Thomas Overfield

November 22, 2009

Pen, Paper, Ink, Pugless

The idea that effort can be saved by gathering tasks together to tackle as a single unit is not something that originated with me. Being both lazy and a procrastinator I find myself afloat in a sea of topics and items I wanted to write about but never got around to. Thus I’m applying that principle here in this stitched together post that I hope will intertwine some ink, paper, and pen items sitting around here.

Pen

I single-mindedly comb the world for Sheaffer Snorkels with interesting nibs. My day races by with me obsessively hunched over a monitor, a phone in my hand, utilizing a chip in my cerebral cortex that gives me a direct uplink to the Internet. OK, most of that isn’t true but I do look more often than the average person to see if I can find something cool.

A little while ago I got lucky and found myself a pretty good deal on a Sheaffer Snorkel with a traditional open nib. Not a run-of-the-mill example this had the FM3 marked nib (medium point flexible). These are hard to find (proverbial hens teeth, needle in a haystack, or bit of food a pug won’t eat rare) and when I was the happy owner the bill came to an astounding $22. Lucky? No…it was skill! OK, I got lucky. I thought I was the Baron of Penfindia until a friend found something similar for $11. Descent from smugness is sometimes so rapid you skin your knees.

What is odd is that this nib has less flex and a slightly narrower line than the other FM3 nib I have. It’s still flexible but not as giving as the predecessor nib in my collection. I have a feeling these specialty nibs were more handwork than the vast quantities of fine and medium nibs turned out by Sheaffer and that might explain such variances. Once I did get this pen restored I filled it with Private Reserve Supershow Blue ink and happily doodled away on the next topic of this post.

Paper

Once again Karen at Exaclair was nice enough to send me a few things to give my hasty and subjective opinions on. One of them was a pad of G. Lalo Vergé de France white paper. I’m used to using the smooth Clairefontaine paper when I need something to make ink form shapes on so this was a nice change. This is laid paper and the factors you immediately notice with this substrate (otherwise known as fancy-schmancy stationary) is it has visible watermarks, a bit of a tooth, and a substantial heft.

What is laid paper? Well, making paper is a lot more complex than most people think. It’s not just like you chop down a tree or mash up some recycling and you have a sheet of the white stuff. There are a number of steps that takes the raw materials through slurry, gets it flat, and then smoothes and dries it. The end product differs depending on the way these procedures are done. The part that we need to look at involves what is called a screen which is for capturing the pulp slurry creating a thin skin and allowing water to drain out of it. As the fibers rest they take on any pattern that is held in the screen like a watermark, for example. Most modern paper is made on a screen of a fine mesh of filaments and imparts a uniform, opaque look to the paper (except for the aforementioned water marks). Laid paper is a more old fashioned method where the screen is made of parallel filaments and the final product shows a ribbed texture when light passes through it.

I like laid finish quite a bit and in fact the boarder around this blog is my scan of some Crane laid note sheets I had on hand. The pattern in the fiber seems to enhance the paper’s attractiveness because it creates visual interest. Writing on this paper is a different experience from my typical papers since while not extremely rough you do feel the nibs contact on the sheet more. The act of writing somehow feels more formal and special. When I use it I feel all my words are profound and meaningful even though in reality they are incoherent scribbles that I don’t understand a few hours hence.

Specifically the Vergé paper is excellent in all areas. It’s 100gsm with 25% cotton fiber content so isn’t lightweight and shows almost no feathering. At first I thought there was bleed through on the paper but I quickly realized that these sheets are quite translucent and it what was written on the sheets could be seen as light passed through. When placed face down on a table it was less noticeable. That’s not a problem for me and since there are a number of available colors it might not be the case with those. Click on the images below for further enlightenment (or just boredom).

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Ink

Along with the paper came ink I’ve been wanting to try for a long time. I like black inks but I hate ones that aren’t dark, dark, dark. Also some seem to have a reddish-brown cast on the edges that I really don’t like. I certainly have not tried every black out there but there have been a few on my desk over the years. Knowing that some of the J. Herbin colors aren’t too saturated I wondered how the Perle Noire that arrived would perform. Happily I can report that it is a nice opaque dark black that I’ve not noticed any negatives to yet. There are a lot of black ink comparison reviews in blogland that are quite thorough so I’d recommend taking a look since this is just a quick impression.

Pugless

So we come to the end of my omnibus post. There’s a still a lot of items I need to get to but at least I’ve removed a few from my list. The pugs wonder why they aren’t pictured in this post due to the growing number of fans they seem to have. Maybe next time I’ll see what input they might have but for now the puga donnas will just have to keep snoring.

