Safari Fountain Pen – Writer's Bloc Blog

March 14, 2017January 22, 2018

8 Tips For Using the Leuchtturm1917 Adhesive Pen Loop

The Leuchtturm1917 Adhesive Pen Loop is a easy way to add a handy pen holder to a paper notebook or journal that doesn’t have one. Just peel the backing off the small 1.5″ x 1.5″ square piece of vinyl, stick it on to where you want it and voila, your notebook has a new elastic pencil or pen loop! Here are 8 tips for using your Leuchtturm1917 pen loop:

Leuchtturm1917 Pen Loop stuck on a Quo Vadis Habana Journal — Leuchtturm1917 Pen Loop stuck on a large Quo Vadis Habana Journal

The Leuchtturm1917 pen loop works best with slender writing tools such as regular size wooden pencils, Staedtler triplus pens, cheap Bic or Paper Mate ballpoints, Sakura Gelly Roll pens, you get the idea. I didn’t like using pens with rubberized or highly textured grips with this pen loop because they are too difficult to slide in and out. Maybe you are more patient than I am.

Leuchtturm1917 Pen Loop holding a Staedtler Triplus Textsurfer

2. I was able to use the pen loop to hold pens with a medium size barrel only if they were cigar-shaped (tapered on the ends) and had a smooth barrel. A couple of examples of this are the Platinum Plaisir fountain pen and Pentel Tradio pens.

Leuchtturm1917 Pen Loop holding a Platinum Plaisir Fountain Pen

3. For pens with a wide barrel and squared ends, the best you can do is attach your pen clip to the elastic pen loop. Check out the photo below to see how you can use it with the clip on your LAMY Safari fountain pen.

4. When I use a fountain pen, most often I prefer to write with it “unposted”, or without the cap placed on the top (non-nib) end of the pen. While I’m writing, I’m always looking for a place to put the cap so I won’t lose it. The pen holder is a handy place to attach the clip of my fountain pen cap until I need the cap again.

Leuchtturm1917 Pen Loop holds a LAMY Safari by the clip only

5. Think before you stick. The Leuchtturm1917 pen loop is only meant to be stuck in one place and not removed and stuck somewhere else. I put mine in the center of the back cover of my large Quo Vadis Habana Journal because I am planning on using the pen loop to grasp the center portion of my pen. If you want to use it to grasp the top part of a pen near the clip, you’re better off sticking the pen holder near the top of your notebook. It’s a good idea to figure out what pen you want to use with the holder, put the pen in the loop, and then put it next to your notebook to figure out where you want to place it before you stick it on the cover.

6. Once my notebook is used up, I will get another pen loop to stick on a fresh new notebook. This makes sense, because even if the Leuchtturm1917 pen loop used the best quality materials in the world, over time they eventually wear out.

7. The pen loop is not a fool-proof way to avoid losing your pens and pencils. You still need to exercise care so as to not lose your valuable writing tools. Also, if you want to remove the pen loop, don’t expect it to remove cleanly.

Leuchtturm Pen Loop holding an Apple Pencil

8. Even though the Leuchtturm1917 pen loop is designed to be used with paper notebooks, some people have successfully used it on a tablet or smart phone cover to hold a stylus for their device. It does a great job at holding the Apple Pencil! This is a hack, so try this at your own risk.

How do you use your Leuchtturm1917 Pen Loop? Do you have any tips or tricks to share?

May 6, 2014May 14, 2016

Awesome Grad Gifts for 2014

It’s time for all of the toil and hard work to finally pay off for the new group of 2014 graduates! If you’d like to wish them success in their future endeavors by giving them a graduation gift what should you give? We thought about a few of the student personalities we know and came up with some suggestions for you:

18 Going On 30: Rhodia Pad Holder, LAMY Safari Fountain Pen, Aston Leather Pen Case

The 18 Going On 30

Rhodia Leatherette Pad Holder with Notepad, LAMY Safari Fountain Pen, Aston Leather Single Pen Case.

Got a future business tycoon on your hands? Let him/her look the part while they wait for their age to catch up! We love the all-black theme of this gift, but these items come in brighter colors as well.

The College Bound

The 5 Book, Pilot Metropolitan Fountain Pen.

Take some stress off your freshmen and help them get organized. The first year of college can be overwhelming and this book can be a helpful guide to setting life goals and making a long term plan. The classy, yet affordable, Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen is the perfect tool for writing down thoughts and goals.

