The Fab Four Sarasa Clips

I started using a new journal for work this week and a black 0.4 Sarasa was what I grabbed to start my work. I soon realized that I was not reaching for other pens like I normally do.... I had sort of found my pen nirvana for a bit. I mentioned it before that usually I change pens pretty often during the day. (by pretty often I mean a lot...like...really a lot)

So I tracked down all four of the flavors that I own and cleared the desk of all my pens.

I have a Google alert set for "good pens" (call it vanity) and the number one thing I see popping up is when people list out their favorite things. It's important to have favorites and I am not afraid to admit that one of my top five pens that I use and love costs around $1.85 each.

Its a combo of smooth flowing ink, a perfect roller size for me and a great selection of colors. I just cant get enough of these pens. Like Ferris Bueller said " It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up."

Have a great day.

Seth

The Sign Pen

When I did my little "only write with a fountain pen experiment in April" (code named OWWAFPEIA) I had two issues, I missed my whiteboards and I really missed using my sign pens. A quick search will show some individual reviews on most of then pens but I don't think I ever put them all in one pile to admire and I actually forgot my Sanford 20/20 here.

The Pentels are definitely my favorites. Sorry, it's just the way it is. The tip wears down to a perfectly usable stub and its rare when a pen gets better (for me) the more you use it. The Zebra is cool and the Preppy has a replaceable cartridge that I cannot wait to throw some good ink into. The Bravo (obviously) was a good one also, I need to see if I can refill this one or just buy some more.

Lists, note taking, doodling, I almost always travel with a few of these and I can always find a need. The Pentel was Time Magazines product of the year in 1963. How could you not love it?

It's hard for me to walk by these in a store and not grab a handful. They are habit forming. I might go tackle that Bravo to see if I can get some good ink flowing.

Cheers!

Mystery Pen

I love getting mail from you guys and a pen finding request came through and I really want to help. (and I also want to try one of these.)

Here are the details:

It's a ballpoint pen, which is kind of unusual ... I generally prefer gel pens, or rollerballs. But there's just something about this pen. It's approximately 5 1/2" long, the blue part is rubber, so it's comfy, but not it's not padded like the Dr Grip. It's perfectly weighted. I know I could probably get a standard refill, but the ink that came with it was also superb ... it never clotted, the color was a great blue and the perfect weight and it just had an ideal, consistent inkflow.

Do you have any idea who might have made this pen? I've been back to the card shop where he bought it, but they didn't know where it came from. Any suggestions for websites/vendors to look at would be great, also the ballpoint is retractable by twisting the top half of the pen.

I do not have the foggiest idea so I am opening it up to you to unite pen and hand again. Have a great day and thanks for looking.

Preppy cartridge fountain pen converted to an eyedropper

After seeing the Preppy's over at Unposted today I was inspired to finally post about one of my favorite things to do: Convert my fountain pens from cartridges to eyedroppers. Ready? Let's go...all you really need is the above items and a cloth to clean things up should things get messy. You don't actually need two inks, I just decided on a blend.

Here is what most people are worried about, but actually the easiest part of the process. Go to Lowes or Home Depot... in the plumping section they should have something called "waterproof grease" Ask the guy in the orange vest, he knows where the hide it...buy it... its only a couple of bucks and it will last you a year. Act cool like you are going to go home and tackle that pesky water leak in your master bathroom. Use works like " Grease trap" and "Stop Valve." Pull your pants down a little in the back, and bend over a lot... it helps. Trust me.

Take your finger, dip it in the grease and run it around the threads of the nib. A light coating will take care of things and seal it up nicely.

Here's a better shot of how thin of a coating you can get away with. (click for larger view) Gently set this aside, let's grab some ink.... its time for the wet work.

So take your pen body and start dumping some ink in it, an eye dropper, or a squeeze bottle or anything that you can draw ink up with and fit in the end will work. I live dangerously- so I go for a syringe. You will be amazed how much ink you can get in here at the end of the day.

