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Fingers Were Meant to be Inky

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Rhodia Pocket Size Side-Stapled Notebook Review

The Rhodia Pocket Notebook laying on a surface. This view shows the front logo and the two-staple saddle stitch binding.

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This is Part 9 of my Mega Monster Review series on pocket notebooks. You can visit the main Mega Monster Review page for a listing of all the notebooks reviewed in this series. You can also open the massive Master Spreadsheet to see all the aggregated data on these notebooks. Note: This is a work in progress and will take several weeks to complete.

Rhodia Pocket Size Side-Stapled Notebook

Introduction:

Rhodia is not an unfamiliar name for most of you reading this blog. In fact, if you’ve used fountain pens for more than a day, you’ve probably come across the name Rhodia on every blog you’ve visited. This notoriety is well deserved: Their paper is excellent and they’re fairly inexpensive.

I think Rhodia is probably best known for their top-bound A4 and A5 notepads (especially the much-heralded DotPad notebooks) and their hard-bound Webnotebooks (a.k.a. Webbies), which resemble the famous Moleskine Classic Hardcover…except for the paper that’s actually fountain-pen-friendly. But in addition to these more famous products, Rhodia makes

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Muji Grid Notebook Review

A single Muji A6 Grid Notebook showing the black cover and binding tape

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This is Part 8 of my Mega Monster Review series on pocket notebooks. You can visit the main Mega Monster Review page for a listing of all the notebooks reviewed in this series. You can also open the massive Master Spreadsheet to see all the aggregated data on these notebooks. Note: This is a work in progress and will take several weeks to complete.

Muji Grid Notebook (A6)

Introduction:

I have to say that despite seeing their name on many occasions and in many venues, I’m pretty unfamiliar with Muji and their stationery offerings. They seem to fly under the radar, but I’ve only ever heard good things about their pens and notebooks.

A classy, simple take on The Little Black Book, this little A6 wonder impressed the heck out of me with its performance. Is it worth carrying around an an EDC pocket notebook? Well…if I told you now, it would ruin the surprise. Keep reading for the juicy… Read More

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Kokuyo A6 Systemic Refill Notebook Review

A photo of the Kokuyo Systemic A6 Notebook Refill, showing the front cover, thickness, and binding

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This is Part 5 of my Mega Monster Review series on pocket notebooks. You can visit the main Mega Monster Review page for a listing of all the notebooks reviewed in this series. You can also open the massive Master Spreadsheet to see all the aggregated data on these notebooks. Note: This is a work in progress and will take several weeks to complete.

Kokuyo Systemic Refill Notebook A6

Introduction:

I know, I know. I’ve already heard from some of you that A6 shouldn’t be considered a “pocket notebook.” I have pretty average-sized pockets, and an A6 fits in almost all of them. The only ones it won’t fit into are the shirt pockets with a built-in, stitched pen pocket…but Field Notes doesn’t fit in there, either, so I say A6 is fair game. And that’s a good thing, because this unassuming little notebook is quite the… Read More

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Weekly Pen Mail Call for 10/8/17

A small but spiffy slate of pen mail this week. Hot on the heels of the latest Field Notes edition, the Fall 2017 Write Notepads “Fingerprints” edition quietly arrived. And all the way from Japan, my Platinum #3776 Century Nyhavn came in like a yellow ray of… Read More

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Platinum 3776 Balance Maestro Fountain Pen Review

The Platinum 3776 Balance Maestro Fountain Pen, the cap laying down and the pen resting on top of it

From the “No, it’s not the 3776 Century” file, I present the…

Platinum 3776 Balance Maestro Fountain Pen (PTB-5000B)

Price: $45.00
Nib: Extra Fine
Filling System: Cartridge/Converter (proprietary)

About the Pen:

Before I start telling you what this pen IS, let me begin with what it ISN’T. This is not the 3776 Century, Platinum’s highly lauded, entry-level gold-nibbed pen that’s at the top of many a “Recommended Fountain Pens” list. This review is for the Balance Maestro, the Century’s little cousin. It’s still part of the 3776 lineup and still an excellent writer. But unlike the Century, it’s more of a general entry-level fountain pen. It has a simpler design, sports a steel nib instead of the 14k gold nib found on the Century (although it is gold plated), and is does not have the… Read More

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I’m So Bluuuuuuuu…For Youuuuuuuuu!

A comparison of ten medium blue fountain pen inks (Blackstone Barrier Reef Blue, De Atramentis Steel Blue, Noodler's Navy, Levenger Empyrean, Noodler's Ottoman Azure, Pelikan Edelstein Topaz, Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki, Robert Oster Blue Sea, Robert Oster School Blue, Toucan Bright Blue). This image shows the water test in progress.

A Comparison of Blues Similar to Noodler’s Navy

Google+ has a really nice fountain pen community going. It’s not super busy there, but a group of dedicated regulars keep the conversation going. There’s a lot of information sharing, show-and-tell, and (of course) questions & calls for recommendations. Regular contributor Nathan stopped in to ask for recommendation: He was looking for a blue similar to Noodler’s Navy, but that was even more water-resistant.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!!!