OK, I gave in. Here’s Mr. Puggy’s reaction to the Snorkel. He tells me it’s beneath his notice.

November 11, 2009

Habana in my Cabana

Not too long ago Karen at Exaclair sent me a Quo Vadis Habana notebook to use and, if inclined, relate my thoughts on it. A few words about them before I get any further: Via their blogs, tweets, and other social media presence this company has proven itself to really care about its customers and their feedback. No, I’m not just saying that because I want another notebook. How could you even think that about me? Humph.

I must admit that I was pretty sure how this review would go before I sat down to write it. The Habana notebook pictured uses Clairefontaine paper in it which has been my favorite for years. The paper is smooth to write upon and, important to us fountain pen users, bleed and feather resistant.

The problem was I’m a procrastinator and I didn’t get to writing this entry until just about everyone had already reviewed this notebook doing a much better job of it than I could (like my friend Clem did here). Realizing I needed to come up with a different way to review the notebook, as to not tread over the same old ground, I sat and did my best approximation of thinking. Obviously I needed to push the envelope and do something different, new, and never attempted before. I had to drop the usual paper quality, ink penetration, and binding construction stuff for new frontiers.

Well, if I’m not reviewing the Habana on how it works traditionally as a notebook then what should this newly-styled iconoclast do? Thinking “push that envelope” led me to decide to see how the notebook worked in ways that people not as cutting edge as myself would think of.

At this time from behind me came the loud and rhythmic noises of the dog breed often called the “furry boulders that snore”. That seemed as good a place as any to go for my unique take on this review. However, as you can see, the Habana Pug Pillow didn’t meet with the approval of Snuffy, pug stationary tester. Also it was hard to clean drool off of. Back to the drawing board!

Snuffy did not approve of the Habana as pillow.

I made a nice, hot cup of tea to sip on as I thought more. Suddenly I had a flash! It was my tongue burning form the hot tea! A few medicinal ice cubes later I really had an idea as you can see below.

Covers flopping open made the Habana tea tray awkward.

Alas, the Habana Tea Tray was not roomy enough to use and got soggy when tea was spilled. Back to square one.

Liking the utilitarian track I was following my next brainstorm was so simple it bordered on not being stupid! Here’s something I could get a lot of mileage out of in my review: the Habana Window Prop! Oh yea, I would go on about how great this was for holding my windows open, creating ventilation and the like. No one has even come close to mentioning that in a review! This was sweet!

The Habana window prop had problems on rainy days.

The major failing here is that we’ve had rain for two days straight now. Remember the soggy comment a little while ago? Unluckily I realized it was time to move on once again.

The idea that there might be a productive, non-traditional twist on this all drove me to go deep, deep into the genius that is my mind. Well, deep is relative and I think shallow genius ain’t nothing to sneeze at. After all, an ant thinks a puddle is an ocean! Sadly, and predictably, this feverish activity went nowhere. I needed to take my mind off of all this and so went about repairing things I had broken trying to repair them earlier. It was while at this another eureka moment occurred!

I never got a clean cut with the Habana saw.

Well, Habana Saw didn’t work out and the bias-cut it made was just awful. I guess I shouldn’t have hitched my philosophy to ants.

I wrote off the idea of finding some use for the Habana and went the opposite direction: totally useless. Being quite the expert at that idea flooded in. Happily that idea had to do with how attractive the basic black Habana was so certainly it should be where people could see it… maybe if I move that vase over there we might have something.

It didn't really work as a objet d'art. — It didn't really work as an objet d'art.

The Display Only Habana just never really *merged* with the décor and caused people make comments like “where’s your vase” and “why the hell do you have a notebook here”. Not an astounding success.

So, I gave up and went back to what I wanted to avoid: a typical review. I will make this brief so you can escape from here quickly. The Quo Vadis Habana has a number of features I do like very much. First is the Calirfontain paper which is the usual high quality, bright, smooth substrate you find in items branded under that name. As always this paper is a fountain pen’s friend with only the slightest feathering and bleed thorough.

The look and feel of the cover on this notebook is quality. It’s soft but firm with the logo embossed on the front and the name on the back. A pocket is on the inside back cover which is very handy when you have receipts in your pocket taking up space but you can’t see anywhere to throw them out. The elastic band that holds it all together is pretty standard as is the ribbon that marks your current page.

The binding is quite interesting in that the spin is very soft and flexible. Most of the back of the book block isn’t glued to the sine so it can lay pretty flat. I did notice that one end did have the spine glued down but only in a small area. I think this is where the ribbon is attached. No matter, this is a nice book to open and spread apart.

