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As November wound down, my main work pen (Parker 45) and daily journal pen (also a 45) ran low on ink. I had two other pens going — a Sailor that just came back with a new custom grind and the Waldmann that I picked up a few weeks ago. Both excellent pens but neither one felt like what I wanted in the work or journal spot. I’ll keep using them for other purposes until I decide otherwise, but I needed to open the drawer and pick my work & journal pens for December. I tried to select pens I have not used for a while so I can reconnect with them. Ultimately, it’s not much of a surprise where I ended up.
Journal Pen — What I’ve done for most of the year with my daily journal is pick a different pen each month. I aim to use pens that are my best writers or that have a special feeling to them because if I’m going to write with it (almost) every day for 30 days straight, I want to enjoy the experience.
This is a Parker Sonnet from the early days of the model in a finish called Laque Indigo. Sonnets have a shape and feel that fits my hand very well. The brass body has a nice heft without being heavy. This pen has a factory stub (borderline italic) nib which, combined with the beautiful blue color, made it impossible for me to pass up when I saw it online two years ago.
Work Pen — My work pens need to be reliable, easy to use, and durable. This means pens that never fail to write, have quick deployment, and can take knocking around. A handful of Pilot fountain pens have filled this role admirably in the last several years — the Decimo, Metropolitan, and Prera. The Pilot I chose for work this month had never been to work with me. In fact, I’ve barely used it since I got it a year and half ago.
The Custom Heritage 92 is a pen I never gave much consideration, mainly due to being a piston filler. Piston mechanisms are great from a technical standpoint but I’m usually one to change inks and pens more frequently rather than less, so cartridge/converter fillers are often my preference. Also, cleaning out a piston filler was frustrating because I’d fill it up with all that ink and then only use a portion of it before deciding to move on. To combat that, I would only consider piston fillers with nib units that screw in & out to make maintenance easier.
The 92 doesn’t have such a nib unit, so why’d I get it? First, it’s a Pilot and I trust their pens implicitly. Second, it has an FM nib which I’d never tried before. Third, JetPens had a good deal on it. Fourth, it’s a blue demonstrator. Honestly, I was helpless against this one. (Insert eyeroll and sly grin.)
However, as best I can tell from going through past notebooks, I inked this pen just twice in 18 months. For all the points in its favor I mentioned, was I still hesitant to use the 92 because the cleaning might take longer? If so, I was being foolish because this pen is fantastic. It’s the poster child for what I mentioned at the top about reconnecting with pens that have sat unused.
To go with these pens, I chose inks that put smile on my face. Bright colors to liven up the short winter days we’re now in.
Last month I used Montegrappa Fuchsia in my Prera at work, so why not go a bit further up the scale to Tsutsuji? It’s fun but still quite legible on standard white paper or a yellow Post-It. We’ll see if coworkers feel the same as the month goes on.
UNICEF is in the small group of inks I’d call my all-time favorites. The Sonnet’s nib shows off that lively blue in spades and lets the shading come through as well. It’s a combination I would happily repeat in the future.
So, for all ways I could have gone to pick two pens for the month, I landed on a Parker and a Pilot, both in blue. My two favorite pen makers and my favorite color. Like I said, not much of a surprise. I’m happy to have landed here all the same.
