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Sunday, December 4, 2011

Weekend Reads 12/4/11

Welcome to the first official Weekend Reads post. I hope you'll enjoy it!


Let's start this off with my favorite articles of the recent week. There are some great ones here, so be sure to check them out.






1) First one is not exactly FP related, but it is related to writing. Someone posted this website up on FPN, and I just had to share it here. I'll keep it a surprise, so you'll have to go find out for yourself what exactly it is. :)

2) Next up is an ink review from one of my favorite fellow bloggers. I've never tried this ink, but Im definitely adding a sample next time I go ink shopping. Noodlers Hunter Green is basically a waterproof ink, in my favorite shade of green.

3) With the holiday season upon us, and Christmas approaching fast, I thought this was a very appropriate post from Economy Pens.

4) I have not seen to many pink inks before... But this one looks pretty intriguing! Very wild, and not a very "manly" ink so to speak, but  enjoyed the review.



Now time for some Q&A!


Q #1: While I can, and have, replaced ink sacs, is there an easy way to get a new ink sac on the section when replacing an old sac? I have tried sac stretchers, tweezers, just my fingers, etc. Sometimes I have immediate success but sometimes it is frustrating beyond belief, the shellac dries out or ends up on my fingers, and I have to start all over! Is there one foolproof way to get the sac onto the pre-shellacked section?
A: My method for placing the sac on the sac-nipple is very simplistic. Once I discovered it however, I have had no trouble in getting my sacs on. I'll attempt to describe it, though I may end up needing to make a video of this one. - Start by trimming your sac to size, and dry fitting it, to make sure it's the right size. Next, give the sac-nipple a good coat of shellac. I prefer to have a little extra, and need t dab it off later, as opposed to not enough. If there's to little, the sac will stick and not slide, and that will make it harder to do this. Now for the real trick. Basically, I just push the sac on. I start with half of the sac-nipple, sliding the sac over it. Then, I use my finger (not pinching) to just push it over the rest of the sac-nipple. After this, I'll twist the sac 1/4 turn, to make sure the shellac is spread. Then dab off any extra shellac, and you're done! That probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but maybe you caught it. I'll work on a "pictorial", or video of this very soon. :)




Q #2: I recently purchased brass shim so that I could floss the tines of my fountain pens in order to increase ink flow. Luckily, my local hardware store had brass shim available to purchase, but only in a package containing various sized sheets of brass shim. Each sheet is a different width/thickness. The package included: .001, .002, .003, and .005. Since I am a novice at this, first, I had no idea that brass shim came in different widths. Second, which one do I use on my pens?
A: The preferred sizes for brass shim, when used with FP's, is .001, and .002. I use both, but mostly the .002. Any wider though, and you might spread the tines to far apart. The .001 is good for cleaning out ink channels in the feed. It's a bit thin to floss the nib with, unless you like a really dry nib.

Q #3: Hi Tyler, how about this: (a) what has been your toughest repair and (b) why was it so difficult? 
A: Wow, that's a tough question. I think I may have had toughest repairs, but never one single repair that's been the most difficult. I'll pick just one tough one though. It's funny actually - My toughest repair is now one of my most ruitine, and easy tasks to perform. At the time however, I was stumped, baffled, and frustrated. I was trying to install a hanging pressure bar into a Waterman pen, for the first time. Boy was that a chore! This one happened to be just a bit bent inside, so it was more difficult than normal. Still, After I finally got it in, I thought - "Why was that so hard!?". I laugh about it now, as I find this very easy to do, but at the time, it wasn't very funny at all. :)






Well, I hope you've enjoyed the weekend reads for this week! I know I was late this week, due to the work needed on my house. Hopefully next week I can run this all as scheduled.


Enjoy the reads, leave me a comment, subscribe if you liked this, and don't forget to submit your questions for next week!


Regards,
Tyler Dahl

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