The Bricoleur: Making Do

Claude Levi-Strauss used the term "Bricoleur", referring to a maker, of sorts, who makes do with the tools and materials at hand. Terry Frohm, principle technician at the CRRF Chuuk marine laboratory in Chuuk in the early 90s, used the term "Making Do" in reference to appurtenances and contrivances, innovations he cobbled together in creating a functioning laboratory, with a minimum of expensive and specialized equipment or hardware.

I recognized, in Levi-Strauss's descriptions of the Bricoleur, the Micronesian fishermen's use---of necessity---of available materials to solve their own technical problems: Marshallese fishermen used a piece of broken glass or a sharp piece of Aluminum beer can to clean a catch of fish on the beach; spears were fashioned of discarded heavy iron wire from water-tank bands, straightened and sharpened; their slings made from old airplane inner tubes. Goggles were carved from wood---using possibly a kitchen knife sharpened on a piece of pumice that had drifted onto the beach, their glass from a
relict World War II airplane. Gillette's study of Tuna fishing in Tokelau features a demonstration by a Tokelauan elder: trapping an air bubble in the hand cupped over one's eye to provide an air-water interface through which to see fish clearly.

This Blog cannot adequately honor the resourcefulness of those men, but I have borrowed the words of Terry Frohm, to describe the purpose of this proposed collection of solutions and innovations of various kinds. These solutions are embarassingly rich in their reliance on modern materials. The intention is to develop a repository of cheap and easy solutions to problems that are important to me. I I hope it can serve as more than a collection. Rather, by example, a reminder that solutions are often at arm's reach, and not in catalogs.


Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Fountain Pens: hacking and tuning

A remarkable "literature" exists online regarding care, tuning, and hacking of fountain pens.  In an earlier blog post on my all purpose blog I described my experiments, looking for the perfect pen to use in writing field notes in water proof ink.

I settled on what turned out to be a fine or extra fine Montblanc Slimline, sold in the 1980s for 30.00 in a duty free shop.  It was an amazing pen, wrote like a champ with Higgins Waterproof Drawing Ink, not recommended by anyone for fountain pens, with minimal cleaning or attention, except wiping each time I started using it.

I had about three of these, and they served me well.  I even used them to write labels on reagent bottles on lab tape.  Anything.  Prices went up, and I moved to an island with no access to duty free shops anyway, so the 1 pt. bottle of ink was still 3/4 full by the time I'd lost the last one.

Years later, I am back to fountain pens, having discovered, first, the Pilot Metropolitan.  Being an inveterate fiddler arounder, I have been boning up on the use, care, and modification of fountain pens.  Many YouTube videos and web sites explain such arcanea as tuning pens, dressing of nibs, cleaning, and the fine points of ink (pun accidental).  I'll never own a 250.00 pen, and I don't think I need one anyway.  These metropolitans are remarkable.  And I have also taken delivery on two $3.00 Platinum Preppy 0.3 pens, and converted them to eyedropper fill pens, with massive ink capacities.

In this post I only want to aggregate some of what I've learned, as much for myself as for any wayward travellers.  These pens are a really cool Making Do project.

I should address the everyday carry (EDC) aspect.  When I was focused on Ethnobiological research in the islands, I cultivated the habit of using a fanny pack.  These are known by Chuukese as "Thunder Bags".  I have no idea where that name came from, but it's brilliant.  Returning to civilization, so to speak, family members were apalled at my wearing a belt pouch 24/7, even at the Thanksgiving table, or other events.  I had theories about the best thunder bag.  The military look of my favorite, a Maxpedition, was off-puting, even to me.  And, as I was in a classroom some days, I decided to doff the bag.

Almost as brilliant is the pocket protector.  These are not easy to find, but I got a package of two on Amazon or Ebay, have been using one for 2 or 3 or 4 years, and it's still serviceable.  The other one I gave to my friend Kryg, who is an EDC nerd.

Here's why this is a brilliant idea.  In the islands, a bag or pouch is almost a required piece of equipment, so keep the notebook and pens together, together with other daily needs.  Knife, etc.



Back here, though, pockets are a fact of life, most of the time.  I admit I have some favorite shirts that are pocketless, but I do have a messenger bag I usually carry with me, in which to keep pens and pencils.  That's another story.  Here, though, I were pants with pockets.  Pockets and a pocket protector can serve pretty well, especially in concert with a Messenger Bag.  (For now, I will mention that I found the ideal messenger bag on sale for 1/2 price at REI: a Timbuk2 classic old style.  But don't order a custom bag: they are not as well contructed as the old style classic.  I won't go into detail about mine and what makes it great; I don't remember the model name anyway!).

Why is this important?  I have somehow cultivated a habit of keeping a pen at my fingertips at all times, and I seldom lose one.  The belt bag was the first step.  The pocket protector has enabled me to maintain the good habit.  I seldom lose a pen, so I seldom have to buy one.  I hate (or maybe love) to think how many hundreds of dollars I have saved by not buying pens all the time.  Certainly enough to buy a couple of low price and high functioning fountain pens, some ink and some tools.

 Here's another trick: I took a stack of Mead Composition Books, at least 100 sheets each, to a printer and had him cut them down to size on one of those guillotine cutters, to just the right size to fit the pouch.  Sewn bound, they are idea.  I think he charged $2.00.  Using a pencil or good waterproof ink, this paper, while not the best, would be indelible enough.  I didn't understand or know that when my stuff was scattered to the four winds by Typhoon Nina, some of the notes were almost unreadable, but the ink did its job: I don't think any important notes were totally unreadable.  Either Lexicon notes, or notes on research or naturalizing.  Or just thoughts.

