[转贴]钛钢笔的世界--真实“钛”精彩！！！

whgblt

[size=+1]Titanium.... What's the big deal with titanium? It seems like everything good is made of titanium these days. Race cars, mountain bikes, knives, tools, jewelry, all made from titanium, and advertised as such. When I went looking for a laptop, I had to take into account this wonder-metal, and did, in fact, end up with a titanium laptop. It's everywhere.
[size=+1]Including, of course, pens! Titanium in pens is not exactly new, the Parker T1 was introduced in 1970, and was the first pen to offer the use of this metal as a main selling point. But it's only of late that titanium has become hot, turned into a real marketing commodity. OK, I'm told that advances in manufacturing technology that make it easier to work with titanium might also have something to do with the fact that it's being used more often now.
[size=+1]Titanium works well in pens for a number of reasons. It's light, strong, and can be finished in a number of colours. The trendy fascination with titanium is actually only a part of it's attractiveness. For the most part, titanium pens feature the use of the metal in the cap and barrel. In some cases however, the nib itself is made of titanium. It happens to work pretty well for nibs, the Stipula 22 features a plastic cap and barrel, but a rather nicely flexible titanium nib. The OMAS T2 was also made with a titanium nib.
[size=+1]We tried to assemble a good selection of the available titanium pens, some are obviously more available than others, but you should be able to find an example of just about any of the following pens. This really isn't a comparison piece, per se, so we didn't want to be ranking the pens against each other, but comparing various advantages of each one to the others was allowed. SO, with no further ado, the great titanium roundup of 2003!
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这就是大名鼎鼎的传世杰作--Parker T1
Parker T1 是全钛一体型钢笔，打破传统材料和制笔工艺，别有一番风味。





To begin at the beginning seemed like a good idea, hence we start with the Parker T1. This pen is at first glance, very 1970s. It's relatively slim, and has a very sleek look to it, like many of the best pens of this era. Slim and sleek was "in". The T1 was one of those pens that was a pretty substantial flop when introduced, that has since become something of a collector's "holy grail" pen. Since it wasn't a huge success commercially, limited numbers were made and sold, making them harder to come by today.
[size=+1]At the time it was made titanium was a much more exotic metal than it is today, and one of the main reasons for the commercial failure of the T1 was the fact that it cost so much to manufacture. The titanium simply wore out the conventional metalworking tools of the day. As a result of the high manufacturing costs, the retail price tag was high enough to make selling the T1 very tough.
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可令人遗憾的是，因为钛金属的韧性十分强，加工起来难度极大，制作成本过高，
坐后导致了Parker公司决定停产T1，于是T1的稀有和其价值也就逐渐上升。


This was despite the fact that the T1 was being marketed as the "space age pen".... "Hold the metal that's going to Mars in your hand. And write" and so forth. The T1 was seen as being the most up to date of Parker pens, and the advertising of the time reflected this. Still, it wasn't enough to make up for the high price point, and the pen was made for only a year or so.
[size=+1]As you might imagine, this short production makes the T1 a difficult pen to find "in the wild", haunting your local antique shop is not likely to produce one for your collection! They're not what I would call a "rare" pen, it's easy enough to find one at any of the larger pen shows, and in fact, you should have your choice of examples, from "user grade" to mint.
[size=+1]Actually using the T1 might be another matter. It's the only vintage pen of the batch, and they're tough enough to find that putting one into daily use might not be everyone's idea of comfortable. The tipping material is prone to breaking off the nib tines, and once broken off, you're out of luck since retipping the T1 is very difficult, if not impossible. In addition, they are often not the best writing of pens, not as smooth as some of the more modern titanium pens in our group.

[size=+1]Let's move a bit forward yet, at the same time, backwards a bit. Sound confusing? Well, how about a classic vintage pen from the 1920s, the Parker Duofold? But rendered completely in titanium, from cap top to barrel end!
[size=+1]This pen is made by Chris Thompson, the consummate craftsman who's chief claim to fame (among many others!) is that he has created perhaps the ultimate Duofolds, using many different modern materials, with the parts turned to exact original specification.
[size=+1]In this case, the result is an all titanium Duofold, and the it's a breathtaking result at that. The pen is everything a fountain pen should be, light, strong, and with clean, classic good looks. It's a simple button filler, and this version uses the nib from the modern Duofold Centennial.
[size=+1]He also makes the same pen, but with original Duofold nibs, if you prefer the "authentic" style. This is one of two custom made pens in our group, and like the other, the Tighe Pelikan M800, it's a bit of a shock seeing what you have grown used to seeing in red Permanite or, in the case of the Tighe, striped celluloid, suddenly rendered in matte finish titanium. But it's the good kind of shock!

