Year-End Round Up, Part II: Parting Thoughts for 2017

What do I say for my last post of 2017? First and foremost, thank you! To all my readers, I can’t express how much I appreciate your friendship and support, which allows me to write here on what’s become a near-daily basis and reinforces my belief in the importance of making space for the “analog” side of life. This has been a hard year for many reasons, both personal and professional, and regardless of what else was going on, knowing that I had at least one hour a day to spend here, focusing on something that brings me nothing but joy, carried me through the rough spots.

While there won’t be any major changes to the blog for 2018, I’ve spent the past couple of months refining my “mission statement” and thinking about where I want to focus my attention. The Gentleman Stationer is, for the most part, a product review site, but I try to write my reviews and articles from the perspective of someone who actually uses analog tools on a daily basis, often for hours at a time and in situations where functionality is key. One of my goals for 2018 is to refocus a bit on this central theme, and not let myself get carried away trying to publish the hot take on the latest new release. I have a few ideas for new features in the hopper, some of which are more developed than others, but at a minimum you can expect more in-depth reviews of products that I consider “daily drivers” - tools that you can rely on to get your work done every day. I also miss writing the monthly Digital Divide newsletter, and I’m working on a way to bring back more content that allows me to explore those themes more than I have. Unfortunately, given my day-job related time commitments, I always seem to run into the “hours in the day” problem….

My Top Five Daily Use Stationery Products

So, taking all of this into account, I decided to approach my overall “Best of” list from a different perspective than I have in the past. I want to talk a bit about those products that I end up reaching for everyday without thinking, that blend into my workflow to the point where I basically forget that I’m using them. I’ve reviewed most of these products on the blog, and for those that I haven’t, well, I plan to fix that soon.  

1. Baron Fig Mastermind Desk Pad. It’s silly to say that any stationery product is truly “life changing,” but if I had to name the one product that improved my workflow on a daily basis, it would be the Baron Fig Mastermind. This dot grid desk pad has become not only my all-purpose jotter/scratch paper, but as I've gotten used to writing in "landscape mode," it even serves as a great medium for rough drafts. Baron Fig’s paper handles all kinds of ink very well, and I appreciate the fact that it’s more absorbent and not thick, like Rhodia or Clairefontaine. This means that ink dries quickly. Both the Mastermind and the open-calendar Mastermind “Week” pad, were huge wins for Baron Fig this year. Now they just need to make a standard legal pad and and a huge desk blotter, and I’ll be set for life.

2. Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter. A product I’ve not reviewed yet, since I’m still working on how exactly I want to cover this somewhat unique notebook/binder/Trapper-Keeper. The Roterfaden is expensive, yet it’s incredibly versatile and really the only thing I’ve tried to date that’s allowed me to easily carry multiple full-sized notebooks.  I can appreciate the Traveler’s Notebook, but the inserts are too small for most of the writing that I do. It’s quickly become an essential part of my daily carry.

3. One Star Leather Baron Fig Confidant Cover. As you may have gleaned from how much I’ve raved about the Mastermind, I pretty much committed to using Baron Fig paper exclusively for the majority of my writing. I use Confidant notebooks for journaling, but the cloth covers tend to get pretty grungy, and they’re not the most durable. My One Star Leather Confidant cover fixes this, and the tan bridle leather looks great as it ages.

4. Lamy 2000 4 Color Ballpoint / Sailor Imperial Black Multi Pen. As I mentioned in my “Top 5 Pens of 2017” post, I use one of these two multi pens on a daily basis as my primary writing instrument. I can’t go on enough about how I love both these pens, and if you’re someone who likes to switch between ink colors on the fly, I highly recommend either one of these. (Note: if you need a mechanical pencil option, go for the Sailor.)

5. Filson Original Briefcase. I have four bags, but I often wonder why. 350 days out of the year, I carry this one, and apart from some (very attractive) aging and softening of the leather straps, it still looks like it did the day I bought it. One of the criteria for an item making its way onto this list is that it has to be worth the money, and this bag paid for itself a long time ago.

If, tomorrow, I had to ditch all my stationery and pick five tools to keep for the rest of my life, I’d be happy with these. No fountain pens? I use them all the time, and I’d certainly miss them, but at the end of the day they’re not essential. For most everyday tasks, the multi pen or a pocket ballpoint has become the everyday carry pen of choice, and for situations where I really need to focus on a conversation or a meeting, they’re the most reliable and least distracting option.

