Pen Stuff

I really like fountain pens. I originally got into them because I was taking lots of notes by hand and found that I was hurting my wrist if I wrote all day (which was most days towards the end of high school and college). The reason fountain pens alleviate wrist strain is that they work through capillary action rather than through pressure, as rollerballs and ballpoints do. Since you only have to just barely touch the page, you don't exert as much pressure on the wrist and therefore strain yourself less. You can also use virtually whatever ink you want in a fountain pen, as they're all basically compatible, so it has a little more flair. Note: links here are to goulet pens, which I'm not affiliated with, nor do I get any commissions. I order from them often, but I link them here mostly because their camera work is excellent and a good representation of how products look in real life.

You may wonder, why a pen in 2022? Aren't we doing everything digitally now? Well I still use a pen for a few reasons:

• It's easier to avoid the distraction of the internet on paper.
• Information retention is higher when taking notes (at least for me).
• I've seen lots of electronic services come and go (despite not being very old), with lots of digital information falling through the cracks. Paper has persevered through all of them.

There are a few pens that I really like:

• Pilot VP, a retractable fountain pen. I've had one for about 7 years and I love it, though I've put it through the ringer and it's quite scratched. Note that the black matte one scratches incredibly easily, if you're rough with pens like I am you should pick something else.
• Sailor Compass, a "cheap" fountain pen that seals really well and is very light. Perfect for someone just getting into fountain pens.
• Pilot Justus 95, a somewhat gimmicky pen that can switch between "hard" nib (writes with no line variation) and "soft" nib (writes with line width depending on pressure for calligraphy). Unless you're weirdly intense and picky about pens like me, probably you should go with something cheaper.

There are also a few inks that I really like:

• Sailor kiwa guro, a "nanopigment" ink that uses carbon particles suspended in it to make a permanent and waterproof black. Performs excellently on a variety of papers but has a bit of a tendency to smear.
• De Atramentis Document Ink, a dye-based but still permanent ink. Performs absolutely atrociously on cheap paper but spectacular on really good paper. I like the fuschia but there are many colors.

I'm a huge fan of Tomoe River paper, but its original formulation is no longer easy to procure, and it was expensive. Currently I prefer Midori paper, which is much thicker but works very nicely with many inks.