Tools of the Trade

Growing up, I didn't really get the appeal of fancy pens or pencils. A lot of my early childhood was spent at my mom's scrapbook store, surrounded by walls of pens, stickers, paper. My twin sister gravitated towards whatever had the most sparkle pen was (Usually a Sakura Gelly Roll pen). I however, was more interested in the lost & found bin full of toys.

My sister was all about using every single pen she could get her hands on. Years later this would turn into her being a meticulous organizer, dutifully color coding everything with neat handwriting. Being decidedly less organized, I would just grab whatever worked in the moment, leading to drawers full of half-used pens/pencils that miraculously showed up in my backpack during school.

Now, however, I am a bit more selective in what pens I write with (and what paper I'm writing on).

Below: My current work pen rotation (L-R: Kaweco Sport Brass, Zebra F-701, rOtring 600, Lamy AL-Star, TWSBI Eco)

A little bit after the pandemic started, I began writing in a (now neglected) journal. I decided I should get a nice pen. I bought an F-701 (and then had to replace it twice after the threads got stripped), and really liked it (be sure to replace the ink cartridge though, uni power tank works great). Then I discovered the rOtring 600, which is my favorite pen out of the ones I have. There's something about the knurling and hexagonal barrel that just feels nice.

I also have a few fountain pens, and what I love about them is the sheer variety of inks you can get with them. While I prefer metal pens, I do love my TWSBI Eco (or "the vape pen" as some coworkers describe it) because you can see the ink inside, and it's fun to pair inks with the color of the pen. My green Eco has a reddish Diamine ink color named "writer's blood".

The Lamy AL-Star is a great office pen, it looks and writes nicely, and light without feeling cheap. My favorite fountain pen though, is the Kaweco Brass Sport. The heft is fantastic, and makes up for it's shortness. I do need a smaller nib, as medium is a bit broad for my handwriting.

What's fun about the brass Kaweco is the patina that develops while using. Someday I'll probably clean it up and make it shiny, but I'm enjoying the weathering of the pen. The rOtring also has some weathering, mostly from dropping it, chipping the green coating revealing the brass underneath. While I should want to keep these pens nice and shiny, I find something aspirational in ones that show some wear and tear. The imperfections speak to the pens being well used, even if in reality they're not used as often as I'd like to use them.

I'll probably keep buying pens, because there's always cool ones coming out (my wallet thanks me for not having enough disposable income for machined pens...). At some point though, I have to stop buying and start really writing. Good thing I also have a habit of buying notebooks without finishing them.

Maybe in a future post I'll talk about a different set of writing tools/rabbit hole, keyboards. Now I think I'll shut the computer off for a bit, and reach for one of the pens to do some writing with.