I first came across Ian Schon and his beautifully designed pens during what was then called The Pen Project on Kickstarter. For a reason that escapes me now, I didn’t back it. Now that I have had the #01S Tumbled Stainless Steel model in my hands for a while I am regretting not getting on board sooner. Sorry Ian!

What Schon DSGN brings to the table is a portable, pocketable pen will a full-sized writing experience. The body of the pen is made from your choice of metals, including aluminum, brass, bronze, stainless steel, and titanium. Stainless is the most recent addition to the lineup, and the pen Ian graciously sent me to review.

Stainless steel is known for its strength and durability. Those features also come with a price: Weight. This is a heavy pen. In fact, it is too heavy for me when posted. That said, with my writing grip and the design of the pen, it is long enough to write with comfortably unposted, which I do about 95% of the time. The other 5% I pretend like I can write comfortably with the barrel posted on the back of the pen, but I just can’t.

I carried the 01S daily for a couple of weeks and found myself reaching for it constantly. If I wore nylon shorts I did notice the wight of the pen in my pocket, and it did bounce around a bit. With cotton or other heavier fabrics I found it settled in nicely. This pen would be the ideal pocket pen for jeans.

Another hangup may be the fact that to access the refill you need to remove the set screw in the end of the barrel. This is a non-issue honestly. The Fisher Space Pen refill it uses will last for months with regular use, meaning you will rarely need to get into the barrel. And when you do, the screw removes easily with a screwdriver, coin, or back of a knife blade as I did.

If you are interested in this pen and were asking me to make a recommendation, I would say try the aluminum barrel models first, likely the black one. The weight won’t come as a shock, and you still get the same high-quality pen. If you are a stainless steel fan, or are looking for a heavier pen, I would absolutely recommend this model, or either of the brass or bronze models if you like to see wear and patina on your pocket pen.

You can’t go wrong with small batch, American made manufacturing in my book, and that is what Ian Schon has brought to the table with his Schon DSGN pens. My thanks to Ian for sending this pen to me at no charge for purposes of this review.

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, which I am very grateful for.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

What if I designed my own pen? That is the question Dave Colliver asked himself, and the result is the appropriately titled if… Pen, now live on Kickstarter.

What sets the if… Pen apart is the way the tip of the refill is protected when not writing, and how a squeeze of the grip gets the pen ready to write. Dave calls this Single Motion Activation, where a simple press retracts the integrated cap and exposes the refill. One click of the end cap snaps the protective cap back in place. It’s quite a unique mechanism.

The barrel of the pen is injection molded in one Titanium piece and features an integrated clip. This allows for a strong attachment to your pocket or backpack and you never have to worry about the clip breaking or bending. The barrel is also designed with a low center of gravity to keep the if… Pen from rolling away.

Any Parker-style (International G2) refill will fit, including the Fisher Space Pen and Schmidt P900. All Kickstarter orders will be coded with an 01 so you know your pen came from the first batch.

Starting at $66, the if… Pen is now available on Kickstarter, so click over and check out all the unique features this pen offers.

My thanks to Dave and the if… Pen for sponsoring The Pen Addict this week.

I reviewed the Schon Dsgn #01S yesterday, and today I am here to give this same pen away to one reader of The Pen Addict. Big thanks to Ian Schon for sending this pen my way! Here is how to enter:

1. Leave one comment on this post anytime between now, and Friday night at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. You are limited to one entry. This contest is open to US and international residents.
2. For this contest, I will pick one winner at random from the comments section of this post. The comments will be numbered in the order they are received, i.e. the first comment is #1, the second #2, and so on. The Random Integer Generator at random.org will be used to pick the number of the winner.
3. The contest winner will be posted on Saturday, June 25th. The winner will have one week to email me via the Contact link at the top of the page.

Thanks, and good luck!

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

In the world of pocket notebooks, I've always recognized the Word brand as the one that has the nifty bullet point checkbox system. There are many options in the 3.5" x 5.5" pocket notebook realm, you have to stand out, right? Their cover designs help with that. They look like works of art, and there's something about that aesthetic that really draws me to these notebooks. It took me a while to try them simply because I already have so many pocket notebooks. Luckily, I've had an opportunity to try them out, and I'm glad I have.

Word Notebooks - Green Terrain

As far as pocket notebooks are concerned, the Word. Notebooks Green Terrain notebooks are pretty standard. Rounded corners, staple-bound, and 48-pages, and made in the USA. The way Word notebooks differ are the paper line format. Yes, there's only one choice as far as the paper goes, and it's lined with the addition of the "unique organizational system" that makes it easy to make bullet points, or mark things as important, in progress, or complete. While this system may not be for everyone (or for using all the time), it's easy to ignore since they're in the far left margin.

