A growing fondness of multitaskers
I’ve been watching the reboot of Alton Brown’s Good Eats this past week. Brown’s distaste for unitaskers resonates with me. I identify with the lack of patience he has for a cooking tool that only has one use. My focus this week, though, has been thinking through how I use unitasker and multitasker nibs.
A round nib is forgiving. The wide writing zone lays down a line at many angles. So you’ll have a smooth writing experience with many more grips. But that line is only ever one thickness. That makes writing consistent, but one-dimensional. Round nibs are unitaskers. If you want thicker letters for a header, you’ll need to grab a different pen. (And, to be sure, mixing pens is part of the fun.)
My preference, of late, has been for multitasker nibs. A multitasker nib writes comfortably in more than one line thickness. For example, the Predator Hybrid (via the esteemable Mark Bacas) on my TWSBI Prussian Blue writes as a Japanese EF when held normally and as a M when writing with the pen upside-down. I can bring one pen into a meeting and take advantage of broad and narrow writing lines.
A little EF, a little M
This week’s Inked Tines update includes my most recent currently inked writing tools.
Toolset
Pens. I paired my Pilot CH 912 with the Turquoise 580-AL during meetings this week. The dark grey of Anti-Matter contrasted well with the gentle pastel of Hisoku. Together, my notes were easily scannable. Searchability is key in notetaking.
Nakaya Neostandard Heki-tamenuri — Basically full. Used briefly for some lesson planning and a couple of scratch notes. The Nakaya is my go-to journaling pen. Without much journaling this week, the poor Nakaya sat, loved but lonely.
Franklin-Christoph 46 — 2/3 used. Useful for some lesson planning. Wasn’t used too much outside of planning. Sad, lonely 46.
TWSBI Vac700R Iris — 4/5 used. These first weeks with my Vac have cemented it as one of my sturdiest and most comfortable pens. This past week saw a lot of teaching notes, lesson plans, and personal planner work done with this nib. After a brief rescue mission to my partner’s desk.
TWSBI 580 ALR Prussian Blue — Empty. Manuscript editing and annotating. Made a couple of meetings easy with the predator hybrid. And a lot of scratch notes. This was an excellent all-around pairing. Would try again: five stars.
TWSBI 580 AL Turquoise — Empty. One of the week’s daily drivers – which surprised me. I kept reaching for this pen, going so far as to bring it into most of my meetings. Also my pocket carry. Was just wet enough to write smoothly. Dry enough to remain a true European EF.
Pilot CH 912 — Empty. The soft nib brought out lovely shading, while keeping the narrow line I need for my weekly spread. Still took quite a while to dry. It’s nice when the daily driver works well, dries quickly, and is fun to write with. Two out of three ain’t bad.
Esterbrook J — ??. Swapped the 2442 deluge for a much dryer 9461 nib. Now writes beautifully. Works on nearly any paper, with a line fine enough to work on my personal task list, too. Wound up used for scratch notes and journaling, with a little task management thrown in after the nib-swap.
Notebooks. 15 new pages bring me to page 195 of my plain Hobonichi notebook – my work bullet journal. My writing leaned heavily on meeting notes this week. The work notebook is split into four “sections,” each using a different color for the grid lines. I’m only three pages away from the final purple section.
Green has served me well
I also had (perhaps too much) fun planning out revisions to my research class. As students’ settle on methods for their studies, I have to tailor the class to each of their needs. This year we have a healthy mix of interviews, a focus panel, one observation, and two document-based projects. My favorite part of teaching methodology is that my students and I get to sketch and problem-solve together.
The Musubi journal. The evenings this week got away from me. Preparation for the holiday and a handful of working nights ate into my prime journaling time. I wrote three pages – two short entries – all with the Esterbrook.
Written dry. Three pens went empty this week, two on Friday. The Pilot 912 went out during a meeting with a parent. One of the perks of working from home is that I have a desk full of pens. I swapped to the Esterbrook for the remainder of the afternoon. The TWSBI Turquoise ran empty during the same meeting. I said “Aww” out loud when the TWSBI croaked.
The TWSBI Prussian Blue went empty as I finalized annotations on a manuscript Saturday morning. The EF works so well on printer paper, keeping a thin line without snagging within the page’s threads. I’m toying with making this my daily driver going into holiday number two.
Newly inked. I was well behaved this week: none.
Collection
Incoming / new orders. Two “new old stock” Esterbrook nibs arrived on Friday afternoon. A 9461 and a 9555. They even had their original boxes! Both are Fine nibs. They’re both designed, if differently, to serve well in everyday writing. The nibs come pre-fitted in collars that simply screw into your pen. Easy-peasy.
Looking mighty fines
The 9461 is a Rigid Fine Manifold. It’s a fat slab of metal compared to most nibs. It is a true nail to write with; no give at all. You can use ballpoint-type writing pressure without worrying too much. This will be excellent for quick notes.
The 9555 Gregg is a Firm Fine. It writes a bit more stubby than the 9461, and with the give you’d expect from a fountain pen. This nib was designed for shorthand notes, and that’s my intended use for the nib. Happy day.
Outgoing / trades or sales. The boxes for my Looms are prepped and awaiting their pens. I’m fairly confident I’ll post them for sale or trade in my local pen group first. Choosing the single nib/pen combo to keep has proved more challenging than I initially thought.
Currently listening
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats. The best YouTube comment I’ve seen all year is under this video: “Nathaniel Rateliff & the Casual Denim.” Thank you, internet.