[size=+1]While we're on the topic of custom pens, we'll move along to the Tighe. These pens are made by another great craftsman, Grayson Tighe, who creates a titanium overlay that he fits to the cap and barrel of the Pelikan M800 and M1000 pen. In addition to the cap and barrel overlay, he also turns a cap jewel, so the end result is a pen that shows as solid titanium form top to bottom when capped. The section and ink view window are the only plastic portions showing on the pen.
[size=+1]The Tighe pens are good news for a couple of reasons. First of all, it's nice to have another choice if you want a titanium pen. But the reason that will probably apply to most folks is that if you happen to love Pelikans, (and who doesn't?) this is a great way to get all the performance with a little added flair in the looks department. Speaking of the looks department...
[size=+1]If plain old gray is too boring for you, titanium can be finished in a number of different shades. Anodizing the metal can leave you with a pen in, say bright blue? Or anything from a light turquoise to a deep electric purple shade! Definitely not for the traditionalists among us, but for those who prefer a bit of the unexpected, it's certainly a way of making a statement.
[size=+1]Whatever the finish, the titanium doesn't add a whole lot of weight to the already lightweight Pelikan design, and since Grayson turns down the cap and barrel before adding the overlay, the outside dimensions of the finished piece are very close to the original. So weight and balance are the same.

[size=+1]Moving from the custom world to the production world, we'll stop first at our only "pair" of titanium pens. OMAS is a brand that has been around forever, and their Paragon series has become well known as their flagship model. Of course, given the topic of this article, you would expect us to be talking about the titanium versions of this pen, there are two; the T2 and the 75th Anniversary.
[size=+1]The 75th Anniversary is a very nice pen, it's the larger sized Paragon, and both the cap and barrel are matte finished titanium. The clip and cap band are gold plate, which sets off against the dark gray titanium.
[size=+1]I'll take this moment to mention the fact that titanium comes in a number of different shades when a finished metal. Everything from a light silver gray colour to an almost bluish gray colour. And then you get into the anodized colours.... But generally, if it's a "natural" titanium, it will be some form of gray.
[size=+1]The T2 takes things a bit further, instead of using 18K gold for the nib, OMAS fashioned the nib form titanium as well as the cap and barrel. On the T2 the trim is silver colour, I think it's rhodium plated to be exact. I prefer the gold plate of the 75th Anniversary, personally, but the silver trim is nice enough. The real draw for the T2 is the nib, of course. Not from any sort of advantage in terms of the way it actually writes, but just from sheer "neatness".
[size=+1]Not to say that it doesn't write well enough. I couldn't really tell the difference between the titanium nib or the gold with my eyes closed! But really, the titanium nib adds more in the way of novelty than practicality. The 75th Anniversary has the large nib from the Paragon series, but with their 75th Anniversary logo engraved in place of the normal OMAS logo. Either of the OMAS pens would make a great addition to a titanium collection. They are both very practical pens, not too large, not too small, and fairly light weight for an all metal pen.

[size=+1]Our next nomination for the titanium club has been around for a while, it's the Lamy Persona. This pen was available in both a titanium as well as a matte black version. The titanium version is the one that concerns us today, obviously. I'm not certain if this is actually a "solid" titanium pen, or a titanium finish. Who cares, it's close enough! As you might guess by that statement, I kind of like the Persona... It's a very likable pen, on many levels. It's good sized, not too big, but definitely fills the hand. It tapers down quite a bit towards the nib, which makes a difference in terms of getting a grip on it.
[size=+1]The all time best part? The clip! The clip is a unique retracting design that fits flush with the cap until you press down on the upper portion to extend it. Granted it doesn't really work any better than a standard traditional clip, but it is a neat design. The kind of thing that you can appreciate just for the thought that went into it.
[size=+1]Next up, a close second in terms of things to love about the Persona is the nib. It's a very sleek looking 18K affair. It looks as though it should write like a nail, but amazingly enough, the fine nib version seen here has a nice bit of flex to it. It's not earth shattering super-flex, a la vintage Waterman, but it's a very nice amount of line shading, especially from such a modern looking nib!
[size=+1]Is the Persona a pen for everyone? Absolutely not. In fact, of the pens we collected here, this was the love it or leave it pen. Not surprising, maybe, since the others, with the exception of the Parker T1, are all basically traditional designs, rendered in titanium. And the Parker T1 gets a pass because it's technically a vintage pen, and thus outside the rules or something.
[size=+1]But if you like the cutting edge in design (despite the fact that it was launched some 13 years ago!), the Persona is for you.