Trends in Stationery from 2017

Here's a few general thoughts on trends I noticed this year, both positive and negative. It will be interesting to see whether these change or continue as-is in 2018. 

1. Stationery Subscription Services. I really hope these peaked in 2017. A few companies continue to do these really well (i.e. Write Notepads), but overall they seem a bit tired and the concepts and ideas not as fresh as in the past. I’ve allowed all my subscriptions to lapse, and limited edition purchases have been few and far between.

2. The Insane Proliferation of Limited Editions. Between Pelikan, Aurora, Lamy, Field Notes, Baron Fig, Blackwing, Montblanc, and more releasing a new limited edition pen or ink seemingly every quarter, I can’t keep track, and I can’t imagine it’s sustainable since many of these pens are priced at $500+, and hang around for months (and in many cases, years) after production is discontinued. While a constant stream of new and sexy stuff is great for generating attention on social media and in the blogosphere, I’d much rather see companies researching and launching innovative new models into their standard lineup.

3. Shimmer/Glitter Inks. Robert Oster, Diamine, and Herbin keep pushing out the shimmer inks. While I’m all for expanding the range of ink colors available, the market for glitter ink strikes me as oversaturated. (See what I did there?)

4. Tomoe River Paper Goes Mainstream. You can now seemingly find Tomoe River Paper everywhere, and you no longer have to order it directly from Japan as U.S. retailers are starting to stock it regularly. It’s available in loose sheets, pocket notebooks, A5 notebooks, bound journals, and more! At some point it may replace Clairefontaine/Rhodia as the “default” fountain-pen friendly paper, especially given its light weight and the fact that a normal sized notebook can hold hundreds of pages!

5. The Typewriter. Is the internet’s current obsession with typewriters, driven by the book Typewriter Revolution and the new documentary California Typewriter, sustainable, or is it just a passing fad? I have a couple typewriters that I use occasionally, and do enjoy, but I still struggle to fit them into my regular workflow. Something I’ll be thinking about/working on in the coming year.  

A Look Forward to 2018

And speaking of the coming year, I wanted to close with a few remarks on some products that I suspect I'll find myself using quite often in 2018. Who knows whether they will ultimately stick, but you can look forward to detailed and in-depth reviews of the following: 

1. Opus 88 Koloro Demonstrator Fountain Pens. I can see these fountain pens fighting their way into my “Top 5 Overall Products” for 2015. These reasonably priced Japanese-style eyedroppers, which are currently sold only by Pen Chalet, hold a ton of ink, sport reliable, well-tuned JoWo nibs, and are comfortable and unobtrusive enough to “disappear” into your workflow. Just be sure to choose an ink you like, because you’re in it for the long haul.

2. New Conway Stewart. I had a chance to handle several pens from the recently reintroduced Conway Stewart line during my visit to Vanness Pens this past weekend. While Conway Stewart has existed in various forms since the early 1900s, it was recently relaunched by Bespoke British Pens, the same folks who produce Jack Row, Henry Simpole, and Onoto.

3. Nanami Paper Cafe Note. I didn’t purchase a Hobonichi this year, in favor of Nanami’s new B6 notebook. This book is a great portable size, and I love the Crossfield-style layout. There’s also much less pressure in dealing with a journal that isn’t dated and doesn't limit you to a page-per-day. Some days I want to write more, some days much less, and some days you just don’t have anything at all.

4. Apple iPad Pro 10.5. I was an early iPad Pro adopter, and while I loved what the larger screen and the Pencil enabled me to do in terms of reducing the amount of “junk paper” that I had to carry with me on a regular basis, the 12-inch screen was a bit too heavy and unwieldy for me to use regularly, and I sold it off after it fell out of use. I experimented with the Microsoft Surface for six months or so, but the handwriting recognition and latency with the Surface Pen simply isn’t as good as with the Apple pencil, particularly if you write small.     

