mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
I’m always happy when novelists can use something other than beverage preference in order to set their characters apart. For instance, when I read that a certain character just love espresso, fine, they love espresso. If they love beer, fine. But what would be more revealing? For me, I like to know what kind of writing utensils a person prefers–mini-pencils, 12-to-a-pack Bics, Bakelites, or what? I usually keep pens in bulk, as they’re constantly migrating away from me. Pens and hair ties I would never be able to collect because I lose them in such mass quantities.
I know some people who are more protective of their pens than their pin numbers. You might be granted permission to use said pen, but if it isn’t back in its spot, you’re going to hear about it. For me, I like Bic Fine Rollers, or really any pen that boasts slightly viscous ink. I like the kind of ink that will start bleeding if you stop writing. I can’t stand barely-there ink, or pens that make writing feel like engraving wood. If you’re between pens, the Fountain Pen Network has a list of reviews. Until I can track down a Stylographic (Mark Twain obsessed over this one for a bit) I’m going to start pre-gaming for the next Los Angeles Pen Show.
Oh my God! I had no idea there were other pen-crazies out there! My friends have been making fun of me for years about my obsession with finding a good pen!
In my mind, the Zebra family of pens can do no wrong, though I’m not a fan of gel ink pens of any type (but I’ll tolerate using Zebra gels partly because their Sarasa line has some beautifully refined colors). A thin line, like .5 mm, and smooth ink that doesn’t bleed or skip can make me melt. . . .
posted by Cynthia on 8-18-2007 at 8:09 am
I’m also a pen freak. Other people have to guard their pens when I’m around!
My husband just told me about a magazine he saw at the bookstore called “Pen World.” I checked out the website (penworld.com) and OH MY GOD!!! It’s like porn for pen lovers!
posted by Andi on 8-18-2007 at 9:25 am
I guess I’m a pen nut myself. The one I swear by is Uniball Micro, because they’re inexpensive and have great tracking. I used to have a Fisher Space Pen. I lost the Fisher, but always have a Micro on me.
posted by Jack on 8-18-2007 at 9:33 am
Uniball Micro is the correct answer to the question (nicely done, Jack). I used to steal them from my Dad, who is also a committed user (junkie?). Other items I never seem to have enough of include chapstick and fingernail clippers. One Christmas I actually bought a dozen fingernail clippers for my husband in an effort to satisfy a real need. For a while they seemed to be everywhere, and at your fingertips when needed, but they are slowly disappearing.
posted by Rachel Davis on 8-18-2007 at 9:52 am
I’ve found the Papermate Ph.D. to be about the only decent readily-available pen around today. Still seems a bit cheesey- all that plastic for $6- and the refills aren’t cheap. But gone are the days when you could get decent performance from 10-for-a-dollar Bics.
Also, I rather like the body of Inc’s “The Exec” pen ($1 at Wal*Mart)- but it writes like crap- a problem I solved by throwing away its’ guts and replacing with the Papermate Lubriglide refill (same one as the Ph.D.).
I am afraid that writing is an endangered pursuit these days, judging from how hard it is to find even a remotely decent pen today.
posted by Richiemagoo on 8-18-2007 at 11:13 am
I hoard Uni-balls. I like the liquid-gel ink, and how fast the ink dries, I’m left handed, and if the ink dries slowly, everything winds up a smeary mess. I also like that Uni-ball ink doesn’t bleed or rub off my skin, I’m a big fan of drawing on myself. I’ve tried several fountain pens, but have yet to master the art of writing without smearing the ink. That, and since I live in a family of pen thieves, I stick with pens that come in 6-packs.
posted by Maggie on 8-18-2007 at 5:30 pm
i love Pentels RSVP fine point ball pens. its the only pen i write with…unless im in a jam. i also like how they have the rubber near your fingers. i do have an abundance of regular bic ball points though….but i had a habbit of putting them in my hair at work and accidently taking them home. those are the pens i write with when i cant find my RSVP’s.
posted by Heather on 8-18-2007 at 7:22 pm
I like the Pen Again (penagain.com), an ergonomic pen whose bright colors and matte surface caught my eye in CVS. (I love to browse the pen aisle, of course.) It writes pretty well, feels good in my hand, and doubles as a really fun toy. ;) I haven’t tried it, but I’ll bet it could even make a mini-slingshot in the right hands.
posted by Sara on 8-18-2007 at 8:53 pm
Hmmm . . . I usually think that fountain pen fans are the ones who get obsessive about writing instruments. In general, I write using a sharpened bamboo chopstick on my iPaq PDA, but when I write on paper, I use a Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pen. It is the only fountain pen that I can reliably find at a reasonable price. I like a Cross fountain pen better, but they cost a lot more.
