Thank you so much! I completely agree! The quality of Waterman's in the 1920s and earlier was completely out of this world. I've loved Waterman's from this period since the early eighties when I was a teenager. I LOVE them so darned MUCH! 😊 They write so, so beautifully, too. They're just the best - or among the best. Their nibs and feeds are just unreal.
A million thanks, Cedar! It was a blast to make. My friend Amelia helped me make it, and did a bunch of work. It just dawned on me that I had a bunch of different variants of the 52, and that it would be a lot of fun to look at its myriad manifestations, and to show how these pens were a platform onto which fancier and fancier options could be attached. It was kind of like having General Motors all rolled up into one company, like being able to buy a base model Chevrolet that could be made fancier and fancier with options to become a top of the line Cadillac. I hope you enjoyed it!
I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Andrew! A million thanks. Are you calling the 52 the Steve Gadd of fountain pens? I suppose one could. He's one of my very favorite musicians, and the Waterman's 52 is one of my very favorite pens. It's funny that you mentioned him. Whenever I think about whether or not the details about vintage fountain pens matter, I liken it to reading the liner notes on a record album, and the example I think of every time is listening to the title track off of the album 'Aja', being blown away by the drum playing, and that prompting one to read the liner notes to find out who played the drums on that song, and having that be a part of a larger pursuit of knowledge about the subject as a listener and as a musician, and as something of a music historian, if informally or recreationally. It's the beginning of looking for more recordings with the same musician, and finding out more about that music, and so on. If you don't care about the music you won't care about how it was made, but if you *do* care about the music you'll care about learning more about how it was made. That's true of musical instruments, and vintage fountain pens, and all kinds of things worth caring about and remembering, and it's all a part of the eternal pursuit of knowledge, and the richness of experiencing music and the arts.
Gorgeous pens, Todd! Thanks. I like the silver basketweave pen on the far right and the nib on the pen before it. I wouldn't post the pens for fear of scratching them up.
Many thanks! The nib on the basketweave 52 is the real winner of the lot, but the one on the previous pen that you mention, the 452 Gothic, is very fine and precise and lovely. The one in the Ripple and the one in the very oxidized BCHR 52 are really exceptional as well.
Most of these pens can be posted safely, but it's true that many pens are susceptible to damage when they are posted. The 0552 1/2 LEC in the Gothic pattern in this video is pretty perfect, and the end is metal covered which is more susceptible to scratching and deformation than their regular hard rubber ends, so that one shouldn't be posted, but most of the others are just fine when they're posted. Pens like the Parker Duofold Jr should not be posted because the caps do scratch the ends of the barrels on that pen, and these caps are much more susceptible to lip cracks than Waterman's caps of the same period because Waterman's caps have a strain relief, and some of these caps also have a band around the strain relief which protects them even further. Hard rubber Duofold Jrs without cap bands are really susceptible to cap lip cracks, so those really shouldn't be posted.
@@singlesideman Yeah, I can see why many people would love the nib on the basketweave 52, especially maybe calligraphers. But I like the fine nib of the 452 Gothic better, at least for now. I received my "Pen Repair" book today. It is very nice!! I love it. After I get back from taking care of some errands, I'll read it. Thanks for suggesting the book.
@@singlesideman I figured that you knew which ones that can be posted. For some reason I just don't like the extra weight on the back of my hand. My hands size is toward the lower end of large. Large Nitrile gloves fit me a tad loose and the Mediums fit them pretty tight. So, I wear the medium gloves when I need to use the tips of my fingers as in watchmaking, and I wear the large gloves when I won't really need my fingertips. I've decided that I will do my best to make it to the Dallas Pen Show.
IIRC the double dot feeds were "dryer" feeds with less depth in the ink channels. i think this was a discussion had with Dubiel years and years ago....tho like anything i doubt we will ever have the answer
Unfortunately that doesn't add up when you look at the feeds and how they perform. While I can't say that I have seen a lot of ink channels in Waterman's spoon feeds, all of the dozens of Waterman's in my collection are vintage and have flexible nibs (with the exception of two) and none of them comes close to railroading (unless I've gotten oils on the paper), and some of my pens have the double dots on their feeds, so I doubt seriously that the feeds with the double dots are drier - they can't be because the pens would have railroaded.
Beautiful collection
Thank you so much, Marilyn!
Beautiful!!!
Thank you so much!
Waterman's are amazing pens! 😊Thank you for sharing.
Thank you so much! I completely agree! The quality of Waterman's in the 1920s and earlier was completely out of this world. I've loved Waterman's from this period since the early eighties when I was a teenager. I LOVE them so darned MUCH! 😊 They write so, so beautifully, too. They're just the best - or among the best. Their nibs and feeds are just unreal.
