Putting the fountain pen triad to work

There are three levers to pull to influence how enjoyably a fountain pen writes. Three physical aspects of the tool that we can change. One is the nib we write with. Another is the ink in the pen. And third is the paper we write on. The triad.

The same ink and nib will perform differently on different varieties of papers. For example, my Sailor F nib is inked with Diamine’s Sparkling Shadows. That pen and ink combination is a smooth and wet writer on both Tomoe River and Cosmo Air Light papers. However, it railroads and struggles to maintain consistent flow on Rhodia’s Goalbook paper. Either the pen is haunted or the triad is at work.

I feel the triad also encourages careful experimentation. More specifically, I enjoy a frankenpen. Not only is swapping nibs and pen parts fun for a tinkerer like me, doing so finds combinations of inks and papers that write in ways I find enjoyable.

To the tinkerer’s end, I came across a claim midweek that Narwhal’s nibs are swappable with #6 Bock nibs. Interesting, not least because I have two loose Bock nibs laying around: one titanium EF and the other a steel F. 

You can do what now?

I truly enjoy the colorway and size of my Narwhal pen. Neither the F nor the M nib writes perfectly for me. They’re wonderful for large, flowing script. My small, detailed letters avoid the parts of Narwhal’s nibs that give them their personalities. I need a different nib.

So I snagged my spare EF titanium Bock nib from my toolbox. I unscrewed the Narwhal’s nib collar and used a rubber strip to carefully pull the nib and feed from the collar. A quick swap manifested the internet rumor: Bock is a clean substitute.

Wha-bam! Bock Titanium for the win

And now, this pen writes like a dream for me. I just had to add a new nib to the triad.

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

Toolset

Pens. The simply excellent Lamy Safari, equipped with Lamy’s new cursive nib, was easily this week’s standout combo. Fun feedback without any scratch. A perfect entree into the world of ground nibs. Dark enough to stay focused during meetings. Shaded in subtle ways to keep writing interesting during long journaling sessions. Subscribed. Written down to its feed.

• Pilot CH 912 (SF) — Empty. Smooth writing combo. Soft nib gives control over Enchanted Ocean’s shimmer. Even on Rhodia’s goalbook paper. Took over as a dual daily driver for lesson plans, lecture notes, and reading notes.

• Sailor Pro Gear (F) — Feed. A most excellent task management combo. Precise, narrow lines. Soft, wet writing that brought out fun shading. Quick drying that avoided smears. Struggled with Rhodia’s goalbook paper. Would do again. Task management, reading notes, commonplace notes (quotes and search tags).

• TWSBI 580-AL (B) — 1/4. The wet, round B nib worked reliably on my work bullet journal’s paper. November Rain’s sheen kept my lecture notes easily readable, even from odd angles while I stood over a desk or beside a lectern. Stood out easily against Sparkling Shadows for commonplace notes and reading notes.

• Sailor Pro Gear (Z) — 2/5. This combo brings out the strong points of the nib, ink and the pen’s color. Hisoku’s dryness kept the Zoom’s line to a disciplined M/B. The smooth Zoom grind made writing quickly during meetings a joy. Hisoku’s shading kept commonplace notes and journaling fun. And the robin’s egg blue body paired well with Hisoku’s color. Awesome pairing.  

• Kaweco Sport (EF) — 1/2. Served reliably as a pocket pen. Wrote right away every time I uncapped the pair. The EF nib encouraged Yama-Budo to dry quickly enough that a closed pocket Stalogy left my jottings unsmeared. The pink color also worked well for accent reading notes, lesson plans, and marking students’ paper drafts.

• ASA Brahmaputra (M Architect) — 3/5. Razor sharp with a narrow happy writing angle. Persnickety for fast writing. Best, and enjoyable, with slow writing: journaling, commonplace notes (reflections), and some lesson plans.

Notebooks. Work bujo. Rhodia Goalbook (A5). The third teaching bullet journal of the school year is an earthy green Rhodia Goalbook. Pretty.

A real “where did you get that?” generator.

I must confess to making assumptions and doing only light research. I expected the Goalbook to have the same paper as I’ve come to enjoy in Rhodia’s excellent spiral desk pads. No dice. 

The paper is absorbent and grumpy with liquid inks. Pencil is lovely. A quick internet search would have told me as much.

Some mid-week adjustments were in order. The triad to the rescue. 

The Goalbook sports absorbent paper with a smooth texture. Wet feeds, any nib shapes (since edges write snag-free on smooth papers), and moderately dry or drier inks.

As a result, I leaned heavily on three pen-and-ink combos throughout the week.