The Varsity can be refilled by cheaters like me, but it is a somewhat messy process. I use a rather nice fountain pen ink. In addition, I recently found that I can grind down the nib for a finer line. I used a fine-grit sharpening stone (Japanese water stone) for roughing out the nib profile, then polished it with a hard Arkansas stone. Very nice writing with a fine line! I am so happy.
The Varsity is inexpensive enough that you don’t have to hack it like this. You can just use it until its generous ink reservoir is dry, then
mail the empty to methrow it away.posted by Daniel Kim on 8-18-2007 at 9:44 pm
I’m a fountain pen addict; my two favorites that I always have with me are my Parker Sonnet (fine point) and my Waterman Phileas (also fine point, but broader than the Sonnet).
I’m particular about pencils too; for writing, I prefer a .7 millimeter (or whatever the measurement actually is) mechanical pencil.
posted by Miranda on 8-19-2007 at 1:01 am
for me (i’m in the Army) the best pen in the world is the Fisher space pen. it is compact, light, the cartrage is completley enclosed and it can wright anywhere.
posted by JT on 8-19-2007 at 7:34 am
OoooOooo!! Me! Me! I am a pen-crazed fanatic too…I thought I was the only one…I like old school Bics, except they tend to bleed…I prefer a pen w/ blue ink, but will use black..I like a thick rolling ball to distribute the ink so it makes a nice wide line…fine points feel like I’m scratching the paper…I have some bright colored pens that I’ve used so much, I’ve actually run them right out of ink…I try lots of varieties of pens cause its fun and I’m a weirdo…
posted by donner on 8-19-2007 at 9:27 am
Mmmmmm…pens…(drool).
I have two pens a friend picked up in Hawai’i. They’re based on a Cross ink cartridge, but made from Koa wood (precious, indigenous and rare). One had mother-of-pearl inlay. I also have a black Cross pen, my workhorse. I use it for about everything, unless I’m working to make someone jealous. Then I bring out my wood.
posted by Lalita on 8-19-2007 at 7:54 pm
I’ve been a pen-crazy for a long time as well. I’m a “new” fan of the Uni-ball Jetstream. It writes fluidly, and doesn’t skip a beat like several other roller balls I’ve come in contact with.
It’s basically a quick dry roller ball–writes well, but also dries so I don’t smear.
Pencil wise, the Sanford (now Papermate) PhD is by FAR, one of the best mechanical pencils designed.
Why? Cheap eraser refills that are extra long, springy touch when you write (one extra spring inside vs. cheaper pencils) and a great feel when you hold it. I erase like crazy, and have gone through 3 PhD pencils in the past 10 years (and luckily haven’t lost one yet).
posted by Paul on 8-19-2007 at 9:10 pm
In a paradox for the ages, I hate it when somone needs to borrow my pen, when I have placed it in a startegic position in anticipation of need; yet when I need a pen in a hurry, I have no qualms bothering someone for one. Perhaps I should write Al Scaduto at They’ll Do It Every Time.
posted by Johnny Cat on 8-19-2007 at 9:34 pm
i second (third? fourth?) the uniball micro. it’s truly great for southpaws plus i love the ergonomic. other pens just feel wrong in my hand.
posted by darin on 8-20-2007 at 9:32 am
I am a luddite who uses a fountain pen (Sheaffer) unless it’s something that requires an impression like carbon or NCR paper… I forever have an ink mark on my middle finger, but I like the way it writes and I can pick bizarro colors as I see fit.
posted by Sid Morrison on 8-20-2007 at 11:04 am
You all make me feel so less alone! I am a pen nut. I used to name my fountain pens. Sid, I haev the same ink mark. on top of a callous! I like Schaeffers but really love a good waterman or Recife. I own one Mont Blanc and just am not impressed with it. But I will buy all kinds of pens, gel inks, rollerballs - I love Staples! It only makes sense, as I have actually been diagnosed with hypergraphia. I wake up in the night to make lists of any kind. Lists of lists, even.
posted by Allison on 8-20-2007 at 12:35 pm
For me, it’s not so much the pen but the color. I so much prefer BLUE ink but it’s getting harder to find. Most pens these days are black ink. Especially, if I am filling in a preprinted form, I want to use blue ink so I can readily see what I wrote.