Nice video Todd. It was fun to see that collection. Nice production and editing.
A million thanks, Cedar! It was a blast to make. My friend Amelia helped me make it, and did a bunch of work. It just dawned on me that I had a bunch of different variants of the 52, and that it would be a lot of fun to look at its myriad manifestations, and to show how these pens were a platform onto which fancier and fancier options could be attached. It was kind of like having General Motors all rolled up into one company, like being able to buy a base model Chevrolet that could be made fancier and fancier with options to become a top of the line Cadillac. I hope you enjoyed it!
I wonder why your reply is directed at someone other than me. I wonder if I’ve been hacked?
@@cedarbylard what? It's not. I just hit reply.
I’m just confused, sorry. 😂
@@cedarbylard no problem! I'm not sure what you saw that looked concerning. I just replied to you and everything looks fine from what I can see.
Hi, Todd. Beautiful collection. Thanks for sharing!!
Thank you so much!
Enjoyable walk-through of your 52 collection Todd.
Is it the Steve Gadd of fountain pens? ;)
I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Andrew! A million thanks. Are you calling the 52 the Steve Gadd of fountain pens? I suppose one could. He's one of my very favorite musicians, and the Waterman's 52 is one of my very favorite pens. It's funny that you mentioned him. Whenever I think about whether or not the details about vintage fountain pens matter, I liken it to reading the liner notes on a record album, and the example I think of every time is listening to the title track off of the album 'Aja', being blown away by the drum playing, and that prompting one to read the liner notes to find out who played the drums on that song, and having that be a part of a larger pursuit of knowledge about the subject as a listener and as a musician, and as something of a music historian, if informally or recreationally. It's the beginning of looking for more recordings with the same musician, and finding out more about that music, and so on. If you don't care about the music you won't care about how it was made, but if you *do* care about the music you'll care about learning more about how it was made. That's true of musical instruments, and vintage fountain pens, and all kinds of things worth caring about and remembering, and it's all a part of the eternal pursuit of knowledge, and the richness of experiencing music and the arts.
Gorgeous pens, Todd! Thanks. I like the silver basketweave pen on the far right and the nib on the pen before it. I wouldn't post the pens for fear of scratching them up.
I don't like to post pens anyway.
Many thanks! The nib on the basketweave 52 is the real winner of the lot, but the one on the previous pen that you mention, the 452 Gothic, is very fine and precise and lovely. The one in the Ripple and the one in the very oxidized BCHR 52 are really exceptional as well.
Most of these pens can be posted safely, but it's true that many pens are susceptible to damage when they are posted. The 0552 1/2 LEC in the Gothic pattern in this video is pretty perfect, and the end is metal covered which is more susceptible to scratching and deformation than their regular hard rubber ends, so that one shouldn't be posted, but most of the others are just fine when they're posted. Pens like the Parker Duofold Jr should not be posted because the caps do scratch the ends of the barrels on that pen, and these caps are much more susceptible to lip cracks than Waterman's caps of the same period because Waterman's caps have a strain relief, and some of these caps also have a band around the strain relief which protects them even further. Hard rubber Duofold Jrs without cap bands are really susceptible to cap lip cracks, so those really shouldn't be posted.
@@singlesideman Yeah, I can see why many people would love the nib on the basketweave 52, especially maybe calligraphers. But I like the fine nib of the 452 Gothic better, at least for now.
I received my "Pen Repair" book today. It is very nice!! I love it. After I get back from taking care of some errands, I'll read it. Thanks for suggesting the book.
@@singlesideman I figured that you knew which ones that can be posted. For some reason I just don't like the extra weight on the back of my hand. My hands size is toward the lower end of large. Large Nitrile gloves fit me a tad loose and the Mediums fit them pretty tight. So, I wear the medium gloves when I need to use the tips of my fingers as in watchmaking, and I wear the large gloves when I won't really need my fingertips.
I've decided that I will do my best to make it to the Dallas Pen Show.
IIRC the double dot feeds were "dryer" feeds with less depth in the ink channels. i think this was a discussion had with Dubiel years and years ago....tho like anything i doubt we will ever have the answer
Unfortunately that doesn't add up when you look at the feeds and how they perform. While I can't say that I have seen a lot of ink channels in Waterman's spoon feeds, all of the dozens of Waterman's in my collection are vintage and have flexible nibs (with the exception of two) and none of them comes close to railroading (unless I've gotten oils on the paper), and some of my pens have the double dots on their feeds, so I doubt seriously that the feeds with the double dots are drier - they can't be because the pens would have railroaded.