Local pen repairman Mark's new business card & website (PenDen.ca)!

Mark Harcourt, one of our longtime members who also repairs and sells fountain pens, has a new business card (and a really nice new website), so I thought I'd share it here:

(isn't it beautiful? 😊)

Mark & Sharon 's new website: https://penden.ca/

September meeting photos (part 2)

 (⭐Information about our October meeting⭐ is in this blog post -
https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2025/09/october-meeting-information-including.html )

We had record-setting attendance (at least 40 people!) for our September meeting at the VPL's Champlain Heights branch on the afternoon of Saturday September 13th, and both Sherman & I took photos during the meeting. I posted my photos a few days ago (link to post) as part 1 of the photos taken, so here are the photos Sherman wanted to share - part 2! (thanks, Sherman :):

(All photos courtesy of Sherman ~ please click on images to enlarge)

 Bird's-eye-views of the hustle and bustle of this busy gathering...

(I'm so glad the library meeting room's official capacity was 40 people -- we needed the space!)

We didn't have a themed meeting with a "show & tell", but the two-and-a-half hours flew by as our members talked pens, inks and all things pen-related :)

VPC member Godwin (who wasn't present) had very generously donated a whole bunch of inks and Chinese-made fountain pens for our door prize draws, so we gave away the last of the ink & a good chunk of the pens at our September meeting. That's Grant helping me (Maja) with the draws that afternoon (I just realized how tired I looked lol); thank you so much for your help, Grant!

This is the Jinhao '992' fountain pen that Sherman won in the door prize draws. The Jinhao is essentially a clone of the Sailor ProColor 500, but it's a nice little fountain pen in its own right.

Sherman wound up trading fountain pens with Audrey (above); for his Jinhao '992', he got Audrey's Jinhao '950' Ceramic Blue model with Dragon design. 

Sherman with Abhijit, who came from India to attend our meeting! Abhijit came to our July 2024 meeting and had so much fun that he decided to come back for this one while he was in Vancouver :)


Sherman also sent in some photos of his newest acquisitions that he took after the meeting ended. Here here they are, starting with...

...his Jinhao '950' Ceramic Blue with Dragon design fountain pen...

Sherman writes: "The blue paint on the Jinhao 950 Ceramic Blue is quite unique, and I couldn’t find a good match with my current inventories. I inked it with Namiki Blue and this EF nib writes quite okay."

Sherman's new Snowhite 'FP20' disposable fountain pen (link), one of many that our fellow VPCer Steve G. gave away during the meeting. For a modest pocket fountain pen, Sherman was impressed with how smoothly it wrote (and I agree).

Sherman got this lovely notecard from longtime VPC member Mark Harcourt, who created a very nice pen sales & restoration website (PenDen.ca) earlier this year. 

Sherman's Chinese & Taiwanese fountain pen collection (including his Hero 1921 90th Year Commemorative Red fountain pen, with its impressive display stand). The four pens on the extreme right side of the case are (L-R) two of Sherman's beloved élysée fountain pens and his two VPC Limited Edition fountain pens by Leonardo and Radius 1934. Sherman reviewed his very special Hero fountain pen here on our website in 2023.

Many thanks, once again, to all who attended our September meeting, to Godwin for the wonderful pen and ink door prizes, Steve G. for the fountain pens and ballpoints he gave out, and VPCer Sam L. for the many notebooks & other stuff he donated for our de-stashing table! 

(~blog post by Maja~)

Some photos from July's meeting!

There were 34 of us in attendance at our club's July meeting, which was held on Thursday July 17th at the Vancouver Public Library's Kitsilano branch; among those present were two brand-new members, Francisco and Rob (welcome to our club!)

The meeting featured a special presentation on vintage fountain pen repair (by our fellow VPCer Grant) ... and many door prizes (tons of ink, courtesy of VPC member Godwin)! Here are some photos taken during the meeting...

 (~click on images to enlarge~)

Grant gave an excellent talk on the repair of vintage fountain pens, as well as a demonstration on how to change the latex ink sac in a vintage Waterman fountain pen with a lever-filling mechanism

Before getting to the demo, Grant gave us a good overview of things to consider when a pen repair opportunity presents itself -- the pen's material, the tools required for the job, repair techniques, as well as a reminder about the limitations of some repairs. Thank you, Grant, for explaining things in such an engaging and concise manner! 

(*photos above taken by Catherine; photos below taken by Maja, except where noted*)

The meeting was very busy, so I didn't have time to take many photos of the pen-related items that members brought to show each other (we didn't have a "show & tell" at this meeting, though). Some of our members (esp. the folks in the foreground of the photo above) used the casual format of this meeting to do some ink-swatching...