However, I will more quickly reach for my mechanical pencil over a pen if I can get away with it.
Oh and for whatever reason, pens mate and reproduce in my purse. I always have 10 or more pens at any one time. Go figure.
posted by KJ on 8-20-2007 at 1:24 pm
A followup… us fountain pen geeks get to be pretty geeky when it comes to ink as well. The crap that comes in the replacable cartridges is terrible — always fill from a bottle. I like Waterman Purple and also Private Reserve Sherwood Green. If I need to do something formal (like a sympathy card), I’ll switch to black though.
posted by Sid Morrison on 8-20-2007 at 1:26 pm
There is no question about the best pen available. The Pilot Dr. Grip Center of Gravity pen makes life worth living. I find it a near impossibility that anyone could use it and not love it. I keep two extras still in the package stashed at all times in my desk in the event I might lose my others.
posted by puddle on 8-20-2007 at 7:50 pm
For general use, just about any pen given out by various companies … my current favorites were provided by Polar Supply Company here in Fairbanks.
For special use, I get really picky … dates back to my days running a drafting board, where a pen that could produce a consistant reliable line was worth its weight in gold. (Nothing worse than being six hours into a drawing and having the pen puke, bleed under the ruler, or start skipping.)
posted by Griff on 8-20-2007 at 8:03 pm
Man! This is starting to sound like a support group!
Oh well, I haven’t yet started using up the grocery money for pens and ink, and I don’t keep pens hidden from my family (although I do keep the best ones in my office so nobody else gets to use them).
When I was in college, I put a lot of money in a Koh-i-noor Rapidograph with India ink. I liked the way it gave a dense, consistent black line that did not glare under a high-intensity lamp.
posted by Daniel Kim on 8-20-2007 at 10:13 pm
I have to use erasable ink. I skrew upp too muhc to use regugler inc. I love that I can write in ink but erase mistakes like it was pencil.
posted by Tdave on 8-21-2007 at 12:59 am
You like that erasable ink? I remember when those pens came out — I was in grade school at the time and for a while everybody had to have them. Our teachers made us write everything in pen (except math) and cross-outs weren’t allowed in most classes. You goobered up something and you wrote the page over… hence the appeal of erasable ink!
Anyhow, it soon became apparent that the ink rubbed into a smudge long after it was written and was a disaster for left-handers as it smudged whilst they were writing.
posted by Sid Morrison on 8-21-2007 at 7:29 am
The Pilot Precise V5 is a good little instrument, but nothing will ever surpass a good fountain pen. I’m a writer, and to me, my fountain pens are a natural extension of my fingers. I have a nice collection, but my two workaday favorites are a red Lamy and a silver Waterman, a heavy-duty number. There’s something magical about the soft scratch of a pen-point on good paper.
posted by Melinda on 8-21-2007 at 3:11 pm
My Spouse has a pen that he has had then entire time I have known him. It is one of those fancy pens that you can replace the insides when the ink runs out. Woe be unto the person who loses that pen. If he lets you use it, he stands there to get it back. We call it the sacred pen.
posted by Carol on 8-21-2007 at 5:45 pm
Pilot Razor Point - super fine line, fast-drying ink, neat colors (green is my fave). I have loved these for almost 20 years.
posted by Cinnamon on 8-22-2007 at 4:13 pm
Yes, I feel like such a philistine for using smudgy erasable ink, but I mostly do crossword puzzles with them not writing a “Magna Carte” with them. Sometimes I put a napkin under my sweaty hand to prevent smudging.
I have a “nitrogen powered” Fisher Space Pen. I put it away, somewhere, after I had to rescue it from the garbage. (someone here has throw-stuff-out spells.)
posted by Tdave on 8-23-2007 at 1:34 am