Refilling your Pilot Varsity Disposible Fountain Pen

After a few requests from my review earlier this week of the Varsity, I decided to post a presto- chango ink change how to of sorts. It was just about dead anyway so let's breathe some new life into the patient.

Here we have the tools prepped for surgery. You can get away with an eyedropper, but what's fun about that? Go for the danger of the syringe. Oh and I don't condone drinking and operating, but sometimes it's needed.

The secret is to not scratch the crap out of your nib, use a rag, or plastic covered pliers and give it a gentle tug, this pen actually gives a refreshing pop to let you know it's out. Now go clean up all the ink you just spilled if you were not patient enough to wait till your pen was dead.

Rinse in warm water, rinse till it runs clear and then rinse it for another 5 minutes. Trust me. After rinsing--- dry thoroughly with paper towels, or I use an old jar stuffed with paper towels that I put the nib point down in. Acts like a sponge. Make sure all parts including the cap are rinsed clean. No need to pull the metal nib off of the feed, just rinse it all as is.

Because I only have two hands, I cant shoot and fill, but I have 2 cc's exactly of ink here in the body. The nib goes on the same way it came out. I had to put a little more pressure on the way in, but it popped in and sealed nicely.

Without hesitation, the ink started flowing and I have a brand new disposable fountain pen that I won't be disposing of. It's a new good pen. Oh, and I recycled the bottle my beer was in so that's two green things for the day.

More importantly... the Boston Red Sox equipment truck leaves for Florida today. Suddenly it's not so cold outside. Have a great weekend and I will have a fresh pen on Monday.

Private Reserve Copper Burst Ink Review

This is my first ink review and I want to give mad props to everyone out there who reviews ink. It's not an easy thing to shoot or discuss. I picked up the Copper burst my last trip to Bromfield Pens and if you have been reading, you know I have been raving about it lately. It stays in this pen and my copper Esties. It just feels right.

This is as close as I can get on the screen to the color. It's brown, but just when you think its just brown, out flies a sweet copper tone that satisfies. I have had zero issues with any clogging and the ink likes most of the paper I use. This was on 100 cotton paper. I own a few other Private reserve inks and they all perform exactly as I ask them to, It's not bullet proof, but for 99% of my inky needs, they have it covered.

It's a color that does not scream "fun" or "hey look at me, I just mugged a clown and came up with some new ink colors." I like that it is subtle and classy, but gets you out of the black and blue ink tones.

The flex here came from one of my dip pens, that's why in the larger pics, the ink gets a little shady, I was putting a ton of ink on the paper for some of these strokes. The cotton swap above is your best example. when I throw this ink in one of my EF nibs, I am not afraid to use it anywhere. It's good ink.

Marvy Le Pen

This is the second pen that I reviewed that...has a French name, was made in Japan and bought in the US. (who says we can't all be friends?) I think I have always owned a few of these. Not since birth, but from the time I started to really use pens. They have been a staple pen for me and am just now considering if Marvy is short for Marvelous or just sounded cute at the time.


The red on this page shot a little brighter than it is, it's more maroon in my real world. These pens be bought for less that $2.00 in just about any color you can dream up after a steady night of Pabst Blue Ribbon and Cool Ranch Doritos. They sell an 18 pack if you have a hard time deciding.


These pens are thin and rock solid, they just don't miss a beat. I am on the look out for Mary's disposable fountain pens, I know they are out there, I just haven't seen on in a while.

Some housecleaning... After a few requests... I will do a write up on how to refill the Varsity Disposable, this week or over the weekend and Will over at Fountain of Pens has a nice blog going, you should check it out. Love those Parker's...

The Pilot Varsity Fountain Pen

When I hear the words "disposable" and "fountain pen" I grab my wallet and without having a second thought, pay up... you can count me in. Lady's and Gentlemen, the Pilot Varsity Fountain Pen.

I don't think this was my first fountain pen I ever owned, but it was up there early on the list and I probably have burned through 100 of these since then. All colors, all styles and I have refilled these before. The usual process: yank the nib, rinse, syringe ink in and pop the nib back. I hate to throw them away if the ink is flowing and the nib is still solid.

You can tell this one gets thrown around. It's beat up and has seen a ton of paper and use. Cheaper is not always better, but in this case, cheaper means a dependable pen that you can loan to someone to use if needed and not fear having your nibs pointing east and west from some heavy handed Bic user.

Fountain Pen Weekend

This weekend was all about Fountain pens (and the big game) Unfortunately the game kept me from reviewing a pen Sunday night.

But I did snap these over the weekend. I was trying to create a desktop design, but I never threw it on the tripod or photoshopped so you get this version. I do have very large versions if interested I can get them to you.

These are what I decided to clean and ink on Friday and you have seen some of them on the blog and the rest will all follow. I can't say enough how much I love my Private Reserve Copper Burst ink. So nice, I will get a review out this week on it, but it's in a great deal of these pens right now.

I will be back in the game tomorrow with a fresh pen or ink post.

Seth