fountain pen

by Tony Thomas I know I usually write about fountain pens, but I thought I would change things up a bit. Besides fountain pens, I am also a gel pen and pencil user.  Why?  Due to my frugality, I have a limited supply of really fountain pen friendly paper and sometimes cannot deal with long dry times when using really good paper. I have recently tried out the Pentel Energel line of gel pens after using pens from Pilot and Uniball for a long time. What immediately impressed me is their short ink dry time and lack of smearing.  They also produce a nice, dark black line.  And are they smooth!  I have used the needle point and ball point versions and am impressed with both.   By the way, I was not compensated in any way for my recommendation of this line of pens.  I just love them! Check out my YouTube video on the Pentel Energel and look for more videos in the months to come! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEfme1JvN6E

by Tony Thomas I love Noodler's Ahabs.  At around $23 or so, they are affordable and the epitome of frugality.  They are also very comfortable in my hand (and I have large hands).   Ahabs are sturdy, hold an ample amount of ink, and they can be easily converted to an eyedropper if you need a truly massive amount of ink.  They have a unique piston cartridge converter and can also use the recently released 2.7 mg re-loadable cartridges.  Also, I find the design very attractive and they come in a wide range of colors as well as a clear, demonstrator version. Like many other pens from India, they are made of vegetal resin and have a funny smell.  The smell dissipates with time and I have found that it grows on you.  And if you throw an Ahab into a landfill, the pen body will reportedly biodegrade, making it environmentally friendly. Besides its perfect size, one of my biggest attractions to the Ahab is its easily modified ebonite feed and its ability ...

by Tony Thomas  One of my favorite You Tube personalities is Amy Schmittauer ( @Schmittastic on Twitter). Her channel, "Savvy, Sexy, Social", offers plenty of valuable information on social media marketing.  I watch her channel regularly as she is a thought leader in the field. Back in April of last year, I wrote her a short note with one of my fountain pens for which she thanked me on Twitter. When I heard she was writing a book, I decided to send her another handwritten note and a Platinum Preppy fountain pen and refills.   From watching her videos, I learned that she likes to write everything down rather than just putting it into a computer.   That made her the perfect candidate for a little bit of "fountain pen evangelism".  To my surprise, she unpacked the pen and read my note on one of her You Tube videos leading up to the book launch.  You can watch it here:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBXXtsJsUwk Amy's book, "Vlog Like a Boss: How to Ki...

by Tony Thomas Ray Blake is well known as champion of personal organizers, notebooks and journaling.  His You Tube video on making your own travelers notebook has received over a quarter of a million views. When I saw that he wrote a new book on pocket notebooks, I was intrigued. I bought it in Kindle format and began to read.  While it is a short book, it covers a lot of ground.   He begins by discussing how to buy and set up your notebook.  I would have liked to see some reviews of different notebooks rather than generic descriptions, but I still found his information helpful.  He continues by providing different applications for pocket notebooks. This is the real "meat" of the book and the reason you should buy it. This is a great book for fountain pen users looking for more ways to use their pens.  Users of rollerballs, gel pens, pencils, etc. will also resonate with its contents.  If you have a pocket notebook or plan to get one, I think this boo...

by Tony Thomas I decided that I wanted to put some of my frequently used fountain pens in a cup on my desk for quick access.  But what kind of cup did I want to use?  A coffee cup?  A Ball jar?  Something else? After thinking about it a bit, I decided it would be cool to put them in a lab beaker made of borosilicate (thermal shock resistant) glass.  After checking the measurements, I settled on a 250 ml beaker and placed an order on eBay.  The price was a bit more than $7 with shipping. I think it has a high-tech look and the beaker is perfect for that purpose.  Where do you keep your frequently used pens?