The pages aren't numbered, but I can't think of any pocket notebook examples (besides Leuchtturm) that have numbered pages. The ruling in these notebooks are similar to a "college" ruling instead of "wide." The front cover has the standard name, contact info, and dates, as well as some info on the organizational system. The back inside cover features some "Take Better Notes" tips for abbreviations and other shorthand symbols.

The covers are solid and will hold up to a lot of abuse. Compared to other pocket notebook brands that we all know and love, these are the strongest I've ever used. This is a nice, thick cardstock that Word is using in their notebooks. The cover for this edition is a lovely terrain pattern that reminds me of maps that show topographical information so you can tell how steep a hike will be. I love the green color as well. Like I said before, I love the Word notebook covers and I would collect them just because of the unique and fresh covers. The branding is simple...there's a "Word." logo, and the back has a "Made in the USA" slogan followed by the Word Notebooks website.

Now, the paper. In my testing, non-fountain pens work like a dream on this paper. If you're using a fountain pen, you'll notice plenty of feathering on the paper and lots of show-through. Of course, this will vary depending on the nib and ink you're using. Even my finer nibs exhibited feathering. I would only use fountain pens in this notebook if I was in a pinch and didn't have anything else. It works, but it's not ideal. But, any other pens look great on this paper. Gel, pigment, ballpoint inks are all crisp and smooth. The paper quality is in-line with most pocket notebooks, and I prefer it over most.

The Word notebooks are fantastic. After using these, I'll definitely keep them high on my list of pocket notebooks that stay in the rotation. The unique bullet system is novel and useful, but subtle enough to disappear if you aren't using them. Any Bullet Journal fans out there that have used these notebooks?

Word Notebook Leather Jacket (Chestnut/Red)

Along with the Green Terrain notebooks, I picked up the Word Notebooks Leather Notebook Jacket. I've never pulled the trigger on a leather notebook cover, so this was a new experience for me. First off, I'd recommend doing this just so you can smell the intense leather smell that comes out of the box when you open it. Wow. Aside from that, it just looks awesome.

The leather jacket is a 4" x 6" full grain leather cover that includes a couple of elastic cords to either hold the notebooks or keep the cover closed. The leather is called "chestnut," and I'd describe it as a caramel color leather (or a saddleback color). The cords are red, which add a nice pop of color to the cover. The cover is unbranded on the front and side, and there's a tasteful 1/2" Word. logo stamped into the lower back.

In use, the jacket does a great job of holding two notebooks and keeping them protected from wear and tear. For me, the whole kit is too big to fit in any pockets, but it works great when throwing it into a bag.

The best part of the jacket is how it looks. It adds a nice touch of character to your notebooks, and also allows you to easily carry two notebooks securely. Also, with this being real leather, the jacket will develop a nice look of its own over time.

For just under 30 bucks, it's an easy way to class up your pocket notebook game. The design is minimal, and the leather is the real star here. It also comes in Olive/Orange and Black/Blue if you are looking for other options.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, which I am very grateful for.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Whoa. (Image via Fountain Pen Day)

We had a lot of ground to cover this week, from Myke's trip to WWDC to the new Field Notes Byline Edition, and everything in between. You may even learn what the pen in the above image is all about.

Show Notes & Download Links

This episode of The Pen Addict is sponsored by:

Pen Chalet: Click the ‘podcast’ link at the top of the website and enter the password ‘penaddict’ for this week’s special offer, and to get your code for 10% off.

My friend Matt from Pen Habit, home of the best video reviews on the internet, invited me to chat about a few of the pens we have Currently Inked. Thanks for having me Matt!

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

Pelikan released a new version of green ink to match its M120 Special Edition pen. The ink matches the pen perfectly, so if you've seen a photograph of the M120, its barrel color is the color of this ink.

Although Pelikan named this ink "Dunkelgrün" (Dark Green), I would say it's really more a medium green than a dark green. When I did a chromatograph analysis, the ink tends toward the blue spectrum more than the yellow.

And in some of my photographs it came out looking teal (it really is more green than teal).

But I think of a dark green as more black or olive in color, like one of my all-time favorite inks, Sailor Jentle Epinard which is, unfortunately, no longer available.

Nevertheless, Pelikan's Dark Green is certainly a practical color, perhaps a bit too blue-green for business use, but perfect for letter writing, journaling, and grading.

The ink seems a bit dry to me–much dryer, for example, than Iroshizuku Sho-Ryoku, but not as dry as many J. Herbin inks. Because of this, it dries quickly (at least in the extra-fine and medium italic pens I tested it with). It is not waterproof, nor does it make any claim to be.

The ink exhibits some shading in wider nibs, but in narrower nibs it is pretty flat.

