This Shouldn’t Have Worked - A Tale of Two Scribos

Once upon a time, about three years ago, I bought a Scribo Piuma, Altrove because (1) it was pretty, (2) it was on sale, and (3) it had a flex nib. Nib options were limited so the only flex option left was the 14kt gold Broad Flex. I clicked buy and anxiously waited for it to arrive. I inked it up right away with the best ink match I had and I was whelmed - not over-, not under-, just whelmed. I think part of it was the not-quite-as-perfect ink match as I had thought, but I just wasn’t loving writing with it. (Sorry, no picture of this first inking because I really didn’t enjoy the combination, despite using it for a few weeks.)

Everyone had been raving about the Scribo and their amazing nibs, especially their flex nibs and I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t raving about it too. I was so unexcited about it that I thought it had to be the ink. So I changed inks, and while I liked it better, it still wasn’t good enough. Mind you, it’s not the nib, it was a nice writer, it was smooth, it was juicy, it was flexy. So let me be very clear that it’s not because it was a bad nib. The main thing about flex nibs is line variation, and while there was line variation, the fact that it was a broad nib meant that it gives you a broad-to-broader line, instead of the thin-to-broad lines of traditional flex dip nibs, which was more what I wanted.

I didn’t want to turn this Broad into a Fine or Extra Fine, but thought maybe it could use a little slimming down. So I had Gena Salorino of Custom Nib Studio grind it down to a Medium Broad, while maintaining its current level of flexiness and feel (aka its smoothness on the paper). Gena did a great job, which made the nib feel a lot better, but I still didn’t love it. I eventually set the pen aside in the “last ditch pile”, a pen purgatory, if you will, where I would decide if I would keep it or sell it. It would remain in this pile for over a year while awaiting its fate.

Better with a different ink (Robert Oster’s Cosmic Swirl) and a slight nib reduction.

Fast forward to earlier this year, I decided to ink up the Piuma Altrove because it was decision time. The latest ink pairing was even better so I liked it more, and convinced myself to get another Piuma since there was another sale. This time I got the Piuma in the Levante Orange colorway. All the while, I kept asking myself why I would get another Piuma when I didn’t love the one I already had. On one hand, the price was too good to refuse, and on the other hand, maybe all I needed was a different nib size. I will admit that these were all terrible reasons/rationalizations and you know what’s coming up next: I bought it anyway. I was hoping to get an Extra Fine or Fine Flex, but ended up with my favorite/go-to nib size, Medium.

I inked up the Levante Orange 18kt gold Medium with Kobe #8 Arima Amber, a favorite orangey brown ink, and, sigh, it was fine. I mean, it wrote well, but once again I wasn't wowed. It was a great ink match, it had good flow but it just didn’t excite me. Admit it, you knew this was coming, right? Like there was no way this was going to work out. But wait, there’s more…

Knowing that it shouldn’t make a difference, I decided to swap the nibs. The nib/feed was a tight fit for one of the Piumas so I had Gena pull both nibs and feeds and swap them at the Pacific Northwest Show earlier this summer. No tuning, no grinds, no nib work, just a simple nib/feed swap. And holy moly, Batman, it worked! With the 18kt gold Medium nib now in the Altrove Piuma, it now sparked some serious joy! And the 14kt gold Medium Broad Flex in the Levante Orange Piuma was just the perfect amount of “oomph” that this pen needed!

I can’t explain it but I love this “regular” Medium nib in the Altrove so much more now!

And the juicy flex nib just feels right in the Levante!

Both the Kobe #8 in the Levante Orange and Van Dieman’s Spotted Sun Orchid in the Altrove were in the pens before and after the nib swap, so it’s not the ink that made the difference. From a nib standpoint, they felt the same in both pens (pulling the nib/feed in this case didn’t change how they wrote), but they didn’t “feel right” in their original setup.

