First Look: Tactile Turn Glider

I’ve been a fan of Will Hodges work at Tactile Turn since his first Kickstarter launch. Over the past year, Will has taken things to the next level in his shop, adding high-end equipment to invest in his vision of making great pens. In my short time with the Tactile Turn Glider, I think it is safe to say he has another winner on his hands.

The selling point of the Glider is its smooth-action bolt mechanism, which is easily operated with one hand. The crescent shape allows you to engage the refill with an easy downward motion of your thumb, and retracting the refill just takes a quick flick to get the bolt past its resting spot. It makes an excellent “swoosh!” sound when retracting it too, which I have had fun with.

The Glider is the longer of the two models and accepts Pilot G2 refills, while the Slider is your choice if you like Parker-style refills and a shorter pen barrel.

The only issue I have with the Glider is the refill doesn’t extend past the nose cone far enough for my liking. This has happened to me with several other machined pens in the past, and a small square of double-sided foam tape on the end of the refill gets it to the right length.

Will sent me the Stainless Steel model for review and it feels great. The ridges on the barrel are his calling card, and this is the most refined they have ever felt. It is balanced well and is not too heavy. I have backed the Titanium model on Kickstarter, and you can choose from Brass, Copper, Zirconium, and Damascus Steel as well.

This is a refined pen, and you can tell Will is hitting his stride on the manufacturing side. If you are interested in the Slider or Glider you only have four days left to get in on the action so take a look.

My thanks to Tactile Turn for sending me this pen at no charge for review purposes.

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Posted on September 19, 2016 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Tactile Turn, Pen Reviews.

Vanness Pens

Robert Oster Inks are the latest and greatest arrival at Vanness Pens. These inks are bold and vibrant, and come in 49 different shades, so you are sure to find one to fit your writing needs.

At just $16 for a 50 ml bottle they are a great deal. Order three or more bottles and make the deal even better with free shipping in the US!

My thanks to Vanness Pens for sponsoring The Pen Addict this week.

Posted on September 16, 2016 by Brad Dowdy.

Robert Oster Signature Ink Torquay: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

Robert Oster inks are made in Australia and inspired by the colors of that continent. Oster became interested in fountain pens in 1989, and from that he developed a desire to produce inks that reflect the rich culture and colors of the wine region of Coonawarra (Robert Oster Home Page). Nature friendly and beautiful, these inks claim to have a little "certain something" that will inspire your creative endeavors (from the label on the bottle).

I finally had the opportunity to order some Robert Oster Signature inks from Vanness Pens. There were two colors I knew I wanted full bottles of: Torquay and Tranquility. I got samples of several others, and I'll be reviewing them over the next few months.

Torquay is a lovely, bright turquoise ink with excellent shading properties. Even with a medium Sailor nib (which is actually like a fine) and the medium Franklin-Christoph SIG nib, you can see shading. It really is something when you get shading even with finer nibs. It's even better with wider or flex nibs.

Unlike the KWZ ink I reviewed a few weeks ago, the Robert Oster ink has no noticeable odor. It comes in a 50ml plastic bottle that is tall enough to accommodate larger pens.

This is a very wet ink, and dry times (at least in my testing on Maruman white paper) were long. The ink is not waterproof, nevertheless, it is wonderfully saturated even though it is a light shade.

Sometimes lighter colors absorb into the paper. Not this ink. It stands out nicely on white paper and on Tomoe River Paper.

Chromatography indicates that the ink has more blue than green, even though the ink appears turquoise.

With a flex nib, the shading is even more obvious and the ink is darker (because the flex nib puts out a thicker line of ink).

*Written with a Brause Blue Pumpkin Calligraphy Nib*

Torquay also exhibits beautiful red and gold sheen as shown in these ink splatters:

If you're looking for a rich turquoise ink with great shading and sheening properties, Torquay is a great choice. It really does have that little "certain something" that makes it stand out from other inks. Robert Oster inks are available at Vanness Pens and are reasonably priced at $16.00 for a 50ml bottle or $2.00 for a 4ml sample. I chose several blue samples from the Robert Oster line. They are all gorgeous, but the one that really stands out is Bondi Blue. Oh my! That one is next on my list for review.