Pens in Use - June 14, 2024

I discuss the fountain pens and inks I've been using throughout the week. I also discuss decluttering, gardening, mechanical pencils, and ND travels.
Benu Talisman (B) - Krishna Kanikonna (December 23, 2023)
• First Impressions - Be...
Pilot Custom 823 (B) - Omas Grey (February 21, 2024)
Pilot Custom 823 (F) - Omas Black (February 21, 2024)
• Survivor Pens - Pilot ...
Parker Duofold (F) - Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses (December 5, 2018)🐿🐿🐿
• Parker Duofold Centenn...
Stanford Wood Pens Miyuki Magic (BB) - Sailor Jentle Apricot (November 3, 2021)
• First Impressions - St...
Centropen 1320 - Lamy Turquoise (February 10, 2021)
• First Impressions - Ce... m
Kaweco v16 (sport) - Akkerman Groenmarkt Smaragd (December 7, 2019) 🐿🐿🐿
• First Impressions: Kaw...
Loft Pens Winchester (BB) - Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses (April 3, 2024)
• First Impressions - Lo...
Chapters
00:00 Start
00:54 Pens
17:12 Babbling Starts
17:44 Projects
19:37 Decluttering
Links
Down the Breather Hole on Ink Bottle Designs - • What's the best founta...
KZbin Video Link
• Pens in Use - June 14,...
Pens in Use Music
• Sayonara Camtasia Audi...
Visit me on Instagram
/ waskisquirrel
Visit my slowly growing website at:
www.evernote.com/pub/jwaskiew...
For High Resolution Photos Visit:
www.evernote.com/shard/s630/s...

[@teresaharris-travelbybooks5564]

Don't be concerned about anyone thinking you're being a copycat. You will have put your own unique commentary and viewpoint in your video. My allergy has been so bad; the last couple of days; I first thought I was getting sick. You are so right about crafts or hobbies creating a certain amount of clutter. I love books, so there's that. I've been a dancer for 16 years, so there's lots and lots of costume pieces and accessories. And now, pens....I Marie Kondo folded a bunch of summer tee shirts, and haven't worn one since. It was too much trouble to unfold it. This is my favorite video you've ever made. Thank you for your generous and charitable attitude about why people collect ' stuff.'

[@WaskiSquirrel]

The video will come out soon, just not this week. Thank you for your comments on craft/hobby clutter! It's true that these things require a certain amount of stuff, as I well know! Funny about your nicely folded tee shirts. But I also don't fold mine in her style, so it's less work. To me the big thing is to be able to see it all. If you can't see it you don't use it or wear it.

[@kattz753]

I'm in a little house too. I've been here for more than 20 years. I'm getting some work done and there will be a bin here. I asked them to bring a larger one. I'm in the process of getting rid of stuff. I love actual books but I don't buy them anymore. I buy a lot of ebooks and our library has a service that allows us to borrow them. I like computers so those books get outdated very fast. I've also digitized all of my DVDs and CDs. That saves a lot of space too. I gave all of my cassettes to someone who had an old stereo with just a tape player in the car. One of the best things that I have ever bought was a rack that holds the big Rubbermaid tubs. I have that in the basement for things like Christmas decorations. And I bought a shredder. There isn't much that you really need to keep anymore. I wonder what the neighbours thought when they saw all of those bags of shredded paper. My house is over 100 years old. Every time that it was sold, the previous owner left all of the papers from the lawyer and the old deeds behind. Those I'm keeping. The house was sold for $600 the first time. I'll pass them on to the next owner. Good luck. It's a lot of work but it feels good to get rid of it.

[@bcase5328]

Just as a thought exercise: imagine you are moving into a large tiny house (maybe 500 cubic feet of storage?), what items are important enough to you to move, especially when it means other items wont have a place? That will show you what items you value. You can then work out your mental list of second place items for the next roughly 1000 cubic feet of storage space.

[@bcase5328]

It is good to organize your financial information for your estate executor. Please have a fire resistant lockbox. Losing your documents to a fire would make the recovery effort much harder.

[@WaskiSquirrel]

The deeds sound like a great piece of history to keep! You also make a good point that it's easier to have electronic versions of a lot of things. I have no physical music. I have a handful of DVDs that I can't find in electronic versions. Maybe I should digitize them. Books will be a journey... I like E-books, but only for fiction books I simply read through. Books I want to reference are a lot harder to deal with outside paper form. And the Rubbermaid tubs make sense for school. Thank you for the suggestion!

[@ibpopp]

Only last week, I put my Centropen 10016 back into circulation. Brilliantly reliable, as always. Great minds think alike. You would laugh at what passes for winter in S.E. Australia, but Melbourne's cold days can be miserably bleak, and this year they began in the middle of May. I loved taking long walks in the cold when I was young, but........Jimi died many years ago. Happy gardening!

[@WaskiSquirrel]

Thank you! We almost had frost last night. Temperatures got within 1 degree of freezing. But warm weather is coming next week. Summer might actually start! I enjoy cool, bleak weather. It can make for good photographs.