5. Ink Brands with HUGE Ranges of Colors. While too many competing ink brands selling similar colors risk oversaturating the market, they also, IMHO, performed a valuable service: ensuring that pretty much any shade of any color of quality ink is available at any price point. Say you love the Bung Box or Sailor Kobe colors, but don’t want to spend $40+ on a single bottle of ink? Brands like Monteverde, Robert Oster, Diamine, and de Atramentis, to name a few, can probably get you pretty close to whatever color it is that you’re looking for. This trend shows no sign of slowing down, and retailers such as Vanness continue to introduce new lines of ink from around the world. 

Again, thanks for everything, and see you all in 2018! 

Updated "Best Pens" Recommendation Resource, with New Additions!

A revised “Best Pens” page is now live on the blog! I haven’t updated this list in a while (since September 2016), and I wanted to account for several changes that have occurred since then, both in the market and in my personal use. 

So What's New?

On the lower end of the pricing spectrum, nothing changed at all, other than some minor additions to the "Pocket Pens" category. Moving towards the “higher end,” I restructured things a bit. Major changes include: 

1. Splitting my “Best First Fountain Pen over $100” list into two separate categories: gold nibs and steel nibs. The category is getting crowded, and I find myself becoming more and more a fan of higher-end steel nibs, especially those coming out of Germany. I suspect that using steel nibs allows pen companies to be more creative with their design and materials, while still keeping the price point reasonable. Faber-Castell, Diplomat, and Franklin-Christoph are all good examples.  
2. Dropping Delta. The Delta Fusion 82 sat in the No. 5 slot on my “Personal Favorites” list for a while, and I still love the pen. The problem is that Delta seems to have discontinued this model and jacked the price up on other “Fusion” pens, and appears to be in the midst of reshuffling its entire product line. While my experience with Delta pens (and especially their nibs) has been on the whole positive, I have absolutely no idea what to recommend to people at the moment. 
3. Overhauling my ballpoint and rollerball recommendations. I’m using a lot more non-fountain pens these days, and my tastes have evolved. These recommendations probably won’t surprise many people, as they are decidedly mainstream, but I go with what works. 

Enjoy! I don't have a regular schedule for updating my recommendations pages, but I do review them a few times a year to make sure they still reflect my opinion and my own personal use.  

Digital Divide Volume 13: Strategic Paper Replacement, Revisited

Just over a year ago, I published a piece titled "Strategic Paper Replacement," in which I talked about using the iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil as a way to remove "junk paper" from my life. Curiously, this remains one of the most popular posts on the blog, and one that receives a lot of comments and e-mail. More than one person has reached out to me recently to ask how things are going with "the big iPad," so I thought I'd post an update. In short, the iPad Pro has become a tool that I use situationally, for very specific things. Most of my day-to-day computer work continues to be done on a laptop or a desktop, and for most of my notetaking I've continued to revert to pen (or pencil) and paper. While the iPad Pro something that I'm glad I have, it's probably NOT a piece of technology that I'll update on a regular basis.   

Originally, the purpose behind this purchase was to get a device that I could use to help me digitize notes and easily organize and circulate annotated documents to other members of my team, which makes up a huge part of my day job. To a certain extent, it's worked as expected. I use the iPad Pro a fair bit to do quick mark-ups of short letters, forms, and other things that don't require a lot of deep thought or analysis. The Apple Pencil writes small and legibly enough so that others can read my handwriting. In an industry (law) that often still requires a physical signature, it's also incredibly convenient to be able to sign documents directly on the iPad when I'm on the road and instantly attach them to an e-mail, rather than have to find some place to print, sign, and scan. The iPad Pro also keeps me from having to carry a separate briefcase (or suitcase) to lug around multiple three-inch binders of documents when I'm headed to an out of town hearing or deposition.  

But as an overall organizational or serious productivity tool, the Pro is a fail. Some of this is due to the nature of my job - I work with a lot of sensitive data and protected information, so security is an issue and we can't rely on commercial cloud storage providers (i.e., iCloud or Dropbox). In light of these restrictions, I can't simply take all of my notes in Goodnotes (current favorite) or the native Apple Notes app and sync them across all of my devices. I'm always going to have a large volume of material that either needs to be stored in my company's proprietary file system (which operates only on an older version of Windows and is about as Apple-incompatible as you can get) or in hard copy, if I want to store it at all. For this type of stuff, I almost always take hand-written notes and then either destroy them, lock them up in a file room, or scan them to secure electronic storage. 