In this picture the ink looks teal, but in real life it is more green

I was able to detect a slight purple sheen in the ink splats, but I didn't see it in any of my written samples. This ink does not demonstrate the impressive sheening qualities of inks like Sailor Yama-Dori, for example.

If you want a medium green ink that flows well and is consistent, then Pelikan 4001 Dark Green is a good choice. For all you teachers/professors out there, it really is a terrific grading ink. If, however, you want a green ink with more character, I'd suggest you consider Iroshizuku Shin-Ryoku or Sailor's Tokiwa-Matsu (their replacement for Jentle Epinard).

You can buy a 2 ounce bottle of Pelikan Dark Green from Goldspot Pens for $13.00.

(Goldspot provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, which I am very grateful for.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

If you designed your own pen, what would it look like? The if... Pen is Dave Colliver's answer to that question, and is now available on Kickstarter.

The if... Pen features an injection molded titanium barrel, a unique Single Motion Activation to expose the refill tip for writing, and a design made with a low center of gravity to keep the pen from rolling away.

All in all, it is a great package and it starts at just $66.

My thanks to Dave and the if… Pen for sponsoring The Pen Addict this week.

I believe in using the right pen for the right job, and the Schon DSGN pocket pens are great as a portable, durable, and functional pocket pen. I think the winner of this giveaway will get good use out of it as well:

Congrats Lee! Hopefully this pen fits your needs perfectly. Thanks to all who entered and thanks to Ian Schon for sending me this pen!

Organics Studio Jules Verne from Anderson Pens

Sponsor support is very important to me here at The Pen Addict. My sidebar advertisers put their faith in me to deliver good value for them month in and month out, and I want to shine the light on the best of the best for you. If you are shopping for pens, paper, inks, and more, please check out these great companies and see what they have to offer. Some recent highlights:

Goldspot recently expanded their Kaweco lineup to include the amazing Fireblue Liliput as well new models like the Supra.

Anderson Pens has Organics Ink back in stock after their relaunch, and a new batch of Conklin Heritage fountain pens have hit the virtual shelves.

JetPens has the new Paper Mate InkJoy Gel Pens in stock in a rainbow of colors, as well as the cute and collectible Traveler's Notebook Mini 10th Anniversary Sets.

Thank you to all of my wonderful sponsors this month!

Founded in 2012 in Taiwan, ystudio is a brand I started seeing pop up in my various feeds only within the past year. They create simple, timeless stationery, primarily from brass. The few products they focus on would look wonderful on any desk, which is why you may have seen them picked up by several design magazines and blogs.

KOHEZI of Amsterdam asked me if I was interested in checking out the ystudio lineup, and the Brassing Ballpoint jumped out to me as a must try. It features a solid brass barrel with a black coating that can wear down over time, or be helped along a bit with the included sandpaper. It ships with sandpaper? Yes it does.

I wasn’t aware of that at first, thinking any wear pattern would form over time. I didn’t even notice the sandpaper when I first open the box either, but once it fell out of the included insert I thought “Aha! This will be fun!”

And fun it is, but before I get to brassing it up I have to say this is an excellent writing pen regardless of any additional features. They weight and balance of the brass barrel is great, and the hex style is wide enough to give you a comfortable grip between ridges when writing. The refill is exposed by twisting the end cap into the barrel where it stays put due the additional threads and spring on the mechanism. And it looks cool to boot.

The refill it ships with is the Schmidt P-900, which is about as good of Parker-style ballpoint refill as you can get. The black lines are clean, smooth, and dark. The entire setup is a joy to use.

But let’s get to that sandpaper! It is extra fine 600 grit, which is all you need to quickly remove the black from the ridge peaks to reveal the underlying brass. I went for the area around where my fingers grip the pen at first, then added a little shine up towards the top rear of the barrel. My first pass was simple, and it looked great.

For this review I wanted to go a little further and push what I could sand off. Trying to get the flat areas between the barrel ridges to shine proved to be a much tougher challenge. I could remove some of the black off, but I’m far from a full brass ring around the grip area like I was hoping for. I was really pushing hard too!

I can get it there I’m sure, but it looks pretty cool as it is right now.

All in all, this is a very good pen and is priced fairly at around $77 for a full brass barrel. It works well, feels great, looks fantastic, and has the added touch of allowing you to make it your own. I look forward to checking out what ystudio is up to in the future.

My thanks to KOHEZI for sending me this pen at no charge for the purposes of this review. Maybe I can talk them into sending me this cement barrel rollerball next!

