Let me start by apologizing for having to wait TWO WEEKS before making my first real post on this blog. Work has been really busy in the days leading up to Father's Day. The company I work for is like a candy store for dads, granddads, and other red-blooded American dudes, so Father's Day is a bit like Christmas at the office. Plus, my access to WiFi at home is a bit limited, so it's likely that my posts will be mostly made on Mondays for the time being.
There are already lots of excellent blogs and YouTube channels out there for us old school handwriting enthusiasts in the fountain pen world; I admit that there's not much more I can do to add to the excellent content those folks have already provided...so I'm going to make this as worth your while as I can, in my own way. I'm grateful to everyone who subscribes, here. 😊
That being said, let's start with my newest, coolest pen: an instrument that harkens back to the USA's golden age of fountain pens: a Conklin Limited Edition Duraflex.
This pen is made of a beautiful deep blue & black resin with rose gold trim (which doesn't show up well in my cheesy photo), with a steel Conklin "omni-flex" nib, also in a rose gold color. Only 1898 were made in each of these limited edition versions; mine is #1837.
It came with a small bottle of Conklin's 120th Anniversary Blue Ink, which I find quite nice and useful, if not something we haven't already seen in most other "utility-blue" fountain pen inks. (I suppose that's actually Yafa's ink, who own both the Conklin and Monteverde brands.) It certainly isn't a boring color; be assured of that! The pen comes in a pretty big box, which is a departure from the usual hinged "coffin" boxes that the other Conklin pens are packaged in. I don't have the heart to throw out pen boxes, so this one got added to the neatly stacked pile of other pen-boxes that are accumulating on the top of my writing desk.
That makes me sound like a "hoarder"...don't judge. 😁
It writes wetly and smoothly, but seems to have a tendency to run a bit dry after a few lines, so you have to re-prime the nib. That converter is actually threaded so your grip section won't slip off of it in a dramatic bid to "end it all" and plunge suicidally into the bottom of the ink bottle, which you must then rescue from the bottle with a pair of stamp collector's tongs which I fortunately happened to have. The omni-flex action gives the nib a softer feel than you normally get from steel nibs.
How does it look on paper, you ask?
Ever notice how in all those online writing samples, the poor dog gets just, you know, completely disrespected? Disenfranchised, even? That spastic fox leaps and jumps and flounces over him like an utter buffoon, while he's trying to take a nap? As if napping were somehow a bad thing??? We here at The Busted Nib happen to like dogs; your humble editor here has two of them, and I tell you that they are very, very tired of being coldly marginalized in all these pen reviews. They will remain silent on this matter no more. With all due respect to Dr. S.B.R.E. Brown, who was the first (and still my absolute favorite) pen reviewer I ever followed online, and who has been "making the quick brown fox jump" for many years & many excellent, highly useful pen reviews, the "lazy dog" will at last be given his due at The Busted Nib. 😁
So..."what the devil does this splendid new pen of yours have to do with Ha Ha Tonka, John?" This pen was actually a very generous, surprise gift from a dear friend and pen-pal from New Zealand, who shall remain nameless for the sake of her privacy. When I heard that she has family roots right here in Missouri, where I also live...close enough to the Busted Nib Headquarters that it was easily in reach of a short day trip, and that she had never had opportunity to see her own grandfather's headstone, I rather impetuously decided to go find it for her. It turns out that the gentleman was an important historical figure there, some 100 years ago. At the risk of seeming a bit ghoulish, taking photos in a cemetery and all, my brother and I took a drive there last month and took some photos for her. We found quite a few headstones from her family, some dating back many decades. Forgive me if I don't post any of those online; again, for privacy reasons.
Near this location is Ha Ha Tonka State Park. The name is said to be an Osage Indian word for "Laughing Springs". A hundred years ago, a rich businessman from Kansas City who had been star struck by the beautiful estates he'd seen on his European travels decided to build a "castle" of his own in that area. It was called a "castle", but from what I can see of the ruins, it more closely resembles an English abbey or a French chateau. Kindly note that I am *not* an architect; this is purely an untrained, personal observation.
Regrettably, the man who caused it to be built was killed in one of Missouri's first ever automobile accidents around 1920 or so, within a year of it's construction, but his sons made sure his father's dream was completed. Unfortunately, a few years later, a fire started in a guest's chimney flue which destroyed the once beautiful home, leaving only stone ruins. Embers from the fire floated all the way down the hill & down the long drive from the estate proper to the carriage house/servants quarters, and burned it down as well. As if that wasn't tragic enough, the estate's water tower was set afire by miserable, wretched, fatherless heathen vandals (ok the tourist brochure just says "vandals", but that's surely what they meant) and it's lower levels were similarly destroyed.
Eventually, the State of Missouri bought the land that the ruins sit on and turned it into a state park. The land around it is a prime example of Missouri's famous karst topography, and the underground water system has carved a beautiful Ozarks landscape around it with lots of caves.
I was here once before, maybe 25 years ago, when you could still walk around inside the ruins. In recent years, a state engineer determined that the crumbling walls of the "castle ruins" are increasingly unsafe, so wooden fences were set up around them with signs asking people to please refrain from stepping inside them, for safety.
Visiting this spot was a nice way to cap off a great day of mild weather, as well as a certain sense of "Mission: Accomplished" at having found that old cemetery for my friend Down Under. Finding out that her grandfather actually sold some of the land to the business tycoon who built this once-regal place a century ago was icing on the cake.
And yes, I had that Conklin Duraflex pen in my shirt pocket during this entire time as my brother, and freelance photographer for The Busted Nib, and I hiked the ruins.
Feel free to leave any comments!
That was a fun day! Nice pen! Another day trip to somewhere is already in order.