But there's also a larger issue at play here. As I touched on in my earlier post: 

“The guilt at wasting paper has always been outweighed by my inability to “think on a screen.” ... Many ideas and revisions to thought-intensive pieces such as longer briefs or articles only come to me when I’m curled up in a chair with a pen or pencil and a printed draft (and, depending on the time of day, a cup of coffee or a whiskey).”

— Strategic Paper Replacement, Part I

I thought this might change with the iPad Pro, given the more tactile nature of writing with the Apple Pencil. It hasn't. Writing with a stylus on screen simply doesn't engage my brain in the same way as writing on paper, and an iPad (or any phone or tablet) is an endless invitation to distraction. The New York Times recently published an Op-ed titled, "You're Too Busy, You Need a Shultz Hour", which talked about former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz's practice of carving out an hour each week to sit alone in his office with a pad of paper and a pen and seal himself off from any distraction - which, in his day, fortunately involved only avoiding phone calls and "pop-ins" from office visitors, not e-mail/IMs/Slack/Twitter/Facebook, etc. This "hour of solitude was the only way he could find time to think about the strategic aspects of his job. Otherwise, he would be constantly pulled into moment-to-moment tactical issues, never able to focus on larger questions.... And the only way to do great work, in any field, is to find time to consider the larger questions."

I enjoyed the article, and it goes to the heart of why I will never (voluntarily) give up pen and paper. It's too central to my workflow and the analytical process that allows me to do my job well. If that means I have to sacrifice having the perfect organizational system for my notes and handwritten brainstorming sessions, or that I occasionally accumulate an unruly pile of paper, so be it. I'd much rather focus on the end result than the process. 

What's Up With Digital Divide? 

If you subscribe to my mailing list, you may have wondered what happened to the monthly "Digital Divide" e-mail newsletter, in which I discuss topics of interest to those of us deeply invested in the analog world. Well, after a lot of consideration, I decided to kill the newsletter because publishing in two different formats was causing me a lot of unnecessary stress. Digital Divide will continue, but as a series of posts on The Gentleman Stationer, ideally on a monthly basis but I'm not going to force it if I don't have anything interesting to write about. Also, as of now all previous editions of Digital Divide are now archived on the site. Some of them don't look as pretty as they did in newsletter format, but hey, it's about the content, right? 

I also have a couple guest posts that people have submitted that will eventually work their way into Digital Divide.  If you have an idea, or if you'd like to submit something for publication, just drop me an e-mail to joe (at) gentlemanstationer.com. 

Thanks for your patience as I worked through the future of Digital Divide. I enjoyed writing the newsletter and believe this will give me a way to keep it alive without losing my sanity. 

Workhorse Inks and Refills: When You Just Need to Get S*&T Done

I've been going through a particularly busy time in my "other" life and job, with several days that stretched into the wee hours of the morning. While that's unfortunately taken away from the time I've been able to spend with my more "fun" pens, it's also given me a chance to reflect on what I turn to when I don't have the time or the desire to think about what it is that I'm using. Sometimes you just want to reach for something easy, that you know will work, and most of all, that isn't distracting to you or the people that you're working with. Here's what I've been favoring over the past month, ranked in order of preference:  

1. Schmidt Easyflow 9000 Ballpoint. I find rollerballs too temperamental, including the Schmidt P8126 and P8127 that ships with the Retro 51 Tornado and the Baron Fig Squire. I prefer ballpoints and hybrid ballpoint pens, and typically will carry multiple pens loaded with Schmidt's ballpoint refill in my work briefcase. Currently, I have a blue Easyflow 9000 in my Squire, and a black version in my Steel & Flint pen. These smooth writing refills are great for writing longhand, and don't require much pressure to use at all (which can be a drawback for some ballpoint pens). 

2. Sailor "Chalana" D1 Refill. I've been using a LOT of multipens lately, and the one that's received the most use has been the Sailor Pro Gear Imperial Black, mainly because it has a mechanical pencil function. And at under $40, it's a relatively sturdy and inexpensive pen to travel with. Sailor's Chalana ballpoint refill is also excellent - it's a traditional ballpoint but writes smoothly and leaves a dark line, even with a very fine point. One of my purchases from the past few months that has served me well.

