What’s What 5/20/24
International arrivals, domestic departures, and ocean metaphor.
Inked Right Now
Kaweco AL-Sport with Montblanc UNICEF
Visconti Opera Gold with Delta Black
Pilot Custom with Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo
Pilot Nagasawa Decimo with Nagasawa Kobe Coast Stone Grey
I must have nudged the converter a bit too far because UNICEF was pouring onto the page. Even for the Sport's BB nib it was a lot.
Gone from last time: Parker 25 and Pilot Prera.
The orange Kaweco and blue Montblanc pairing is in celebration of Lando Norris winning the F1 Miami Grand Prix for McLaren.
The Pilot Custom is excelling on daily journal duty.
The Opera Gold was covered here.
The Decimo? Well, it just kinda snuck in. Let me explain…
New & Exciting
On the same day the Visconti arrived there was a newsletter in my inbox from Yoseka Stationery. One of the new items featured was a Pilot Decimo with a gray gradient color scheme made for Nagasawa, a stationery retailer in Kobe, Japan. Most of the pens I’d ever seen online with Nagasawa’s name were Sailors. I wasn’t familiar with their previous Decimo releases.
I wasn’t in the market for another Decimo. I had given some consideration to tracking down a past release special color or limited edition Decimo from the Japanese market, but that figured to be a search & wait operation on eBay in the hopes of getting lucky. There’s an outside chance I’d come across something at the local annual pen show. Either way, the idea of a new Decimo was on the far back burner in my mind.
I looked at the Kobe Gradation Kaigan Stone Grey (official name for this colorway as far I can tell) and it made an impression. More surprising, I was drawn to the gold trim over the rhodium. Hmmm. It’s a handsome pen and a model I already love, but that’s not enough to command a $100 premium over the standard Decimo.
Then I noticed it was offered with a Fine Medium nib, which is not available on regular Decimos in the USA. I have standard fine and medium nibs for my Decimos. Fine is my go-to but the medium is nice too. Is splitting that difference worth the stretch? Did I mention the two Kobe inks that inspired the pen’s color were also available?
I put the pen and two ink samples in the shopping cart and figured I’d give myself a day or two to consider it. A few minutes later I thought I probably couldn’t wait that long because the pen would sell out. Trying to get one later would likely see additional price markup. I clicked the button to check out and here we are.
I had a stage of rationalization, saying things like “it’s a Decimo, that’s your most-used pen” and “you won’t ever find that nib size again in brand new condition.” That’s all just talk. Ultimately, the Decimo was a straight up impulse buy. The kind of thing I worked on reducing last year and had avoided completely this year.
I’m not angry with myself because I decided a while ago that serves no purpose in this type of situation. However, it does serve as a reminder of how the behavior we think of as being disciplined is sometimes just the ebb tide of desire to do the other thing. The time of high tide is when discipline shows…or doesn’t. Keep at it regardless.
Working On
I donated some pens and notebooks to kickstart some (late) spring cleaning of the stationery collection. There’s another set of pens that I may sell off as a single lot. For all my mentions of getting nib grinds done on pens I already own, I haven’t sent out one yet. That should move to the top of the priority list.