In memoriam Greg Hardy, Hardy Penwrights, 1963-2024

(Caroline Foty's first fountain pen was a 1970s Sheaffer No Nonsense that still writes perfectly. Since she discovered pens by independent makers, she wants "one of each, please" and wants to meet all the makers. Maybe you do, too. She lives in Baltimore with pens, cats, and all kinds of fiber arts supplies.)

In early October, Hardy Penwrights announced a post-show-season sale of pens on their web shop. When I placed my order, in the order comments I wrote that I’d been thinking I needed another Hardy pen, and here in my inbox was a sale.

I only mention this because of the email I got back the next day: “Speak of the devil and he shall appear!” It’s an example of the wit for which Greg Hardy was well known.

Hardy passed away unexpectedly on October 26th. We talked about his artistry in the shop, and his sources of inspiration, in the Meet Your Maker series in February 2023. I reached out to his friends in the pen maker community for their stories about him as a colleague and fellow maker.

Greg Hardy, left, and Rich Paul.

Rich Paul (River City Pen Co.) said, “In early 2022 having been laid off the prior year I was struggling with things overall. Greg invited me to his home for a long weekend where he, Tim Crowe, Gavin Hardy (Greg’s son,) and I made pens from the first run of Turnt Pen Co. Allegheny River blanks. We made eight of them with each of us working on specific parts. We all kept one and gave one away over the course of the next year to a young person we hoped to penable or felt inspired by. Spending time with Greg away from shows was quite an experience. Greg loved his family and spoke highly of each one. He glowed with pride. Even more so when they weren’t around. He was a very insightful friend. A deep thinker, a comedian, a family man. And his friends were also his family. And he let that be known not so much in his words. But in his actions. I learned a lot of things that weekend. Both about pens. And about life.”

Back (L to R): Rich Paul, Jim Hinze, Jon Tello, Kirk Speer. Front (L to R): Greg Hardy, Elyse Longazelle.

Rich also included a pair of photos from a pen show that show Hardy’s sense of humor. In the first shot, you see Rich, Greg, Jim Hinze, and Braxton Frankenbery apparently just standing around together. In the second shot, you see how the first one was made.

L to R: Rich Paul, Greg Hardy, Jim Hinze, Braxton Frankenberry.

Jim Hinze (Hinze Pen Co.) said, apropos of that photo, “He would always call me ‘little buddy.’ He was one of the few people outside of immediate family that could get away with calling me Jimmy. From him it seemed natural. He was one of the kindest people I knew. He was ALWAYS willing to help anyone in the pen world whether it be a maker, a collector, an aspiring pen addict.” His way of helping me at a pen show was to always know the count of independent makers who were exhibiting there.

Tim Crowe (Turnt Pen Co.) remembered getting his start as a maker through connecting with Greg. “I came across an ad for Hardy Penwrights, a company I’d never heard of, and being interested in the pen, I messaged the maker. A fella named Greg responded and started talking to me as if we’d known each other for years. That night, l got another message from Greg. It turns out that he thought I was my dad (also Tim Crowe). Through that conversation, I found out that he lived right up the road in Scio, NY, and that my dad had student taught in Greg’s classroom. I told my dad about it and he lit up. He had so many hilarious stories from both student teaching and the ten years they worked together afterward.”

“A few months later, I had the idea that I wanted to try my hand at making pens. I posted in a random Facebook pen turning group asking if anyone could point me toward some resources to get started. Within an hour Greg had messaged me and invited me to his shop to teach me. On February 18, 2020, Greg stood next to me for about ten hours and guided me through the entire process, start to finish. He let me use his tools, his materials, and most importantly, his time. I left that night with the very first custom pen I’d made myself, but more importantly, I’d gotten to know the man who would act as my friend and mentor (I’d often call him pensei, my pentor, or Obi Wan Penobi). Every time I had a question, an idea, or needed some guidance, Greg was there. Whenever I ran into a problem, whether with pens or in education, Greg was happy to help. Ultimately, our friendship went way beyond pens. He and his wife Carlene opened their home not just to me, but to my entire family.”

