I may have a growing addiction to buying ground nibs out the gate
A new pen rolled through my mailbox just this Monday afternoon. The pen sports a new-to-me Long Knife grind by Hongdian. A new pen day combined with a new nib grind day is a wonderful way to begin a work week.
Hongdian’s N23 White Rabbit now graces my desk. The pen is adorned with two intricate carvings of nature scenes. And each scene is home to a rabbit.
I dig a good tree, and this pen sports three
The shop offered me a choice between an Extra Fine nib and their factory “Long Knife Medium” grind. EF lines are my happy place for daily writing. Small letters are easily readable in EF lines. And I can comfortably cram those letters into small Hobonichi-sized grids.
But I opted for the Long Knife grind. The Long Knife is a snake’s head of a nib shape from above, a pear-shaped Zoom in profile, and a stub when peering at the nib dead on. A unique, planar nib grind that arrived to me perfectly in tune.
I’m struck by a growing pattern in my recent purchases: I’ve had three of my last four pen purchases ground on day one. My Nahvalur Nautilus twins survived less than 24-hours before they were ground to a Mini-Cutlass and a BBG multitasker stub. And now I opted for Hongdian’s in-house wild card.
Why?
Well, I now have a stockpile of round nibs in EF, F, M, B and BB that are each tuned to how I write. Each writes reliably precisely how I like. And these nibs are easily swappable from one pen to another for flexible customization.
Perhaps I’m more willing to experiment with fancy grinds because I have such a secure base of reliable writers?
Alternatively, I’m drawn to multitasker nibs that can write multiple line widths. Some change widths as my angle to the page changes. Others are ground to offer specialty line widths on the reverse side.
Perhaps I’m steering towards multitaskers that I know can expand a pen’s usefulness into multiple kinds of writing? Both? Food for thought as I roll into this coming week.
This week’s Inked Tines update includes last week’s currently inked writing tools.
Toolset
Pens. I struggled to choose another combo than the Sailor Pro Gear (EF) and Earl Grey last week. A combo used for “all the things.” Task management, meeting notes, tracking student paper statuses, reading notes and some scratch notes. Five stars. Will pair again. The ink level is presently down to the feed.
Monteverde Rodeo Drive Polaris (1.1mm) — 1/6. Metal-on-metal threads lead the Rodeo Drive to air out overnight. Writes great once I flood the feed. Suits scheduled writing sessions when I have time to open the pen and flood the feed. Lesson plans, reading notes, and journaling.
Franklin-Christoph Antique Glass (EF) — 1/6. Grapefruit’s pop of colors proved an excellent accent color while tracking the status of students’ presentations and while editing my own writing. Much of this pair’s activity took place while editing drafts of my own work last week.
Sailor Pro Gear Blue Train (MF) — 1/6. Lost’s pale blue color is accentuated in MF line widths. Lost works well for both driving meeting and scratch notes because it’s light and unassuming. It’s also a comforting accent to other notes: meetings and reading notes. Also: lesson plans.
Franklin-Christoph Ghost (M SIG) — 1/2. This pair sat cozy in my penvelope for all but one two-page journaling session. I wasn’t called to reach for this pair. I plan to shower more attention on this duo next week. Journaling.
TWSBI 580 Smoke RoseGold II (F) — 1/2. A third wet combination for this TWSBI pen. I wonder if the feed’s channel is deeper than typical. I can use the wet feed to accommodate dry inks in the future. Let the plotting commence. Journaling, reading notes, and some paper marking.
Carolina Charlotte Dragon Scales (B) — 4/5. Yama-dori grows more green over the course of a page of writing. Friday’s meeting notes begin in broad blue-favored teal and end in greener flavor. The shift — likely due to the feed drying out just a bit while writing for an extended period of time — brought joy to long writing tasks: meeting notes, lesson plans, reading notes, and some journaling.
Notebooks. Work bujo. Odyssey Neptune 200 (A5). I did it. I finished all but four pages of my 400 page work bullet journal two weeks ago. The reward: I got to crack into a new journal this past week.