3. Uniball Jetstream D1 Refill. It hasn't received as much love as the Sailor Imperial Black, but my Lamy 2000 Multipen is loaded with these Uniball Jetstream D1 refills and they're great. I prefer the .5mm. 

4. Blue Fountain Pen Ink. I've gone with a generic category here because when I get really, really busy, I don't put much though into what fountain pen ink I'm using other than "will it write on most papers" and "will it be distracting for other people to look at?" Currently, I have pens loaded with various blue or blue-black inks, including Bung Box Sapphire, Blackstone Barrister's Blue, and Iroshizuku Asa-Gao. (For an in-depth look at some other "workhorse inks" that I rely on, check out this list I did a while back.)  

5. Orange Ink. Lately, I've been editing in orange ink, as opposed to red, because I've been working on a project with five or six other people and I wanted them to be able to distinguish my comments and annotations from everyone else's. On the fountain pen side, I've favored Sailor Jentle Apricot, though I've also been using the Orange .38mm Uni Style Fit refill and the Orange Uniball Vision Elite (Micro Tip).  

But what about the pens? Honestly, when I'm this busy, I pay more attention to inks and refills than I do to the pens themselves. If I'm rushing out of the house in the morning, whichever pen is convenient and/or full will probably end up going with me to work. (On a really busy day, I can empty two standard converters.) As I mentioned, my Baron Fig Squire and my Lamy and Sailor Multipens have been busy, and on the fountain pen side I've stuck to workhorses like the Lamy 2000 and my Sailor Pro Gear Imperial Black (fountain pen). I still have a ton of pens inked at the moment, so I'll have to mix things up next week. 

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. 

The Gentleman Stationer 2016 Year-End Review

Another year rolls to a close, and here at The Gentleman Stationer I'm about to celebrate this blog's third full year! I have a lot of exciting stuff planned for the coming weeks and months, but today I wanted to take a brief moment to recap what's been an eventful year (in stationery and other "analog-related" topics - I don't get into that other stuff). After some consideration, I've organized this piece into several different sections: (1) my five best purchases of 2016, (2) the most intriguing/innovative products that hit the market in 2016, (3) most popular posts from 2016; and (4) some personal reflections and goals for 2017.

Top 5 Pen Purchases of 2016

My pen acquisitions slowed significantly in 2016. After a somewhat crazy 2015, I sold off a large chunk of my collection - mostly pens that I wasn't using very much - and for the most part invested in a smaller number of higher-end pens. I've found myself using and enjoying what I have much more than before, and I'll continue this collecting "strategy" in 2017. Here are my five favorite purchases from 2016, based on nothing other than my own enjoyment and opinion. 

1. Lamy 2000 4-Color Ballpoint Multi Pen. I've only owned it for a month or so, but I haven't put it down since. I enjoy multifunction pens for their convenience, and since so much of the daily writing that I do is notetaking for my day job, having both ballpoint and gel pens (and even highlighters!) in a single pen body is awesome. 

2. Pilot Custom 823. The pen that everybody waits too long to buy. This pen has a massive ink capacity and a sweet nib. It's become one of my most-recommended pens, especially for people who write a lot and are looking for a single "daily driver" workhorse.   

3. Pilot Myu. I have Thomas to "blame" for my acquisition of not one, but two, Pilot Myus this year. The Myu was Pilot's integrated nib pen from the 1970s that people are clamoring for Pilot to bring back. Look for a review/write-up soon. (Link via Clickypost)   

4. Pelikan M800 Burnt Orange. Like the Custom 823, I held off on purchasing a Pelikan M800 for a while, mainly because I didn't find a version that spoke to me. At this year's Atlanta Pen Show, I came across the Special Edition Burnt Orange M800, which hooked me. The review has been in the works for a while, since I want to do the pen justice, but it's coming. (Note: These pens are now starting to sell out as we move into a new special edition cycle. Act quick if you want one.) (Link via Pelikan's Perch)

5. Sailor 1911 Black Luster. An absolutely beautiful Sailor that is up there with the Imperial Black Edition as a possible best-of-all-time pen for me. Yes, it has a metal section, but the pen is well-balanced, and the ion-plated coating on the section avoids many of the slipperiness problems that plague other metal pens.     

My Favorite New Products from 2016

The analog resurgence led to what, at times, seemed like near-daily releases of new pen, paper, and ink-related products in 2016. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to try out many of them. These stood out to me. 

