The picky, choosy, sticklerish journey to find a fountain pen friendly ruler

My ruler journey spans years. Here’s what I’ve been looking for: a ruler that will not damage soft-metal nibs, has a beveled edge that favors the ruler’s downward side, and with a printed 5 mm grid.

An extremely picky, choosy, sticklerish line of thought lays ahead.

A ruler that will not damage soft-metal nibs. My adolescent days favored a metal-edged ruler. Metal rulers offer reliably straight lines and a body that can gracefully withstand abuse. But soft plastic should prove more forgiving.

I primarily used rollerballs and mechanical pencils. Their hard metal writing tips could withstand repeated bouts of metal-on-metal without noticeable damage.

Bendy

Many fountain pens sport steel nibs that can arguably endure being rubbed against a metal ruler. I worry that a metal ruler may score lines in softer metals like gold and palladium over time.

So: plastics seem a safer medium for a fountain pen friendly ruler.

A ruler with a beveled edge. Liquid inks pool underneath the edges of rulers and stencils that are cut to 90º angles.

Pretty ink color. Pretty smeary line.

A beveled edge raises the outermost straight edge of a ruler up and off the page. Your nib’s tipping doesn’t contact the ruler. This keeps straight lines looking crisp and unsmeared.

A challenge: finding a beveled edge that allows a nib to lay upright. Many of the beveled rulers I’ve found so far must be flipped upside-down to function as an anti-ink-smearing feature. Clearly I’m being picky.

A ruler that sports a printed 5 mm grid. The weekly and lesson plan spreads I regularly use in my work bullet journal involve lines that extend a specific number of columns or rows.

Counting rows and columns is fun at first, if time consuming. I’d much rather use a grid pre-printed on my ruler to quickly measure the length of the lines I make.

And a grid that matches the grid width of your notebook helps ensure your lines are straight. And counts rows or columns for you. Work smarter, eh.

Full sized grid for the win. Works best upside down so the bevel keeps ink from smearing

As with pens and notebooks, rulers are designed to split the middle of many people’s needs. My library of rulers has many contenders for my perfect ruler. Most hit two of my three preferences. None hit all three bulls eyes.

So the great ruler search is ongoing. I’m on a windy path through a lot of rulers. And through a forest of overthinking my stationery. But then again, playing around with new stationery is the fun part.

This week’s Inked Tines update includes my most recent currently inked writing tools.

Toolset

Pens. The fun, loud, and low-cost KACO Green stands out this week. The hooded EF nib is forgiving and lays down a reliable European-width EF line. It took over a week for this combo to settle down into a moderately wet writer that showed off Scarlet Letter’s subtle shading. Journaling, lesson plans, reading notes, and some scratch notes. Empty.

Fun, gold colored hooded nib. Hoodie ninja.

• Kaweco Sport (EF) — 1/5. Pocket carry. One of three mint colored pens in the week’s lineup. The premium EF nib was reliable and smooth, despite Hisoku’s notorious dry writing experience. As a result, this combo expanded out of my pocket notes and into accenting my task management. Pocket notes, lesson plans, task management, scratch notes.

• TWSBI Eco-T (EF) — 2/5. This nib has fantastic feedback when writing. Too wet as a combo. 223 pools up on the page. Extended dry time leads to smearing. The dark grey color with fun undertones and highlighter fastness. Task management, lesson plans, meeting notes, and scratch notes. 

• Narwhal Schuylkill (F) — 2/5. Primarily a marking pen. Dry enough to prevent feathering on work copy paper. The combo skipped quite a bit. Marking papers, lesson plans, scratch notes, student meeting notes.

• Platinum 3776 (B) — 1/2. A wet combo with a welcome short drying time. The B line works best for reflective writing on coated papers. It’s too wide for legible detailed notes. Lesson plans, journaling, meeting notes.

• Pelikan m805 (F Architect) — 3/4. My paper marking alternate on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. When the Schuylkill’s skipping grew annoying, I jumped to this fun architect grind. The pair was wet enough to make reading easy — even when my notes were jammed between the lines of students’ papers. Also my favored journaling pair this week. Marking papers, journaling, lesson plans, scratch notes.

Notebooks. Work bujo. Musubi Cosmo Air Light 83 (A5). Ten new pages. My favorite two-page weekly spread, six pages of lesson plans, and two pages of notes.