I chose another Odyssey Notebooks Neptune. Keeping to the same make and colorway of notebook as the one that started my school year will make it easy to locate these planners on my bookshelf years from now. Both will be the same size, shape, and color.
2022-2023: the year of teal
My weekly spread and lesson plan outlines lives in the final four pages of the 400. The trusty two-page weekly task list is sketched out in fabulous Earl Grey. Narrow EF lines in subtle purple-grey made for smear-free task tracking and plenty of details crammed into each task’s line.
The same for next week’s list, too.
A pen and in combo that encourages me to squiggle status updates. Wondrous.
Journal. Midori MD (B6 Slim). Some weeks keep me busy and away from my dear journaling past-time. Last week was just such a week. Sequences of work projects extended my working time well into my evenings on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Writing for others.
I was able to sit down at my desk and scrawl my thoughts onto paper three times last week. Tuesday night’s entry is a short recap of my day. I tapped the sizable Carolina Pen Co. Charlotte for the task. Broad B lines kept Yama-dori a dark teal.
My second entry is a short list from Wednesday night. A mental health brainstorm akin to bullet journaling’s brain dumping practice. the Monteverde’s stub nib lent some fun to the routine task.
The week’s journaling concluded with a two-part longform reflection. The TWSBI’s F lines crammed Monbottos deep purple recollections of my successes from last week onto two pages.
The week’s final two pages house ribbons of Shogun’s dark brown hue. the Franklin-Christoph’s M-SIG nib ensured noticable shimmer throughout my letterforms. The shimmer seemed fitting given the creative writing I was sketching out. Extending details for my D&D group’s campaign.
Written dry. It’s expected that my daily driver combination of pen and ink has an empty converter come the end of the week. The Sailor Pro Gear continues to write on dutifully. Earl Grey fills up my task lists and Hobonichi calendar to lovely, shaded effect.
I expect a pen with such a low ink level will run dry early in the week. The time has come to swap this pen out for another daily driver.
You did well, young Sailor
Newly inked. I’m learning that entering a week with seven pens offers me enough options to quell my urge to ink new pens. No new pairings. Last weekend’s plan holds.
The collection
Incoming / new orders. Esterbrook’s JR in Pumpkin Latte nearly caught me. My hand was stayed by the hope for a future JR adapter to allow vintage Esterbrook nibs to fit into the JR’s small profile. An aspirational stay.
And I must admit to the new Hongdian N23 that arrived as I revising this post. Fair is fair.
Outgoing / trades or sales. The silence. The silence echoes back the sounds of my scribbling.
Currently reading and listening
Fiction. The final battle with the “Dark One” is, at last, upon us. I dug into the first three chapters of Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson’s A Memory of Light last week. 147 iOS sized pages of political machinations and magical chicanery.
I do so enjoy nerdy high-fantasy as a way to wind down my thoughts at the end of a day.
One of the main characters, Egwene, even spent time journaling through her thinking.
Egwene is one of us journalers
Nonfiction. I spent my workdays reviewing an excellent historical over of the Heian Era by Dr. Ethan Segal. I use excerpts as a “textbook chapter” with my ancient world history students.
I select a new accent highlighter color each time I return to a nonfiction text. The separate colors reminds me how my thinking about the essay has evolved over time.
Ten pages of review to ensure I’m ready for our two-lesson unit on emaki, storytelling at Heian Court, and the agency of high-status women like Lady Murasaki at Court.
Music. One of my favorite lo-fi labels, Lofi Girl, added a new character to their mascot universe: Lofi Boy. The character lends a new synth wave aesthetic to their channel.
The music is solid background soundtracking for writing, reading and swatching inks for me. There’s a comfort in looking up to have a characters studying right alongside me, too.
And who can complain with a cute pet to read and journal with you? Check out Lofi’s livestream if you’re interested in a little background music. The channel is work and school friendly.