… and here's a quick shot of some nice ink swatches done by Catherine (lower left), Lisa (upper left) and Audrey (right side of photo)...

After his presentation, Grant took the time to look at some vintage fountain pens brought in by our members…

Above (left to right): Grant, Stuart, David C, and Allan.

Grant also brought some of his own wonderful vintage writing instruments to show others. The other side of his pen case (which you can't see--sorry!) had restored vintage pens that Grant brought to sell at the meeting...

That's me next to Stuart, who joined our club way back in September 2013 - time flies! (photo taken by Audrey)

Above photo (left to right): Grant, Shawn and brand-new member Francis.

(** all photos below courtesy of Sherman ~ click on images to enlarge **)

Sherman was kind enough to send me some photos he took during our July meeting, including a couple of his famous selfies! In the background of the photo above are (L-R): James, Grant, Alejandra, newer member Steve K, and Allan.

I was busy calling out door prize ticket numbers (above), so I didn't have time to take any selfies during the draws...but Sherman did (lol); he's holding up the bottle of Diamine 'Platinum Jubilee Ink' that he won.

Here's a closeup of the Diamine ink that Sherman won. The ink was an exclusive made for well-known UK retailer Cult Pens, and it was created to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee in 2022. Cult Pens describes the ink as "a rich, regal purple symbolising Royalty with a platinum shimmer."

Sherman brought some of his nice writing instruments to show -- (left to right): a Golf Propelling Pencil 0.5mm, his élysée Damascene Sports (40 Line) fountain pen, and a Pilot Custom 743 Black fountain pen with 14K Gold F nib. His single-pen sleeves (above) were made by Rickshaw Bagworks of San Francisco.

Sherman's door prize ink and some inks he brought to trade. Members are free to bring ink and pen-related items to trade/sell during any of our meetings :)  

Thank you to everyone who came to our July meeting, special thanks to Audrey, Catherine & Sherman for taking some photos for this blog post, and to Audrey & Michelle for helping with the door prize draws 😊. Many thanks, once again, to Grant for his informative vintage pen repair presentation & demo 👏, and to Godwin for his immense generosity in donating so many ink door prizes! 🙌

⚡ Our August meeting will be held at the Vancouver Pen Shop on Saturday August 23rd ~ details in this recent blog post: https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2025/07/august-meeting-at-vancouver-pen-shop.html 

(~Blog post by Maja~)

Meeting this Thursday!

(all details here !)

July meeting info (special presentation on vintage fountain pen repair!)

July 2025 meeting info: 

When: Thursday July 17, 2025 

Where: The Branch Meeting Room (in the basement) of the Vancouver Public Library's KITSILANO branch at 2425 Macdonald Street (between Broadway & West 8th) in Vancouver. 

Time: 5:00pm - 7:30pm 

Meeting topic: A special presentation on vintage fountain pen repair (and a lever-filler repair demo) by Grant! 🖋️🛠️ Grant has generously volunteered to do a talk on vintage fountain pen repair for our July meeting, and he'll also restore (resac) a vintage Waterman lever-filling fountain pen! 

Please note: 
--We have the use of the room from 5:00pm, but Grant's presentation will start at 6:00pm to allow folks more time to get to the library in time for his talk. 
-- After Grant's talk, you can use the remaining time to socialize and chat amongst yourselves--there will be no "show & tell" at this meeting**

Hope you can make it! No RSVPs required. If you have any questions, please email us at: vancouverpenclub@gmail.com 

Pen repair presentation/demo at June meeting cancelled!

Due to an unexpected change in his work schedule, Grant's special presentation on vintage pen repairs (at our June meeting) has been CANCELLED. Grant really wants to do the presentation at a later date, though, so we'll reschedule it for another month. 

In the meantime, our June meeting is still on (same date, time and place as originally announced), but we'll be doing Newest Acquisitions as an informal "show & tell". I've amended the original post about the meeting, which you can find here.

June meeting information (UPDATED!)

⚠️ **Due to an unexpected change in his work schedule, Grant's presentation on vintage pen repairs (originally scheduled for our June meeting) is cancelled. Our apologies for any inconvenience -- please see updated meeting info below** ⚠️

June 2025 meeting info:

When:  Thursday June 19, 2025

Where: Branch Meeting Room (in the basement) of the Vancouver Public Library's KITSILANO branch at 2425 Macdonald Street (between Broadway and West 8th) in Vancouver.