Bob's Your Uncle 8 Days a Week Planner, Ple Ple Pen Wrap, Preppy Fountain Pens — The Socialite: Bob’s Your Uncle 8 Days a Week Planner, Ple Ple Pen Wrap, Preppy Fountain Pens

The Socialite

Bob’s Your Uncle 8 Days a Week Planner, Preppy Fountain Pen Set, Ple Ple Pen Wrap.

For the social butterfly, summer is the busiest time of the year! Your Grad will never have a dull moment this summer and will be able to plan their brunch dates, movie nights, and beach trips down to the hour. Color code activities with a set of Preppy pens and carry them in a fun and convenient Ple Ple pen wrap.

The Artist: Clairefontaine Calligraphy Pad, Brause Calligraphy Gift Set

The Artist

Brause Calligraphy Gift Set and a Clairefontaine Calligraphy Art Pad.

Give your student a classic and hip way of expressing their creativity! Introducing your student to calligraphy can give them a skill that will stand the test of time.

World Traveler: Rhodia Webnotepad, LAMY Pico Pocket-Size Ballpoint Pen

The World Traveler

Rhodia Webnotepad, LAMY Pico Pen.

For the organized nomad, these pocket sized items are easy to travel with and great for note taking, list making, and sketching. A great place to jot down how to say “where is the restroom” in multiple languages for reference when in a pinch!

The Indecisive

Gift Certificate – For the impossible to shop for…and everyone loves a gift card!

What gift will you buy to congratulate the Grad in your life?

August 13, 2013January 28, 2016

How to Change the Nib on a LAMY Fountain Pen – Part 2

Quite some time ago we gave you a simple tutorial on how to change the nib on your LAMY fountain pen using plastic tape: http://shopwritersbloc.com/fountain-pens/how-to-replace-the-nib-on-a-lamy-fountain-pen.html

Why would you ever want to change the nib on your LAMY fountain pen? Perhaps you want to change the nib size of your pen. Or, if you’re clumsy like me, maybe you damaged your nib. Steel LAMY fountain pen nibs happen to come in a variety of sizes and are reasonably priced.

Using the tape method to change your nib works quite well if the nib is pretty dry, but what if the pen is inked and the nib is very wet? If this is the case, tape will not adhere to the nib very well making this method a bit difficult. There is another simple method we’d like to tell you about using a small piece of rubbery drawer/shelf liner, or super wide rubber band or something similar.

LAMY Safari Fountain Pen and a piece of rubbery drawer liner

Use the rubber drawer liner to grip the very end of the nib and gently pull it straight off the feed of your LAMY fountain pen. You might need the fold the rubber drawer liner in half to get a better grip. Sometimes the nib is quite tight so you’ll need a firm grip to remove it.

Grab the end of the nib firmly with the rubber drawer liner.

If you accidentally pull the feed out of the pen along with the nib no need to worry. Use your rubber drawer liner to grab the tip of the nib and another piece of the rubber drawer liner (or maybe even a paper towel or cloth) to grab the feed and then pull them apart. If you look carefully you’ll see that the LAMY Safari fountain pen has a small groove inside the barrel to help direct you to put the feed back in the pen in the correct direction. The flattest side of the feed where the nib fits faces “up” should point toward the top of the triangular ergonomic grip of the pen.

Gently pull the nib straight off of the feed.

Once you get the nib off of the feed it is even easier to get a new nib back on. Be sure to line up the side edges of the steel nib with the grooves on the back of the feed that are designed to hold the nib in place. Push the new nib on gently to prevent any damage to the feed or the nib.

Voila! The nib has been removed from the pen

I took these pictures of a friend trying this for the very first time. She had a little trouble using the rubber liner to get a good grip on the tiny end of the nib, but other than that the whole procedure was quick and simple. How do you like to change the nibs on your LAMY fountain pens? Do you have any tips you’d like to share?

March 27, 2013January 28, 2016

Monteverde Cartridge Refill for LAMY Fountain Pens Review

(Monteverde Ink Cartridges for LAMY Fountain Pens – Burgundy)

Monteverde took it upon themselves to broaden the selection of ink cartridge refills available for LAMY fountain pens by creating their own version of a LAMY T10 ink cartridge.