The images below show how it reacted to my little writing test so click on them to see the big picture.

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The size is larger than what I’m used to but I do like the extra real estate. It will fit into my backpack easily and when on your lap for notes offers a more stable platform for writing.

In the end I’m a fan of this notebook and happy to have gotten a chance to see what it can do if motivated to be all that it can be. I don’t see many negatives other than the ribbon can fray a bit and you can’t use it as a frying pan (that experiment I didn’t document due to the fire.) Although I keep calling it the “Havana” by accident it’s certainly straight forward in all other ways. Just remember it works best as a notebook.

October 29, 2009

Feed Me

Rear of flex Snorkel nib unit with longer tube poking out.

Last post I showed you a few Sheaffer Snorkels with flexible nibs. While I was doing that I took a closer look at them and found a few interesting tidbits which in my pen filled brain were fascinating. If you are as occupied with esoterica as I am you might find it interesting too, but first a little story:

I’ve repaired and built a number of Snorkels usually with good results. However, one I made (the original Frankensnork) wound up with a bit of a problem: ink starvation. That pen had a flexible stub nib and while all seemed well enough I soon was made aware that sometimes (while being exercised by its owner who is well known for the ability stretch pens to their limits) the line being drawn would peter out. Not enough ink flowing to the point during grueling calligraphic maneuvers was the root cause. Of course I felt rather inept at not noticing this when I tested the pen originally and felt I must have overlooked something. My contrition is legendary and all I could do was swear at myself a lot and wonder.

So why did a perfectly fine, to all appearances, Snorkel so act? That old question was on my mind as I disassembled and examined my newest flex Snork. Imagine my surprise to find that Sheaffers with the flexible nibs had differently constructed feeds! Imagine my surprise that I was too thick to have noticed this before!

In case you don’t know about feeds they are what supply ink from the reservoir to the writing point. The basic function of this piece, usually made out of hard rubber, is to allow ink to flow to the business end via a channel and also contain excess fluid in a ridged part called a comb. This link goes to a good in-depth explanation of how this all works. A delicate balance is maintained by a feed so it can supply enough ink for writing while allow air to pass the opposite way to replace what is drained. If either one of these is slacking in its work you get that starvation I mentioned.

It seems that Sheaffer combated this in the high flow flexible nib Snorkels by creating a super feed that could really move the ink. This brings us to a quick sketch of the complex inner mechanism of a Snorkel, I’m afraid. Hold on through this boring part and you get to see the pretty pictures (well, if you like boring pen bits they are pretty). A Snorkel has a tube that can be extended outwards from under the nib when the knob at the other end of the pen is twisted. An extensive advertising campaign explained this action to be a wonderful boon to mankind in that the pen did not have to be dunked into the ink for filling but only the end of the tube. Yep, no wiping off of the nib when you need to top up the writing fluid. Not quite the same importance as polio vaccine but this was the 50s when automotive tail fins were considered a triumph. I’m not going to go to much farther into how this all works (but here’s a good link to that here) except to say that not only is the ribbed feed under the nib part of the ink delivery unit but so is the tube. Thus, the tube has a thin strip of hard rubber that acts like a feed extension which passes the ink baton to the external one. So, specifically what did Sheaffer do to increase ink flow? Simple, they made the pipes bigger. By that I mean the spots ink flow through were increased in size (quite a bit) so the nib would keep spitting out ink even if the user was ham handed and flexed the heck out of every character they wrote. Let’s take a look in pictures, shall we? Don’t forget to click on them to see them large.

Flex Fine Snorkel nib FF3 (L) and medium nib M3 (R).

First is a comparison of a flex and non-flex open, two-tone style #3 nib. You’ll see that they look similar enough but upon close inspection the flex nib (with the code FF3 on it) doesn’t have the impressed line that mark the boundary between the silver and the gold sections as the less acrobatic firm medium one. Since the flex nib is thinner (and possibly metallurgically different) I’d wager removal of this embossing was to prevent a weak area that could snap or crack in use. It could have acted like paper when scored to form a crease to ease folding. A bent or broken nib is not something you’d be very happy about while writing a letter. The platinum mask (a thin plating, really) on the flexible nib is applied to mimic the one with the grooves in it. I always like to think there was a back room at the Sheaffer nib works were a few folks labored over these not widely produced nibs with loving care. Yes, overly romantic indeed.

Flex Snorkel feed (L) and normal feed (R).

Next let’s look at the feeds that live down below. The picture is of the top of them which comes into contact with the underside of the nibs. You’ll see the one that services our flexible friends has a wider groove down the middle. This is an ink supply channel and larger means more flow. Also, the combs are more widely spaced possibly to retain the expected greater ink overflow.

