This channel explores the world of fountain pens, especially slim black vintage fountain pens from the lesser known manufacturers. I also like new pens. I come to you from North Dakota, so if I can find these pens, I know you can!
I also look at other aspects of the writing life including notetaking, writing tools, and I will share research (written down with a fountain pen) while we drive through the Dakotas and occasionally Montana and Wyoming.
I inherited a Senator Regent from my father, who was a portrait artist and liked to work over a water colour--after drying--with black accents. This pen is very reminiscent of old Pelikans; interestingly instead of a straightforward piston knob at the bottom of the barrel, there's a blind cap that conceals a smaller knurled piston knob. Thanks for the review!
Once upon a time, I would have thought this town looked so boring. Now, I notice the absence of trash and homeless encampments, and other urban problems. The vacant storefronts are a concern, but those are present everywhere. The very small town; where I work; recently got a coffee shop, and it's been a sensation. My home town main street consists of two blocks, so I appreciate small towns.
as far as Europe goes moles are common place and we don't do anything about them since they don't do harm. They are really like hedgehogs - another animal you may want to attract for a better harvest. Usually we give them something to eat when we find them in the garden, that way they return and eat harmful insects. Usually we give them cat food.
Dear Mr Waski...thank you so much for this awesome video- really enjoyed taking a look around your town. The cars were fun and that Volcano- just madness!! But fun. I really enjoyed seeing the farm vehicles as I live in the countryside in the UK and we have several tractor runs through our village of just over 100 people. They are the main events, harvest and tractor runs. Hope you had a fabulous day and hope you did not overheat out there too much. Sweet Blessings Mand XOXO
On the Krishna ink site nearly everything is listed as sold out. A very few inks in 20 ml. containers are available. No clue as to what the issue is. Did they send all stock to distributors? Natural disaster? Their inks have appeared on multiple pen videos recently, so perhaps viewers rushed in in a fit of FOMO. Any suggestions?
Great video! Would you be willing to make a disassembly video for this pen? I’ve got a (functionally identical) Osmia 883 in the handsome green/black stripes color, and the piston seal leaks, causing very little suction and leaking out the back by the knob. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Wow! Looks like a great museum! It even has a 'lab'!!! Sooo many fun cars! From 'grandpas' muscle car... and great granddad ride to newer cars... From restored to 'in process'!!! Great turnout of cars!!!
This was fun! I'd really rather live in a small town ... I'm a fish out of water here in the city! You actually have more things you can walk to close by too ... very nice!!!!
The second part of this video will probably attract a whole new audience on RU-vid. I wonder if your views will go up. Classic Cars are very popular. It was great to have a look at your town again. It feels strange to me that you go to the post office to collect your mail. In the UK the Royal Mail will walk up to your door and push any letters through the letterbox. They will knock on your door if they have a parcel. Our post offices have several roles. You can buy stamps, send a parcel, buy stationery, pay bills and many other things. However, they don't have mail boxes! I was hoping to see a store or business in your town that we have in my city. I had high hopes of a McDonalds, Burger King, KFC or Subway. Sadly it wasn't to be. I noticed you are something of a celebrity as well, quite a few people stopped to say "hello" during the filming. Altogether a very enjoyable video and interesting to see what life is like in your town.
💙💙Hı from Türkiye.. I am happy to inform you about the Istanbul "Pen Fest" event, held at Çırağan Palace on 9-10 November 2024, where all pen lovers and companies in the world will meet. Thank you for the video.💙💙
This ‘small’ town is ‘smaller’ than most of the ‘small’ towns I’ve passed through during my time in the US, but ‘larger’ and nicer than I had imagined. Population in my small residential colony in my city of 14 million people here in India is more than that of your town ! Number of motels and number of cars in the Ford dealership surprised me.
Thank you for the tour of your town. It's so much bigger than my tiny town. I like how you can walk to everything. Looks like the car show is going to be a pretty big event! Hope you enjoy it!
I really want to do a free library. That Swan Song book by Robert R McCammon is on my TBR! I loved his Boy's Life. Such a lovely town! Sad to see so many things are closed. Have fun at the car show!
Thank you! I read Boy's Life long ago. This book reminded me that I should reread it. Things are closed, but we also have a lot of businesses still alive. The world of small town retail is changing, and I hope my town can survive the changes.
I have a torn up beat up hot pink small notebook I use for all my fiber arts notes. It's great! I can look back five years and see how I've changed as a human and an artist. It's always in my bag!
OK-now I wanna see the grocery store- since where you USED to shop closed! Is there any kind of clothing store? How far do you have to go for a department store ? Love this feeling of another world than mine. ANDi love your balloon flower plant! Looking forward to part 2!
I'll see what I can do about the grocery store. It's much larger and more modern, but I miss having a store on Main Street. As for a department store...the nearest WalMart is in Dickinson, ND, about 90 miles away. Yes, the balloon flower is amazing. This year it really took off!
That was great fun! I appreciate the tour of your town and the explanation, as I was wondering why such a small town has so many businesses and amenities. The town garden is impressive. I love seeing old signs and would enjoy a closer look at the old motel sign. Those vintage signs are real classics!
We are pretty lucky with our location. We got lucky around the turn of the century when the railroad chose to come through this town. Now we're at the crossing of two major highways. Yes, I need to photograph those old signs: they are pieces of history and should be recorded before they disappear.
Jason, Thank you so much for the excellent tour of Bowman! You're quite a natural at this. Bowman is a lovely little town and it was so nice to see that there was plenty of life in the downtown area. So often you'll see so many small towns that are boarded-up and lifeless-looking. Not the case here. There were quite a few interesting things and a variety of businesses, which was a bit of a surprise. I can see why you've made a life for yourself here. I could tell that there is a real sense of community here and I envy you a bit. I loved your house! By the way, what was that blue flower again? Lovely. Can't wait to see the museum!