The ink inside these cartridges features Monteverde’s Ink Treatment Formula that is described as offering the following benefits:

Drastically improves ink-flow quality
Extends cap-off time
Automatically cleans fountain pen feeders
Lubricates and protects the ink feeding system from corrosion and clogging
Improves ink drying time on paper

LAMY produces T10 ink cartridges in only seven colors including black, blue washable, blue-black, turquoise, red, violet, and green. Monteverde’s LAMY-compatible ink cartridge lineup includes eleven colors: black, blue, blue-black, turquoise, red, purple, green, brown, burgundy, fluorescent orange and fluorescent yellow.

(LAMY Safari with a calligraphy nib)

Pick up a LAMY Safari with a calligraphy nib and some Monteverde fluorescent orange or yellow ink cartridges and you’ve got yourself a long-lasting highlighter pen. I personally really like Monteverde’s highlighting ink colors because in my opinion they are softer than some of the screaming bright highlighter inks out there.

(Monteverde Fluorescent Yellow Highlighting Ink Sample)

We noticed a very interesting feature of these Monteverde ink cartridges: one end of the cartridge fits into LAMY fountain pens and the other end fits into fountain pens that take standard international ink cartridges. These cartridges are longer than your usual standard international ink cartridge though, so due to their extra length they will not fit inside the barrel some fountain pens that use this type of cartridge.

Here is a photo of my blue Plumink fountain pen (left) and my lime green LAMY Safari fountain pen (right). They both are using the exact same Monteverde cartridge refills (which happen to be almost empty when I took this photo). If you look closely you can see that the exposed ends of these cartridges are different, depending on if the cartridge is installed in a standard international refill pen or a LAMY T10 refill pen. Dual purpose ink refills!

So far I’ve been very happy with this ink and it has been well behaved on the paper and in pens that I have used. Have you used Monteverde ink refills for LAMY fountain pens? If so, what do you think of them? Have you tried using them in fountain pens that use standard international refills?

June 15, 2011October 21, 2013

What is a Fountain Pen Converter?

(Aurora push-in style piston fountain pen converter)

Those of you that are new to using fountain pens or want to purchase your very first fountain pen may have heard of fountain pen converters but might not know what they are. Do you need one? Should you get one?

Fountain pen converters are designed to be used with fountain pens that are usually filled with ink cartridges. They “convert” these fountain pens from using ink cartridges to using bottled ink instead. The converter has a small reservoir that contains the ink.

The converter can be removed from the fountain pen, so you can still use ink cartridges if you choose. I personally feel that using bottled ink is advantageous because it is cheaper, comes in a wider variety of colors and is easier on the environment (as opposed to throwing away multiple plastic ink cartridges when they become empty). However, ink cartridges are definitely more convenient when you’re on the road.

Push-in style fountain pen converters are pushed on to the nib section of the pen, the same way an ink cartridge would be pushed on to the pen. Screw-in style converters screw on to the nib section of the pen. A previous blog post of ours How to Install a LAMY Converter provides photos and a description of how to attach a push-in style converter to a LAMY Safari fountain pen

(A standard or universal piston converter compared to LAMY and Platinum piston converters)

Many converters are brand-specific, in other words, they are specially made to fit a particular brand or model of fountain pen. Other converters are standard, or universal, and fit the many fountain pens with a standard or universal cartridge filling system. It is often easiest to figure out what kind of converter you need at the time you purchase your fountain pen.

Fountain pen converters have several different types of filling systems including piston, button, and squeeze (aerometric) fill. If you’re having trouble filling your converter with ink you may have to try filling it 2 or 3 times before you get the air bubbles out and get a good fill. How to Fill a Fountain Pen With a Piston Converter provides an example of how to fill a fountain pen using a piston style converter. If you prefer video, LAMY has a video demonstrating how to insert and refill a LAMY fountain pen converter.

Converters, as well as your fountain pen, do need to be cleaned occasionally especially when changing the ink color or brand. Usually cool water is sufficient, but if that doesn’t do the trick try this home-made fountain pen cleaning solution.

Not all fountain pens have ink cartridge filling systems, so not all fountain pens will require a converter. Fountain pens that do not require converters have a piston, aerometric, button or other filling system of their own. What kind of filling system do you like on your fountain pen?

(Pilot Prera fountain pen with a Pilot push-in style piston converter)