Inside tube feed: Flex (L) and normal (R).

The last bit in the ink supply chain is the thin hard rubber strip that lives in the tube. The image shows them from end on and the difference is most striking. Look and see how the one out of the flex pen is much more slender allowing it take up far less space so more ink can bustle on through. The bottom of it (facing up in the picture) is actually concave and the top a flat and ungrooved. Remember that capillary action helps to draw the ink forward which is why the tube isn’t just empty, but here we see how almost empty Sheaffer could make one.

In the next two illustrations we see the Snorkel tubes themselves and a top view of the strips from them. I don’t know why the one for the fancy flexible nib is longer but it is. When in the pen it extends from out under the comb feed a tiny bit more than normal. I’ve got a stub flex Snorkel with a #2 style nib (single tone gold) which has the same type of strip in the tube but is the same length as a normal pen. Thus, the length is a mystery to which I can see no obvious explanation. On the other end near the black plug you can see how the tube is also longer there and has a cut out in. I’m not sure about this either but it could be for obtaining ink more rapidly through greater contact.

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And so ends our tour of this unique type of pen. I’m no expert and some of my assumptions may be wrong but I hope you found this interesting nonetheless. I say “Vive la Difference!” if it keeps my snorkel happily making weird, varying lines.

October 26, 2009November 16, 2012

Soggy Pasta Primervera

If you’re active in using or collecting fountain pens eventually you will hear the term “flexible”. It’s often used with reverence as when someone gushes “the pen has a nib that is flexible!!” Sometimes you hear such called “wet noodles” which causes no end of confusion as people not familiar with the term try to figure out how long to boil their pen to get it al dente. I’m pretty sure that most people who read this (all 6 or you) will know what a flexible nib is and what it does but that isn’t going to stop me from rambling on and giving a explanation on a kindergarten level. If you are schooled in flex about you might want to skip to the pictures.

Once upon a time skilled individuals created fancy documents with flowing, beautiful script. If you look at historic letters you can see that the lines which make up the letterforms flow in varying widths. For example, a line descending into a curve would become broader in a natural swelling that reminds one of a widening river. The same line usually pinches back to being narrow yet again while it moves along into another letter. One could think of it a bit like brush strokes in painting where more pressure creates a greater ink patch on the paper. However, we are talking about pens and not bristly things.

Mechanically the way it was accomplished is very easy to understand (even for me). Writing tips from the quill to our modern gold nibs have a slit down the middle to the point which directs the ink through capillary action to where you want it on the paper. The narrowest line a nib can make is the width of the point without any (well, hardly any) downward pressure on it. If you bear down while writing the two sides of the slit, called tines, spread apart creating a wider contact area on the paper. The more pressure means the wider the gap, and thus a wider line. Eventually if the spread is too far apart there would be a loss of capillary action or ink flow which stops the line on the paper which is bad. That’s how it works, Q.E.D.!

So, why is flex so special then? Well, fountain pens today are less able to create line variation. This is because the nibs are thicker and stiffer so the tines don’t move apart much. There’s metallurgy involved as well but I’m not getting into that since its complex and I’m too stupid to fully comprehend it. Let’s just say chances are a modern pen will usually write a predictable line without much variation akin to ballpoints.

As stated this is a change from the past. Early on just about all fountain pens (like their dip pen predecessors) had nibs that would allow for a great deal of flexibility. The systems used to teach cursive or business writing took this into consideration and instructed on when and where to apply pressure to create the standardized but artistic writing styles. Still, for writing in small print for things like accounting there was a need for uniform, thin lines and less flexible points were available. With the advent of things like flimsies and carbon copies stiff nibbed pens become the norm since a firm, regular contact point on the substrate was necessary. To top it all off an inflexible nib is easier and requires less practice to use correctly.

This transformation started in the 30s and by the 50s the vast majority of pens had fine or medium nibs often described as being like nails since their strength would allow them to be driven into wood with no damage. At this time flexible nibs were for specialty uses and not very common.

So, now that we know what a flexible nib is let’s take a look at some I have on hand. Below you’ll see a gallery of 5 nibs that have this quality (click on them for the big view):

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Many people use terms like “full-flex” or “semi-flex” to describe a nib’s ability to create the mentioned line variation. There’s no standardized system to measure this and unless the nib is marked this kind of label is based on trial and experience. Luckily, three of the pictured nibs are marked so we know they are officially flexible. The first two are the rather rare beast known as the Sheaffer Snorkel flexisaurus. OK, I made that last word up but you get the idea. You could obtain a wide number of different points on Snorks (16 were listed but when you consider that there were 5 different nibs designs you can imagine the variety) and a number were flexible. Determining if you have such a nib is easy and 100% foolproof if the lightly etched nib codes (in use to 1958, after that you’re out of luck) are still visible. Often these have been polished off by the friction from repeated wiping. In the pictures you can these codes and the meaning is listed in the caption.

