# something a little different to play with



## jskeen (Jul 26, 2011)

I recently acquired a fairly nice vintage Hamilton drafting table with a few nifty accessories.  The mayline rule and vemco 4100 I'm pretty familiar with, and the usual assortment of templates, angles and such are pretty standard toys, but I found some interesting new toys, and thought I'd ask you guys if you know anything about these.  They are called spring blade ruling pens and If I recall correctly you don't exactly dip them in the ink, but use a dropper to put a drop of india ink between the blades, then use them to draw a very specific width line.  

Any draftspersons out there that remember these and care to share some tips and tricks?  

Here's a couple of pics.


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## Dan_F (Jul 26, 2011)

I had a little experience with them decorating mats for picture framing. You have the basic concept, use a dropper to transfer ink to the gap formed by the two blades. The main thing to avoid is getting any ink on the ruler used to guide them. It will take a little trial and error to figure out exactly where the line will begin and end. Also handle gingerly, you don't want to shake the ink out from between the blades where it is held in place by it's own surface tension and capillary action. 

Dan


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## ctubbs (Jul 26, 2011)

Dan has pretty well covered it. Do not allow the blade to contact the ruler at the tip or the ink will produce a really cool ink blot under the ruler at the worst time, eg. your last piece of paper, the very last line of your drawing, etc.  Also do not try to load too much ink in the pen or it will fall out on the paper.  Please DAMHIKT.  You get the jest of the rest of the rules for this device.  They are/can be fun to work with or can be a real pain.  My experiences were some 50 years back in college.
Charles


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## Atherton Pens (Jul 26, 2011)

A trick I used is to place a double thickness of masking tape along and just inside the the edge of your triangles.  This raises the edge and will help to keep the ink from running under the edge.  The parallel square should have the edges raised to accomplish the same purpose.  It was a very long time ago when I used those instruments but they can still produce very nice work.  You may also want to invest in an electric eraser and an eraser shield.

Good luck and enjoy those vintage instruments!


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## pianomanpj (Jul 26, 2011)

Man, do those bring me back! You may still be able to find some triangles that have a recessed edge around the perimiter of one side. This, too, will help keep the ink from getting under the triangle.


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## Chthulhu (Jul 26, 2011)

Another thing: you won't get the best results using fountain pen inks with ruling pens. They work best with technical pen ink or india ink. You *can* add a little gum arabic to fountain pen inks, though, and that will work reasonably well.


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## jhprice (Jul 27, 2011)

Brings back memories/nightmears.  My solution was to tape some pennies to my triangles.  Now, try writing with one.


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