2015 Atlanta Pen Show

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Tommy McGuire

Tl;dr: I went to the Atlanta Pen Show. It was fun.

I had originally planned on going to Atlanta on Friday, spending the night, and taking Saturday at the pen show, going to seminars and having a wonderful time. Then, I remembered that I'm an antisocial misanthrope with shyness issues from Texas, would be unlikely to actually speak to anyone, and that this is apparently a send-the-IRS-much-money year, so I waited until Saturday morning. I arose somewhat early, patted the Dianne, Penelope Doglington, and Zach on the head and prepared to leave. Zack glared at me and started waving his claws around; I cut the preparations short and just took off.

I hopped into the ol' 'vette and went through Section like the Four Ponies of the 'Pocalypse, leaving devastation and wreckage in my wake although I don't think anyone noticed; I whipped through Fort Payne like the North Wind, except that I was actually coming from the west; and took Rome, GA, and points Atlanta-ward like an invading army of crazed yankees driving Corvettes. However, as I didn't leave any parts behind, I assume my territorial claims have since been nullified.

Anyway, I arrived at the Wyndham about 11:45 because I'm not a morning person. That meant that I missed Susan Wirth's seminar on "How some pens can make anyone’s handwriting look good. How to find them at a Pen show," which I wanted to attend. Sigh. I did manage to avoid being dragged into the calligraphy class---that would have been like teaching a pig to talk; it wastes your time and annoys the pig. I did a quick lap of the show, which was two conference rooms and the halls between. It was packed, both with vendors and attendees. Then, I got to business.

Brian Anderson did have a Sailor King of Pen (just say it, "King of Pen"), which felt lovely and has an impressive nib. One of the things I was looking for at the show was lightweight, oversized pens, and that is one. Unfortunately, Mr. Anderson sold it to the guy standing next to me right after I finished playing with it, so I didn't spend several hundred dollars on one pen. (The rat bastard.)

On the other hand, I discovered that I don't particularly like the way Pilot Vanishing Points feel. It's a nice pen, but I no longer feel the need to look closer at one. For me, this show is the first time I've seen many of the pens I have looked at in person, and there is nothing like touching a pen and feeling its heft to judge how I would like it.

The Nock tables were occupied by a man with a terrifying beard.

Another thing that I was looking for was a reference to Parker Vacumatics. Given that they are beautiful and just feel right, and that they represent everything that is good, true, and just in the world, and that I love them, I decided I needed to get serious about collecting them, which meant learning much more about them. I was talking to Mike and Memi Turkington of M&M Pens and learned that Mike has some sort of weird fascination with Duofolds, but he suggested Geoffrey Parker, David Shepherd, and Dan Zazove's Parker Vacumatic book. Unfortunately, said book is apparently printed on unobtanium. Fortunately, they pointed me to the Pendemonium folks, who had a copy of said book for sale and it came home with me. The book is as attractive as the pens.

Overall, the show was very nice. Although vintage pens did seem to be much of the focus (something I enjoyed), there was a good mix of vintage and modern. The Franklin-Christoph booth, I believe, was doing a great business offering a wide selection of testers and custom-ground Masuyama nibs. (And Franklin-Christoph has some nice pens.) Anderson Pens also had a wide variety of different manufacturers (including the TWISBI 700 vac that followed me home). Every vendor I talked to had testers or was happy to let potential customers get their grubby mitts on their pens, including letting them dip and write. The customers, not the pens. Pens don't have fingers; they can't dip or write.

I spent a lot of time near Martin Ferguson's booth, and the other tables doing pen repair. Am I weird to think that's fun?

After the show, I stopped by Rockler Woodworking, which has some good options for pen stands, gift boxes, and zippered pen cases in their pen-turning supplies, in addition to their, you know, woodworking stuff. I had dinner at Nori Nori, eating very good sushi until I ruptured, and came home, flying like a great raven through the Georgia countryside. Except that the 'vette is red, not black, and doesn't fly.

Here endeth the saga.

Comments

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> The Nock tables were occupied by a man with a terrifying beard.Could it possibly have been this guy Anonymous'2015-04-22T15:05:55.405-05:00'Oh, no, I'm afraid it was Jeff "Why did I make these in so many colors?" Bruckwicki Tommy McGuire'2015-04-22T19:07:20.475-05:00'Oh, and that's Myke Hurley. He's British. He's not scary at all.Tommy McGuire'2015-04-22T19:10:34.283-05:00'If you were at Martin's booth, you were right next to mine, Karas Kustoms. Say hello next time and grab a free pocket protector.Dan BishopDan, thanks for stopping by and making me feel guilty. I did see you all there, but you were busy and I forgot about the pocket protectors. You make some great pens.Tommy McGuire'2015-04-23T17:25:11.380-05:00'I'm jealous that you went to a pen show, even if it was only for one day. I would have loved to hear your comments on the lecture you missed. I need a pen that will make my handwriting look good. I recently got a Pelikan pen from nibs.com, because the owner will break the nib in for you.Kay Nettle'2015-05-12T21:00:48.115-05:00'I need a pen that will make my handwriting lookIf it would also make it coherent and informative, that would be good, too.I'm pretty good at breaking nibs, too.Tommy McGuire'2015-05-13T10:05:28.133-05:00'