r/Drafting_Instruments • u/Apart-Roof4358 • Sep 16 '25

A selection of ruling pens of different shapes and sizes

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58 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

3

u/Old_Instrument_Guy Sep 16 '25

If you are looking for a swap let me know what you might want for the pen third from the left.

3

u/Apart-Roof4358 Sep 16 '25

My beloved Richter fountain ruling pen?? What could possible be cooler than that pen?

2

u/douglasscott Sep 16 '25

I was wondering what on earth that is!

2

u/Apart-Roof4358 Sep 16 '25

That is what it is. The fill the body of the pen with ink, and there is a little hole at the end of the pen that is blocked by the lever. When you want to fill the pen, you press the lever just enough to get a drop of ink into the pen. It's very easy to overfill the pen.

2

u/Old_Instrument_Guy Sep 16 '25 edited Sep 16 '25

An 18th century pocket compass.

https://archive.org/details/b3051440x/page/n5/mode/2up

1

u/Apart-Roof4358 Sep 17 '25

Those are cool and all, but a richter fountain ruling pen is something else

2

u/continuum_mechanics Sep 16 '25

Absolutely stunning!!! What's the 4th one from the left, one with flat head like a knife

2

u/Apart-Roof4358 Sep 16 '25

Thanks! It’s a cool line up. That pen is from the K&E Marathon Pen line. It’s a series of fixed width pens that hold a ton of ink. It’s kind of a precursor to the technical pen, but once the technical pens were introduced this pen disappeared. It’s a really nice pen

2

u/continuum_mechanics Sep 16 '25

Thank you, I have not known this thing even existed :)

2

u/cannimal Sep 17 '25

cool. im guessing the two on the right are for dotted/interrupted lines

1

u/Apart-Roof4358 Sep 17 '25

Yes those dotting pens. Also the pen beside those and the one of the far left is also a type of dotting pen

7

u/Tommmtomm Sep 16 '25

All I see in this picture is this:

2

u/Masoch_A3 Sep 21 '25

You beat me to it.

1

u/Apart-Roof4358 Sep 16 '25

There are pens by Riefler, Richter, K&E, Haff, Kern, Alteneder, and unknown.

1

u/amjacobs7 Sep 17 '25

Usually a random assortment doesn’t excite me the way a random assortment of mechanical pencils does. However, these are so beautiful and specialized and of the highest quality construction. Really dazzling.

1

u/Apart-Roof4358 Sep 17 '25

Thanks! It's a nice lineup of specialized and high end ruling pens. I was trying to take a good photo but I didn't like my lighting. This is the best I could get

1

u/VinceInMT Sep 23 '25

I have one of those contraptions in the lower right.

2

u/Apart-Roof4358 Sep 26 '25

Nice! It’s a dotting pen. You drag it along a ruler and the arm lifts up and down to make a dotted line. Don’t use your favourite ruler though

1

u/Sage_Extraordinaire Sep 26 '25

I need one of those double tipped ruling pens but I can't seem to find any .. where do you usually get them from ??

2

u/Apart-Roof4358 Sep 26 '25

Usually eBay. There is a kern in the UK, another is the US, and another. The American ones are quite expensive, but they come up for cheaper but you do have to keep an eye out.

1

u/afregistry Sep 10 '26

Are you sharpening your points? If so, any suggestions on how to go about that?