Moral(s) of the story:

• Buy all the pens so you can do nib swaps if you don’t like one of them? No, no, no, but if you happen to have a compatible nib from another pen, try a nib swap, you might like them both even better.
• If that’s not an option, and frankly, it was definitely an expensive gamble, clean out the pen and try it with different inks and papers. I already use a variety of papers with my pens, but preferring to matchy matchy my inks and pens can be a bit more limiting. Still, I had quite a few ink choices and some of them definitely made me enjoy the pen a lot more than its initial inking.
• Try a nib grind - I knew pretty quickly that a Broad flex was just too broad for me, so why not experiment with a slight nib reduction? I might have gone for a cursive italic too. Sometimes a nib grind, or even adding (or removing) some feedback is just what the nib needs to feel amazing.
• Set it aside and really think about why you’re keeping the pen if you don’t love it. I loved the material of the Altrove and I just had a gut feeling that the nib should feel enjoyable, but I also know that we don’t all like the same things, so maybe the nib wasn’t for me. And keeping a pen that’s pretty, that I don’t want to ink up, is a terrible reason for me to own a pen.

So happy together!

In summary, don’t be afraid to try something, even if it doesn’t make sense. By all accounts, swapping the nibs shouldn’t have made a difference, but it did. Obviously this wasn’t a dramatic change, nor was changing inks, or getting a nib reduction, and sometimes doing all of these things (and more) still won’t rescue a purchase that just doesn’t jive with you. But for me, all of those things put together, especially the nib swap, resulted in two pens that I LOVE instead of two pens that I was thinking about selling. Maybe two wrongs really do make a write ;-) And they wrote happily ever after.

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Pelikan Pura P40 - A different kind of Pelikan for the Hub

All around the world, people will be gathering to celebrate their love of pens, maybe even with a Pelikan or two! I always ink up a bunch of Pelikans for the Hub and this year is no different, except I inked up a pen that, until earlier this year, I hadn’t really paid much attention to: the Pelikan Pura P40.

(Note: I am typing this after I hand wrote my notes so don’t try to decipher the handwritten content, lol).

The Pelikan Pura P40 is a cartridge fountain pen. The “P” designation in the model indicates that it is a cartridge fountain pen, while its more well-known siblings, like the M200, M400, M800, etc. have the “M” designation, for piston fillers. Side note: “K” is for ballpoint, “D” is for pencil).

Pelikan Pura P40, Bordeaux, inked with Visconti Bordeaux on 68 gsm Tomoe River Endless Recorder.

The Pura is a metal pen with a snap cap, and a steel nib (Extra Fine to Broad). It also snaps to post. The grip is smooth with a slight taper towards the nib. I didn’t have any problems with the grip section being slipper, but I also don’t generally have a problem with metal sections either. There is a slight “lip” where the nib starts but my fingers didn’t really make it down that far, so I don’t know if that would prevent one’s fingers from sliding.

You can see the metal grip, along with the “nib lip”, which my fingers never reached. The nib looks a bit like the Lamy Safari nib but it isn’t the same. To my knowledge, it also isn’t removable.

I think the pen looks very sleek though I wish that the metal stripe lined up with the nib when uncapped. Not a big deal unless I’m staring at it 🙂

You can see the reflection next to my thumb, even though the nib is face up.

It is a slightly heavy pen, compared to most of my pens which are acrylic, or lighter metal, like my Schon pens which are aluminum. This wasn’t an issue when writing because I don’t post my pens, but it really felt back-heavy when I tried to post. It takes a bit of effort to get the cap on and off the back end for posting, but it was definitely secure.

It was definitely too long and back-heavy for me when posted.

The nib is smooth and writes nicely. Having written with it at the Chicago Pen Show, where it was a pretty wet writer, I paired it with a drier ink which I picked for the color, before realizing that the name of the ink and the pen’s colorway were the same.

