First Look At: CTF's HitList Notebook (again!)

Finally, at long last I actually have something to review! I've been hard at work, but I haven't spent much time at all with my own personal  fountain pens. Saving money means buying less pens and inks, so for the last few months, I've had nothing new to write about.

That changes today thanks to "CTF" the creator of the HitList Notebook. He's been kind enough to send me one of his new notebooks for preview/review.

If you haven't read my original review of the HitList, or you simply have never heard of this notebook before, I highly recommend you stop here, and go check it out, as today's post will just be about the changes made in this new rendition of my favorite notebook (spoilers!). Let's get going.

Ice Storm - Expect some delays...

Hey guys,

For any of you who are expecting a pen and/or nib in the mail from me, or are awaiting a response to an email, please expect some short delays. Perhaps a day or two.

We had a decent sized ice storm over at my place, and the power has gone down. It's been out for around a day and a half, and it looks like we just got it back on line. Hopefully it'll stay that way.

It's been a very cold, and dark last day and a half. Without power, heat, internet, or light, I didn't quite get the same amount of work done that I normally do. =)

But yeah, we've pretty much got everything settled now, so things will resume again very soon.

Apologies for any delays. I'm not gone, just occupied with stuff that's a tad more important than fountain pens.

Happy Holidays guys!

Generators are happily cranking away. 

And we lost a few tree limbs, but thankfully nothing hit the house, or anything important really.

Ink Review - Private Reserve Tanzanite (Fast Dry)

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another ink review. I have a couple of Private Reserve inks on my list of inks to review, as I bought quite a few bottles during a sale a while back, that I never got around to trying out.

So here we are now. Private Reserve Tanzanite (Fast Dry), is an ink that interested me awhile back. Mostly due to the fact that I enjoy a nice purple ink every now and again, and I really like Private Reserve's fast-dry inks.

Let's check it out guys, and see if it's an ink worthy of a purchase, or just another "meh" color.

A new batch of fantastic writers surface...

And just in time for the holidays. :)

Hope all is well with you folks this holiday season! Things have been busy with me, to say the least, but I've been having fun, so I can't complain.

I've got a bunch of new pens up for sale over on the website, and I'll be listing more in the weeks to come before Christmas hits, and all that craziness.

Whether you're looking for a gift, or a present to yourself, I'll bet you'll find something you love. Please do check it out, causes there are a couple of pens over on the website that I am super excited about getting into peoples hands. They're just amazing.

Take care guys, and I will see about getting up an ink review in the meantime. I've got a couple of Private Reserve inks I've been meaning to do...

Link, in case clicking the image doesn't work... http://tylerdahlpens.com/newsales.html

TWSBI Diamond 580 - First Look

Well, it’s not really fresh news anymore that the TWSBI 580 is out. I kind of missed the entire production and launch when I was down in Texas, and was totally surprised with it when I got back. 

This post is just going to be a "first-look" so to speak. For a review, you can still check out my slightly dated, but nevertheless valid TWSBI Diamond 530 review. This really is a comprehensive review (six parts!), so I have no need to re-review this pen.

But hey, that doesn’t rule out a good look at it, to see some of the improvements made in this version. I know a lot of folks are still wondering if this third rendition of the popular TWSBI Diamond is worth upgrading too.

Something new has come to Tyler Dahl - Fountain Pens

Well, I've been meaning to do this for so long, but I never got this project up and running. Now that I have more time, I've finally gotten this jump-started. Check it out. I think you'll be as excited as I am about it. :)

Inexpensive Pens - Fantastic Writers

Well, a lot of people have been requesting this, and I figured now was the right time to jump on this opportunity.

Without further ado, I introduce a new "product" from Tyler Dahl - Fountain Pens. :)

I'm pretty excited about this, but please, let me know what you think about the idea. Leave me a comment below. Would you be interested in more of these pens going up for sale?

   

Here's my little sales pitch, if you care to hear it. ;)

If you're looking for a cheap buy, that writes great, you've come to the right place! For the longest time, I've been wanting wanting to make superb writers, custom nibs, and specialty nibs, much more accessible to the average pen user.

Up for grabs on my website now is a collection of inexpensive fountain pens, each with a custom ground nib. I randomly select a pen, and randomly choose a grind, then post it up for sale there. I plan on doing this pretty regularly, so shop around, and see if there's a pen for you!

These pens are guaranteed to be fantastic writers straight out of the box. You're going to love them!