I'm so glad you enjoyed! Yes, we're far enough away from civilization that we have a lot of businesses that similarly sized towns don't have. The blue flower was a balloon flower. Platycodon grandiflorus. It's doing really well this year!
I'm really pissed that Waterman stopped producing the large sized Exception - it was a great pen and a worthy heir to the Man 100. Their current range is very limited.
Waski, wow! I really, really like this vid! It’s so interesting to see your wonderful town & hear your intelligent commentary. It must be quite gratifying to have so many people know you & say hello as you walk down the street. That sense of community is almost a bygone phenomenon, sadly. I’ll probably watch this video a few times. Thanks again, my interwebz friend.
I think the Waterman X-pen is worth mentioning as being a truly self filling pen, maybe even a tad more so than the P 61. I just dip the nib into the ink for a short while, and I’m good to go. I replaced the original cotton wool fabric absorbent with a bit of mineral insulation board cut with a knife to fit. If it ever gets clogged, it’s easily replaced. The nib is writing fine, and very reliably.
Good point! The X-pen is fun because Waterman originally filed patents over feeds, and the X-pen was a pen without a feed. I thought Parker was being silly with the teflon thing: you have to wipe it off anyway. I think they wanted to use this new, futuristic material.
Originally I had the Parker 51 on my purchase list, but so many people said the new version was crud. Then I discovered this one, and I preferred the nib to the hooded 51 version. It’s supposed to be X fine, but of course writes like a M/F, but I like it anyway. It has a classic retro look that I find a nice change from my Leonardo’s and Estie.
I have a dark green Parker 61 with chrome cap. Very unique filling system. Not too much of a fill of ink, though. Cleaning and servicing is no issue at all. I guess my habit of sticking to one ink for each of my pens means I have no problems with the 61. It is distinct and quite lovely pen.
Famously, Marcus Aurelis kept his journal not with intent of it to be published publicly. Shrewd as he was, he noted that never to write anything down that you wish kept secret. It did.
Another good one, enjoyed the opening flax field, and the closing drive, wow flax on the left and yellow stuff on right, I’m guessing cannoli. As for your Traveller’s Notebook, I can’t tell you how to use yours, but I can say how I use my 3 Traveller’s Notebooks. The dark teal one is my pen and correspondence note book. Has 4 note books in it: A Goulet -Tomoe River dot grid that I customized with scissors to be a thumb indexed address book, a lined notebook I use as a correspondence log, a Matt Armstrong “Inky Fingers” Currently Inked notebook for tracking pens inked, and finally another lined note book still unused for creating a record of all my pens and their known statistics. Yes the Traveller’s can take more than 2 notebooks, at least 4, perhaps 5. Check Brian Goulet’s Traveller’s videos for how to work the bands for more than 2. In my 3 Traveller’s I have a mixture of Traveller’s MD paper books and Goulet Tomoe River, which ever is best for my needs. The inside back flap of all 3 of my Traveller’s has an optional stick on diagonal pouch for receipts, blotting paper paper clips you name it. MY 2nd TN is tan colored and is a medical record book for recording meds, Q&A during doctor and other medical/health related visits, Including daily log for hospital stays. It has 4 notebooks and between book2 and book3 is a 2 page clear plastic business card file, each page has 3 slots wide enough to display 6 cards back to back. A convenient divider between a 2 book section for my wife and a 2 book section for me. My 3rd and last Traveller’s is black and resides in the driver’s door storage pocket of my Volvo. It has 3 books: the first is for recording date, location, milage, gallons, cost of fuel and consumables, as well as similar details for all repairs. The 2nd book is a trip logbook. The 3rd and final is a Watercolor paper book, like your sketch book only thicker paper. For sketching with FP, pencil, and or watercolor during freeway gridlock, waiting for a train, or stopping to sit under a tree. So, that’s how I have been using 3 Traveller’s notebooks, all configured differently, which is the strength of the Traveller’s system and its myriad options. Hope some will find this helpful in contemplating a Traveller’s for themself. And I would love to hear how others use their Traveller’s.
Yes, flax and canola. You sound quite vested in the Traveler's Notebook system. I like your notebook in the Volvo (I learned to drive on a Volvo 240 station wagon). Maybe I need a notebook for the Camry! I do most of my traveling in her, so maybe she needs a Traveler's Notebook of her own.
the new owners of Evernote grind my gears, apparently they laid off all their US staff after they acquired the product. Now that it’s no longer its own thing i’m reconsidering what i want to use moving forward.
The firing was a horrible first step, especially since the US staff had already done so much to make Evernote a far better program than it had been in years. For now I'll continue using it, mainly because I'm so invested in the platform. Moving would be incredibly painful.
Thank you so much. That was an excellent video and obviously very carefully prepared. I was interested in the security aspect of note-taking. It would seem the electronic storage of notes is more secure. Not only protected by a password but also can be easily copied onto a memory card should the tablet fail or become corrupted. What concerns me is when notes are used as evidence in a legal situation and can they be altered at a later date? Such manipulation of evidence is difficult to hide when records are made using pen and paper. I am not so sure if a report held on an electronic device can be trusted. Surely notes can be added or deleted without trace unlike pen and paper?
You brought up an interesting point about paper vs. electronic. Usually electronic files show the time of their latest edit. But a good hacker can usually find a way around it. Paper records can be falsified, but it's a lot trickier.