The Eversharp nib seen is stamped “flexible” leaving nary a doubt about what it was born as. Rounding these out is a Moore nib that through use can be determined as flexible and an Onoto with a stub nib and the moves to make it at least a semi-flex.

Now that you’ve seen the nibs you might want to see them in action. Well, too bad! I’ve got zero skill in calligraphy and my hand writing looks like I’m three sheets to the wind. OK, I did do something in the way of a demonstration which is that I doodled and recorded it. So below is my first (and maybe last) attempt at being my own A.V. club and I hope you enjoy it.

[media width=”[media width=”540″ link=” height=”350″ link=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Q_dHfeJew”]

If the video isn’t enough for you for an encore I’ve got some writing samples for you to examine followed by an image of what the whole pens (not just the nibs) look like.

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October 22, 2009

Bound Up

Some mentions I heard of bookbinding recently brought back to mind something I wrote to illustrate a trick I learned years ago. It’s certainly not a secret and it may be taught now in bookbinding classes. Since this is a recycled post it has the benefit of quickly filling some space in my too little updated blog.

What’s great about a sewn hardcover binding is that they can lay flat since since the spine of the book case and the binding edge of the block do not adhere to each other. When you open a book like this there’s a gap so the book block can bend flexibly. In a perfect bound book you find that the spine is glued directly onto the block which means there’s a lot of resistance to it laying flat.

Two commercial binding systems (Otabind and RepKover) try to combine the ability of a hardcover book to open and stay flat with the cost benefits of softcover binding. What I did by hand is basically the principle they use.

A couple important notes: use high quality binding glue that is flexible. White glue is great but not ideal for binding. I used a cold set glue and not a hot melt which is kinda brittle. I used a nice thick, strong textured paper stock for the cover since the hinge has to be able to hold up to being creased and bent a lot. Speaking of creases a nice scoring knife is a handy thing to use here. My old instructor had ones made out of bone he swore by. Use a good quality fabric for attaching to the spine which is also known as mull or super cloth (no, it can’t leap tall buildings) so the glue can penetrate it properly. Last, you’ve got to have a book press or some kind of vise apparatus to get a good binding.

The theory is simple behind this: We’re going to glue a wide strip of cloth to the book block’s binding edge and then glue the edges of that cloth to the inside of the cover. We will leave an area extending out from that binding edge unglued.

1. Make a book block. I won’t go into details of this since it’s standard stuff. You lightly roughen up the binding edge, if I remember. Make sure you get good glue penetration. Let the block set and dry in the press.

2. Cut the cover and score the hinges so the spine fits snugly over the block.

3. Cut the super so it’s extends 2 cm or so wider than the block on both sides.

4. Put a thin layer of glue on the binding edge of the block and center the super onto that. Use a roller or something to really get the glue to penetrate. Let it dry. It may have been that this step was done when gluing the binding edge in step one above while that glue was wet. Memory fails me.

5. The block is inserted into the cover.

6. You put a thin layer of glue the outside of the super sticking out about half of its width and attach it to the inside of the cover. Wax paper or something might come in handy as an insert since some glue will ooze out. Be careful of the ooze!

7. When it’s dry that’s about it.

The books I did are from 1993 and still are holding up. Disclaimer: I’m not an expert at bookbinding nor do I know if this technique is a good one for you. Also, these books were trimmed further *after* being bound so they got a nice clean edge and any excess glue or the like was removed.

Here's the old book. I'm not trying to be pompous with the title. The publication I worked on in College was called "Generation Magazine". For this book I went back and found old poetry and fiction I liked from it. This was a typography class project, actually.

You can see the super cloth attached to the inside of the cover here.

This shows how it works when you open the cover.

September 27, 2009

Ondoy

Like many people sitting here in the United States I’m exposed to the news of the world day in and day out. We see disasters and tragedies on a macro and micro level all the time. Most of it bounces off of the layer of callousness gained to protect ourselves from the emotional devastation we’d feel if our empathy was unchecked. It is when events touch you on a personal level that they creep under the barbed wire we’ve unrolled around our emotive centers and grab the ends of those neurons and twist.