I've priced these pens very competitively to other low tier pens (such as the TWSBI 580). For a guaranteed-to-work pen with a custom ground nib, you're getting quite the steal!

Check it out guys, and let me know what you think.

Back to work!

Hello to all my readers and subscribers. It's been a while. Feels like it's been forever (on my end). In reality though, it's been over six months since I even touched a pen to repair it. I actually had to go back the other day and make sure I still knew how to do some of the more complex stuff. :)

That being said, I am proud to report that Tyler Dahl is officially back to it again! As most of you know, I was down in Texas pursuing my EMT-B certification, which I now have. I am currently looking for work in that venue, but in the meantime, I feel the need to jump back into the repair business again.

One of the blessings of the EMS schedule is that it allows me decent amounts of time to continue work on fountain pens, even with an EMT job. Things may be a tad slower working two jobs, but I will make it work as best I can.

So, while we're here, I thought I jump back in with a decent entrance. How about a huge sale over at my website?!

I'm selling off a ton of stuff, some of which are my own personal pens. I'm dropping some sick prices on these pens, so grab them fast, because they will probably not be up for long. I've got a Pilot VP, some TWSBI's, some vintage pens, an Edison, and much more!


Okay, so a lot of you are probably wondering, "what happens to the blog?" I'll be honest, I don't know. I haven't been very good about updating it between trips down to Texas, but now with a little bit less on my plate, I'm hoping I can maybe do something on here every now and again. I'd love to just throw up posts all the time, but I know that's not a realistic goal. Let's say I'll aim for once every week or two on the blog, and we'll see how that goes. Sound good?


Well, that's all for now ladies and gentleman. I should be around the forums every once and a while, and I'll try to keep in touch as best I can. As always, talk to me! Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think of all this.

Best regards to you all,
Tyler Dahl

Mini Review: Bortoletti Dip Pen

Me thinks it’s about time I get back to blogging now, so we’re kicking things of the right way with a review! At the suggestion of one of my favorite readers, I decided this would be the best way to jump back in. No introductions needed.

That being said, give me some slack, because it’ll take me some time before I get as good as I was at my reviews and photography. :)

Read on to find out about my new favorite fountain-pen-related writing instrument…

I'm finally back...

Hey guys! It's me, no really, it is. :) It sure has been a long time, at least it feels that way for me. I hope you all missed me, cause I sure missed you.

The last 9 weeks of my life, without a doubt, have been the most difficult and long weeks I've ever been through. The experience was life changing, to say the least…

To the left, yup, that's me. That was about 3 days before we finished up our training down in Texas. I look a little different with short hair, and a uniform, eh? :)

But hey, I’m back now! And I must say, it's great to be back. I've been home for about two weeks now, but as you may have noticed, I’m not answering any emails, or doing any blogging, or any pen repair. I am taking a short break to get back into the swing of things here.

A lot has been happening lately, so I best go over the future, and let you all know what things are looking like for me. There are definitely going to be some changes. Some will be little, a few will be bigger.

For starts, let me address anyone who currently has a pen here at my place, waiting on a repair:

I will be looking into repairing your pen, but whether or not I am able to do it will depend on the repairs needed, and parts-availability. I need to get all the pens currently with me, out of my office. Whether I repair them, or return them without repairing them will be decided later on, and I’ll discuss that with each of you personally. My goal is to start back at “ground-zero” so-to-speak, and set up my pen repair business over again with no current customers waiting on me. Obviously, if your pen is not repaired for any reason, there will be no charges, and I will pay the return shipping on it.

The reason I am setting up “fresh” is to minimize distractions, as I will be changing a few things about the way my pen repair business runs. I’d like to be able to work on that with no obligations to be working with customers on a time limit. I hope that makes sense.


Let’s see… Next, I’ll probably have a very large sale. Hooray for you! Don’t you love it when I’m trying to quickly get rid of pens, and I have to sell them for extra low prices? :) I’ll be getting rid of all my current inventory of pens that I have for sale, as well as a few from my personal collection. This will once again free up my time and space to focus on reorganizing my business.

How about the blog:

I will be starting up the blog again, but not quite yet. Over the next few weeks, I will post a few things here and there, as well as some updates on what’s going on in the background for me. I don't have time to blog like a madman just yet. Once I am set up, there will be more time for that.