I knew that Noodler’s published a
… Read More

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Pilot Falcon Review

The Pilot Falcon Fountain Pen, capped and laying down

Right out of my “I always wanted one of these” file, please give a warm welcome to the…

Pilot Falcon Fountain Pen (a.k.a. Namiki Falcon)

Price: $150.00
Nib: Soft Fine
Filling System: Cartridge/Converter (Pilot Proprietary)

Disclaimer & Giveaway

This pen was provided for review by Pen Chalet. Because I don’t want you clowns thinking I’m handing out artificially inflated reviews in exchange for free products, I decided to give this pen away to one lucky reader (details at bottom of post).

About the Pen:

I’ve been using fountain pens for…oh, just over two and a half years. My first was a total impulse buy. I was wandering through Staples, noticed a $7 Sheaffer Viewpoint calligraphy fountain pen hiding on the bottom peg, and decided I couldn’t live without it. Two hours later, I had blown through half a cartridge and was completely engrossed in YouTube, watching video after video from Brian Goulet, Stephen Brown, and a few others. Pen reviews, how-to videos, disassembly/repair instructions, and Q&As. I was hooked. I began researching different pens and started a list of those I “had to own.”

One of the more interesting pens often mentioned was the bold & mysterious Pilot Falcon, with its strange and unique-shaped nib, its soft springiness that allows you to get some line variation with just a little pressure (don’t you dare call it a “flex” nib, though!), and its $150 price tag. At $7, my still-freshly-inked Sheaffer was probably the most expensive pen I had in the house, so the thought of spending $150 on a pen seemed ludicrous. I put the Falcon on my “When I’m Rich” list and went on binge-watching videos.

Over the course of the last couple years, I heard many things about the Falcon, both flattering and not-so-flattering. The most common argument against the Falcon was… Read More

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Quick Look: Six Pilot Iroshizuku Inks

Sampler image and title block for the Pilot Iroshizuku blue and green ink comparison

Pilot Iroshizuku Inks: Blue, Green, and In Between

Pilot is arguably the biggest name in pens. If you’ve ever put a long, pointy thing in your hand and wrote with it, you’ve undoubtedly used a Pilot product along the way. Pilot is a Japanese company, and regardless of whether you’re using a cheap, throw-away ballpoint or a $5,000 makie fountain pen, their products are all made with impeccable quality, and you’re sure to experience a nice, trouble-free writing experience.

In addition to pens, Pilot makes a wonderful line of bottled inks for fountain pens. While other brands shoot for vibrant, highly saturated color palettes, Pilot aims for colors that mirror the beauty found in nature. Here’s a description from the Pilot web site:

The name Iroshizuku is a combination of the Japanese words Iro (Coloring), expressing high standards and variation of colors, and Shizuku (Droplet), that embodies the very image of dripping water. Each ink name derives from the expressions of beautiful Japanese natural landscapes and plants, all of which contribute to the depth of each individual hue.


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Sailor 1911 Standard Fountain Pen Review

The Sailor 1911 Standard Fountain Pen in its box

Dippin’ my toes into the higher-end waters to bring you the…

Sailor 1911 Standard (Profit) Fountain Pen

Price: $156.00
Nib: Extra Fine
Filling System: Converter / Cartridges (Sailor Proprietary)

About the Pen:

I’m starting to get obsessed with Sailor — and I’m not sure why. I only have one Sailor pen (this one). It’s the entry-level pen for their high-end line and I’ve only had it for a few weeks. I’m sure part of my obsession stems from the fact that Sailor’s EF nibs are extremely fine, but I don’t know what else could be fueling my obsession. Maybe it’s because… Read More

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Quick Look: Six Bung Box Inks

Bung Box Inks: Hard-to-Find Liquid Treasures

There’s a small, boutique stationery shop in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan called Bungubox that opened it’s doors in 2012. They were pretty much a mom-and-pop type of place, catering to local residents looking for nice pens and other writing supplies. Bungubox started commissioning various manufacturers to create exclusive items for their store.

One of these partnerships was with the company Sailor, who they commissioned to make a line of inks for them under the name Bung Box. Sailor’s Jentle inks are widely regarded as beautiful, high-quality inks, so it’s no surprise that the Bung Box colors were also very popular.

Sailor is one of the “Big 3” Japanese pen & ink manufacturers…with Pilot and Platinum being the other two.

Sometime last year (2015), word got out about the Bung Box inks, and all hell broke loose. People from all over the world began ordering the inks, making the shop proprietors scramble to fulfill orders and cleaning the inks off the shelves. The availability of Bung Box inks goes in and out as supplies run out and the inks need to be reordered & made. At this moment, at least some of them are available, so I ordered a pile of samples to check them out (at $42 for a 50 ml bottle, they’re extremely expensive inks…so I just stuck with samples).

Holy Gosh! I see why they’re so popular.

Below are images and descriptions for six of the Bung Box inks. There’s not a dud in the bunch.

Quick Look: Bung Box Inks, showing swatches and writing samples with Ink of the Witch, Piano Mahogany, and Silent Night

… Read More