In November 2016 I bought a Lamy 2000, with medium nib, on sale at WH Smith. I think it cost me £90, which seemed like a lot at the time.
That pen is still with me today. It has seen heavy use, although less now that I have 30 other pens — some ten times… Continue reading
Tag: experiences (Page 4 of 9)
I have a guilty secret. I have even more pens in my collection than I show in my SotC posts.
First are the cheap pens that I’ve foisted on my eldest daughter. A slew of TWSBI Ecos in beautiful colours that I keep wanting to write with. A Kaweco Perkeo. Kaco Retro. Muji aluminium. Lamy… Continue reading
On Wednesday evening Franklin-Christoph sent me an email announcing the beta test of its new Shopify-based website.
I quickly take a look on my phone and see a short run of the Pocket 66 model in solid ice. Since I’d been mulling ordering another F-C pen anyway, and the Pocket 66 is no longer a… Continue reading
I’ve said it before that ink accumulation is a much bigger problem (at least for me) than accumulating pens. Ink is cheap (ish), so it hardly seems worth selling individual bottles. It’s heavy and fragile, so it’s a pain to post. And when you use an ink, you’re actually consuming it — a used pen… Continue reading
I used to write quite a lot of posts about paper. Recently I’ve been all about the pens. Time to redress the balance. Let me give you a tour of the many different notebooks that have been across my desk recently. And boy, I’ve had a lot of paper.
But before that, let me cut… Continue reading
I am an inveterate pen seller. I’ve bought and sold about 125 pens in the last few years, and I don’t regret it. When I realise a pen isn’t for me, I release it to help someone else on their pen journey. I lose money on each pen I sell, but I consider it a… Continue reading
I’m in the lucky position of having owned, borrowed or reviewed something like 135 different fountain pens in the last few years.
For me, when I use a pen the experience all comes down to the nib. And wow, what variety is out there! From hairline to paintbrush, nail to wet noodle, silky smooth to… Continue reading
My pen hobby has, at risk of generalising, broadly trended towards larger and more expensive pens (I covered this in ‘boiling a frog‘).
I started with “normal” pens like the Pelikan M205, Lamy Al Star, Platinum 3776, Sailor Pro Gear, Kaweco Sport and Pilot 91, and have escalated to rare and costly giants like the… Continue reading
Whenever I buy a new pen recently, I’m finding there’s a smaller and smaller chance that it will stick in my collection.
Even though I’m learning more about my tastes, and making (hopefully) better and better purchases, the new pens have a huge task scaling the heights of my current collection, which I have been… Continue reading
This sounds like a dumb thing to write a blog post about. But I buy a lot of pens, and I thought it would be good to share some wisdom I’ve accrued – and maybe open your eyes to some new possibilities to snag a bargain.
Pen and ink retailers
Let’s start with the mainstream… Continue reading