I don’t clip my pens to anything other than the elastic in pen cases, but the Pura seems to have very little room/clearance for thick fabric. That said, it worked pretty easily when I slid the clip over my Rickshaw pen roll, but you can see that it probably doesn’t love it. I was pleasantly surprised at how easily it slid over a single sheet of this paper.

The clip is pretty flush to the cap but it slides on surprisingly easily. It doesn’t look like it would like this thick fabric for long.

Aside from the grip, which might be slippery for some folks, my only other “gripe”, and it is a minor one at that, is that the polished metal is a fingerprint magnet. As I mentioned above, It takes a bit of force to snap the cap on, especially to post. Now that I think about it, the other thing is that converters don’t fit, so you have to use cartridges, which is not the end of the world but it adds a bit of hassle if you want to use bottled ink.

Comparison pens (L to R): Esterbrook Estie, Pilot Custom 823, Diplomat Aero, S T Dupont D-Initial, Pelikan Pura, Lamy Studio, Leonardo Momento Zero, TWSBI Eco, Sailor Pro Gear.

The Pura’s grip is the most similar to the Lamy Studio, which isn’t entirely surprising since both are German pens.

The Dupont doesn’t really post, so I didn’t force it.

The Pelikan Pura P40 is a solid pen and a good writer, especially if you prefer a slightly heavier pen. It’s not often you find pens with this heft in this price point - one of the few that come to mind would be the Diplomat Aero which is similar in both weight and price. The MSRP for the Pura P40 is around $190 USD, with a street price of around $150, making it pretty similar in price to the smaller and lighter M200 series. I’m enjoying the Pura but we shall see if it results in the “gotta catch ‘em all” vibe that I get from the other models, especially since there are new colors AND a pattern coming out later this year sneak peek on the Pura webpage. I can’t wait to find out what my fellow Hub attendees think about this pen!

(Disclaimer: The Pura was part of my payment for working at the Pelikan table at the 2024 Chicago Pen Show. All other pens are my own.)

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White Bear Pens Echo Fountain Pen Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

Handmade pens? Yes. In beautiful, unique materials? Yes. From a woman-owned shop and new penmaker? Triple yes! Everything about this is good and the pen itself is the best part.

White Bear Pens is a new company founded in 2023 by Mikayla Jackson, who took the journey most of us take: straight down the fountain pen rabbit hole. And then she took it a step further and decided to learn how to make her own pens. She's been touring pen shows all year with a lovely selection of pens in two models: the Ursa and the Echo. I was extremely fortunate to receive an Echo for review. It also came with a custom Rickshaw pen sleeve with the White Bear logo and the softest plush interior to keep the pen safe and cozy.

Handmade pens in fun colors of acrylic are my personal kryptonite, so this was love at first sight. The acrylic is a sparkly blend of pinks, teals, blues, greens, gold, purple, and did I mention sparkle? This is unicorn perfection. There are even fuchsia rings set into the bottom finial and cap band that are so expertly fitted that you can't even feel them--it feels like one smooth piece, even though the construction of such a feature has to be a ton of extra work.

The cap is threaded and the grip section is lightly shaped and flared, giving it a comfortable shape for writing. The cap does not really post--you can put it on fairly shallowly, but I wouldn't want to scratch the material on the threads by trying to force it to post. It has a very nice silver, spring-loaded clip, though, so the cap won't roll away if you set it down. On the top of the cap is an inlay of the White Bear logo, which looks fantastic.

The pen takes either a standard international converter or cartridge, and it does come with a converter. It has a steel nib, this one in an extra fine, engraved with the White Bear logo. White Bear Pens does have their nibs professionally tuned, and it shows. This things writes like a dream. It is super smooth with perfect flow--an absolute pleasure to write with. I was just making lists at first, but I didn't want to stop writing! That's very useful for a gal on a deadline or three!

I am very excited to have experienced one of these early pens from White Bear Pens and I can't wait to see what Mikayla does next!

(This pen was purchased by Brad from White Bear Pens at the 2024 Atlanta Pen Show.)

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