Ink Swatch Wednesday: Sheaffer Snorkel Writing Sample

I apparently already did an ink swatch Wednesday post about The Wet Pen Blackberry, so you can go back and read that if you're interested. What I'll do today is post a longer writing sample using Blackberry ink and my new Sheaffer Snorkel so you can see how it performs, despite its tines being out of alignment.

Transcription of above:

Sheaffer Snorkel, F
The Wet Pen Blackberry
(figure-8s and alternating horizontal and vertical lines in groups of 4)
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

What a nice vintage purchase for $40! I'm pleasantly surprised that the nib is slightly like an architect nib, though it's a little less apparent on this paper compared to Tomoe River.

I'm also pleasantly surprised by the color of this ink. I haven't used it in a pen before, but I put it in this pen because it seems the nib is a dry writer. I'll be curious to try other wet inks in it to see how they look.

The snorkel filling mechanism is interesting & gadgety. At first I was having trouble with it because it seemed like compressing the plunger mechanism wasn't sucking up the ink as it was supposed to, but I think I needed to just trust the mechanism. Also, the first ink I tried may have been too dry, as it wasn't flowing as well, hence me trying a wetter ink. I was worried the filling mechanism wasn't working, but it is. Phew!

Now I'm wanting more Sheaffer Snorkels, particularly one that isn't just black and gold with a silver nib. 😝! I at least want one with a 14K nib, preferably burgundy or blue.

Some New Info I Learned

I read some other articles about the Snorkel and it finally clicked that this filling mechanism is kinda like a vac-filler, where depressing the plunger causes air to evacuate the pen body (there's a hole at the top, and you'll be able to hear the air escape it), which causes the sac inside to expand and suck up ink through the snorkel tube. So when you depress the plunger, you have to let the tube sit in the ink for a little while and wait for the sac to fully expand. Next time I ink up, I will do this. 😅

Also, apparently, it's not good to dip the nib in water or ink, and pump the plunger, as water might get into the pen and cause the internals to rust. And wouldn't you know that I did exactly that when I was trying to clean out the pen before its first fill? 🤦‍♀️ An article I saw mentioned that this might not be a problem with a restored pen, assuming its o-rings are doing their job, but I'm not sure how well-restored this pen was. Eeeek! I guess I'll see how the pen does in the long run.

I have seen at least one video on YouTube on how to service a Sheaffer Snorkel, so I'll probably watch that and maybe be brave enough to pull the pen apart and survey whether I got water/ink where it shouldn't be. 😬

I was way too excited to ink the pen up that I only watched a couple videos (which annoyingly didn't mention to hold the pen in the ink a bit longer while waiting for the sac to expand, hmph) before I decided to start messing with the pen. Lesson learned, I hope!

Reference Links

• Sheaffer Snorkel Filling Instructions
• Fountain Pen Network thread on filling Sheaffer Snorkel
• The Pen Addict Sheaffer Snorkel review

Thanks to the Pen Addict Slack for this info!