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, which I am very grateful for.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Image via Goldspot

Retro 51 was kind enough to send me one of their latest releases, the Vintage Metalsmith Dr. Gray rollerball, and in turn I want to pass on their kindness to the readers of The Pen Addict. Not only does this anaotomy-based design look amazing, it GLOWS IN THE DARK! Here is how you can enter to win this awesome pen:

1. Leave one comment on this post anytime between now, and Friday night at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. You are limited to one entry. This contest is open to US and international residents.
2. For this contest, I will pick one winner at random from the comments section of this post. The comments will be numbered in the order they are received, i.e. the first comment is #1, the second #2, and so on. The Random Integer Generator at random.org will be used to pick the number of the winner.
3. The contest winner will be posted on Saturday, July 2nd. The winner will have one week to email me via the Contact link at the top of the page.

Good luck!

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

Pocket pens are always a fun category to get into. The unique designs and limitations in this genre produce interesting and delightful pens that can sometimes out-perform their full size cousins.

In the case of the Lamy Pico, the pen has been around for quite a while already. But, the Laser Orange color option is brand new, and it's fantastic. In person, the orange color is florescent and impossible to miss. If you happen to own a Nock case that features the Mandarin/Blue Jay color-way, imagine the bright orange factor being ticked up a few notches. It's loud, and it's great. It means you'll also be able to find it if you drop it into a large bag with dark interior colors. It's just bright, and I happen to like that about it.

The main selling point of this pen is the fact that it's small when closed, but extends to a normal length when the refill is extended. At just over 3.6 inches closed, it opens up to 5 inches to offer a comfortable writing experience. For comparison, the Kaweco Liliput is about 4.8 inches when open with the cap posted. Another bonus of the Pico is that the barrel diameter is larger than the Liliput (12.7mm vs 8.3 to 9.3mm on the Liliput). For some, the Liliput is a bit too thin to hold comfortably. I don't mind it, but I definitely feel that the Pico is more comfortable in hand.

It's a round body with no clip, so be prepared to catch it when it rolls away on a flat surface. There's a very small "Lamy" logo on the side of the pen, but it's not raised enough from the body to prevent it from rolling if the slope is great enough. It does help prevent rolling, though. Still, pocket pens aren't really known for always having clips, and many of them feature a totally round design that makes rolling extremely probable.

The click mechanism on the Pico can be a bit unpredictable at times, and this is my only complaint about the pen. The click mechanism could use some work to avoid the number of failed attempts you make when trying to open or close it. For example, if you don't press down far enough, it won't open or close. You can feel some tactile indications that you've done something, but if you don't go the full 100%, the mechanism doesn't engage/disengage properly. This can be annoying, but once you've gotten used to the pen and learn that you must press firmly, it's not an issue. Even still, I wish the click mechanism had a more hefty, sure feel.

The body of the pen is metal (and bright orange), but the insides are all plastic. When the pen is extended, you can see part of the plastic in the middle of the pen which provides the extra length to improve the grip feel when writing. I would love to see this bit of plastic replaced by metal of the same color as the rest of the body. I'm not sure why they chose to use plastic here. It breaks up the aesthetic, feels cheap compared to the rest of the pen, and takes the overall experience down a couple of notches. Another complaint about the design and quality is that the spring inside of the pen is a bit noisy. The click mechanism sounds normal and has a healthy "clunk" when opening and closing the pen, but the spring can make some annoying noises at times that make the pen feel cheaper. Again, not a deal-breaker, but seems like something Lamy could fix really easily with some higher-quality springs.

Now, the refill in this pen is also surprising. When I hear "ballpoint," I automatically recoil in disgust because of the many, many bad experiences I've had with regular (non-hybrid) ballpoints. I'm not sure if the Lamy ballpoint refill is a hybrid ink formula, but it's fantastic. Compared to others like the Schmidt EasyFlow 9000 and the Uni Jetstreams, it's not as dark and bold, but it's every bit as smooth and reliable. I'm actually really impressed with the refill.

The pen ships with a 0.7mm "medium" point, but you can also order a "fine" 0.5mm or "broad" 1.0mm point separately. Additionally, you can choose black or blue for any of these refill sizes.

Given the price of this pocket pen, I'd like to see some of the components upgraded with higher quality options, but it's still a great pen at a great value. It easily fits in your pocket or bag, and the metal body gives it a great feel and weight when writing or hanging out in your pocket.

You can pick up a Lamy Pico in Laser Orange at JetPens, and you can also check out the other colors and refill options as well.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, which I am very grateful for.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Image via Ed Jelley

Myke and I had the pleasure of having Ed Jelley on this week to talk about blogging burnout. It's a great topic and one we wanted to dig into deeper, so why not bring in the man who brought up the question on to the show to chat about it.

Show Notes & Download Links

This episode of The Pen Addict is sponsored by:

Harry's: An exceptional shave at a fraction of the price. Use code PENADDICT for $5 off your first purchase.

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

Some fountain pen owners are fastidious about cleaning their fountain pens. They keep an ongoing record of which pens are inked, the date of inking, the color, when the pen needs to be cleaned, and the date the pen moved out of rotation. They typically have only a small number of pens inked at any given time. Then, each week or so, on an appointed day, they clean out their inked pens, dry them carefully, and choose a new set of pens to ink and use.

