The "Right" Fountain Pen

I use fountain pens a lot and have done ever since a boy in my class when I was seven gave me one as a present. (He also gave me a copy of Enid Blyton’s Shadow the Sheep-Dog, which was as much of a vapid tearjerker as Lassie Come Home, at least the film (I never read the book). Hey. We were seven.)

I use the pens pictured here ALL THE TIME. I mean I use the TWSBI Eco for my German lessons (it’s a fine nib and, loaded with Urban Grey, doesn’t show through the paper); I use the gold Pilot Metropolitan for sketching; I use the green Platinum Preppy for my bullet journal, which happens to be green this year. You get the picture. Match the color to the barrel. For some time now I’ve only been using DeAtramentis Document ink, which is a permanent fountain pen ink; this means I could use any one of these pens for pen and wash, though in practice I mostly use brown. But the bottom drawer of the kitchen table has a good collection of these inks, all in different colors.

Since I’m very fond of my Pilot Metropolitans, which are a fantastic pen for the price, I thought I couldn’t go wrong buying a much more expensive Pilot pen (I think it’s the Pilot Custom 74? It’s gone up in price anyway). I hate it. The nib skips and fights me. I’ve cleaned the nib well several times and it still doesn’t want to work properly. This is the red pen second from right, next to the orange Platinum Preppy which at $4.95 is a frikkin’ bargain, superb pen for what you’re paying for it.

I do have… other fountain pens than these. They are empty and in drawers. They might come out to play once in a while but these ones are my staples.

All the pens pictured here were purchased from the inimitable Jet Pens located in San Jose. Best stationery store in the country.