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Welcome

Welcome to Ravens March, a site devoted to the fountain pen; a writing instrument which is frequently misunderstood and somewhat mythologized. I hope to deal with the misunderstandings, but given how much I like them, I’m unlikely to quell any mythology (except the very silly sort). This is a newly-minted revision of a site which had been composed of diverse errors and poorly-lit pictures; you will find this one somewhat more informative and rather easier on the eyes. However, as it has just opened, you may find a few of the displays are not quite 100% polished (mainly in the area of measurements), but that will be seen to before the heady smell of fresh paint dissipates.

There's pretty pictures....

For those anxious to gaze upon fountain pens in their diversity, I have them on display in the History Department, under their makers arranged in alphabetic order. That department also contains a brief examination of the development of fountain pens from earliest times until the present (or at least, last summer), for those more interested in general trends than specific models.

Hmm... fountain pens, eh?

If you’ve just laid your hands on a fountain pen and want to know how to get it running, the Applied Arts Department lays out the basics of pen management. If you’re wondering whether you want to lay your hands on one, I have a bit of a primer for that, but you should be warned that I’m slightly biased.

Science! That means cuttin' stuff up!

The Science Department examines the physics that let pens work and the parts that go into them. Happily, this does not require a very strong foundation in math.

Hideous! ...but fixable.

Finally, I should mention that, while I do this mainly from pure love of pens, I do have a bit of a commercial enterprise underway as well. Have you laid your hands on a fountain pen that doesn’t want to work? I may be able to help, and I may be able to direct you to help yourself.

Permanent link to this article: http://dirck.delint.ca/beta/

Pushing a Vac Around the Place

It’s nearly three weeks since TWSBI announced the release of its new Vac 700, and almost a week that I’ve had one in hand to examine.  It is, therefore, long past time that I got a review page put together for it. This has moved me to also work up some steam on other Chinese …

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Water World

The ranks of my Waterman pages have been swollen with a full four new pages!  Moving chronologically, there’s the Hundred Year Pen (although not, I’m afraid, with pictures of the popular early form of it), the vexing Dauntless, which I reiterate is not a Stalwart, the new-for-1950 Master set for kids on their way back …

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Return of the Super Master

Does that not sound like a late ’70′s kung fu film?  I have just finished putting together a page for a pen I’ve owned for years, but have only just sorted out the model-name of, the Waterman Super Master.  I have also just replaced a long-broken section in that pen, so the return is from …

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Gala Gallery Opening

This is not so much an addition to as an expansion of the site; the header now offers Portrait Galleries, where I have moved the chronological mug-books which once sat in the History Department.  There are also some other galleries there, including a shameless example of sub-arctic patriotism, and others will follow as I finish …

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