I am not one of those people.

I just spent an entire morning cleaning my fountain pen collection of about 70 pens. A few of these pens had been properly cleaned and stored, but, I am sad to say, most had been left with ink, unused, for months. I am a very naughty fountain pen owner. Honestly, it's not that I neglect my pens. I really do love them–all of them. I simply want to be able to use any given pen at a moment's notice as the mood calls for it. Plus, I'm disorganized and clutter-muddled and I can't keep track of which pens are inked and which are not. Thus, the Mega Pen Cleaning Morning involved the following sets of pens (I didn't take a photo of the first batch, so, really, there were five batches in all).

Now that all my pens are clean, I hope to do a better job of keeping track of them. To be sure, I have plenty of empty notebooks to do this. Special notebooks also exist for this purpose, such as the InkJournal and Pen Habit's "Currently Inked" log.

All of this made me think about the art of fountain pen maintenance, in particular cleaning.

Equipment

You really don't need much in terms of equipment to clean fountain pens. Here's what I use:

• Water. I do all my cleaning at the kitchen sink using tap water. But some people prefer to use distilled water to avoid hard water deposits affecting their pens.
• Pen flush. You can purchase commercial flush such as Goulet's Pen Flush $11.00, or you can make your own. Basically Pen Flush is 1 part ammonia to 10 parts water and a couple of drops of Dawn Dish Detergent. If you use pen flush, draw it into the pen or converter, soak, and then rinse with plain water repeatedly to insure all the cleaning solution is gone.
• Bulb Syringe. You can get one of these in the baby aisle of any supermarket. This is useful for cleaning out nib units.
• Q-Tips. I use these only to wipe out and dry caps after I've rinsed them. I don't recommend using them on any other parts of your pens since fibers can get lodged in fountain pen barrels or nibs.
• Towel. I just use paper towels, but you can use a dedicated soft towel for wiping down your pens. Paper towels are fine for letting your pens dry and wiping off nibs.
• 100% Pure Silicone Grease. If you have a sticky piston or converter, silicone grease is the answer. You can buy this from Goulet $3.00 or, if you've purchased a TWSBI, you get a vial of it with the pen.
• Toothpicks. I use these for dabbing silicone grease where it needs to go.

Methods

The way you clean a fountain pen depends on the type of pen you're working with. Some fountain pens are easier to clean than others. I will discuss the various methods I use with the fountain pens I own. I no longer own any vintage pens with sacs or complicated filling systems, so I will leave that for others to discuss.

Eyedropper Fountain Pens

This is probably the easiest kind of fountain pen to clean. Just unscrew the nib, empty the ink, and rinse the barrel thoroughly. Put the nib unit under running, room-temperature tap water to rinse out the bulk of the ink. Then use the bulb syringe to gently finish cleansing the nib unit.

Squeeze gently (too much force and you might pop the nib off the feed. I've managed to do that). Repeat until the water is clear.

Cartridge/Converter Fountain Pens

The next easiest kind of pen to clean is cartridge/converter fountain pens. Empty the ink and separate the nib from the converter. Put the nib unit directly underneath running tap water to rinse out most of the ink, then finish with the bulb syringe.

The converter can be rinsed separately. Reassemble and you're done.

Piston Fountain Pens

Piston fountain pens are simple to operate, but getting all the ink out can be a chore. Turn the piston to empty out any remaining ink. Fill a bowl with water and insert the nib unit. Fill and empty until the water runs clear or your patience runs out. I flick the pen to empty out any remaining water, but be careful to hold onto your pen and watch where you flick–you don't want to mangle your nib on the side of the kitchen sink.

Vacuum Filler Fountain Pens

One of the most difficult kinds of pens to clean are Vacuum-filler fountain pens. It just seems that getting all the ink out requires an awful lot of plunging, but unless you can disassemble the pen (as you can with a Conid Bulkfiller), you simply have to rinse and repeat. Empty the ink out, pull out the plunger, put the nib unit in clean water, and plunge. I gently shake the pen to help remove the ink from the barrel walls. Empty and repeat until the water is as clear as you can get it.

Caps

Occasionally, ink leaks into pen caps, so I usually rinse out my caps when I'm cleaning my pens. Afterwards, I use a Q-Tip to wipe out any remaining ink and dry the pen cap. I leave the cap upright on a paper towel to complete the drying process.

Dealing with Sticky Pistons/Converters

Sometimes pistons get sticky and are difficult to move. If the fountain pen has a removable nib (as Pelikans do), the problem is easily remedied. Simply retract the piston, remove the nib unit, put a bit of silicone grease on a toothpick, and gently rub the grease onto the walls of the barrel as close to the piston seal as possible. You don't need much. Move the piston in and out to lubricate the pen and reinsert the nib unit.