Inks, Feeds, and Nibs

 

Back to our story.

My sister gifted me a large bottle of Noodler's Heart of Darkness ink.  I had asked her for this pen based on research into the properties of the ink, and the cool name.   Unbeknownst to me---though possibly not my sister---a free Noodler's eyedropper-fill pen was included in the box.  Seriously!  A free pen, on Noodlers.   This pen is quite a piece.  First of all, emblazoned on the barrel in transparent letters is the name "Charlie".  This, it turns out, is a cult favorite: it is named after the Charlie Hebdo massacre.  And it is an interesting pen. 

More interesting still it is an introduction to the Noodler's pens, and a philosophy I have just learned about: using Ebonite feeds.  I have just been schooled about these feeds by one of the pen nerds on YouTube and the Inet.  Classic pens of bygone eras were made with Ebonite.  Remember, plastic --- in the manufacturing sense --- has only been with us since about 1950.  Ebonite, it turns out, has desireable properties for our purposes, in preference to modern plastics.  At least that's the word on the street (at least in the back alleys) of the pen world.  The best thing is this: according to the guy on the video, Noodler's does this on purpose; they make their pens with Ebonite feeds, so we can use other nibs, nibs of our choice.  Compare this with Pilot, who makes an amazing pen, but with a nib that has a shape that only can be paired with it's feed, and does not sell replacement nibs!  Do you see where I am going?  Free software vs. proprietary software :: Free pens vs proprietary-infrastructure in pens.  Are you lovin' it yet!? 

This video explains a few things.  It is a gateway into like videos, with even more information.  For my part, it lead to the realization that I can substitute expensive classic nibs and feeds from the 40s and 50s and maybe 60s on other pens.  I happen to have this amazing classic, which somehow I have inherited from my Mother:


This is a lever-fill pen, with a bladder.  The cap is missing the button and clip.  The bladder has long since fused into a twisted mass of gummy rubber.  Online are many vendors who sell the bladders and tools needed to repair this pen, but that leaves me a pen with no clip.  The cheapest used pen  I saw of this type was $85.00, in 2018.  Many are worth much more.

My first 10.99 Pilot Metropolitan was a sacrifice to the pen gods: I dropped it from a standing position, point down, on a hard floor.  I'm led to understand that a good nibster could fix this for upwards of 50.00.  Do the math.  I have one more that my aforementioned sister gifted me for Christmas.  And I am awaiting shipment of a set of three chinese nibs modeled after the Pilot nibs, that are not available from the Manufacturer.  Meanwhile...

I saw a flash of a lightbulb out of the corner of my eye, and it hit me: why not try to use this touted Eversharp Skyline nib on my grounded Pilot?!  It might fit, but the Pilot has a plastic feed, I think.  It might work with the Noodler.  What about the Skyline feed?  It's an interesting gizmo, the feed.  This one maybe a little more interesting than most.  I may photograph it someday.  MAYBe the pilot feed would work, but would the skyline feed fit into the pilot section?  (A section is the part of the pen the feed fits into; the feed is the structure underlying the nib; the pen operates, I am assured, on the priciple of a controlled leak, so the feed---first patented by Waterman---is a clever way of channelling and controling the leak AND the return air flow.  This leak and the air return can be modified by removing some material from the channel of the feed, as explained on many internet sites, thereby increasing the flow.  Some of the artists install Manga nibs (G nibs) on these ebonite feeds, which they have to "heat set".  These are "flex" nibs that draw thicker lines when pressed down hard, so they need adequate ink flow.  These guys deepen the channel in the feed; various princples used various levels of precision and subtlety in doing so, as I saw on these videos.  Very cool.)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

I fitted the feed and nib into the pilot, and it seemed to fit!   Then the pen was filled using the press plate converter (I think only Pilot supplies a converter with the pen---the idea is to make more profit by selling the converter separately).  I used Sailor's Kuwo Guro Black Ink.  And what do you know?  It wrote like a champ, has not leaked or skipped.  Fits like a glove.  The flow at first was generous, but not to the point of a leak of pooling.  After a while, it seemed to dry a little, and I noticed a little scratching.  I will apply the Nail Buffer method to smooth it out ever so gently.  Actually, some of the instructional information I have read asserts that different ink might make the pen write more smoothly, or drier, or wetter.  Inks are part of the game.  Noodler's seems like a cool company, with great names for the various inks, and it looks like each ink is a chemical concoction of it's own. 

Links from my explorations, without comments:


 Afterword

One thing I have noticed: the pen world is a very engaging one, fascinating. I get the same feeling of freedom and release as I do from Free Software.  Lots of other things.  Liberating.   These links will give some idea of how enthusiastic even the vendors are, and willing to share the tricks of the trade.  I have found Brian Goulet's videos to be exceptionally engaging and informative.  What is that shading ink he uses in the ink splashes on the site?

There's much more out there.  Next time I hope to list some of the many tips and ideas, and techniques.  Keeping it simple, I like the Metropolitan alot.  I may mention that word has it that Japanese nibs run finer.

Ed Jelley's site got me started and steered me toward the Pilot Metropolitan.  On that site is a list of many blogs about pens.  (William likes dip pens.)

It's probably easy to forget that the whole idea is the have a couple of pens that one takes good care of, are not worth the world, and that write well, and can use good ink.  It has been pointed out that De Atramentis Document Ink is a good choice for permanence, but I do not have it.  Here's a web page about this amazing looking ink, a nano-particle ink that seems to hit all the bases where permanence is concerned: De Atramentis Document Ink.  (Available in several colors).  Soon to be tested.  For now, I have this large bottle of Heart of Darkness. 





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