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UKFP Uncapped, 10th November 2019

Happy Sunday to you all.

First notice: I added a few more pens to my For Sale page, including the incredible and hard-to-find Pilot Custom Urushi.

Community

I love it when new ink makers come on to the market, even though the market is so crowded it often seems like there are no colours left to invent. Berlin Notebooks’ Blue No. 1 looks really nice, but I wish it didn’t sheen. 

Guide sheets can be really handy when you’re writing on thin plain paper, like Tomoe loose sheets. In case you missed it, Well Appointed Desk have updated their downloadable guide sheets. Great stuff.

I haven’t watched this yet, but here’s an interview with famous fountain pen user (and one of my personal favourite authors) Neil Gaiman.

Mountain of Ink reviews the TWSBI inks. I bought these and enjoy them. They’ll make a good Christmas gift.

Kasama has a new slimmer model coming out, and some other news that I won’t spoil for you.

Lamy has made a Wacom pen/stylus. They did say in a recent issue of Specs that they were looking at digital writing. Interesting as an idea, but obviously I won’t be buying one…

Published

It feels like a long time ago now (a whole nine days!) that I published my review of the Ferris Wheel Press pen, ink, notebook and folio. 

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I noodled on the Montblanc M Ultra Black for a while. An expensive catch-and-release for me this one — it’s for sale at a big discount on new — but I’m glad I got to spend a week with it.

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And last but not least, I published my 2019 Holiday Gift Guide. I know it’s only early November, but some of these products will take a while to arrive internationally, and many are from small makers, so I like to give plenty of time for you to get your orders in.

On my mind

The past week has been heavy with family and work stuff. I normally find stationery is my mental escape from stress: when I should be sitting and worrying I browse pen shops on my phone instead.

This, naturally, makes it difficult for me to achieve my goal of getting back down under 30 pens. I’m like a gambling addict hanging out in casinos. It’s unhealthy and stressful, but I can’t help it.

I spent a lot of time digging in to ST Dupont, partly prompted by a reader comment. I do this periodically: I keep hearing great things about their fit and finish, build quality, and super smooth nibs. But I haven’t yet managed to pull the trigger.

On my doorstep

Lochby were kind enough to send me their pen roll and field journal, as well as some of their Tomoe River inserts. I’m giving them a good workout. Look for a review soon.

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Write Here sent me a Scribo 3 to review. It’s not a completely new pen to me, but this is the first time I’ve spent a decent amount of time with the 14k nib, and with the new blue colour. It’s a really special pen.

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My second Conid Kingsize turned up too. I took it in a sort of swap for some other pens. I may sell it soon, since I’m not sure I can justify having two of the same pen — but until then, I did order a new Ti nib ground by FPnibs into a cursive italic. Looking forward to that.

Joe at Penprique sent me a beautiful orange micarta pen to try out. Micarta is a tricky material to work, particularly on threads, but it feels so tactile under the fingers.

 

3 Comments

  1. effandpee

    Apologies if I sent you down a Dupont rabbit hole…

    The one I picked up was a DLink (a short-lived predecessor of the current DLine, I think) – second hand, thankfully, for under £200. Their whole line-up looks weirdly dated – the sort of thing you’d see in a glossy 80s magazine opposite an ad for 4711 – but I do like the scalloped nibs and the slightly stubbish line variation. Best of luck in your search!

    • Anthony

      Very good observation about the dated style. Interestingly they have a budget option at about £170 with a steel nib now…

  2. Louise

    ST Dupont have the best cap click of any fountain pen 😍

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