A Tale of Two Pens

So, I wanted a replacement FP to take the place of the little Filcao
Forever I mangled, at least until it's repaired. I bought one well
regarded modern, and one vintage that qualifies for "a classic."

The local Office Max had a Waterman Phileas "starter kit" for $30,
about what the Forever cost with shipping. The kit comes with five
cartridges in various colors, a converter, a bottle of black ink, two
sheets of blotter paper and a rather useless pamphlet on fountain
pens. Oh, and a pen was in there somewhere, too.

It's weird how a company can manage to make a "high quality plastic",
but that's what the Phileas is made out of. Very smooth and well
finished, didn't feel cheap at all. A very substantial, quality feel
to the instrument... the cap clicks into place solidly and posts well,
and it's very well balanced in the hand.

Unfortunately, the reason why it's so well balanced is that they glued
a long brass sleeve inside the barrel near the end. Long international
cartridges slide into it with no problems, but short international
cartridges don't fit... the Montblanc blue-black carts were too fat
near the end to fit into the sleeve. So, I slid a blue cart into it
and tried that, instead. I hope this isn't the famed Waterman Florida
Blue... it's an unattractive light blue/turquoise color, and it
feathers and seeps like mad.

The nib is a medium, and if this is Waterman's idea of a medium, I
don't want to see what they consider a "broad." It's like writing with
a garden hose, and writing with it was a race to keep ahead of the ink
seeping through three pages of the generic spiral-bound notebook I was
using as a testbed. No way it would work with a Moleskine. It might be
more manageable with a better ink, so I'll order a bottle of MB B/B
and put the converter to the test... a fine nib might help, too, but
they only come in medium at Office Max/Staples.

The other pen is a Parker Vacumatic in black, gotten from the local
flea market for $30. It's been well loved, lots of tarnish, and some
wear on the barrel where the cap posts, and the "blue diamond" clip
has been bent and then bent back once or twice. In short, a good,
solid $30 Vacumatic. The filling mechanism works great, but the pen
doesn't like being stored horizontal, and the nib weeps a drop or two
to let me know.

The nib is an extra fine, and lays down a line of ink about the same
witdth as a .3mm roller. Not a very smooth writer, due either to the
wear of constant use over the years, the narrowness of the tip, or
both. Despite this, it's a superb writer, laying down a wet, thin line
of ink. Filled with the Waterman Black that came from the Phileas kit,
it lays down a line fine enough to ride atop the moleskine page
without any seep-through, and the paper's surface keeps the feathering
to a minimum. There is a lot of feather on other types of paper, but I
believe it's the ink rather than the nib. I'm interested to see how it
would write with a deep, saturated blue that's less inclined to
feather than Waterman.

Neither pen is anywhere near the writer the Filcao is at the same
price point. I'm looking forward to their full size and dinky
celluloid button-fillers.

~ Matt Gabriel, Mad Poet

On some level, celluloid and phenolic resin (bakelite) are plastic,
but it's impossible to mistake those materials for PVC, nylon,
polystyrene or polycarbonate. In much the same way, it's impossible to
mistake the Phileas' barrel for a Bic. The Bic feels (and is) cheap
PVC. High quality acrylic-based material, like lucite, has a
"finished" feel that cheaper synthetics do not. My guess is that the
Phileas is made from either acrylic or a high-quality polycarbonate
(like the iMac), and that the Montblanc is made from similar. On the
other hand, if that "precious resin" is a pure black phenolic resin
variant rather than a modern synthetic like polycarbonate or lucite,
that might explain the MB's famous fragility.

~ Matt Gabriel, Mad Poet

(Dik F. Liu) wrote in message ...
In article ,
(Matt Gabriel, Mad Poet of Newport) writes:

It's weird how a company can manage to make a "high quality plastic",
but that's what the Phileas is made out of.

I am under the impression that most pens these days (except celluloid and metal
pens) are made of plastic. That's what the "resin" in the pen ads refers to.
They just don't call it plastic because it sounds cheap. Even MB's "precious
resin" is just plastic. Am I wrong?

Dik

On 20 Jul 2003 21:33:16 -0700, (Matt Gabriel, Mad Poet of Newport) said:


Matt The nib is a medium, and if this is Waterman's idea of a
Matt medium, I don't want to see what they consider a "broad."
Matt It's like writing with a garden hose, and writing with it
Matt was a race to keep ahead of the ink seeping through three
Matt pages of the generic spiral-bound notebook I was using as a
Matt testbed. No way it would work with a Moleskine. It might be
Matt more manageable with a better ink, so I'll order a bottle of
Matt MB B/B and put the converter to the test...

I don't think there's anything wrong with Waterman ink. MB ink is
certainly no better. Different? Of course. Better? I don't think
so. It's probably not all that different, either.

As for the nib, you can probably have Waterman exchange the nib for
you. If you can, trying out the nib before you buy is usually a good
idea.

Matt The nib is an extra fine, and lays down a line of ink about
Matt the same witdth as a .3mm roller. Not a very smooth writer,
Matt due either to the wear of constant use over the years, the
Matt narrowness of the tip, or both.

You'd think years of use would make it smoother. Are you sure it's
aligned properly? Is the iridium still there?

Matt Despite this, it's a superb writer, laying down a wet, thin
Matt line of ink. Filled with the Waterman Black that came from
Matt the Phileas kit, it lays down a line fine enough to ride
Matt atop the moleskine page without any seep-through, and the
Matt paper's surface keeps the feathering to a minimum. There is
Matt a lot of feather on other types of paper, but I believe it's
Matt the ink rather than the nib.

Could be the paper.


--


FOOLED you! Absorb EGO SHATTERING impulse rays, polyester poltroon!!

I am surprised that you didn't like the Phileas, it is still one
of the best pens that I own. I agree that the medium nib puts out
a lot of ink, but I have no problems with it on generic legal pads
or notebooks, and it writes great on nicer paper. Although, perhaps
you are putting on more hand pressure than I do.

IMHO, it can't be beat at the price. However, discussion in this
newsgroup has led me to look at trying out a Filcao myself. It is
just a matter of finding a place to order one, preferably one
located in Canada.

I use bottled Waterman ink, and the Florida Blue is nice, although
I tend to go with the black (for writing) or the violet (for marking
up printed pages -- it stands out nicely).

Regards,
Anthony

Hi Anthony!
I am the importer of the FILCAO pens for North America.
While we do not have any retailers in Canada, we have several online
retailers who will gladly ship to Canada.
Our warranty is valid worldwide, so if you were to have any problems with
the pens, we will gladly repair or replace it under warranty. We'll even pay
your postage if you have to return one of our pens. We pride ourselves on
the level of service we offer.
A list of FILCAO online retailers can be found at:
http://www.tryphon.it/pens/links.htm
Also, do not forget to look at our other pen lines: GB Borghini, Bruno and
Columbus!
The Borghini V110 is a great alternative to the Phileas, if you like fairly
large pens.
Thanks for your interest in FILCAO pens!
Giovanni

"Anthony Delorenzo" wrote in message
...
IMHO, it can't be beat at the price. However, discussion in this
newsgroup has led me to look at trying out a Filcao myself. It is
just a matter of finding a place to order one, preferably one
located in Canada.
Regards,
Anthony