[@keraba1]

I have one of those Skrip bottles. I've never been excited about the ink - it's just black - so there's still a little there, but when I finish it, I'll put something else in there that can use a filling area, because it's quite handy. Note that it only works for small-ish nibs.

[@paulherman5822]

Was supposedly made for the Snorkel, though useful for the hooded and semi hooded nibs common in the 1950s and 60s, as well as the Tip-Dip designs from several companies.

[@WaskiSquirrel]

That's good to know about the filling area. Smaller nibs were once more common.

[@archivist17]

A very enjoyable episode. Lovely pen selection, and an interesting discussion.

[@WaskiSquirrel]

Thank you very much!

[@periwinkle197]

Autumn and Winter is fine here..some rain, blue skies and still rather nice temperatures

[@WaskiSquirrel]

Very different here!

[@HomerIncognito]

I've moved two times in the last two and a half years. During both moves I got rid of everything I could part with, it's not an easy process, especially if you have things you want to sell. Since the first move I've tried to be a lot more intentional about what I buy and luckily I've managed to do relatively well.

[@WaskiSquirrel]

That's a lesson I hope I've learned this time.

[@drew......]

I have been decluttering as well. I know exactly what you mean about the shock of removing so many huge plastic trash bags. I’ve been “scorched earth” in my process. I decided if I’m unsure then the answer is: get rid of it. Even having a donate pile can backfire because it’s still there. You still need to actually donate it. Until then, there’s no net change. Some of the books I’ve owned for 25 years yet I’ve opened once or twice. I’m basically just carrying them around. Why? I am also years into dealing with a late relative’s estate. They were almost certainly an actual hoarder. Consider that they had rural acreage, lived upon for decades. Most areas have that one notorious property. Cars, metal drums, piles of who knows what, etc. It’s basically an industrial cleanup site that can’t be solved with a few plastic trash bags.

[@WaskiSquirrel]

I agree about the donate pile. And a lot of those that receive the donated stuff end up throwing it away anyway. I'll be looking at books separately, but I will be looking at them, for the exact reason you cite. After I retire from teaching, will I need all these math and science books, aside from a handful of curiosities or reference for my writing? Inheriting a property like that would be a nightmare! I can't imagine how you begin to deal with it.

[@MrAndrew1953]

4.8C at 5:51am Melb,Aust. Max temp Sunday 13C. The Lamy Studio All-Black is a great pen guaranteed to disappear in your hand.

[@WaskiSquirrel]

I'm actually going to get a little colder than 4.8C one night this week with a high of 12C: Tuesday. And it's summer here! I might like the All-Black better than the one I tried.

[@ziawoolzstudiobuzz313]

Love that… ink acquisitional phase… good bye Omas Grey…. 😢 I just put out a video where I show my vintage Kawecos (Sports) that I got from my dad (I’m German), I adore them! If you have a minute I’d love for you to stop by. Yours is beautiful! My daughter will be visiting Prague and Budapest soon, I already told her multiple times (oops) to be on the lookout for vintage fps for me! We’ll see what happens.. Yep, I do also have one of those cool Sheaffer ink bottles, brown ink… pretty vintage and a beautiful ink color!

[@WaskiSquirrel]

I'll check the video out. Kaweco once made some very nice pens. Hopefully your daughter can find some interesting pens!

[@paulherman5822]

Does returning a fountain pen to the US from South America count as being "from South America" ? If so, i just returned 2 1938 (a different cap band location that year) Esterbrook "Dollar" B models, one with it's original 3968 "sunburst" broad nib.😉 Good looking selection of pens and inks as usual! The Sheaffer's Skrip bottles are very common on eBay. Might be still full of, while not as "exciting" as some modern inks, very nice ink, possibly with "RC-35," their proprietary addition that left the writing visible under black light after the dye got washed out. Nathan Tardif has claimed it was an inspiration for his bulletproof inks. The inkwell design allegedly was for the Snorkel and other tip dip pens, though I think I've seen the design before those came out, but they're still good for the approximately number 5 nibs used so often in vintage pens. Can get good fills with an Esterbrook...😉 As for the decluttering: while I don't have homes for everything, I do have a niece who is a rabid dip pen user (I got her an Esterbrook 407 inkwell and the matching Dip-Less already 😉) that I'm certain would love my vintage collection. Starred her on BVP with a Waterman's Taperite and a Parker 45.😁

[@WaskiSquirrel]

That's a good question. If it does count, then I could just get someone to take a pen to Antarctica...or someday go there myself with a fountain pen! I'll have to haunt eBay. Good idea to start thinking about who would want certain possessions!

[@MissMarilynDarling]

if your phone is trying to shut off while its plugged in you can keep it on while its plugged in by going to the settings scroll down til you see about then build number tap it a couple times like 10 and then back to settings scroll all the way to the bottom a new tab should be there called developer mode usually in the top 5 or 10 sections there is a tic that says STAY AWAKE screen will never sleep while charging I love this feture :)

[@WaskiSquirrel]

Thank you for this. It must have changed its settings after I ran the update.

[@impish22]

I think my favorite is still the Loft Pens pen

[@WaskiSquirrel]

It's quite striking!