Now with a minty accent color

One page is a collection of notes from what I call a discretionary meeting. The goal of the gathering was to come to a difficult disciplinary decision. My notes were recorded afterwards. Primarily reflections on the demeanors and opinions of the other attendees. Thinking about the ways my colleagues process difficult situations helps me to be a better teacher.

The final page is a collection of talking points for Saturday’s open house. In addition to teaching, I also hold an administrative role at my school. I find myself speaking at many of our advertising events in my administrative capacity. Writing out taking points helps me to “stay on message” while answering prospective families’ questions. Stationery for discipline.

Journal. Taroko Breeze (A5). Five new pages, spread across two journal entries. Monday and Wednesday evenings.

Four pages were written with my Pelikan. The architect grind is sharp enough to ensure I can feel the page while I write. The feedback is pencil-like at the intended 60º angle. The nib is a smooth, generous F when closer to the page. And a narrow EF when near-vertical.

All that personality kept me interested in the joy of writing enough to lay down a four page entry on Monday night. Primarily a long form reflection on my Friday and Saturday.

Wednesday’s one-page entry leaned on two pens: the Platinum and KACO. The Platinum put down a checklist of ongoing family-centered goals – birthday plans, etc.

The KACO put down a different, brief, short form reflection.

My journaling takes many forms: long form, short form, note taking, and brainstorming. Variety brings the fun of writing to the surface.

Written dry. One pen kicked the proverbial bucket on Wednesday evening: the KACO. The pair ran dry while journaling.

A great aspect of this hobby is that you can always be surprised. This pairing surprised me — and happily. Scarlet Letter really brought out the best of KACO’s low-cost EF nib.

Newly inked. A very good friend had two dreamy pens arrive this week: a Pilot Custom Urushi and a Pilot Justus. Yep. Both. Good week.

Sharing in his excitement, I nearly inked my Nakaya. However — and this is a brave event to share — I fell asleep early on Thursday. Which was my night to “ink that Nakaya.”

Soon.

By Friday, I had convinced myself to wait until Sunday and ink the Nakaya as part of next week’s currently inked. I feel I passed the marshmallow test.

The collection

Incoming / new orders. No new orders.

However, my partner has been prodding me to seek out a new pen for myself this coming holiday season. No complaints.

I’m considering trying my hand at ordering a custom pen by a small maker. That would be a first for me. It’s a fun idea. One to pursue once I’m on break next month.

Outgoing / trades or sales. I connected with Aaron over at Pentiques last week. He confirmed there is space in his queue for my vintage — if un-diaphrammed — Parker Vacumatic.

Now, I have a box. We call it the Box Box. It is full of pen boxes. It lives quietly at the bottom of our study’s closet. Taking up space. Contentedly. Without contributing to utilities.

The box box

10 minutes of trial and error Wednesday afternoon resulted in a match. The foam inside Narwhal’s Schuylkill box is narrow enough to hold the Parker snugly.

Snug as a bug in a rug

Off you go. To return in an estimated three weeks.

Currently reading and listening

Fiction. I made a conscious effort to read instead of watch TV this week. As an experiment in self-discipline. And in self-care. I most definitely succeeded. Huzzah to me.

I dug into Network Effect as a result. Seven more chapters. It’s great when favorite characters sneak back into the storyline.

Network Effect’s pacing feels slower and more deliberate than the other novellas. Akin to what you find in a full-length novel. Made it to page 369.

Nonfiction. My nonfiction reading was tied entirely to work. Most of my time was spent finalizing a selection of two primary sources related to the Carlisle Boarding School.

I enjoy introducing my students to two competing narratives about an historical event. Our classes then work to find evidence that can support and challenge these two accounts.

Two contrasting accounts of the school rose to the top of the Carlisle School’s historical archive this week. One is a student account of life at the school. The other is Pratt’s (the head of the school) convention speech wherein he lays out his philosophy on what we, today, call cultural colonization. Quality reading over quantity of reading.

Music. I bounced back and forth between a lovely — if somber — piano compilation and GoGo Penguin’s energetic trio.

The somber piano playlist played underneath my teaching throughout the week. Made a beautiful soundtrack for my introductions to Joseph Campbell’s monomyth theory.

GoGo Penguin, in contrast, is lively — and even frantic at times. A wonderful afternoon and evening playlist to coincide with dinner and reading and board games to wind down after a long day.