by Tony Thomas As many of us look for places to shop for gifts this holiday season, I thought I would take a few minutes and share some of my favorite pen dealers: The Goulet Pen Company: I have followed Brian and Rachel since they were selling fountain pens, paper, and ink out of their house. In recent years, Goulet has grown become the one of the premier fountain pen dealers in the United States, with a strong emphasis on customer service and education. They have a You Tube channel with an exhaustive library of videos on fountain pens, ink, paper, accessories and tips. Goulet also has one of the broadest ranges of products of any fountain pen dealer.  Their website is top notch with plenty of custom tools to help you find the best pens, paper and ink for your needs.  In addition, they offer great service with a personal touch.  I only wish they offered free shipping options and faster fulfillment when they are backed up with orders.    https://www.gouletpe...

by Tony Thomas I know I am late to the party, but I finally bought a TWSBI Eco fountain pen, made in Taiwan. Due to its amazing popularity, the Eco has been a difficult pen for me to score. Every time I was ready to pull the trigger, it was on backorder. Now I see why. To their credit, TWSBI is company that puts a lot of thought into the design of their pens. They are always experimenting with new and innovative designs, building prototypes and getting feedback from the fountain pen community. You can always see what they are working on by checking out their Facebook page. A pen like the Eco is the result. "Eco" is short for "economical", and at less than $30, this pen is pretty amazing. Aside from some cheap fountain pens from India, this is the least expensive piston filler you can buy. The main advantages of piston filler pens are their large ink capacity and ease of use and cleaning. In the case of the Eco, it is easy to disassemble and clean using the ...

by Tony Thomas While I have reviewed the standard Platinum Preppy previously, I wanted to check out and review the extra-fine 2 mm version as well. To my knowledge, this is least expensive Japanese extra-fine pen that you can buy. As with the standard Platinum Preppy, this pen is easy to hold and very comfortable. Because it is molded from light plastic, it is certainly more fragile than more expensive fountain pens. It comes in black and blue-black and can be used with standard Platinum ink cartridges or a Platinum converter (that costs more than the pen.) I found the nib to be very smooth and a pleasure to write with. If can be found for as little as $4, and it really is a bargain for those who are like to write very small or very fine text.

by Tony Thomas As I am always on the lookout for fountain pen friendly paper, I like to hang out at art supply stores and check out what they have. I have heard good things about paper used by artists to create layouts and sketches with markers, so it became the object of my attention during my most recent visit. Upon examination, a paper that has intrigued me is Canson XL Marker paper. It is somewhat light at 70 gsm (18 lb.) and semi-transparent. What really impressed me is its amazing smoothness. It is also made in France, and the French are known for making quality paper. (Clairefontaine is a great example.) Although it is someone expensive at around $10 for one hundred 9� x 12� sheets, I decided to give it a try. I was not disappointed. This paper is ultra smooth and does not feather with fountain pen ink. There is also no bleed through, although a bit of show through is evident due to its light weight. My plan is to cut it down to smaller sheets so I can use it in my leat...

by Tony Thomas It is hot outside and you know what that means: Your fountain pens will be more prone to drying out. What do you do with bone dry pens? Conventional wisdom says that you clean them out and refill them with fresh ink. But I have another, more frugal, solution. When two of my less expensive pens dried out suddenly, I just reached for a syringe and a bottle of distilled water and filled the cartridge or converter up with water. I then dipped the tip of the pens into some water and they wrote perfectly again. What you have to realize is that ink is nothing more than dye suspended in a water solution. When the water evaporates, the dye is still there in much more concentrated form. When you add water, it dilutes the dye and the pen will write again. Depending upon how much water you add and how much dye is left, it may be more or less saturated than the original color of the ink. But it will write and you will save a bit of money on ink. And, for me, that is a good ...

by Tony Thomas I just bought a Ranga 3 Duofold flat top from Peyton Street Pens. Although I own Ranga 3 eyedropper pen, I always wanted to get one with a Jowo nib and feed so that I could use it with a converter.   As you may or may or not know, Ranga is a pen manufacturer in India that makes unique handmade pens in ebonite and acrylic. Peyton Street Pens has a distribution agreement with Ranga and also offers several models that they designed. They offer reasonable prices and fast service.  I received my pen from PSP in a few days.  If you order direct from Ranga, you typically have to wait at least 3 weeks to receive your pen. And even though the pen is described as being orange and blue ebonite, I found that it is more of a medium brown with blue-black stripes. It is a great contrast and the color is growing on me. The fit and finish of the pen are top notch and I noticed that the breather hole that Ranga typically drilled in the cap their eyedropper pens is...