What’s twisting me currently is tropical storm “Ondoy” which recently hit the Philippines with a vengeance. I know people in that country and specifically in Metro Manila and other storm affected areas where the devastation of the flooding is just starting to be dealt with. Currently there are still people waiting for help on rooftops. Newly rescued people are cold, hungry, and dehydrated while they wait to go home and see what ruins they will find. It seems there was woefully too little government response and as usual aid agencies like the Red Cross are doing their best to provide help and comfort.

It’s too easy to play the numbers game and say that there were too few deaths or too little devastation to make a disaster worth noting. “It’s not the Sichuan earthquake or the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004” some would think and dismiss things. Beyond viewing people as a cumulative grouping they are individuals and a small car accident can affect one as much as if a volcano erupts nearby. We can’t help every person nor financially support all relief programs in the world but contributing to recovery efforts in smaller disasters means that you will have a larger impact on helping people in need. Don’t forget those in distress because they are not getting the lion’s share of the news cycle.

For individuals here in the United States we can’t easily get clothing or food stuffs to the Philippines so it seems a monetary contribution is the most expedient method of providing disaster relief. I found two ways for us here to quickly contribute to The Philippine National Red Cross which is working hard to help out in this crisis:

This link takes you to their website and will allow you to contribute via credit card.

This link takes you to site that has a PayPal link for contributions. You’ll want to read the post before you choose this and judge for yourself if it’s trustworthy.

Update 9/26:

This link is for the GMA Kapuso Foundation which is currently collecting funds to help the victims. It’s a credit card donation system but takes U.S. dollars so does not require currency conversion.

This link is for a blog which is putting together a group donation via PayPal.

Update 9/28

This link is for the UNICEF page to donate to help the children who are victims of the disaster. This online form works with credit cards.

Update 9/29

Now that several days have passed I see many options popping up for people in the U.S. to donate to the relief efforts. If you google you’ll find some charity or organization to suit you preferences I’m sure. I’ve got one more link to post here and it probably will be my last one.

This link goes to the The Ayala Foundation which is a nonprofit development organization of the Ayala Group of Companies. This takes donations via credit card but in pesos so you’ll need to convert.

If you can’t help in this way I hope you spare a few seconds to think some good thoughts for all those who are rebuilding and trying to get their lives back to normal in the Philippines.

I’ve not mentioned in this post yet how I donated. The first day of the flooding I sent money to The Philippine National Red Cross. A day after that I did the same to UNICEF. As they say every little bit helps and I really hope that’s true.

September 13, 2009

The Grumbling Gourmet

I love to cook and I love to try new recipes from different cultures and countries. Learning about these different cuisines is fun and the pièce de résistance is making something that doesn’t make anyone turn green and double over. Of course I know that my endeavors may not taste authentic especially since I usually have trouble obtaining spices or ingredients you just can’t find in my gastronomically challenged area. Nothing gets in the way of my trying to make tasty things, however.

Until recently I kept myself busy with Indian, Pakistani, Spanish, Mexican and whatever other dishes caught my attention. Food from the Southwestern region of the U.S. is also great and might as well be foreign here (unless you count Taco Bell as food). Even with that track record I never thought that I’d be making dishes from a place that a year ago barely registered on my cooking radar.

This all goes back to what some friends of mine call “that Philippines thing you have” with a bit of befuddled amusement. What they refer to is that through my hobby of using and collecting fountain pens I’ve made friends with a number of Filipinos who have shared (or have been prompted by my incessant questions) a litany of information on their culture and food. Armed with this I usually spit out facts at a rapid fire pace when anyone gets snarky about me knowing people on the other side of the planet. “Did you know we were at war with the Filipino people and were de facto colonial rulers?” “There are over 7100 islands in that nation.” “Manila is both a city and a metro area made up of a number of cities with over 11 million people. It’s the 11^th largest metropolitan area in the world and one of the most densely populated.” “Yes, they speak English there but also Tagalog and a number of other regional languages.” By the time I get to that point everyone is usually politely excusing themselves before being bored to death and leave me in peace.

Nonetheless when presented with a new culture or place I always go for the food. I learned early on that a food called adobo in the Philippines is not the Hispanic dry seasoning or tomato based sauce we are used to here. Over there it is a vinegary stew with pork, fish, or chicken as the meat component. So I looked up some recipes and discovered one thing after another about cooking Filipino staples. For example: Everything has a name I can’t remember. I have trouble remembering what things in Spanish are called and I’m a lot more familiar with that language. Additionally there are a lot of vegetables I’ve never heard of which pop up on ingredient lists. Bitter melon? Can I use any melon since I’m a bitter man? Using authentic cane or coconut vinegar when cooking this stuff really helps the flavor. See? You got one real tip out of this and you thought you were wasting your time.