Pierre Miller (Desiderata Pens) said that a couple of years ago at the Chicago pen show, he fell into conversation with Greg about the dish of candy he always kept on his table. It related to his background in education administration and was a tool for communicating with students: “He said even kids who were behaving poorly, if you gave them a piece of candy they’d shut up.” He didn’t say whether or not this was applicable to his pen show customers.

Cheers, my friend.

Greg’s influence on the pen community will be lasting, both in the qualities of his friendship and in the intriguing metalwork that led to his pens receiving multiple nominations in the Pen World Reader’s Choice Awards and one award for Best Metal Mastery. He will be missed by everyone who knew him, and his pens will call him to everyone’s mind whenever they are put to use.

Hardy Penwrights Model 10-R Retro Fountain Pen Review

“Swing by the table later. I’ve got something for you.”

When a pen maker stops me in the hallway of a pen show and drops that on me I instantly have a new number one priority at the show.

In this case, Greg Hardy of Hardy Penwrights was speaking my love language, and I made a point to drop by his table at the earliest opportunity.

What he had for me served two purposes. One, he wanted me to test a specific design of his that he thought I would like, and two, he wanted to got full “Pen Addict” on the design just for me. Needless to say, both of those things had me pretty excited.

The pen model is the 10-R Retro, which Greg designed to take on the size and feel of vintage fountain pens. In short, from the product page:

“the Retro is designed for our customers who appreciate the size and feel of vintage pens while wanting the ease of using a modern pen.”

The funny thing is that if Greg never told me the inspiration behind this pen, the words “vintage” or “retro” would have never crossed my mind. My initial thoughts were that this is a perfectly shaped pen for my tastes. It features a slightly narrower than standard barrel, a slightly shorter length cap and grip section, a classically shaped stainless steel clip, and a #5 Bock nib (more on that in a minute.)

The most important part of the 10-R is what you can’t see: an integrated metal sleeve beneath the grip section. This makes every bit of difference in this pen. I knew it felt great when I uncapped it, but I didn’t know exactly why until Greg told me to unscrew the barrel. There, I saw the insert that made all of the difference.

So yeah, this is a smaller, narrower fountain pen. If you like that style like I do then the 10-R Retro is one to look at.

Kaweco Sport #5 nib (left) vs. Bock #5.

The nib is another consideration. As I mentioned, it is a Bock #5, which is slightly wider across the shoulders of the nib than comparable nibs from Jowo or Schmidt. This one is firm and fine, and writes well. It should, as Greg had it tuned by Kirk Speer at Pen Realm before giving it to me.

At this point, if it sounds like Greg was setting me up for a review that couldn’t fail, well, you would be right. I mean, did you see the Orange Sherbert material by Tim Crowe at Turnt Pen Co. that he used? Oh by the way, Greg made a custom finial, too. All. The. Things.

Price wise, the 10-R Retro checks in at $275, which I think is at the top end for this pen. That makes sense as it is made in smaller batches compared to the 10-T Traveller, which runs $185 but has certain economies of scale built in to allow for a lower price. For me, I prefer the 10-R design, and the differences it has over standard barrel shapes.

This pen was a gift from Greg, and I’m thankful for the opportunities I have to meet makers like him, and share in his creations. Thanks Greg!

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The Pen of Jeopardy

(Diane L. is a renegade physicist, engineer, photographer and writer, and was gracious enough to write this geust post for The Pen Addict.)

