I’ve got a lot to talk about. We’ve moved cities, I changed jobs, and Jodie does something new, cute, and amazing nearly every day.
So I’m going to talk about pens instead.
In theory, I’m going to get back on a roll and start updating the blog with all the other topics as well, but if not, this post will just be an island in the rough.
First of all, it’s tough having a japanese pen addiction (though this is not new). The few places online that carry the kind of pens I like often run out of stock and there’s pretty much no local place for me to go. If I lived in California or NY, there would be any number of locations I could go to satisfy my cravings, but Florida’s about as far way from both of those as you can be and still be continental United States.
I have, however, started to get a pretty good sense of what I do and don’t like in the pen import market. Unfortunately, this means sometimes the ones I like aren’t in stock anymore or even in production.
Take the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Slim Knock-S (fourth from the bottom), for example. It’s the perfect accessory for my passport wallet (Office Depot “Foray” in-house brand that is the perfect wallet since the passport side holds index cards for notes and todos and even has a small pen slot in the fold. Sadly, the Slim Knock-S is not currently available anywhere I can find. Fortunately, my options aren’t totally closed off. I can use the slightly more expensive Hi-Tec-C Couleur, or maybe the regular Slim Knock (though I suspect it might be too large — I’ll find out in a week or so).
Anyway, that whole build up is a pathetic attempt to justify how I spent much of my Christmas cash from various relatives. With orders from three separate locations, here’s how it breaks down.
JetPens order:
- 2 x Pilot Hi-Tec-C Cavalier Executive Pen Refill - 0.4 mm - Black (PILOT LHRF-15C4-B)
- 5 x Pilot G-2 Gel Pen Refill - 0.38 mm - Black (PILOT BLS-G2-38-B) (perfect to slip inside G2 07 bodies, or even 05 which is the smallest you can find stateside)
- 6 x Zebra Sarasa Clip Gel Pen - 0.4 mm - Black (ZEBRA JJSZ15-BK)
JStationery order:
- 1 x Hi-Tec-C Cavalier - 0.4mm Black Body (LCA-1SRC4-B)
- 4 x Hi-Tec-C Slim Knock 0.4mm - Black (LHS-20C4-B)
Phone order from Kinokuniya:
- 2x Hi-Tec-C Couleur - 0.4mm Grey Body (LCL-50C4-S)
One interesting side-note is that jstationery and jetpens are clearly using the same backend purchasing system. I copied/pastied the contents of their emails in to the bulleted list above. Look similary? Not only that, but here’s the “order status” url included in each one:
jstationery.com/account_history_info.php?order_id=####
jetpens.com/account_history_info.php/order_id/#####That should keep me writing for another year or so before I binge again.
Another year, or another few hours. Close enough. I managed to find refills for my hi-tec-c slims multi pen since I’d broken the tip off the black ink. Plus, I can use the refills in my zebra penpod.
I ended up calling MaiDo in San Francisco to find the refills. It’s amazing; you’d think you could find anything on the internet these days. Surely ebay would have it, right? Not so. The overlap between digital world and physical world still has a long way to go, despite what it sometimes feels like.
Left by Jordan on December 29th, 2007
What a timely post! I recently got my first moleskine notebook and am looking for a (some?) companion pens. I like fine points — the finer the better, when you write in the margins as much as I do — and I love the smoothness of gel ink, but the moleskine has thin pages. I really hate the distraction of being able to read my words through from the opposite side. So I want a pen that doesn’t show through too much, which doesn’t seem all that compatible with gel ink. Got any suggestions for me?
Left by Kim on December 29th, 2007
Wow. Only the Japanese would make tiny fountain pens in colors that sound more like jolly ranchers. That said, a mini pen would be ideal.
Left by Kim on December 29th, 2007
I’ll get a more complete writeup done with special care to the moleskine aspect of it, but if you’re interested in mini-pens, the Couleur is a great tiny pen. Of course, if memory serves, it bleeds a tiny bit more than I’d like on the moleskine paper which is why I switched off of it at one point as my main pen. Of course, lately I’ve been writing mostly on note-cards, so the 0.4 hi-tec-c has been working rather well for me.
One thing to note is that you’ll definitely want to test out some of the .28 sizes in cheaper models (the signo and standard hi-tec-c all come in smaller sizes than I usually order). At some point it feels to me like I’m scratching the paper and writing with the tip of a needle. That, one might say, crosses the very thin line into the realm of too small.
Once you’ve decided what the smallest point you like, going between uniball and pilot lines is your next choice, though I’ve heard good things about the pentel slicci too.
Left by Jordan on December 29th, 2007
“…the very thin line into the realm of too small.”
Clever.
Yeah, a .28 might well be too small. When I write with too fine a line I feel a need to press harder, too, which makes it worse. .38 or .4 might be fine enough for me. I’m pretty sure I’ve used a .38 Uniball before (yours, perhaps? I think it was in college) and liked it. So that might actually be a thin enough line for me.
Left by Kim on December 30th, 2007