I was told when I turned in last month's column that I was going to stir up a hornet's nest, and boy, did I! I received tons of email from pen enthusiasts on both sides of the issue, which involved complaining about a pen's writing problems without seeking service from the dealer or manufacturer, and I started receiving gifts of fine pens from dealers and manufacturers (okay, I made that part up).

Please keep in mind that this column is designed to help promote discussion or make folks think, or maybe take a look at certain aspects of the hobby in a different light. I'll reprint a couple of the responses I received later, but first I'd like to give a few thoughts on the recent LA pen show.

Yes, warm and sunny southern California -- what could be better in the middle of winter? Well, it wasn't really warm and sunny, but who cares what it's doing outside? We're talking pen show.

The LA show, one of the larger shows of the year ordinarily, was big this year. Friday and Saturday were typical dealer-and-weekend-trader days although they seemed a little busier than normal. Sunday the ballroom was packed with pen folks from the first half hour until just before closing time. I met so many new people I can't remember all of them. I'll go out on a limb and say that if this is any indicator of how the rest of this year's shows will be, you won't want to miss one if it's anywhere near you. A day or day-and-a-half drive, you gotta go. A two- to four-hour flight, you gotta go. You and I both know you won't regret it except maybe in the pocket book!

I came home with several flighters to add to the collection, including a Montblanc that was just begging to go home with the Parkers. Plus I got this yellow-and-green-striped pen that I thought at first sight must be a prototype vac and wondered why Dr. I hadn't snatched it up. But alas, it was just another Parker 51.

Well, not your typical Parker 51 and not a prototype -- this was a Torelli custom-made Parker 51.

Brad Torelli is without a doubt the best custom pen maker out there today, and though the material in this pen may seem a bit on the wild side, the craftsmanship is superb. Take the cap, for example: He took a lined gold cap and spent hours burnishing the lines away and smoothing it, then put his own lines on it in the other direction.

Along with custom making the barrel and hood, Torelli even made his own jewels for each end. And upon inking the pen, it functions and writes like a dream. After carrying the pen around in my pocket for several hours at the show, I met up with the gentleman selling it and gave him some green papers from my pocket, for which he thanked me, and the pen got to come home with me.

In my hurried state of mind to get packed up for my flight after the show, I did forget to dink (that's short for de-ink) this pen. That's usually not a problem if you're carrying it with you, but I was shipping most of my stuff to avoid the airport hassles. So when my package of pen-show stuff arrived at home, the cap on this beauty was full of ink. Flushing with water and drying with rolled-up paper towels and Q-tips was in order. But that also leads me to my first tip. I also use compressed air to be sure to get all that ink and residue out. If you don't have an air compressor, get canned air from almost any office supply, computer, or electronics store and it will work just fine.

Wait! Before you start using that air and then coming back to me with ink in you face, on your clothes, the walls, floors, and with flying pen parts everywhere, let me explain the proper procedure. First, put on an old sweatshirt that won't be hurt by inkstains. Flush as much of the ink as possible out in the sink, then take your pen, a bunch of paper towels, a tub of water, and your compressed air to the garage (or outside). Yes, I've had to wash the walls down, so heed this warning! An old piece of carpet, blanket, or towel is good to work over, just in case something gets dropped.

Now swish the cap in the tub of water, wrap it with a paper towel, stick the air nozzle in the end and hold on tight, as you don't want the cap to become a poorly guided missile (been there, done that, too, and the damage to the cap can be pretty bad). Give it a few short blasts of air. The paper towel should absorb most of the ink residue and excess water, which can come out the end of the cap at the top, and maybe where the clip is attached. You'll have to repeat this several times until you're satisfied that all traces of ink are gone; then a thorough drying with a rolled-up paper towel and maybe a light blast of air, and you're done. This will also work on pen barrels that have suffered internal ink leaks. As I said, be careful--it's easy to get ink everywhere and wind up with broken pen parts.