Time: 5:00pm - 7:30pm

Meeting theme/topic: A special presentation on vintage fountain pen repair (and a lever-filler repair demo) by Grant!🖋️🛠️PRESENTATION CANCELLED

*NEW* meeting theme/topic: "NEWEST PEN-RELATED ACQUISITIONS"! (*please try to limit your 'show & tell' to a maximum of 2-3 items per person, due to time constraints*)

Hope you can make it to the meeting! Don't worry if you don't have any new stuff to show---please come anyway! No need to RSVP, either! If you have any questions, please contact us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com

Local vintage pen repair service ( also buying & selling old pens ! )

Longtime Vancouver Pen Club member Christopher Robertson (whose vintage pen set was featured yesterday :) has been repairing & selling vintage pens and pencils for several years, but recently asked if I could post his new pen restoration, service & sales ad card, so here it is:

If you have any questions for Christopher, please contact him directly at the email address above!

Photos from our May meeting

(all photos by Ricardo, except where noted ~ Please click on images to enlarge ~)

Our May meeting theme was "Nib Tuning" and featured an excellent presentation by VPC member Jerred:

Jerred's "Introduction to Nib Tuning" presentation was done in the form of a PowerPoint presentation and a live demo.
The Nib Tuning Powerpoint presentation can be viewed here: Jerred's Introduction to Nib Tuning (Powerpoint Presentation)

We had good attendance for our meeting---17 members, including one newcomer (Kelley) showed up. From L-R: Jim M, Mark S, Dana, Justin, Mark H, Natasha, Grace, Joie, Maja, Christopher R, Barry K, Sabrina, Jerred:

Jerred's talk was thorough, informative and entertaining, and had many very useful tips & techniques for both the beginner and more advanced "nib tuner"...

Jerred setting up the camera for the live nib-tuning demonstration:

From L-R: Dana, Justin, Julienne, Mark H, Natasha, Grace, Kelley, Joie, Maja, Christopher R, Barry K, Sabrina, Jerred:

Live fountain pen nib-tuning demo!

(photo below) Jerred demonstrating some nib-smoothing techniques using Micro-Mesh Sanding Discs (available from Lee Valley Tools here). Lee Valley Tools also carries the Micro-Mesh Pen Sanding Pads here.
Please note: for nib smoothing purposes, only the 6000, 8000 and 12000 grit are recommended. Coarser grades can be used for nib reshaping, but that topic was not covered at our meeting.

Jerred's invaluable Nib Tuning Demonstration notes can be found here: Jerred's Nib Tuning Demonstration Notes


As usual, our secondary topic is Newest Acquisitions, so Ricardo snapped a few of them, including Sabrina's lovely Pelikan M805 "Ocean Swirl":

(below) Ricardo's orange TWSBI 580 AL and someone's new Pilot Decimo fountain pen. I can't remember who brought it, so please let me know if you're the owner :)

Mark's wonderful vintage Parker 'Duofold' in Mandarin Yellow:

Now, a few more photos from our May meeting, these courtesy of Christopher's camera...

Happy VPCers (L-R) Alejandra, Mark H, new member Kelley, Maja and Christopher:

Alejandra between the "two Marks"---Mark S (left) and Mark H (right)

Barry holding a classic vintage American fountain pen---Mark's Parker 'Duofold' in the prized Mandarin Yellow colour (there's a nice writeup on this famous pen model here):

More new recent acquisitions....

Christopher R's Waterman Taperite Crusader set, Circa 1953
(~Click on images to enlarge~)

Christopher writes: "(This) Crusader set is a Canadian one differing from the usual model with a higher quality stainless steel brushed and lined cap. This model was produced in the Waterman Quebec plant and is considered a better pen than the US aluminum cap model." It's a somewhat rare pen, and Christopher's particular fountain pen even has a wonderfully-flexy nib, so congrats to him on this great find!

Christopher's Waterman Taperite Stateleigh, Stars & Stripes model Circa 1945:

Christopher's notes that the Stateleigh has a clutch grip in the cap to catch on the section ring (very similar to the Parker 51 which Waterman was trying to copy and/or compete with), whereas the later Taperite Crusader model went back to a threaded cap/barrel.

That's all the photos from May's meeting! Our sincere thanks to Jerred for his great talk :)

(Photo by Barry K)

Hope to see you at the next meeting, which will be held later today - Thursday June 21st- at the Terry Salman branch of the VPL from 6:00pm to 8:45pm---all info here!