Ohio Pen Show, 2022
My wife, Tammie, and I are at the Ohio Pen Show, in Columbus. I’m looking for a fountain pen, ink and paper to use to write the Bible. I may have narrowed down my options, but I haven’t made any firm decisions yet.
I’ve been looking for a fountain pen made from olive wood from Israel (which seems appropriate for writing the Bible). At the show, we saw some pens made from kits (the metal parts, but not the barrel or cap), but none of them were olive wood. The kit we loved is called Amazing Grace by Wood Turningz. This kit is in pewter and brass, but other metals are available; the basic kit is a ballpoint, but a fountain pen conversion kit is available. Wood Turningz has many special-interest kits available. I ordered this pen from Dutchturner on Etsy (other sellers also use this kit; if you can’t find a ready-made pen you like, contact one of the sellers and ask if they’ll make one for you).
I prefer fat pens, which I find easier to grip, but this pen is skinnier than I like. I haven’t been able to find any kits that look like they have a fat grip (which is a metal piece that a woodworker can’t make fat), so I’m not sure how well I’ll like this. The next option is to have one custom-made by someone who does both woodworking and metalworking, but that gets into hundreds of dollars. I’m not ready to spend that much money on a pen (yet?).
The vendor booth we saw this kit at is Lincoln’s Leather. The pen barrel and cap are made of small pieces of leather stacked together, dyed, glued and made into a pen. Tammie ordered the Amazing Grace kit in pewter and brass (example on the left) with the barrel and cap in red leather with gold highlights (example on the right).
I asked some ink sellers for recommendations for archival-quality inks, and purchased Platinum Carbon Black and Platinum Pigment Blue inks. These are among the most-recommended, but there are particles in them that may require more frequent pen cleaning, compared to water-soluble inks. Noodler’s Bulletproof inks were also mentioned (among the least expensive, but reviews are mixed), and one seller recommended De Atramentis Archival and Document inks. I’ve been using all of these over the past several weeks, so I didn’t find any new products to test.
I also purchased a sample pack of 10 different fountain pen-friendly papers. None of these are specifically designed for fountain pens, but they’re also less expensive than special-purpose papers (unless you buy them in sample packs at a pen show…). I purchased Mohawk Superfine paper several weeks ago (along with over 20 other Mohawk papers), and it’s one of the best I’ve tried so far. I’ve tried several Strathmore papers (made by Mohawk), but not these exact types in the sample pack. I purchased some Neenah paper at the same time as the Mohawk, but haven’t tried them yet, and not these exact types. The seller also recommended Conqueror (made by Mohawk), which I’ve been using and is among the top papers I’ve tried. Strathmore Super Smooth (not in the sample pack) is among my favorites. I have samples of 73 different papers, but now I have recommendations by an expert, so my test list has suddenly gotten a lot shorter. He actually recommended 100% cotton for archival purposes, but said 25% cotton is more common and less expensive. Most of these papers are available in different colors, weights, finishes and sizes. The paper finish can make a big difference in how smoothly a pen writes on the paper. The Mohawk, Strathmore and Conqueror papers can be ordered from Mohawk Connects1 and Neenah from Neenah Papers. If I remember correctly, Mohawk allowed orders with a few as 5 sheets, but I ordered 25 sheets. Neenah only allowed ordering samples of 5 sheets, so I ordered 11″x17″ so I could cut them in half to make 10 sheets.
Miscellaneous pictures from the show.