Some converters (such as Platinum and Sailor) can also be disassembled and lubricated. I have to do this quite often with Platinum converters which get gummed up easily. Unscrew the gold/silver portion (getting it started can sometimes be difficult. Use rubber gloves if you need to get a better grip).

Pull out the piston assembly carefully. On Platinum converters, there's a tiny gasket that comes off and can easily be lost, so do this at a table or counter.

Dry off the end and smear a small amount of silicone grease on the portion that touches the converter sides. Reassemble and move the piston in and out until it works smoothly.

Obviously, there's a lot more to fountain pen maintenance than cleaning and lubricating pistons/converters. But this article provides a starting point.

How often you clean your pens is really up to you. You may decide on a rotation system as I described in the introduction. Or you may use your pens until the ink runs dry and clean them before refilling. Most modern fountain pen inks won't harm your fountain pens (but use extra caution with vintage pens). If you use highly saturated inks and/or iron gall inks, clean your pens more often.

Cleaning your fountain pens really can be an enjoyable, zen-like task. There's something quite satisfying about emptying a pen, flushing it clean, and readying it for a new color of ink.

Just don't wait to do your entire collection on one day.

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, which I am very grateful for.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

I should learn not to promise to announce giveaway winners on a weekend I'm not around, don't you think? Especially on a holiday weekend! My apologies for the delay, except to the one person who probably will get over it the quickest:

Congrats Seth! Get in touch via the Contact page and I will get this pen headed your way.

My thanks to Retro 51 for offering this pen to readers of The Pen Addict!

In the conversations I have around beginner fountain pens, the Sailor HighAce Neo usually gets left out. Rightfully so, which I will elaborate on as we go, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t a fun pen to use and great in the right situation.

The HighAce Neo has been around for years, even warranting a couple of guest reviews on this very blog. I enjoyed the orange model myself when it first became available. Two clear barrel models are now available, with the black cap version the one in my hands for review.

You will notice immediately when picking up the HighAce Neo how light it is. The plastic barrel is no frills, with an ice-type finish and a smoke grey section. The black aluminum cap lends to the lightness. Put this pen in a pocket or a bag and you will forget it is there. That is good, but could end up bad if it makes a trip through the washing machine.

The nib is what makes this pen a consideration. I’ve had bad luck with the fine steel nibs found on Sailor’s other entry level pen, the Clear Candy, but every HighAce Neo I have used has been perfect. The nib is firm without being a nail, and as smooth as you would hope a fine Japanese nib would be. The line output is clean and sharp.

While there is no real problem with the pen on its own, it happens to play in an increasingly crowded field. For a time, the Platinum Preppy was its only competition, and a far superior one at that at a fraction of the cost. More recently, the Pilot Metropolitan came in and is dominating the beginner fountain pen market with its combination of price, style, and performance. It’s almost impossible to beat as a first fountain pen.

So where does that leave the HighAce Neo? Sailor has its fans, and for those who need a cheap, portable way to use their waterproof Nano Black and Blue Black inks, then this is your choice. Many people swear by this ink, and this is a way to take it on the road when heading out to write or sketch.

If you want the best beginner fountain pen, choose the Pilot Metropolitan. If you are a fan of Sailor and their ink cartridges then you may find the HighAce Neo a pleasant surprise.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

The Tombow Mono Graph Shaker isn't a new player to the mechanical pencil lineup, but the new neon colors certainly are. The colors that you could buy from JetPens before this week were more standard and "non-exciting," but these new colors are far from normal or boring.

The particular color I have, the Neon Green, is especially bright on my desk. I have several orange bags and pens, and this Tombow has no problem standing out.

For those that are new to the Tombow Shaker series, what exactly makes these unique? Well, it has something to do with the name. The Shaker denotes the unique lead advancement method that this pencil employees. Sure, you can still click to advance lead using the pocket clip, but you can also give the pencil a shake or two to bring out more lead. Once you try it, it makes perfect sense, and it works pretty well.

There's a small weight inside the body of the pencil (you can see it through the translucent grip section) that puts enough force on the lead mechanism to generate a "click" when it comes in contact. It's a pretty cool idea, and fun to use in practice. It does't require a violent shake, but just a simple flick of the wrist. Once you’ve done it a couple times, it's pretty easy to casually advance the lead when needed.

As far as unique click mechanisms go, I'be always been a fan of the index finger click button on the pencil grip because it allows you to keep the pencil on the page as you advance the lead. Still, this shaker method allows you to keep your grip on the pencil instead of repositioning so your thumb can click the back end of the pencil. The shaker mechanism adds a bit of fun to the process of keeping your lead going while writing.