The best part is that I like the dishes I’ve cooked a great deal. It took me two tries (and the aforementioned vinegar) to get the adobe to taste decent so there is a learning curve. Liver is something I seem in the minority enjoying in these parts so finding it in dishes such as menudo (not the same stuff we are used to here redux) and caldereta put a smile on my face (arteries say “no comment”.) I made a sugar free version of a baked meringue dessert called brazo de mercedes as well. Afritada and arroz a la cubana I’ve made with no regrets but major problems with getting up after eating.

What made this all possible was a few more of those kind presents that I accumulate from people who for no known reason send them to me. Yay for cookbooks directly from the Philippines! It is hard not to be incredibly grateful for such wonderful food enablers.

P1070366-21 September 08, 2009 3 — Two indispensable cookbooks from Leigh.

If there ever was a contest for the person who has put up with my curiosity for the longest time then the lovely and mega-talented Leigh would have been crowned Miss Answer Stupid Questions 2008 and 2009. She was the first to generously share her store of knowledge to satiate my many inquiries about her country. She also told me what adobo was then sent me a whole book of adobo recipes! Yep, there are a lot of variations. I’m making my next recipe (embutido) from the other cookbook pictured, which covers a wide swath of Filipino cuisine. It’s another wonderful resource Leigh sent.

P1070349-4 September 08, 2009 1 — Hazel supplied this incredible book on food and society in the Phils.

My friend Hazel is another pug owner, avid fountain pen user and art collector but also a witty cultural resource. The book she sent me is an amazing amalgam of history, society, food, life, and more. It’s a fascinating book that really gives a feel for the way people lived in many regions of the Philippines. It also has more words that I don’t understand than a physics textbook. Still, there are some recipes included that I’m eyeing even if I have no idea what some of the ingredients are.

P1070355-10 September 08, 2009 2 — This beautiful book was Jenny's doing.

The item pictured last isn’t a cookbook but it’s a book I love. This is a pictorial panoply of the Philippines which has helped me visualized much of the beauty there. Taking the time to find and send this to me for no reason other than the fact I was curious is another example of unconditional giving I certainly don’t deserve. Jenny, who sent this, is yet another incredibly sweet person and I normally never, ever say that about anyone since I’m a curmudgeon and try to dislike everyone. I wish I could end here but this book had greetings and signatures in it from other folks I know there. Made me have to walk outside to regain my grumpy demeanor.

The first thing I say about my experience with those I know in the Philippines if asked (and before I get to the stuff intended to bore them away) is “they are way, way too nice.” I hate to say anything so hackneyed as “I live a richer life because I know them” but it certainly is true I eat richer food now. Oh, there’s lots of liver in many things I’ve made. Did I mention that?

Update:

Here’s the embutido I made. I certainly loved making and eating it.

September 11, 2009

Moving Along

We’re always moving. Even at rest our heart pumps, eyeballs flit, and neurons fire away constantly. The idea of time is intertwined with that fact and like our bodies it continues to move on even if we momentarily don’t realize it. That’s why it’s always seemed odd to me that a device created to relate the passage of time can come to a complete stop. A timepiece’s working parts are even called a “movement” and that name doesn’t change when a battery loses its charge or a spring winds down.

You’ve probably gathered that for a change I’m going to bore you (the select group that doesn’t move on to play Farmville when you get to this point) with a rare post about watches. I’m not going to say much about how watches work or were used but I’m briefly going to talk about the art found in a watch. Pomposity here I come.

In the distant past watches were the prized possessions of the rich since they were hand crafted, rare, and of high cost. Even as they began to be in the reach of the average person you still saw a great deal of attention paid to the elements of design and construction. Middle grade to high grade watches made in the United States during the late 19^th century may have been mass produced but a good deal of hand labor was spent in assuring that they were both functionally and aesthetically pleasing. Things that were never seen by the owner, such as the movement itself, were often elaborately decorated using a technique called “damaskeening” and “flashing”. Damaskeening was where a skilled worker had a machine which spun pointed wooden dowels (or another material) coated with abrasive to create patterns in the metal of the watch mechanism itself. The procedure created a kind of swirl which stood out from the surrounding area. Very often when you examine an upper tier movement from the golden age of U.S. watch production you’ll find that even areas only seen if the watch is disassembled have been embellished with elaborate patterns or close circles that look a little like fish scales. Flashing is where a contrasting color is applied to the movement which highlights the damaskeening. This is usually a very thin layer of gold.

The movements themselves were designed to be pleasant to look at with curves and circles harmoniously incorporated. Smaller details like the written information on them was also done with flair in elaborate lettering. Some even had decorative elements like flowers engraved in the metal.

