#sheaffer ink

Since the invention of the fountain pen, engineers have dreamed up all kinds of ways to make filling it up as easy and mess-free as possible. The Sheaffer Touchdown introduced one-handed filling with a single stroke. The Snorkel added a crucial new feature:

Hence the name!

The Snorkel tube deploys and retracts automatically. You turn the knurled end of the barrel to extend the tube and also to engage the filling system. Pull out the back end, position the tube in your ink, and push the back end in. Count to three and then screw it all back together.

Many Snorkels have fancy Triumph or inlaid nibs, but mine has a normal open nib. The model name is "Admiral" and was the second cheapest version.

Please enjoy this drivel about picking a notebook and fountain pen for note taking:

I love writing with my fountain pens so much that I try to use them for anything I'm recording—I only keep a ballpoint for emergencies, basically—so I've landed on sorting them out for different uses. I keep a bullet journal/planner and a hodgepodge of other notebooks, each with a corresponding pen or two.

Above is a Soumkine Universal Planner that I decided will house my miscellaneous academic reading: stuff that I want to take notes on but not necessarily stuff I need to keep in a dedicated project notebook. Today I'm reading a guide to history writing because surprisingly, I have never been taught how to write a history essay.

The paper here is a bit toothier than is ideal, but the grid layout and narrow page are excellent for jotting notes down alongside a book when you need to have both out on a desk. It's also thin enough that I can just slide it under my book and leave a page peeking out to write on.

I typically write in two colours at a time (one neutral, one colour) so I can have some highlighted elements in the text, but not an overwhelming amount. I find having to switch pens or highlight distracts me from actually understanding a substantial amount of information in a text because I'm so distracted by how I should be recording it.

Today I'm accenting with a Stabilo beFab! M nib inked with Sailor Irori (red) and doing the bulk of the writing with a Platinum Prefounte F nib inked with Sheaffer Skrip Black. Both of these are cheap pens geared for everyday writing, and I find both to be great for note taking, so much so, that I think they're going to become my dedicated writers for this purpose.

First, they each have a nib that plays nice with toothy paper—the Prefounte especially. I don't want something extra fine that's going to scratch or skip constantly while I'm trying to take down a lengthy quote, that's endlessly annoying.

Further, they're both made of light plastic and have comfy grips. I have hands that are weak and tiny! I have other heavier pens that feel nice, weighty, and fancy in the hand, but that lengthy quote isn't getting any shorter. Especially in full length pens, I prefer a light body and comfy grip. Bonus points to the beFab! here for having a grip that is long and slightly squishy. I also am left-handed and hold my pen like a gremlin, so I don't want to be muddling around with any grip correctors (seen on the infamous Lamy Safari and Al Star) or cap threading.

Speaking of caps, I don't want to use a screw on cap. This is my primary reason for writing with these two pens; it's so irritating to be unscrewing a cap every time you need to jot something down, or worse, having your nib dry every time you spend a few minutes reading a compelling passage. Both of these pens have a pop on cap that I can easily take on and off with one hand. The Prefounte goes the extra mile with its spring-loaded cap seal that is not only airtight, but also closes with a satisfying click.

Which sounds very American, but in fact the Eagle Pencil Company was founded as Vera-Bleistift-Fabrik in Fürth, Bavaria in 1856. A few years later they established a branch in New York City and made quite a few pens in the US.

The Eagle line was decently high quality; they also had cheaper pens labeled EPENCO.

The nib on this one is medium with a touch of flex, and gets impressive shading from Sheaffer Skrip Blue. This particular blue-and-silver celluloid pattern can also be found in green or red, also from Eagle. It's quite pretty and has nice chatoyancy.

I don't know what to say about this pen except that it's absolutely gorgeous with a nice soft nib. It's so, so GOLD, and how about that fleur-de-lis chasing!

Seriously, it's hard not to just ogle this thing.

And what blows my mind is that this was a company pen! Maybe a retirement gift? Because I've gotten some nice company gifts, but nothing as cool as this pen.

Y'know, knowing about antique fountain pen brands and where they were based, it surprises me that they didn't go with a local brand like Waterman. Was this cheaper? (Oh, and I misspelled the name. It's Ingersoll with two Ls.)

The Conklin Endura was made from 1924 to 1930, with celluloid models like this one being introduced in 1926. This color is known as Lapis Blue and is highly sought after. And no wonder! It really is the color of lapis lazuli. The swirls of different blues give it lovely depth.

The tipping on the nib is very nearly gone. Like, I was worried I'd need to find a new one. But what's there makes for a fat, juicy stub that glides like butter.

(I love how my macro lens shows how the slit was cut so long it went past the breather hole. Oops!)

Black grosgrain and a little brass slide!

I don't think this pen was used much. The nib was bent, so maybe someone put it away rather than get it fixed. Which means this little guy has no trace of fading.

Look how black it is! And how crisp the imprint is! In collector parlance, this guy is *molten*.

The nib needed a little help, and writes well now. The sac it needed was a size 12, the smallest I had. (I think they go down to 10?)

I have a soft spot for common workhorse type pens, which this one 100% is. Mine's the stainless steel "flighter" with a 14k nib, but most of them are plastic with steel nibs. It came in a bunch of colors (including pink!) and a lot of different nib types. And it was in production from 1960 to 2008 without any significant changes.

It takes Parker cartridges/converters and the hooded nib unscrews for easy cleaning and replacement.

It writes a bit dry. Which isn't bad: you can see it gets nice shading out of boring old Sheaffer Skrip Blue.

The section is chewed up for some reason. Maybe a failed repair? Fortunately it's cosmetic and doesn't affect the pen's usability.

Not much else to say about this pen except that it writes very dry, and the material is gorgeous.