Fountain Pens.

[kshitij]

Reposting this after the Grumpy Old Dragon edited my previous post

LOL.

The rate at which he has been buying (and the rate at which I have been selling, over the past few years ), he probably has more than what I have left.

Greedy bu99er!

What to do sir, a mans gotta get as much of the stuff he lusts after as possible. Since I cant collect hot and crazy women, i have settled for knives

Yeah, Kshitij is prepared for both scenarios - he'll fight ideas with the pen and the ideator with the knives!!

SD,
Bro you just spilled the beans on my secret
Ideas and Ideators taken care off, idiots will be sniped from long ranges.

Added in 9 minutes 8 seconds:
P.s. came back home to find my prize waiting for me. Needless to say there will be one more hand written submission by me.

As always, happy to be here!
Cheers.

[essdee1972]

PICS!!! Including a "medal winning pose"!!

[xl_target]

Congrats Kshitij.

[Mack The Knife]

There is a pen maker in Poona by the name of Manoj Deshmukh who crafts handmade pens under the banner of Fosfor Pens. As far as i know, it's a one man show.

http://www.fosforpens.com/

I contacted him a little over a month ago to enquire about a custom pen I wanted made. The fountain pen below is not what I had in mind but due to a misunderstanding, I felt obliged to buy it. Manoj is an excellent person to work with and even though I don't quite care for the orange crush colour, the workmanship is very good. I am not absolutely certain but I vaguely recall reading that the pen boxes are made by his son at home.

So, on to the pics of the Fosfor Maharaja in orange crush and red ebonite with a plated steel Schmidt screw-in nib unit and ink convertor. The pen will also accept standard international cartridges or can also be filled with an eye-dropper or syringe if a larger ink capacity is required.

[essdee1972]

WOW!! That's an awesome find, Mack!!

[brihacharan]

Beautifully crafted!!!
Great sourcing Mack!!!
Does it come with a 14K Gold Plated Medium Nib?
Briha

[Mack The Knife]

Fosfor pens have been around for a few years, I just did not get around to ordering from Manoj.

What I have in mind is one in dark wood grain ebonite with black/dark brown cap and barrel ends topped with an engraved sterling silver clip and clip band. Understated but classy or so I visualise it. I hope to use a vintage nib and feed with this pen.

At present there is a queue that is approximately 8 weeks long before your turn comes up and he starts on your pen.

[Mack The Knife]

Brihaji,

Manoj uses steel nib units from Schmidt, JoWo on request or he can machine the inside of the section to accomodate your choice of nib and feed. You may choose between plated and un-plated and between F, M, B and perhaps a few calligraphy sizes such as 1.1, 1.5 mm.

[essdee1972]

Mack, the site has prices in USD. Does he charge the same converted to INR, or there is a desi discount

[Mack The Knife]

Indians pay in Rupees but there are no bank charges over and above the exchange rate. So if the current exchange rate is Rs.66.00 = $1.00, you are not paying at the rate of Rs.69.95 = $1.00 (which is what you would pay when purchasing from overseas).

I suppose the difference is the discount. You could always ask for one.

You can also pay via PayPal if you like by having Manoj send you a PayPal invoice.

[Mack The Knife]

I just realised that I had not included my stainless steel Lamy 2000 when posting pics of my Lamy 2000 set in the original Makrolon.

I sent this pen back to the vendor as I found it's weight a bit much and the section a little slippery. And yet, I have always regretted sending it back to Germany. Perhaps, I may buy another in the future.

This year, the Makrolon version of the Lamy 2000 fountain pen completes 50 years in continuous production, with very minor changes during this period. There aren't many fountain pens that can lay claim to such a long run. The buzz on the internet is that Lamy will bring out a commemorative edition of the 2000. I just hope it isn't an eyesore like their 'Edition 2000'.

Some pics of the stainless version.

[kshitij]

Those Fosfor pens are beautiful! Gotta get myself one of those in some burl wood.

[kshitij]

Congrats Kshitij.

Thanks Xl

[brihacharan]

Brihaji,
Manoj uses steel nib units from Schmidt, JoWo on request or he can machine the inside of the section to accommodate your choice of nib and feed. You may choose between plated and un-plated and between F, M, B and perhaps a few calligraphy sizes such as 1.1, 1.5 mm.

Thanks for the info Mack....
I'm tempted to pay Manoj a visit in the near future since he is located in Pune (as I'm located in Mumbai) to see his creations....
Might go in for an Ebonite version with a Burl Wood finish + 14K plated nib (M) & a matching feed...
Briha

[Mack The Knife]

He only has one ebonite finish that immitates wood. This has a straight grained look rather than the patterns you would associate with a burl.

You can see it here - http://www.fosforpens.com/materials.html