At around about the same time this year, three new products and one that was older than me, caught my eye. The first was a bursting orange from The Pen Addict's Brad Dowdy and the Australian manufacturer Robert Oster, with the nicely tongue-in-cheek name of Fire on Fire. This coincided with the delivery of a …
Continue reading The Pen Addict vs. Lamy Shootout—Brad’s on Fire!
Well, it kind of serves me right if nobody actually reads this it's been so long since I last posted; and before you read any further, you might want to check out an older post, in which this Lamy 2000 first appeared. Are you back? Good, then let's begin. It was actually months ago that …
I have been lucky enough to have had—for some while now—a few fountain pens that are both beautiful to look at, and a truly beautiful writing experience. My favorite in both of these categories is, by the slimmest of margins, my Edison Collier in Burnished Gold, with a 1.1mm steel stub nib that I smoothed …
Continue reading Waterman Carène in Marine Amber… That’s It, I Need No More Pens
There were a lot of titles suggested for this post, mostly reminiscent of some 1970s British comedy films that were heavy on the double entendres and the sexism. A lady, who I'll do the favour of not naming, suggested something that involved falling in love with a broad Sailor endowed with an impressive custom grind. …
Well, it may all have been said before, but not by me, so I'm going to say it anyway; and besides, what's old news for some of us, can still be useful to others. The Pilot Metropolitan seems to have been around forever. Anyone who has ever commented on fountain pens, has had something to …
Continue reading Is there Anything New to Say About the Pilot Metropolitan?
Recently, I have had a number of small parcels wing their way to me from the only Ontario-based, online fountain pen and stationery specialists, the Wonder-People in Toronto (soon to be relocating, but staying in Toronto)... Jon and Liz 250 Carlaw Avenue Unit 105 Toronto, ON M4M 3L1 Tel. 1 416 799 5935 General Email: …
Continue reading Nothing wrong there is, in being small and green: The Pilot 78G
Not that long ago, I reviewed the little cousin of the Pro Gear Special Edition (SE) Earth, the Sailor Pro Gear Sapporo (the Slim version; 2018-03-05), and in the few short weeks since then, it's become one of my firm favorites, despite a couple of criticisms. The first caveat, was that I wasn't keen on …
Continue reading Sailor 1911 Pro Gear Special Edition Earth… Simply Stunning
So, you can probably stop reading there then... the TWSBI Vac700R is yet another great intermediate pen from TWSBI. But... I hear you ask, or would if this wasn't a blog with no sound, and you were really that engaged... just what is it like to write with? How does it compare to the Diamond …
When I write personal correspondence, I tend to write with either brown or blue ink on ivory or cream paper. Like I have said before, I like to color-match pens to inks, not least because it helps me pick the right color pen and ink on sight. I have blue pens with nibs I love, …
Continue reading Sailor Pro Gear Slim (Sapporo) Special Edition Earth
My thirteen-year-old daughter will be the first to tell you that she is not the world's hardest working student; but about a year ago, she decided that she would put some extra effort in to improve her grades before entering high school. She came home the other night with a school report that had excellent written, …
Continue reading The Pilot Prera and Diamine Lilac Satin—A Guest Post
Writing 