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Pencil Review: The Palomino Blackwing Pearl
Palomino’s Blackwing line has made a name for itself as a worthy inheritor of the Blackwing name. With their gorgeous finishes, iconic ferrules and replaceable erasers, and ultra-smooth dark leads,...
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Fountain Pen Review: Pilot Metropolitan
I have had several fountain pens in my lifetime — a cheap schoolkids’ pen I bought in France, a Yafa pen from Office Depot, a handful of disposable Varsity pens from big box stores, and so on....
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Fountain Pen Review: Lamy Safari
Let me cut straight to the chase here: I DESPISE THIS PEN. After buying my second Pilot Metropolitan, I thought I’d check out the OTHER “budget” pen everyone raves about the Lamy Safari. To be honest,...
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Vintage Pencil Review: Eberhard Faber Mongol #1
Way back in 1889, at the Paris World Fair, an Austrian company introduced their Koh-i-noor Hardtmuth woodcased pencils. Painted yellow in honor of the Austrian royalty, the Koh-i-noor became a wildly...
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Vintage Pencil Review: Blackfeet Indian Writing Company
Founded in 1972, the Montana-based Blackfeet Indian Writing Company was an economic development project of the Blackfeet nation. With selection as a favored vendor for federal government contracts and...
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Fountain Pen Review: Carrefour student fountain pen
I was digging through some old things recently and came across a fountain pen I’d bought some 16 years or so ago while visiting my ex at her university in Dijon, France. I was fascinated with the...
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Pencil Review: General’s Cedar Pointe
There aren’t many pencils still made in the USA. Hell, there aren’t many things still made in the USA! What a joy, then, to find a USA-made pencil of the quality and sheer pleasurability of the...
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Pencil Review: Palomino
A couple years ago, I started hearing the crazy stories about the old Blackbird pencils selling for $20, $20, $40 and more for a single pencil, and about the pencil company that was determined to...
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Fountain Pen Review: Yafa Fountain Pen
Going through some old office supplies I’d packed last time I moved, I came across a Yafa Fountain Pen, dried out and abandoned for reasons I don’t remember. Yafa is about the only brand of fountain...
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Ink Review: J. Herbin 1670 Emerald of Chivor
It’s hard to imagine an ink as hyped up and highly anticipated as this year’s entry into J. Herbin’s “1670” line: Emerald of Chivor. Launched in 2010 to celebrate the ink company’s 340th anniversary...
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Fountain Pen Review: Sailor 1911 Standard with Extra-Fine Nib
A few months ago now, Ron at Pen Chalet contacted me, asking if I’d like to review one of those Napking “inkless pens” that have been doing the rounds. Having owned a similar “inkless pen” in the past...
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Fountain Pen Review: Pilot Metropolitan redux, Fine Point
Shortly after I wrote my original review of the Pilot Metropolitan with a medium nib, I purchased one with the then-newly-available fine nib. This pen is from the “Animal Collection” — the White...
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Fountain Pen Review: The Pilot Plumix
There’s no getting around it, the Pilot Plumix is one weird pen. Sold in big box department stores (I think I got mine at Target), the Plumix is a cheap, way entry-level pen. With its weird body and...
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