Like I mentioned earlier, the pocket clip also acts as a clicker to advance the lead, but if you push the clip up toward the back of the pencil, it locks the shaker mechanism so that it doesn't accidentally advance lead while not in use. It's a very firm position on the clip that isn't likely to come undone accidentally. It takes deliberate action to open the pencil for use again.

On the end of the pencil, you have a standard twist eraser that does a pretty good job of erasing marks. If you pull the eraser component, it pops off to reveal the lead reservoir. The Shaker I have is the 0.5 mm version that came with standard HB lead.

The grip of the pencil is actually very comfortable. I've enjoyed writing with it so far. Even though it's completely plastic, it doesn't have any issues with slipping or being uncomfortable. Plus, the fact that it's translucent and exposes the pencil workings inside is an added bonus.

The tip of the pencil is a 5 mm long shaft that makes it easy to always see where your lead is on the page or to use a straight-edge without damaging the lead.

All in all, it's a great pencil. There's nothing earth-shatteringly new with this version, but the additional colors are a nice bonus for those of you that want a more exciting array of colors in your pencil collection.

The price is also very agreeable, at just $6.00. As far as "gimmicky" pencils go, this one doesn't break the bank, and it does a great job to boot.

The barrel is a bit on the thick side, but it's still very comfortable for me. I compared the size to a Rotring 600, which I feel is a skinny pencil. There's a nice weight to the Mono Graph, and the balance works well since the shaker weight always sits toward the writing end of the pencil while you're writing (assuming you're not writing upside down).

Overall, the Tombow Mono Graph Shaker is a great pencil with or without the shaker mechanism. It writes well, feels great in the hand, and has a decent eraser. Now, with the additional neon colors, you have more choices in front of you.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, which I am very grateful for.

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(Ron Gilmour is a fountain pen enthusiast, would-be calligrapher, and librarian. You can find him online at Twitter @gilmour70 and Instagram.)

Not long after I became interested in fountain pens, I found another enthusiast on FPN who lived in my town. We met up one day at a local coffee shop, bringing our pen cases and writing samples. He was very much into vintage pens, particularly Parkers. I remember he had a striped Duofold, which at the time I thought a bit gaudy. But he also had a Parker 51. I thought it was an interesting looking pen, and it wrote beautifully. I wanted one.

My friend advised me to watch the FPN classifieds, but also gave me the names of some vendors that I might contact to find a user-grade "51." I emailed one of the vendors, indicating that I was looking for a fully-functional, fine-nibbed 51 for under $100 and that I wasn't too fussy about color or cosmetic condition. The vendor was able to oblige and the pen I received remains one of my most reliable and frequently-inked pens: a vac-filling 51 in "dove gray."

The Parker 51 is one of the most popular fountain pens ever made and consequently, much has been written about its history. I won't rehash it all here. The pen was developed in 1939, the Parker company's 51st year in business, and went on sale in 1941. Since then, it has been altered and revived any number of times, most recently in 2002. This article will focus on the earlier versions of the pen.

The 51 was innovative in a number of ways. First was the design: sleek, modern, and oddly plain. No gorgeous, patterned celluloid, and, most surprisingly, a barely visible, "hooded" nib. This was a pen for use, not one for impressing your office-mates.

The hooded nib was not purely an aesthetic statement. It allowed for an internal ink reservoir (the "collector") to be located very near the nib. Imagine if you took a pen with a large nib and feed and then enclosed all but the tip of that nib within the pen body. The fin area of the feed could now be filled with ink and it wouldn't evaporate. That's a crude approximation of what's happening with the 51. Since the 51 was initially intended for use with a fast-drying ink, the issue of evaporation was especially important.

Another innovation was the slip cap (i.e., the cap didn't need to be screwed and unscrewed). Fountain pens had been made with slip caps before, but not with the secure closing mechanism that Parker developed for the "51." This pen could be uncapped in an instant, but there was no danger of the cap coming off accidentally.

The least innovative aspect of the 51 (at least originally) was its filling system: Parker re-used the system from their Vacumatic fountain pen. In 1948, they retired the vacumatic system and replaced it in the 51 with the Aero-metric filler. The Aero-metric filler is similar to a basic squeeze filler (think Pilot CON-20), but incorporates a breather tube so that ink is taken up faster than it is expelled when filling. The sac is mostly enclosed within a protective metal sheath and is compressed by pressing directly on a bar that runs along the length of the sac.

Buying a 51

The filling system is one of the main things you'll want to consider when buying a "51." For ease of filling, I recommend the Aero-metric, but if a very large ink capacity is important to you, you might prefer a vacumatic.