Emails: 

Chances are you’re probably waiting for me to respond to an email you sent. If you are, fear not - I will be getting around to answering all of those, in time. It’ll take me a while to get to everyone though. After all, I have 9 weeks worth of emails to get through… Try to be patient and understanding here. I realize some of you are still a little confused with how things worked out right before I left. I promise you, I'll be sure to work with each one of you and get it sorted out. Just give me time to get to each person, as I want to make sure everyone is fully satisfied, and not left confused.

Now, you’re probably wondering “why all this change?”. Well, there’s a good reason for it, and I’d like to make sense of it for you, so here goes:

Firstly, my future is slightly uncertain. Don’t freak out now, I’m not quitting the pen repair business, or the blog. But they may not be full-time for me anymore. Depending on how things work out, there is a chance I will be returning to Texas in 2013 to do more training there. Nothing is decided yet, and I may never go back, but the opportunity is there. I've taken a great interest in going through the EMT/Paramedics school down in Texas there. Again, that’s not saying that I’ll be doing that, but there is a chance I will. If I decided to go through that training, I’d be gone for almost a year down in Texas.

Also, I may be headed down to Texas in January to do some volunteer work. That would be for 9–10 weeks. That may or may not work out, depending on a lot of things. It's looking pretty sketchy right now though...


What this means for my little pen repair business is pretty big. It means that I may not get much time to work at it. This is why I’m trying to get back to ground-zero, and get rid of all my current inventory. I need to be able to either go mobile with it, or leave it again for a few months.

With all this uncertainty, you’re probably thinking I’m done repairing pens for good. But again, fear not. Even if all this works out, and I leave for another year to go pursue a job doing something else, I will still come back to continue doing pen repair and blogging. One of the reasons I've taken an interest in Paramedics is the work schedule. A job like that would allow me to run a small business on the side quite easily. So yes, I would continue to repair pens along side that.


Please take all of this with a grain of salt. None of this is for sure, and I’m just letting you know so you can be prepared, in case I decide to suddenly leave again for a few months. The road ahead is kind of foggy, bumpy, and uncertain. Still, know that I will eventually be continuing my blogging, pen repair, and general FP geekiness. :)

That's about all for now, but I'll keep you folks updated with any further info I get. And I'll let you know how setting up the repair business is going. I am greatly looking forward to getting back into the FP world!

P.S. - Be sure to email me here (sparingly! ;) if you're confused about something, or just want to say hi!

Goodbye for the summer

Well, I don't have a lot to say today. I'll keep it short and simple.

I leave tomorrow for Texas, and I won't be back till September. I don't expect to resume blogging till late September to early October. But we'll see.

I look forward to my time in Texas, but I will greatly miss you all! I value every one of my blog readers, so I promise you - you will not be forgotten. :) And when I return, I can resume blogging full-speed. I've already got some great plans.

All that being said, I must now bid you goodbye. Unfortunately I will not have my computer with me, so if you're wanting to contact me, you better do it today (6/21/12). I'll do my best to respond to everyone's emails, but I can really only handle the most important ones right now. I appreciate your understanding, and even if I can't respond to your email, know that I have read it, and will address it as soon as I reasonably can (if applicable).

That's it. Goodbye again my friends. See you all later this fall. :)

The little ink bottle that couldn't...

If you read my reviews here, chances are you’ve come across my comments on how much I dislike the J. Herbin ink bottle design. Nothing wrong with the ink inside it (usually), but the shape of the bottle is so un-fp-friendly that I can’t help but wonder what they were thinking.

Since I've been ranting about this for a while, I thought it'd be good to actually show why I dislike the bottle, instead of just complaining for no apparent reason.

Poll: Blog commenting software

What do you think of the upgraded commenting software?
	What upgrade? I didn't even notice...
	It's great!
	It's fine - I don't really care
	It works, but I don't like it
	It's broken - won't even let me post a comment
pollcode.com free polls

Well, for a long time now my commenting software of choice has been DISQUS. Recently, DISQUS emailed me showing off their new&improved upgrade to their current commenting software. It was free, so I decided to give it a go. 

Since then I has been really hit or miss. Some commenters have noticed nothing new, while others love it, and a few folks seem to be unable to comment at all, which really sucks.

So I'm left with a decision, and I want your help. I need to choose to either stick with the upgrade and hope for some bug fixes, or revert to the old version and wait it out till the new one is stable.