1. Steel and Flint Pen. I love everything about this Kickstarter pen, from the light weight to the knurled grip to the Schmidt Easyflow refill.  Following a successfully funded Kickstarter campaign, it will be interesting to see what Steel and Flint does next. 

2. BigiDesign Ti Arto. Somebody finally did it: a universal refill pen that lives up to the hype. If you're an EDC aficionado or someone who likes to have only one pen, this may actually be the last pen you ever need. 

3. Moo Hardcover Notebook. One of the most beautifully designed notebooks I've seen. I have this book waiting in the wings as the "next up". 

4. Slice Planner. An interesting undated planner/notebook that borrows heavily from the Chronodex system. If you buy into this type of planning/time logging, I highly recommend that you check this notebook out once the company finishes Kickstarter fulfillment. It may not be for everybody, but the Slice Planner was one of those products that met an immediate need in my workflow. 

5. Write Notepads Pocket Notebook Subscription Service. On the other end of the spectrum, here's something that I didn't need at all, but ended up giving me endless amounts of enjoyment. I like what Write Notepads is doing with their limited edition pocket notebook series, and can't wait to see the upcoming Winter quarterly edition. 

Most Popular Posts from 2016

This quick list is based solely on the amount of traffic these posts received, and nothing more. It's interesting to see what my readers are interested in, and we definitely share an affinity for Pilot and other Japanese brands. 

1. Five Best Fountain Pen Inks for Everyday Writing. I still stand by all of these ink recommendations. I haven't used Skrip Red or Diamine Oxblood in a while, though. A good reminder to break these out!  

2. Pilot Custom 823 Review. Already linked to above, but people are (rightfully) interested in this pen. 

3. Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo Review. A beautiful dark teal Iroshizuku ink that often gets overlooked in favor of Shin-Kai and Kon-Peki.  

4. Pilot Custom Heritage 92 Review. An excellent pen that saw heavy use this year. I say this all the time, but I wish Pilot would introduce the blue, orange, and smoke demonstrators into the US market. 

5. Platinum 3776 Review. I use Platinum's Ultra Extra-Fine nib much more than I thought I would for everyday notetaking. Following a tuning by Mike Masuyama, this nib is remarkably smooth for how fine a line it writes. As for the 3776 itself, the understated design probably causes it to fly under most people's radar, but the nibs on these pens are exceptional writers.  

Personal Reflections and Goals  

A few things that I want to talk about don't really fall into any of the previous categories. Here are some quick reflections on my own past year in pens and where I think I'm headed in 2017. 

1. I bought a lot less ink this year. Not due to lack of interest, but because there is SO MUCH new ink being released. It's almost intimidating - I've basically given up trying to keep up with and review all of these new brands and colors. I also realized that because I already own so much ink, I probably have a close approximation of any shade I could possibly be looking for, so other than super unique colors that grab my attention, there's really no incentive for me to keep loading up on ink.   

2. I plan to move even more into "analog" and away from "digital" in other areas of my life. Chalk this up to recency bias, but I finished David Sax's The Revenge of Analog last night and found it quite inspiring. My life could definitely benefit from incorporating some of the benefits and enjoyment I find in pens and paper into other areas of interest, such as photography, reading, music, watches, etc. I'll definitely write more on this topic in the future. 

3. I plan to scale back on pen acquisitions even further. I'll probably continue buying fewer pens, and worrying less about spending money on those pens I really, really want. Interestingly, I purchased much more expensive pens this past year, but spent less money overall on this pen hobby. 

4. I want to enjoy new aspects of the pen/stationery hobby. This year I dabbled in things like wax seal stamps (thanks to Kustom Haus), and I'd like to give both journaling and regular letter writing another shot. The trick will be finding out how to work them into an already jam-packed day. 

5. Use more notebooks. An annual promise to myself, but I did better this year (especially with pocket notebooks) and want to keep things rolling forward. I really, really need to burn through my backlog of A5 journal-style notebooks. 

Finally, thanks to all of you who read this blog and make it fun to write. I've enjoyed corresponding with many of you by e-mail, letter, and social media, and meeting many of you in person at pen shows. The pen and stationery community is a great one, and I'm proud to be a member and contributor!