reporter's notebooks, and the only one that really worked for me was the Rhodia No. 8 pad. It measures 75 x 210 mm, very narrow and long, and it fit easily into my hand for taking notes "on the go". Of course, it had that great Rhodia paper and came in lined or grid (I much preferred the lined.) Being stapled, there was no spiral to catch on fabric and impede rapid deployment or stowage.
And a question: do you change ink colors to match the season, as some do?
Thanks fort sharing. No I do not change color of inks with the seasons.
By the way I just order 3 reporter style notebooks. Stay tuned I will review them in my upcoming recaps.
Great review! Where did you get your folded pen? Have you seen the new SCHN Design system for flushing nibs and nib units out? You should review it as it’s gotten great reviews!
I will check it out. The folded pen is from Toronto pen Company/
I had a Fuliwen 017 that was writing well. With the same ink started flaking out on me. I could never get it to write well again. It is definitely not an Asvine.
I would like to see you use Iroful paper for ink swatching. I have seen some where the sheen just pours out of it.
I used iroful in my last recap.
@@fountainpentherapy I'll go check it out. Thank You.
I’m wondering if you will allow me to pick your brain. I’m leaving for Italy next week and would love some ideas about pen and stationary stores. I’ll be in Rome and Florence, Milan and Venice. Thanks for any info you can give. Have a great trip.
I don't know about Milan and Venice but:
Rome
• Stilo e Stile
• Novelli
• Stolografica Corsani
• Aurora penne boutique
Florence
• Casa della stilographica
• Visconti flagship store
• Stipula
Pineider
@@fountainpentherapythank you so much for the information. Really appreciate it. Tell your wife I really have to watch my budget because I like fountain pens and purses! Grazie Mille.