Triad teammates

For example, my daily driver worked the two-page weekly. Sparkling Shadows was dry enough in the Sailor F to prevent any smearing in quickly-jotted tasklists. And the round F nib avoided railroading once primed. 

I used the wetter Pilot SF for structure and detailed notes in the week’s lesson plans and meeting notes. Enchanted Ocean quickly absorbed into the Rhodia paper as a dark, green-black line. Even so, the Pilot feed was wet enough to keep up without priming. A working triad.

The Sailor Zoom nib, TWSBI B, and Bock “M” carried the remainder of my work writing.

Journal. YT Bindery Yu-yo (A5). Fourteen new pages across four entries this week. The notebook arrived naked, without lines or dots or printed page numbers. So defining an exact page number is challenging. 

However, there are five folded signatures. I’m presently five pages passed the middle of the third signature. Five pages passed halfway. That’s something.

Sure. You can have my signature

I tapped pairs of pens with complimentary inks for the three longform entries. Hisoku and Benitsuchi, Eau de Nil and Benitsuchi, and Brane and (you guessed it) Benitsuchi. That Lamy cursive nib is addictive.

A nib to make you go: woo!

Commonplace. Elemental Paper Iodine (A5). I had a mountain of reading notes to mine for my commonplace notebook. And I was disallowed from using screens for two weeks. A perfect storm for commonplacing. Thirteen new pages of notes from two books and one essay. I now sit on page 119. Lemonade.

Commonplacing also gives me opportunities to cycle through all of my inked pens. Grey ink for a direct quote. Accent colors for my reflections and thoughts about that quote.

Easily skimmed reflections. Easily searched by topic using my index.

Written dry. Three pen and ink combos wrote dry this week. The Pilot and Sailor shared duties as my daily drivers and so saw a lot of writing throughout. The Sailor writes, but is down to its feed as of this post. The Pilot is bone dry as of Friday evening. Both will need replacing for the coming week.

The Lamy Safari Terra was a frequent choice during my evening journaling sessions. So much attention takes a toll on a pen. The Lamy is down to its feed.

Well done, you three

Newly inked. I inked the Narwhal frankenpen with Colorverse Brane on Thursday. I adore this combination of titanium nib, cool toned Chromis Teal, and large piston filler. Drama not included.

I used my bottle of shimmer Brane — unshaken. There is a healthy balance of minimal and infrequent shimmer as I write. Just enough glitter to surprise me. Infrequent enough to avoid clogging issues. Bonus.

The collection

Incoming / new orders. No new additions this week. I’m on a self-imposed purchasing embargo until the DC Pen Show. 

That said, my partner and I have been practicing for a Mario Kart tournament amongst friends. The winner, between the two of us, gets a bottle related to their hobby. Mine would be ink. Theirs would be nail polish. Wink.

Outgoing / trades or sales. No outward movement of pens or inks this week. Another pen group meetup approaches — so there’s yet hope.

Currently reading and listening 

Fiction. The first act of Mariel of Redwall is a wrap. I’m 18 chapters in now and still struggling to connect emotionally with Mariel and her newfound posse from Redwall.

I’m chalking my lack of connection up to feeling unwell during most of my reading time.

Nonfiction. I finished Peter Pomerantsev’s first book, Nothing is True and Everything is Possible this week. I finished my second read-through on Wednesday. 243 pages.

It has new meaning following the war in Ukraine. It charts the ways people make meaning within a society that doesn’t have trustworthy social networks. Powerful and prescient.

He has deep, rich stories throughout the book. But the analysis is nowhere to be found. Students’ first research papers often struggle to name patterns across stories outright. The quality of Pomerantsev’s writing improved in his second book.

I also spent three days reading and reflecting on Jonathan Haidt’s engaging essay in The Atlantic. I like to read essays from fields I’m unfamiliar with. This one focused on the ways algorithm-driven social media erodes Haidt’s three pillars of democracy. Smashing connections.

Another 38 pages. All with my Blackwing Natural and Mildliner duo.

I swapped the black eraser into the natural when I finished the original eraser

Music. Olafur Arnalds’ classic “… and they have escaped the weight of darkness” record played on heavily rotation throughout the week. Dark, brooding piano arrangements. The second track is my favorite.

I started playing the record on repeat once I was able to read and write again without dizziness. Thematically perfect for recovering from my eye injury.

You are familiar with Arnalds’ wonderful, delicate orchestration if you watched Broadchurch. He drove their soundtracking.

For those who like a little moodiness with their writing soundtracks, Arnalds is your guy. Well worth a listen.

My only knowingly haunted pen

Edited May 9, 2022: Changed a ridiculous image formatting mistake.