Old becomes new!

Behold my new pen!

Somewhat of a Pilot Super clone with that big (brassed) cap band, this pen is actually made by "Ever", a low-tier maker active in 1950's Japan. I rediscovered this humble pen in my junk box this afternoon, and became especially interested in it when I noticed that the inlaid steel nib appeared to be exceptionally fine. The potential for exceptionally fine nibs always excites me, so I decided to give the pen a little TLC.

The pen had been in the junk box for about two years - with good reason. It had been given to me as a parts pen, even though it was NOS and still had two stickers on it. The clip was loose and the trim showing a lot of brass. I tried various methods to tighten the loose cap without success, so in the end, out came the two-part epoxy adhesive! I removed the stickers, cleaned the pen up, and polished the cap, barrel and trim with a bit of carnuba wax. The feed is ebonite, as is the whole grip section. This made the pen slightly more interesting - the less potentially brittle plastic, the better.

The steel nib is imprinted with 'Venus', and bears the 〄 mark. The tines were quite misaligned, but I soon had that fixed, and then inked the pen with Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-Ryoku. I'm pleased to report that the line is ridiculously fine! :)

Pilot Iroshizuku Ito-Ya Inks

The other day I received two bottles of Pilot's 'Tokyo Limited Edition' ink. These were made especially for the stationery store to end all other stationery stores, Ito-Ya, Ginza district, Tokyo.

Click to enlarge!

Three inks were produced: Shimbashi-Iro, Edo-Murasaki and Fukagawa-Nezu. Not being a fan of blue, I passed on the Shimbashi-Iro, but the rich red-violet and green-grey tones of the other two were unmissable!

The ink samples I brushed on above are: Yama-Budo, J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune (Moondust), Edo-Murasaki, Fukagawa-Nezu, Fuyu-Syogun and Kiri-Same.

I don't write ink reviews, but keep your eyes on Inkophile, because samples of Edo-Murasaki and Fukagawa-Nezu will be with Margana shortly.