Another review of a ink I can’t stand.

This is the standard blue ink you most likely have seen if you have ever bought a Pilot pen.

I hate this color.

It looks like if you took a good blue, and watered it out.

As I started to move more into finer fountain pen nibs I decided to get some new nibs for the two pens I have where it is easy to change nibs: the Ystudio brass pen & my FC Pocket 66.

So I ordered two EF nibs, one #5 and one #6.

I like both of them, the one in #5 feels more scratchy and has a finer line than the #6. The differences are very minor though. And I’m very happy with both of them.

The regular Pilot black used to be my only ink during all of the time I used cartridges.

It isn’t the darkest of blacks, but dark enough for you to not think of it. And it isn’t the fastest drying ink, but fast enough so you don’t think about it.

I was very happy with it back then, not sure if I would be today. And I probably wouldn’t want a full bottle of it. But for cartdirge ink it was really good

I have a Field Notes cover from Bellroy. It is awesome, and I’ve had it for years.

I haven’t used it a lot since COVID started, but I suspect it will get more use as things get back to normal.

It is leather, but it doesn’t look like the kind of “grandad leather” a lot of leather covers look. Other than that it looks very clean and simple, it fits a single field notes, it has some magnets to help it stay shut. You can fit a small pen or pencil in the cover.

And if you want to hack it, it is possible to fit more notebooks than the one. I have used it with three notebooks by some clever paperclip hacking.

Up until now I have mostly been into broad nibs. Most of it have been about how much I enjoy the feeling of sliding a slippery nib acorss the page and seeing a thick line of ink there.

But I Have recently realized how much more readable and nicer my writing looks with a finer nib.

It all started when I put the stock nib back in my Ystudio, and then I ordered a EF TWSBI Eco and two EF nibs from FC for my YStudio and FC Pocket 66.

Not sure where this will lead me.

For sure a interesting development.

In August and September last year I started a Blackwing subscription

A big concern for me when I did it was if I used enough pencils to justify it. The short answer is no, or at least kind of no.

At the point of writing I have two unopened Volume boxes, plus about 20 other pencils I haven’t sharpened yet.

So I cancelled it.

At this rate I’d probably end up with 1.5 boxes more than I use if I bought no other pencils; something that will never happen. So we are probably talking more like 2-3 boxes more than I use in reality.

If they had a option to get either 4 or 6 pencils per shipment instead of 12 it might have been an option for me.

Lined Leuchtturm1917 hardcover A5 notebooks have been my go to for drafting longform stuff for years at this point.

This is how I use them.

I write the title at the top. Line under it. Then I start writing. Two blank lines between paragraphs. And when I’m done I sign it and move on the the next empty page.

And when I transcribe something I write “(Done)” or “(Nope)” next to the signature. Done means it’s transcribed and Nope means I ditched it.

Just a list of the things that annoy me about the different places that make good pencils.

• American pencils has that dumb eraser at the top that is useless and everyone hates.
• European pencils are scratchy and hard. Plus they always come pre-sharpened something I hate.
• Japanese pencils are in general my favourite. Blackwing are basically Americanised Japanese pencils. But they put that terrible plastic thing at the top that is a pain to remove if you want to sharpen both sides.

Of the two filling mechanisms you are the most likely to find in any random fountain pen on the market I prefer piston fillers.

A big part of why is that I have no interest in any ink I have ever seen available as a cartridge. Partly because of the expense, but as much because of how few inks are available for the various cartridges.

That leaves me with either a converter or eye dropper filling the pen. The latter is a little bit messy and the former is either the same as a piston just worse in most ways. Or as messy as eye dropping it if you try to make it better by filling the converter with a needle.

A converter is like a piston filler. Or most of them are a piston filler on the inside. But they have less room for ink since they are inside the pen. And they are usually worse at being able to fill the entire room with ink plus you have to unscrew the pen to get to it.

The bad thing about a piston filler is that it is usually a bigger hassle to clean it than with a converter.