It’s this mechanical beauty that made me start to collect watches such as the ones below. All the timepieces pictured in the gallery are American 12 size late 19^th to early 20^th century pieces. Even if I had no idea what they did I’d find the craftsmanship appealing to look at.

[Show as slideshow]

September 2, 2009

Grateful To Not Be Listened To

This is another post about gifts that generous and (way too) nice people have taken the time and effort to give me. I have no idea why they bother to do so since as previously mentioned I’m just a distant curmudgeon who doesn’t really merit it. Still they gleefully ignore that completely and send things through my force field of grumps.

P1060346-151 August 25, 2009 1 — Well, some things are an open book. Notice the red ribbon.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I took some bindery courses and actually bound a few books by hand (I’ve still got some). I know that this takes more art than science to wind up with results that are attractive as well as useful. Mona is a person that that can craft journals and other bound items of great beauty. She sent me the one below which I’m indebted to her for. The amazing thing is she just started doing this not very long ago. It’s a sideline to her other hobbies like knitting and fountain pen mania but I’m certainly happy she took it up.

P1060319-124 August 25, 2009 1 — A lovely Mona brand journal

My work hasn’t taken me far afield in quite some time but my friend Caloy’s livelihood takes him places I’ve both dreamt about and only vaguely familiar with. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is the latter. At a conference there recently he picked up a locally crafted embroidered pouch for me. It’s the perfect size to hold the stack of postcards I keep and the postage for them. It’s also strikingly attractive.

P1060393-198 August 25, 2009 1 — Perfect for postcards.

I never know how to receive a token of friendship in person so I usually fidgit and make some inane quip about how someone else would be more worthy of the item. Use your imagination and insert that image here.

P1060298-103 August 25, 2009 1 — When taking these pictures I saw this. Reinforces my hatred of geese.

August 26, 2009

In A Vacuum-Filler No One Can Hear You Scream

Has there ever been a filling system as maligned as the Vacuum-Fil?

Sure there have been! That doesn’t take away from the almost leper like treatment the Sheaffer Vacuum-fillers gets in comparison to lever fillers of the same era. This despite the fact it works very elegantly: On the down stroke a rod pushes a gasket forward which lowers the air pressure in the sealed barrel behind it. A sudden release of the vacuum causes ink to be drawn in to fill the void. There’s an excellent explanation at Richard Binder’s site for those who want in-depth knowledge of how this functions. It all sounds good but there are several meritorious reasons why people have a poor opinion of the system.

First off you’ll never buy an unrestored Vacuum-Fil in working condition. The system functioned well but was not designed to last over 50 years and be like new. The seals are wear points and the filling cycle exacts a lot of stress on them so they fail. No vacuum can be created then and thus no filling. Another strike against Vacuum-Fillers is that they are very hard to restore and well beyond the average hobbyists’ ability to do so.

It’s not all down side and there are some very nice positives to balance (pun not intended) things. When working they hold a ton of ink so you can write that novel in one filling. Using them is fun since you get to hear the “pop” as the vacuum releases and then see the ink flow up into the pen. Most importantly is that Vacuum-Fillers usually sell for bargain prices even with the cost of restoration factored in.

P1050988-2 August 21, 2009 4 — A Sheaffer Vacuum-Fil. (click images for close ups)

With that background out of the way let’s look at the Sheaffer Balance Vacuum-Fil I own. It’s was made in the late 30s and constructed of brown striped Radite (celluloid) plastic. There are a couple things that make this pen a bit odd. The barrel is almost totally clear instead of having the usual thin clear stripes between opaque ones. If you look closely you can see ghost like slightly browner strips but they are almost as clear as their neighbors. Was this a demonstrator pen? I really don’t know and some quick searches in reference books and on the web didn’t turn up any answers.

P1050971-8 August 21, 2009 2 — The very clear barrel.

Another nice thing about this Balance is the crisp stub nib it has. Finding an oddball nib on a Sheaffer of this era is always fun. The majority of the pens from the Fort Madison firm in the 1930s always seem to have staid fine or medium points and I jump for joy seeing something like this.

P1050965-6 August 21, 2009 1 — The stub nib.

Filling the pen, as stated, is fun but writing with it is more so. The nib has a little tooth but isn’t fussy to write with and has lovely line variation. It’s a stub you could live with on a daily basis since it never intrudes to tell you that you need to pay it special attention. Add this to the pen’s nice mid-sized frame and classic bullet shape and I’m certainly not going to disparage it. However, I know that it calls me a ridiculous pen kook behind my back.

P1060381-186 August 25, 2009 1 — Writing sample of this pen. Click on image for close up.