fountain pen

by Tony Thomas I bought a Pilot Prera demonstrator fountain pen three months ago. I've always liked Pilot pens and I thought it was time to try one of their mid-priced offerings. The pen itself is great and sports an italic nib. It is a great writer and it's up to the quality that I have come to expect from Pilot--except for one small thing. Ink tends to collect in the cap and finds its way into the space between the opaque cap liner and the cap. Brian Goulet of The Goulet Pen Co. documented this flaw and found an ingenious way to remove the cap liner using a common tool. You can watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc3OTVJIv0A I tried his method and discovered that, on my pen, the cap liner was attached very securely and would not budge. I contacted Jet Pens (the dealer I bought it from) and they suggested I contact Pilot directly since it was a warranty issue. I e-mailed Pilot customer service and the rep I dealt with (Holly) was very nice. She tol

  by Tony Thomas I recently purchased a Rhodia #12 Bloc R Pad.   It is a small top-stapled writing pad that is 8.5 x 12 mm. Unlike standard Rhodia pads, it contains 90 gsm (41 lb.) unlined ivory high grade vellum paper. Typical Rhodia pads contain 80 gsm paper.  Heavier paper means less show through. It is a great little pad with typical Rhodia smoothness.  The  size is perfect for quick notes or for testing pens and inks.  The ivory paper definitely highlights the ink color. I look forward to purchasing more of the Bloc R pads in the future!

by Tony Thomas I want to thank all of the readers of this blog for helping me reach a new milestone: 100,000 pageviews! Writing "The Frugal Fountain Pen" is a labor of love and I look forward to continuing to serve the growing fountain pen community with my views and product reviews. Again, many thanks!

by Tony Thomas The Platinum Preppy is one of the wonders of the fountain pen world. You can find it for as little as $3 and it is refillable. An amazing price for a decent quality fountain pen!  You can get it in various colors and in fine and medium nib sizes.  A set of two refills can be found for less than $2 and you can refill them with bottled ink to save money.  You can also turn it into a an eyedropper pen with an o-ring and a bit of silicone grease.  The nib quality of this pen is excellent for the price and can even be made better with a bit of smoothing. It is a pen that you can carry with you and is cheap enough to give away to anyone who is interested in fountain pens.  It is a great little pen!