Our sister-company uses the feathers of a certain bird in one step during the manufacture of a fairly high tech item because it gets the most even and uniform results…
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Please let it be pigeons.
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There was a cheeky print ad for Hasselblad cameras some decades ago, which said something like “It’s no wonder Hasselblads cost so much money, look at all the expensive material that’s used in making them”.
Then it listed some of them and with the usual gorgeous studio photography of these ‘ingredients’: “The finest rice money can buy, the most expensive tacks we can get, the best horse hair,…”
The ad copy went on to explain that the rice was used as a medium to tumble finish the plastic knobs to give them just the perfect patina, the tacks were tumbled with the gears so that their pointy teeth got the lubricant in every nook and cranny, the horse hair was used to polish the metal parts, etc.
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I don’t recall, but I think that it was doves - aka magical pigeons…
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He does on occasion post about pens.
Do you have a fountain pen you like to use?
I am a mechanical pencil geek, MrsTobinL on the other hand is fond of the Lamy Safari and the Pilot Metropolitan both of which are quite inexpensive for a fountain pen.
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I love mechanical pencils, but when I try to use one it’s like trying to pick up Thor’s hammer. I can’t do anything useful with it. That’s not completely true. I practiced for the LSAT with one in 1992, and I used one to make dungeon maps in … okay, my traumatized mind is not letting itself go that far back in time.
Like this?
Yep that would be the one, not the exact one as hers are red.
Those are three of my favorites. I thought I posted about my Parker DuoFold, as its my longest running favorite, but I guess I didn’t. Recently I’m likely to be using the L-Tech with Noodler’s Red Black, if you stumbled on me writing in the wild.
That ink doesn’t make for great love letters, let me tell you.
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Those are interesting! I found a Parker 51 that I loved. And I’ve admired the Duofold. The L-Tech intrigues me, partly because Levenger catalogs are a weakness. Oh, to have those pens in those offices with that equipment. In another timeline, it’s happening.
I like it!
Out of likes so here’s a special 
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Some of the stuff I repair is larger commercial ink jet printers. The print head in them are cleaned by a, um, cleaner unit which has a squeegee blade (that needs to be replaced regularly) which wipes the little droplets of ink off the print head’s face.
The old squeegee blade holder and its guide are ‘refurbished’ (that is, cleaned and inspected) from one printer to the next one. What do I clean 'em with? Water. Plain tap water.
I use an old peanut butter jar, toss a bunch of rinsed parts in, maybe add a few drops of dish washing liquid, and let them soak for an hour or two, then replace the water. About a half a dozen water changes gets them clean.
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That makes sense. So far it’s worked for my pens with the ink I’ve used (Waterman, Pelikan and Parker) too. I may need to flush a piston mechanism multiple times, but, eventually, the ink flows again.
Out of likes already this morning so …
In Mark’s case, where he’s let the ink dry out, letting them soak would soften and dissolve the ink. It’s still faster than waiting for the delivery of holy water from Amazon.
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I’m still rather irked that one of my teachers wouldn’t accept a paper printed on a dot-matrix printer. She rather condescendingly said I’d have to use a typewriter “like the rest of the world” and repeated several times that using a typewriter was a necessary skill. WHO’S LAUGHING NOW?
@Medievalist That picture gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “Never start an argument with someone who buys ink by the barrel.”
Now I’m getting pens envy.
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Thanks for this! I also have an ultrasonic cleaner, but lately, I’ve had less and less chance of using my RapidoGraphs®.
Miss them. Or, well, I miss the time I had to use them.
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