I was over a thousand points ahead and each of my two opponents had just provided a wrong answer to the final question. I knew I had given the right answer, so I was poised to win Pen Addict Jeopardy at the Baltimore / Washington International Pen Show 2020. What could possibly go wrong? But just as the show master Brad Dowdy prepared to read out my answer, it dawned on me that I had committed the most egregious mistake a Jeopardy player could make. I covered my head in my hands as Brad announced, “she said ‘shoes!’” and then repeated in horror “wait, she said ‘shoes…’” and turned in consternation to the other judges, Ana Reinert and Corinne Litchfield …

The Thomas Point Lighthouse Pen by Greg Hardy of Hardy Penwrights is a one-of-a-kind custom pen made to be a prize for a competition at the show.

To quote from the pen’s Instagram page, “The barrels of this pen feature a custom pour by McKenzie Penworks in DiamondCast Ocean Blue and Clear resin. It was chosen to fit the theme of the pen which highlights the Thomas Point Lighthouse located on the Chesapeake. The idea for the metal work came up in a brainstorming session with fellow pen maker Tom Gauntt of Chesapeake Pen Co., and is constructed of nickel silver and bronze – a dozen separate pieces in total.”

And that metalwork, forming the roll stop, is a replica of the Chesapeake Bay’s iconic Thomas Point Shoal Light.

What literally sparks joy about this pen at a first glance is the presence of tiny flakes of mica and real diamond dust which recreate both the sparkle of the sun on the waves and the twinkling stars in the night sky behind the lighthouse. The swirls of deep blue in the translucent material move like waves as you rotate the barrel.

The lighthouse theme is also a personal favorite.

The pen came with an easy-going Jowo #6 F nib, which I chose to keep although an exchange was offered. As a lifelong extra-fine enthusiast recently getting into architect and flex nibs, I’m happy to just write with this pen without expending any mental effort on alignment and form - and I can always swap it for another of my Jowo #6’s if I change my mind. In terms of construction, the cap has a slightly conical, nearly flat top and a rounded end. The cap takes just over 2 turns to open or close, and the triple threads on the barrel are barely perceptible to the touch as well as being out of contact when I grip the comfortable, slightly flared section.

The pen came with a name-branded Schmidt converter which fits reliably. Although I often go for a contrast color when inking pens, in this case I decided to go matchy-matchy with Organics Studio Glycine.

As mentioned above, this pen is one of a kind. However, Greg Hardy is a custom pen manufacturer working from a variety of inspirations including Arthurian legend, Celtic knotwork, nature and astronomy. He has a variety of pens available for sale in gorgeous colors with handmade metal clips and roll stops, and invites suggestions for concept pens.

So how did I win Pen Addict Jeopardy? As I was called up to join the game in round 2, I muttered “this won’t go well,” because I have never watched an episode of Jeopardy. As a spectator during the first round, I had learned the importance of stating the answer in the form of a question. I carefully drilled myself to think before I spoke and always speak the question; for example in response to “this pen company makes the Soubriquet?” one would have to reply “What is the Desiderata Pen Company?” rather than just “Desiderata.” Unfortunately, having trained myself to do this when I spoke, I forgot to do so in writing for the last question: instead of turning in something like “what are shoes” in answer to “Jim Rouse was selling this when he met Bert Oser,” I simply wrote “shoes.” So despite being correct, this answer was wrong, and I lost my bet.

However, rather than betting the entire farm on my answer as my two opponents had done, I bet a conservative 600 points, and so even though I lost the question, I still won the game. Winning was such a rush that I completely forgot there were prizes. I was given a gift bag containing a bottle of Pilot Iroshizuku Take-Sumi and a plain black pen box. When I opened it, I was in disbelief that I was the new owner of the beautiful pen within. The next day I was able to meet and thank the maker, Greg Hardy, hear the story of how the pen came to be, and see more of his wonderful creations.

With many thanks to Bert Oser for another fantastic BWI pen show, Brad for being the Pen Addict Jeopardy show master, Ana and Corinne for judging, to the other competitors, especially runner-up Meghan,> and to the spirit of the late Jim Rouse, who would surely have been entertained by the turn of events at the end of the game.

(I didn’t pay for this pen. I won it in a game of Pen Addict Jeopardy!)

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!