Much like its predecessor, the Vacumatic, the 51 was made in a huge number of styles, which changed throughout the lifespan of the model. The body color, the cap design and material, and the clip design all varied significantly. In each case, of course, rare variants will command higher prices. This is especially true of colors with high collecting caché, such as plum, burgundy, or Nassau green.

Unlike the Vacumatic, the 51 was not available in a lot of sizes. In fact, it was originally only available in one size, but a smaller "demi" model was introduced in 1947. If you're not buying the pen in person, it's always best to get exact measurements from the seller.

If you're purchasing an "ordinary" pen as a user rather than a collector, you can expect to pay roughly $90-160 US.

Filling

Filling the vacumatic 51 is essentially the same as filling a Parker Vacumatic, but with one added wrinkle. The combination of the collector behind the nib and the little opening around the feed means that there is a good chance that when you walk away from the ink bottle with your filled pen, you're transporting a trembling drop of ink just waiting to drip on your clothing or make a big mess on the page when you begin to write. One way to avoid this is to remove the pen from the ink bottle with the plunger in the down position. Then, when you release the plunger, any ink in the feed area will be sucked safely into the collector. Alternately, just give the tip of the pen a good wipe with a paper towel after you filling.

The Aero-metric filler is a bit simpler, although the warning about the last drop still applies. Immerse the tip of the pen in the ink bottle, squeeze the sac a few times slowly, and you're all filled up. Some models will even tell you exactly how many times to squeeze on the pressure bar.

Cleaning

Like the Parker Vacumatic, vacumatic-filling 51s are a pain to clean. With patience, though, you can repeatedly suck water into the pen and expel it until it comes out clean. The Aero-metric fillers are a bit easier, but the presence of the breather tube still makes complete expulsion of the sac contents challenging.

Due to the popularity of the "51," YouTube has many videos on how to take one apart for repair or deep cleaning. Personally, I would prefer sending the pen to a professional. Still, I would recommend these videos (especially those by Grandmia Pens) as a way to explore the internal design of the 51 without taking your own pen apart.

In Closing

If you're going to own one vintage pen, make it a Parker 51. They're readily available, not too expensive, and they make great workhorse pens for EDC or regular desk duty.

Further Reading

• Richard Binder's Profile: The Parker "51"
• Richard Binder's Anatomy of a Fountain Pen IV: The Parker "51"
• David Nishimura's Parker 51 page

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, which I am very grateful for.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

I must admit, this has to be one of the most unusual ink colors I've reviewed. When I opened the bottle, my first thought was that the color looked like something from a festering pond.

I had no idea what it was supposed to be, and the name on the ink bottle, Uca Arcuata, didn't exactly reveal anything. So, I did some Googling and discovered that this ink is part of a bespoke collection made for the Kingdom Note Store based on various crustaceans. These inks include Zarigani blue, coconut crab brown, giant spider crab red, tiger prawn brown and Uca Arcuata (Fiddler Crab Green) which is currently sold out.

I've never seen an actual Fiddler Crab, but the ink color certainly looks like the color from the Fiddler Crab illustration on the box.

Still, I wouldn't call this color "green" at all. Maybe the color varies a bit from bottle to bottle since it's a specially formulated ink, but to me the color is yellow-brown, not green. Of course, Sailor can name their inks whatever they want, so if they want this to be green, who am I to argue?

Like all Sailor inks, this one has a distinctive odor to it due to the preservative phenol. It's not an unpleasant odor, just noticeable. And it keeps the ink from getting moldy, although I'm not sure mold would affect this color much.

The bottle comes with a built-in ink miser. Just turn the bottle upside down (cap on, of course) so the ink collects in the inner ink well, then turn it over and fill your pen. I usually remove the ink miser because I feel like it gets in the way of filling bigger pens. But, when ink runs low, it can be helpful.

The ink flows well and is even a bit wet. It exhibits nice shading qualities, but as far as I can tell, it has no sheen. It is also not waterproof.

The central question is, why would anyone use this color for writing? I can see it as a color for sketching, but for writing? I'm not sure. It's not a color that appeals to me, at least not yet. Maybe, in the fall when I want a color that matches the fallen leaves in Abilene (a drab yellow). . . .

Still, Uca Arcuata is quite similar to an ink I do love: Iroshizuku Ina-Ho. When placed next to one another, Ina-Ho actually seems to have more green than Uca Arcuata. But on its own, Ina-Ho comes across like a gold ink, whereas Uca Arcuata seems more brown.

I suspect both these colors are acquired tastes, sort of like Brussels Sprouts. I do enjoy breaking out of my blue ink rut, so I suspect that I will use Uca Arcuata from time to time. It might look especially nice on Tomoe River paper. I'm teaching a Harry Potter class this fall at my university, so Uca Arcuata might be just the thing to write acceptance letters to my aspiring wizards. Though, clearly, I need to work on my wax seals.

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, which I am very grateful for.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!