Fountain Pen Review: The Pilot Plumix
There’s no getting around it, the Pilot Plumix is one weird pen. Sold in big box department stores (I think I got mine at Target), the Plumix is a cheap, way entry-level pen. With...
The Writer's Technology Companion
Fountain Pen Review: Pilot Metropolitan redux, Fine Point
Shortly after I wrote my original review of the Pilot Metropolitan with a medium nib, I purchased one with the then-newly-available fine nib. This pen is from the “Animal Collection” — the White Tiger,...
Fountain Pen Review: Sailor 1911 Standard with Extra-Fine Nib
A few months ago now, Ron at Pen Chalet contacted me, asking if I’d like to review one of those Napking “inkless pens” that have been doing the rounds. Having owned a similar “inkless...
Ink Review: J. Herbin 1670 Emerald of Chivor
It’s hard to imagine an ink as hyped up and highly anticipated as this year’s entry into J. Herbin’s “1670” line: Emerald of Chivor. Launched in 2010 to celebrate the ink company’s 340th...
Pardon the Interruption
Sorry to have stepped away for a few months. The museum I run has a big 4-day event every June, which keeps me busy in April and May, and this year I came out...
Fountain Pen Review: Yafa Fountain Pen
Going through some old office supplies I’d packed last time I moved, I came across a Yafa Fountain Pen, dried out and abandoned for reasons I don’t remember. Yafa is about the only brand...
Pencil Review: Palomino hb
A couple years ago, I started hearing the crazy stories about the old Blackbird pencils selling for $20, $20, $40 and more for a single pencil, and about the pencil company that was determined...
Pencil Review: General’s Cedar Pointe
There aren’t many pencils still made in the USA. Hell, there aren’t many things still made in the USA! What a joy, then, to find a USA-made pencil of the quality and sheer pleasurability...
Fountain Pen Review: Carrefour student fountain pen
I was digging through some old things recently and came across a fountain pen I’d bought some 16 years or so ago while visiting my ex at her university in Dijon, France. I was...
Vintage Pencil Review: Blackfeet Indian Writing Company
Founded in 1972, the Montana-based Blackfeet Indian Writing Company was an economic development project of the Blackfeet nation. With selection as a favored vendor for federal government contracts and use as a popular fundraiser...
Vintage Pencil Review: Eberhard Faber Mongol #1
Way back in 1889, at the Paris World Fair, an Austrian company introduced their Koh-i-noor Hardtmuth woodcased pencils. Painted yellow in honor of the Austrian royalty, the Koh-i-noor became a wildly popular pencil, setting...