This being the case, and at the suggestion of one of my commenters, I've assembled a handy poll so that I can get your vote. If you want to take part in this, it's super easy, and I would be extremely grateful. Just select an option from the poll on the right.

And be sure to leave me a comment (assuming the new software is allowing you to do so) if you have further details.

Thanks for your participation! Each vote counts, and will help shape this blog to be better than ever.

Of need to reach me, and you are unable to leave a comment due to bugs, feel free to send me an email.

Weekend Reads 6-23-12

Welcome again to another edition of the Weekend Reads. It won’t be much longer till I’m gone in Texas, so enjoy them while they last.

As of today, I have nearly 4.5 weeks till my departure. Depending on how busy I am, we may only have 2–3 Weekend Reads left.

That being said, let’s take advantage if the time we have, and get right to it!

Weekend Reads 6-17-12

Well I hope you’re all ready for a Weekend Reads. Last week’s reads were canceled last-minute due to my computer issues, but I have succeeded this week in spite of my computer still being a little uneasy.

Also, yesterday was my younger sisters birthday! So I spent the day out with her and my family. It was a worthy cause for delaying this post until today. :)

Enjoy the reads!

Just upgraded the blog commenting software

Well, the software I use for comments on the blog (DISQUS) just released a nice update for us all. Check it out below the post and give it a test run! Seems like they've implemented some interesting new features, but I'm counting on you all to let me know if you like it better, or if I should revert to the old one.

Drop me a comment and let me know about the comment software. :)

The Cartridge/Converter

Most of you know by now that I am not a huge fan of the cartridge converter filling system. But I really should say that I was not a huge fan of the c/c filler.

Yes, I’ve finally come to appreciate the cartridge converter. Believe it or not, I’ve even come to prefer it in many of my pens.

Obviously this warrants an explanation, so read on to find out more:

It's official now

Temporarily shutting down through the summer

I will be leaving in July for Texas, and I'll be gone for a total of 9 weeks. During this time, I will be unable to answer any emails, or do any pen repair. Because of this, I am temporarily shutting down my repair business till September. When I return home, I'll need a week or so to get set up, and then I should be back in the swing of things very quickly.

I really appreciate your business, and thank you all for supporting me. I will not be sad to go to Texas, but I am sad to leave everyone hanging like this. My apologies for any inconvenience this causes you.

Starting now (June 8th), I will be accepting no new pens or nibs for repair/modification.

If you currently have a pen and/or nib with me, please know that I am doing my best to finish before I leave. If I am unable to finish, you will have the choice of leaving your pen(s) and nib(s) with me (they will be safely stored and guarded), or having them returned home.

Please email your questions and comments to: tyler@tylerdahlpens.com

*******************************************

This is copied over from my website, and only applies to my repair business. I will still continue blogging for as long as I can, though I will not be able to while I am in Texas. Thank you all for your understanding, and have a great weekend.

Computer issues temporarily resolved

Well, I am very fortunate to be able to say that my computer issues have been temporary resolved. I am now able to resume some email communication, as well as do some blogging.

But, my computer hard disk is still warning me of an imminent failure, so I will be very cautious, and will be making regular back-ups.

That being said, I will also have to eventually replace the hard disk. Perhaps not just yet, but I can’t keep my computer like this for too long. When I do replace it, there will be an obvious disruption to any email communications for about 2–3 days. I will let everyone know when I am preparing to do this.

Once again, thank you for your patience everyone! I will be attended to as many emails as possible today. If you don’t get an email you expected, please let me know. There is a chance that some emails may be MIA due to the hard drive errors. Just send me another one to: tyler@tylerdahlpens.com

Computer Issues

Uh oh… Those words can strike fear into the heart of many, including myself. As tech savvy as I am, I’m still not immune to computer glitches and errors. And this week I was just thrown a big one.

You’ll have to excuse me, because I won’t be getting any blogging done with my computer in this state.

Microsoft Windows has just gently informed me that my hard disk is failing. I am currently backing up everything I have, and after that I’ll need some time to think over what I’ll do. It may just be a little bug that I can fix, or I may actually need to replace my hard drive. Either way, it was not a pleasant surprise when I got that horrible little pop-up.

Wish me luck my friends. I hope to be blogging again soon, but until further notice, I am quite unable to.

I’ll try to keep you all posted with little updates. Follow me on twitter @TylersPens to get the fastest updates.

For all of you who were wondering how I wrote a blog post when my computer is crashing: Written with Byword for iPhone.