Let's move on to some reader responses from last month. I won't include names to protect the innocent or guilty, depending on how you look at it. The first letter is from someone who didn't quite see things the way I did, but everyone is entitled to an opinion.

"I am one of those people who have complained on line about modern pens that don't write out of the box. Excuse me, but I think you're a bit unfair in your characterization of people like me as complainers. I think, also, that you must be a little too caught up in your world of pens to suggest that everyone should know how to tweak a pen. Are you serious? Should I know how to 'tweak' my car, also? And my computer? And my DVD player? And my Palm Pilot? And my toaster? Give me a break!

"I love pens, spend lots of money on them, and am (displeased) when they don't write well, when there is a design error, when the nib is scratchy (for any sane person), when the flow stinks. I'm a complainer? Damn right. And when I DO send a pen back to a company, wait two months or more until it comes back from Italy or wherever, and it STILL doesn't write well, I have to read 'Da Book'?

"Ironically, elsewhere in your own piece … you mention Sailor pens writing right out of the box and rave about their inking their pens first! Do you see the inconsistency? Why mention that unless it's a big deal for you, too?

"I find quality control stinks with many companies these days. This is a hobby; I am not interested in tinkering. I am interested in writing. I have other hobbies. Come off your high horse a bit and think before you rant."

A second reader writes:

"I have to agree with you 100% that if at first a pen skips, try a different ink. I bought a new Sailor last year and in my hurry to try it out I used one of the supplied cartridges instead of the converter. What a disappointment! But some of us live in areas with different humidity and atmospheric conditions and my other pens work well with basically two brands of ink (and not boutique brands) so out came the converter. Bingo. I tossed the other cartridge supplied with the pen and am a satisfied writer. End of story.

"Forward this to your editor so you get additional space in future issues, I'm sure I'm not the only one who enjoys your contributions."

Most of the responses were more to the tune of this simple but to-the-point one:

"I'm sure you ticked off some people -- those who spend all their time (complaining) and moaning on the forums -- but I really appreciate you writing what you did this month. It certainly does no good for the industry to hear all these people complaining."

Bottom line is, pens are very individual and how they write is partially (but not entirely) up to the user. If in my opinion you truly are a pen enthusiast, you will need to learn some of the tricks to get those hard-to-start pens to write. And I don't have a "high horse," in case you wonder, but I do get some 100+ emails each week asking pen-related questions. At least 90% of those are referred to other folks that are much more capable of answering, or I encourage them to pose the question to the Bulletin Board where they can get responses from a variety of people. Nuff said on that, I guess.

Before I finish, I want to give you my toothpaste tweak. This mainly applies to modern pens with plastic feeds. I'm a big fan of ebonite feeds, first off. But many modern pens are made with plastic ones. This involves a simple cost factor as well as modern production factors. The reason that ebonite feeds tend to work so well is that they are slightly porous and maybe a little rough-surfaced. They tend to hold ink in that ready-to-write mode. Plastic feeds, in contrast, are not porous and are very smooth, which sometimes can be the problem with a slow-starting or skipping pen. If the flushing with soap or 409 and water doesn't help you out, try this toothpaste trick.

First, disassemble the nib and feed from the pen. I know all of them come out or apart in different ways, so for now I have to assume that you can get them apart. Once you have the nib and feed apart, take an old toothbrush and some paste-type of toothpaste (not the gel type). Wet the feed really well, then brush it with toothpaste everywhere and every which way. Be careful not to brush too hard and break it. The idea is that you are dulling the finish on the feed and very slightly (microscopically) roughing up its surface areas. This includes front, back, top, bottom, and in between.

When you're finished with the feed, very carefully do the same to the back side of the nib. Be careful to not scratch that front side. Rinse all the toothpaste residue from the nib and feed -- maybe even use soap and water -- then reassemble everything. I found this to help slow starters, as this seems to help the feed retain the ink a little better. Plus, it takes off some of that shiny plastic look so that the feed looks more like ebonite. Did I say I like ebonite feeds?

Until next time!

Have a Rant? How about a Rave? You can email me 24/7 at dean@penlovers.com

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