Odds & Ends (Mostly Odds)

The town where I live (Prattville, Alabama) has an abundance of antique and thrift stores. Some might say an excess number. The distinction tends to blur as one might find some nice antiques in one of the thrift stores and some pretty tacky junk in the antique stores. On occasion, I like to make the rounds in hope of finding some nice, vintage writing tools - fountain pens, pen holders, blotters or even an old manual typewriter.

I was off on Thursday, so I decided to check out three spots I frequent - the Old Courthouse Antique Store, the Goodwill Store, and a "giant flea market" that's located in an old grocery store.

Our local Goodwill Store is somewhat small, and their stock of items other than clothes was slim. They had some interesting small kitchen appliances that looked like they came from a mad scientist's laboratory, but no writing implements. Not that I really expected such at Goodwill, but they have been known to receive the odd typewriter. No luck this week.

The Old Courthouse Antique Store is an interesting place in itself. It actually was the Autauga County Courthouse from 1870 until the 1920s when the "new" courthouse was built one block up Court Street. It even has a historical marker in front. Entering the tall, white brick edifice you're greeted by a nice lady at the front desk. She smiles and tells you to "make yourself at home," which I do. The old heart-pine floorboards creak, but the building is in very good condition. Glass cabinets, racks of shelves and stacks of eclectic items lead you into a maze of the old, the forgotten, the unwanted and the occasional treasure. I spent a pleasant hour wandering through - no writing instruments, alas, though the proprieter said she had some fountain pens last month . . . or was it last year? I found an interesting toy typewriter, still in its original box, but it was of a more recent vintage and made of plastic. Pass. The nice lady said her husband was bringing in a portable typewriter. Manual? I asked. Yes. Does it have a case? Yes. She wasn't sure of the brand, but I can swing back by on a lunch break next week. (The Old Courthouse is only two blocks from the church where I serve.) I did find a nice, olive-green canvas satchel with numerous pockets. It will make a nice camera bag with some added padding. Three dollars poorer, and with satchel in tow, I headed to the flea market.

The Old Court House Antique Store is fairly large. The flea market, by comparison, is huge. As I progressed through the hap-hazard aisles, I wished that I had brought bread crumbs to drop along the way, or at least a compass. The flea market is a wonderful conglomeration of odds and ends - most of it odd. It's easy to experience a degree of sensory overload in such a place. Moldering old books share space with baby furniture. Carpet remnants lean against old outboard motors. Glass cases of baseball cards, cheap pocket knives and old vinyl LP albums are surrounded by the rotting carcasses of old computers and grimy printers. In the middle of the flea market, I was surprised to find a barber shop! "Doc," the barber in residence was not to be found (perhaps he got lost), but I was quite impressed by the ancient barber chair that took center-stage in his eight-by-eight cubicle. I expected to see a sign proclaiming, "shave and a hair-cut: two bits." Instead, there was a hand-written sign advertising $10 haircuts. Again, pass.

Unfortunately, I had no luck with fountain pens. The twenty-something young woman who was at the check out apparently had never heard of such a thing. I did find five typewriters - mostly recent vintage Brother electrics that looked like they had been buried in a field for several decades, though they couldn't have been more than ten to twenty years old. There was also one decent Smith-Corona electric, but it held no interest for me. It was, however, sitting on a very nice, metal typewriter stand that caught my eye. $10 was a reasonable price, but good sense prevailed and I moved on. I just don't really have room for a typewriter stand. At least, that's what my wife says. Still, if it's there when I return . . .

All in all, I spent a pleasant few hours digging through the detritus of other people's past. To be honest, I sometimes shook my head in puzzlement and bemusement over the vast array of tacky items I encountered - black velvet paintings of matadors (no Elvis paintings this trip), cheap Ninja swords, faded plastic flowers and faux-leather jackets. Yet, there were some genuine antiques in the midst - nice, sturdy furniture of a by-gone era, old hard-cover books, green depression glass-ware, coffee grinders, even an old leather football helmet like the Gipper wore. No pens, no pen-holders, no blotters . . . this time. But who knows when I'll find that old Esterbrook or Parker 51 or maybe that Smith-Corona Silent Super, just waiting for me to take it home and make it useful again?

I'll be back to continue my quest. (Cue "Indiana Jones" theme music)

Odds & Ends (Mostly Odds)

Review: Lamy Safari Fountain Pen

My first fountain pen was an inexpensive Schaeffer I received when I was in the third grade. I liked the little blue and chrome pen with its cartridges of blue ink. Sure, it tended to leak and the nib scratched terribly on cheap notebook paper, but I felt that my fountain pen gave my writing a sense of gravitas, though I had no idea what that meant at the time.

In the years since, I've owned several fountain pens - some family heirlooms, others more modern incarnations of classic pens. Though I don't use a fountain pen daily, I keep two Levenger Tru-Writers (one with a fine nib, one broad) and a Cross with a medium nib nearby. All use converters so I can write with a variety of inks (the real fun of writing with a fountain pen!)

I began to wonder what the ideal starter fountain pen would be today that would allow a person to experiment with different inks and nibs. Cartridge-only pens and disposables were eliminated by default. A bit of on-line research led me to the Lamy Safari. I've read several reviews that were generally favorable. The Safari seemed like a promising candidate, so I ordered a bright, tomato red Safari with an extra-fine nib. I paid under $25 for the pen and an additional $4 for the converter.

The pen arrived packed in a sturdy gray cardboard box with a muted "made in Germany" printed on the side. In the box was the pen and a Lamy ink cartridge. Note - Lamy pens must use Lamy cartridges if you choose not to use a converter, a cost and convenience factor to consider. (Our local stores do not carry Lamy products.)

The pen has a plastic body, molded in the pen's color. The clip is a rather heavy black wire loop - functional if not elegant. I thought the look of the clip fit the overall simple design well. The barrel is rounded with two flat sides and windows to view your ink supply. The cap clicks into place nicely. The steel nib is blackened rather than shiny. The pen is not heavy, but it feels well made even if it is mostly plastic.

I set aside the included ink cartridge and installed the Lamy converter. Please note that there are tiny plastic nubs on the converter that click into "ears" on the pen. It's easy to install this incorrectly, so pay attention to what you are doing. The converter worked smoothly, drawing a supply of Private Reserve "Orange Crush" ink into the reservoir.

The pen fit well in my hand - the flat sections preventing the pen from turning and aided me in holding the Safari in the proper position for writing. The Private Reserve ink flowed smoothly from the nib with very little scratching or skipping. To be honest, it wrote every bit as smoothly as my more expensive Levenger pens. I wrote on a variety of paper from Doane, Levenger and Rhodia. The results were pleasing in each case. I then pulled out a cheap note-pad of recycled paper. I experienced some scratching and the ink bled somewhat, but I attribute that to the cheap paper rather than the pen.

I highly recommend the Lamy Safari to anyone wishing to take the plunge into fountain pen writing. In fact, I would recommend this pen to anyone who likes fountain pens. It may not be a Mercedes, but I'd liken it to a dependable Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic - not fancy, but it certainly gets the job done. I plan on buying a few more of these pens - at under $25, I might buy one in each color!

Review: Lamy Safari Fountain Pen