[@Mattw1987]

The urge to get a pilot custom 823 is still strong for me but just cant justify the money when i still have the custom 743!, seeing the Parker duofold makes me really think i should start using the Parker sonnet i have again as that has been sitting unused for years now.

[@WaskiSquirrel]

To be fair, the 823 and 743 have the same nib, and the 743 comes with more choices. I enjoy my Parker Sonnet very much!

[@christophermckellar1352]

Wonderful episode, sir! I remember the Scrip bottles, and wish I had a couple and/or manufacturers would make something similar these days. Maybe someone could offer an inkwell with that little side reservoir. I would put Blackbirds in Dakota Cornfields in it for sure. Digging your garden deeply. Do/did you happen to practice double digging as pioneered by John Jeavons? It was my method for many years. Just double dug my tomato bed this year after several years practicing no tilth by default due to an injury. My tomatoes are loving it! As to my de-cluttering….Perhaps I will find a Scrip bottle when I go through some old college stuff! Thanks for the pens, the life update, and the driving at the end. Repeat!

[@paulherman5822]

They're still available, sometimes still full, regularly on eBay, plus the design, though smaller, has been reissued by Sheaffer. Vintage tend to have rusty caps, the only design flaw, IMO. But they clean up well. New circle of coated cards took, and the seal is back. 😉 My first bottle of fountain pen ink in the early 1980s was Sheaffer Skrip blue-black, and the design has remained a personal favorite.😊

[@christophermckellar1352]

@@paulherman5822 Thanks!

[@paulherman5822]

@@christophermckellar1352 If they have "RC-35," the ink is recoverable under black light after the dye got washed out. The basis for the Noodler's bulletproof inks, according to Nathan Tardif. Can vouch the V-Mail Burma Brown is very similar to the Skrip permanent brown from the 1950s. Exactly the color of the aftermath of the first time giving a little kid green beans or spinach...🤢

[@christophermckellar1352]

@@paulherman5822 Ha!

[@christophermckellar1352]

@@paulherman5822 Interesting to know they called that little extra glass in there the “birds nest.“

[@MissMarilynDarling]

Did you try the Allegra like I told you about .. its expensive but it really works !! you can even get the generic kind now in most drug stores :)

[@WaskiSquirrel]

I haven't tried it. My allergies usually only last a few days here. But I'll remember if I travel to somewhere with more allergens!

[@MissMarilynDarling]

@@WaskiSquirrel Yeah I always recommended it to my patients because it doesnt make you drowsy like most other antihistamines this one gives you kind of a boost of energy which I found quite suprising :)

[@edwardstaats4935]

Please do not stop talking. Think about scanning your art work. Here it is winter, or nearly so. But winter here is not like the Dakotas, no snow or ice, mild temperatures. It has been rainy but we have had sunny days. Here the winter solstice is a big deal, considered the native New Year, celebrating with fireworks. I love being near the Pacific Ocean. My days are spent at times in the library or in my Study, enjoying books like Iron and blood, about Germany or The Last Lion, Winston Churchill. Enjoy your summer and Happy Father's Day

[@WaskiSquirrel]

Scanning is a good idea. I can do that with the smaller pieces. The larger ones would have to be photographed. But it would declutter my life and solve that problem before something happens to the work! Being near the ocean would be a big help in limiting the extremes in temperature that I get being so far from the ocean. The nice thing about winter weather is I don't feel called outdoors to work (except shoveling snow). I can read and write indoors!

[@pamelaboxall7015]

I think sometimes we hold on to things which remind us of a version of ourselves that we dreamed of being. Part of letting go of the things is accepting that particular potentiality never came to fruition but that the path we walked instead has been as good if not better than what we dreamed. Sometimes, though, we still have yearnings to go that other route, so we keep things about us that might help us to get back to it. Now, that can be quite unhealthy - Miss Havisham in her wedding dress, for example - or it can be more realistic - Tolkien's "Still round the corner there may wait, A new road, or a secret gate, And though we pass them by today, Tomorrow we may come this way, And take the hidden paths that run, Towards the Moon or to the Sun." I know some of the things I hold dear are reminders of those secret gates that I hope to get a chance to return to.

[@teresaharris-travelbybooks5564]

That is such a lovely thought. I'll keep that thought with me, when I look at the things that once played a big part in my life, and now no longer do. ❤

[@WaskiSquirrel]

That's a good point. Some of it was for who I want to be, not who I am. And Miss Havisham is definitely a worst-case scenario!

[@MissMarilynDarling]

I once watched this old woman online somewher say Buy all the things you want eat all the things you want do whatever you want because you only have one life and after your gone it doesnt matter who has to take care of it cause Youll be dead and she cackled like a witch I almost fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard but shes right... buy the things you think will make you happy and live your best most authentic life and after your gone the people who come to clean out yoour stuff will probably say oh that brought a memory Ill keep that and some wont ;/

[@WaskiSquirrel]

That's true. I try to enjoy my life. But I'm turning now more toward experiences. With road construction issues going south, I'll be exploring North Dakota more and Montana.

[@MissMarilynDarling]

@@WaskiSquirrel Awesome I dont know too many people who live in montana just hank green and thats it