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!

by Tony Thomas I have been using my new custom "document holder" notebook for almost two weeks and can say that I am still very pleased with it.  As I wrote earlier, I constructed it from a 8.5 x 11 piece of tooling leather that I dyed and punched. I really love the flexibility the notebook provides. I can use all kinds of paper in it (much of it custom cut or folded to fit). As I use fountain pens, pencils and gel pens, I can use better and cheaper paper as I desire. Right now, I have Rhodia graph and lined paper, HP 32# laser, Georgia Pacific 24# laser and cheap  Indonesian  lined paper loaded. I can sort the sheets I have completed to fit my daily requirements. When I am done with a sheet of paper, I can file it or toss it. It is absolutely perfect for my workflow! For more information on the original notebook: http://thefrugalfountainpen.blogspot.com/2016/05/my-new-notebook.html

by Tony Thomas I have a problem with regular notebooks.  Unless they are dedicated to a singular purpose, I usually fill them up with information that has no long-term significance.  My initial solution was to use disc-bound Circa and Arc notebooks for everyday use but found them to be both bulky and heavy to carry around. I decided that a better solution would be to create a notebook that would allow me to carry loose papers that could be easily rearranged and discarded when no longer needed.  These days, most of my important archival information is in Evernote and I either transfer the information from my written notes manually or take a quick photo of the written page with my tablet or phone and store it electronically in Evernote. I ordered a nice piece of tooling leather from eBay, cut it down to 8.5" x 11" and dyed it.  I added an elastic band to hold everything together.  It is similar to a traveler's notebook and very quick and easy to make -- less than ...

by Tony Thomas I love Nemosine nibs.  They are inexpensive and come in a range of line widths including the unusual (and usually sold out)  .8 and .6 italics.   They are reportedly made in Germany and compare favorably to the JoWo and Bock nibs I have used.  I have no idea who makes them as there are only a few nib makers in that country. They are available exclusively from xfountainpens.com and on Amazon by their parent company, Paramount Goods, LLC . Nemosine nibs can make inexpensive pens from China and India come alive.  As you can see, I have quite a few of them. Many others are installed in pens that I use frequently (like Jinhaos, Noodlers and other Chinese and Indian pens).  Highly recommended! http://www.xfountainpens.com/collections/nibs

by Tony Thomas I recently received a Quo Vadis Compact Habana notebook from Exaclair and decided to a quick review.   First of all, it brings back memories of the Moleskine notebooks that I have used in the past but the paper quality is much, much better.  It uses 85 gram Clairefontaine paper which is the paper of choice for many fountain pen users.  I found the ivory paper color to be very pleasing and it looks good with most inks.   The notebook has a faux leather cover, a bookmark ribbon, an elastic cover closure and a rear pocket. The Quo Vadis logo is embossed on the front cover, and on the back, the Quo Vadis name and logo appear at the bottom.  It is made in the USA with Clairefontaine paper from France.  The binding quality is excellent and the notebook has a very impressive fit and feel.   As expected, there was no feathering or bleed thru when using the notebook with fountain pens, and it provided a smooth and enjoyable writing experience. ...

by Tony Thomas It seems that letter writing has become something of a lost art. E-mail is ubiquitous. Cursive writing, arcane. However, there are some great reasons to write letters. Here are some I came up with: 1) Letters are personal: Unlike impersonal (and sometimes annoying) e-mail, letters add a personal touch that cannot be duplicated. 2) Letters are tangible: They can be held and folded. They can be stored and re-read. And, if kept out of direct sunlight and if archival paper is used, they can even be read by future generations. 3) Writing is therapeutic: I derive a great deal of comfort and enjoyment from writing in longhand. My thoughts flow naturally and easily. It is relaxing and mentally stimulating. I would say it is even therapeutic. 4) They will get read: Everyone's e-mail box is stuffed and every e-mail is just one button push from oblivion. How many times have you asked: "Did you get my e-mail"? By contrast, most people are pretty mail-star...