Screw the nib back on the body and IMPORTANT! Wipe down the pen for a minute or two, some of the grease will seep out of the threads and just wipe it off, it will not kill you. The job of the grease is to keep the ink in the pen.

You now have an eyedropper. The only maintenance you need to do is whenever you add ink, just run a little grease around the threads again. There you are.

Here's another blend... Some Private Reserve Midnight blues and some J Hervin Vert Olive. Heavy on the Olive. This whole process only works on fountains that do not have any holes in the body, the Preppy's and the Petits are great, fun pens to do this with. Enjoy.

Free Ink! (kinda)

Did you know that if you buy 2 bottles of different color ink you pretty much have opened up doorway to another world full of rainbows and unicorns? Well, that is not all true- but what you have gotten yourself into is a whole new world of mixing possibilities. So here you have your normal Private Reserve American Blue and your typical J. Herbin Vert Olive....two great colors that I appreciate individually for what they are.

However, if a little Mr. Blue mixes parties with a decent amount of Mr. Green (5:1 ratio for the math majors out there) Presto. Happy day... you have yourself a new color to write home about (or with.)

Here you have it in the light, everyone owns a Preppy eyedropper right? If not, you should... we are talking a serious tank of ink. Instructions on how to make one later this week. A little more blue might actually make this even cooler. That is the fun part.

And here you have the mix, some of you might be concerned about ph factors and mixing certain types of ink can cause explosions and blah, blah, blah. I strictly went for color here, I mix the ink, I put it in a non-expensive (or explosive) pen and I write with it. I am happy and that's the main goal I was going for. If I hate the color, I burn through it and try again. No harm done. Have a great day! -Seth

Sharpie Accent Liquid Highlighter and what is it pt.2

Meet my new favorite liquid highlighter. The Sharpie! Everyone knows that I am huge fan of the drylighters...as seen here in You Drylight my life., but every now and then I crave some good old fashioned liquid highlighter. (I also crave a really good hamburger every now and then- but that is for another day.) There's a little loop on the end which makes me want to wear it around my neck like an old lady but so far I have refused to take that next step. I love highlighters with big tanks of ink.

I was feeling just about as un-scientific as I could feel tonight so I just grabbed a few pens, wrote down what they were on a piece of paper and went to town with the highlighter. I love how the Noodler's held up, that was the shocker, but not if it was bulletproof, I am not sure what I had loaded in the fountain pen. The G2 on the bottom actually gave me a little blurring, but not so much that it bothers me. Flying colors all around.

Thanks for all of the comments, but without some proof, I am not buying the phone dialer thing. This seems a little high tech to just get used as a phone dialer.So here is a view where it opens up. The cap on the left has little gears on the stick thing. If this does not get solved, I might have to put a prize on it.

Pilot Petit 1 Fountain Pen and what is it?

I bought this pen really wanting to like it. I reviewed in the past and for the most part gave it a thumbs down...but I kept going back to it trying to find some love. It just seems like I should like it, small, fountainy and clear. I have been giving it other chances and with a little nib tweaking and I can use it as needed for what it was intended=a quick, handy, easy to transport fountain pen.

So, I won an Ebay auction for some pens and this little thing came along with the winning. I have no idea what it is (seriously.) The brass part slides up and down and pulls off, the inside shows some sort of gearing mechanism. The only writing says "Swiss Made and Pat. Pending" Odd. I will post another picture of it tomorrow.

Here are the invisible twins. Just having them makes me feel a little bit cooler than I actually am. It's almost as if they have super powers.

Part of the problem initially was that I was not posting the cap hard enough and the tiny littlething was popping off. So, being a man I just pushed harder and that seemed to fix it. (yes, my next step was a hammer.) I use this pen now as it was intended, it goes in my bag with me when I travel and as long as I remember to dig way down in my pen pockets, I will use it.