[size=+1]Our last, but not least titanium pen is the Visconti Skeleton Demonstrator. This pen caused a stir when it was announced, and it hasn't really slowed down since. This is a limited edition pen, but not one of those LEs that get stashed away uninked in hopes of a sudden increase in value. (At least, not unless you're an eternal optimist!)
[size=+1]This is a pen that gets loaded up with ink! The titanium cap and barrel are really just a skeleton (hence the name, right?), allowing the clear material underneath to show through. So whatever ink you choose to load up with will form the underlying colour of this pen.
[size=+1]It's a large Visconti pen, with their plunger vac style filling system, so it holds a ton of ink. I like Visconti's large nibs, and have had good luck with them. My favorite is the stub, which is actually a very nice nib, with a lot of line width variation, and yet still smooth enough for "real world" writing.

[size=+1]The Skeleton Demonstrator brings us to the end of our "collection". Really not the end, since there were a couple of other pens in the collection that we haven't covered here. Not because they aren't great pens, but simply because they weren't "real pens". Rollerballs, in other words!
[size=+1]But if you don't insist upon a nib, you might want to look into the Retro 51 Tornado, which is being offered in a couple of different titanium versions. There was even a Limited Edition version a couple of years ago, with rose gold plated trim. Very nice looking pen. And, for an LE, very affordable, too. Of course, they sold out in minutes... But the new regular production models still offer a great titanium rollerball, at a price of well under $50. Not bad!
[size=+1]We also toyed with the idea of including the McLaren pens, but since we only had a rollerball version available, we decided at the last minute to leave it out. It just wouldn't be fair comparing a rollerball to all these fountain pens! But that aside, the McLaren is a neat looking pen, very striking with a deeply grooved barrel. The rollerball does have one of the neatest rollerball sections I've seen, it's shaped almost like a pen nib in profile.
[size=+1]Whether you choose one of the production versions, or one of the custom made models, titanium makes for a cool pen. But hey, it's not all about the coolness factor. Titanium is also a very strong, very light metal. It's downright practical in a pen. Any time you can get both cool and practical, you just have to go for it!



下面问一下论坛的达人们：Parker T1 哪里能淘到？真是很想收一只呀！！！！！

此帖转自www.stylophilesonline.com

[ 本帖最后由 whgblt 于 2008-5-11 00:34 编辑 ]

km84

11那里买永生300钛的，不知怎么样？

long37

转帖请注名出处.要不只能删除.

七剑

钛好象比较软，容易出毛道
鸟也出过钛啊，第一次听说

PKU-Eric

鸟的那个是ＤＩＹ自己电镀上的
而且钛合金一点也不软　　　

DTrisGvEx

说钛怎么能把钛75晾在一边呢?

[ 本帖最后由 DTrisGvEx 于 2008-5-11 04:00 编辑 ]

鲁人

钛75比T-1还难见到。

豆腐王

好强悍的笔啊……

f3933

强悍，喜欢那支豆腐钛

一默

喜欢T1的造型，没米，只好买一支50解渴

f3933

T1 可望不可及

木易洋

关键时候能当子弹

九两雄黄

T1啊 ，估计有米都不好弄来，奇怪的是那些钛金怎么不在加工一下，钛好像可以通过氧化层的厚薄变化的五彩缤纷，几乎清一色的钛灰总觉的有点单调

丁十三

T1是老笔，数量又少，拥有的人谁舍得拿来卖啊？
不要说T1，楼主这贴里其他的钛笔，囧，对于很多人来说，都是可望不可及的。

武装骑行

自卫可以用的好东西

木易洋

说实话，就我个人来说用钛工什么的做觉得太有那个原子时代的特点了，一点怀旧感都没有 了

丁十三

我：囧，钢笔是用来怀旧的？
海韵：囧，你咒我。
我：不是我，是死魂灵了。
海韵：我不管，你说了。
我：囧。

jenhowe

豆腐和鸟是牛人自己加工的？？？

75呢？

[ 本帖最后由 jenhowe 于 2008-5-11 15:31 编辑 ]

永生101

原帖由 km84 于 2008-5-11 00:04 发表
11那里买永生300钛的，不知怎么样？

金黄笔身，貌似镀金

英雄100

可望而不可及的好东东啊