Reintroducing the "Workhorse Pens" Series, and Back-End Updates

May 21, 2022

I’ve been doing a lot of “back-end maintenance” here lately, both personal and professional. The blog is now eight years old, with a lot of content that needs to be organized and some that needs to be pruned in order to keep the sight easily navigable and running smoothly. In addition to working on new content projects such as the Fountain Pen Review Archive, I’ve also been pulling together categories of topical articles such as the “Workhorse Pen” series, which is a series that I’ve written for several years looking at those pens that I regularly use for my own everyday writing, and have certain characteristics that make me want to recommend them to others for that same purpose. All of those reviews are now organized in their own section, including the most recent entry involving metal pens as workhorse pens. If you’re new to the site, this series of articles provides an excellent introduction to what The Gentleman Stationer is all about: helping people find great stationery and writing tools that they can incorporate into their everyday life.

Speaking of Updates…

If you’ve been following me on Instagram and in the shop, you’ll know that we’ve been undertaking a build-out and renovation to our home office area, which is where the shop and site are both based. While it’s ultimately going to give me more room to work and make it much easier to stay on top of things, it has been disruptive, and I’m going to have to step away for a couple of days while they finish up some work that involves us leaving the house. It’s only a few days, so shop shipping shouldn’t be affected and orders will still ship within a 2-3 business day window. Many thanks for your patience and understanding!

Don’t Forget to Enter the Current Giveaway!

In celebration of eight years and 10,000 followers, we’re giving away a T.G.S. x. Sunderland Rollerball Pen, a Schon DSGN Pocket Six, and a grab bag of T.G.S. Swag! Check out this post to enter and for the full details. The giveaway closes on Sunday, May 22 at 11:59pm U.S. Central Time.

The Gentleman Stationer is supported entirely by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and the T.G.S. Patreon Program. This post does not contain paid third-party affiliate links.

Take Advantage of the T.G.S. Archive and Other Online Resources!

April 27, 2022

I’m on the home stretch here, and I should have access to my stationery stash and review samples once again by early next week when office renovation work is mostly completed. In the meantime, I thought I would take this brief respite to discuss some of the resources I’ve been building out here over the past year. Since The Gentleman Stationer recently turned eight (8) years old (!!!???!!!), in addition to figuring out how to make the site sustainable over the long-term, and to set T.G.S. up for future growth, a core focus of mine has been organizing nearly a decade’s worth of content in a way that’s accessible to readers both new and old. This has turned into a much larger project than anticipated, so expect more developments to come.

The T.G.S. Fountain Pen Review Archive

I enjoy using Squarespace as a platform, but it’s search and archiving functions leave something to be desired. I’ve long wanted to offer a means by which readers could search past reviews, sorted by brand. As it turns out, I discovered that the only real way to do this was by manually combing back through past reviews and building it myself. This expanded index currently only includes fountain pens, but a non-fountain pen version (and hopefully, an ink index) is in the works!

Note: For those of you who want an easy way to search reviews of a specific pen beyond The Gentleman Stationer, check out Pennaquod, a Pen Blog search engine run by our friend Ian Hedley. For example, if you’re looking to compare reviews on, say, the Lamy 2000, Pennaquod will draw on dozens of different pen websites to get you the information you need.

Guide to Fountain Pen Friendly Paper

While a guide like this can never truly be comprehensive, since definitions of what is “fountain pen friendly” vary from person to person, paper formulations change, and new papers constantly enter the market. That said, I’ve tried to maintain this as a “living” post with a vibrant comments section, so in addition to the papers I have listed in the post itself, be sure to review the comments for additional suggestions. (A word of warning - they are just that, comments and suggestions. I’ve not used nearly all of the different types of paper mentioned in the comments.)

“Workhorse Pens” Reviews

Separately from the Fountain Pen Review Archive, I’ve consolidated my “Workhorse Pens” reviews and recommendations onto a single page. “Workhorse Pen” is the name I give to those pens that make the best everyday writers, and nearly all of these have remained in my personal collection and in rotation. Similarly, the “Resources” navigation bar

T.G.S. Patreon for Meetups and More

For a bit more in-person interaction, consider joining the T.G.S. Patreon Program. In addition to “behind-the-scenes” content and early access to exclusive and limited edition products in the shop, Patrons can participate in a monthly meetup (via Zoom) where we discuss topics of interest to the community, the latest releases, and pretty much anything of interest to enthusiasts. There’s also a lot of free exchange of advice and recommendations. Meetups typically take place on the third Saturday of every month, at around 8pm Central Time. We’d love to have you join us!

This post does not contain third-party affiliate links. The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop, as well as the T.G.S. Patreon Program.

Essential Stationery: For Me, It's Sticky Notes

April 23, 2022

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve basically been forced into stationery minimalism. Three quarters of my stash has been packed away, and while I don’t have as large a stockpile as many, and tend to keep only what I might reasonably use, it’s definitely given me a sense of what’s truly essential and what’s a luxury. Here, I define “essential” as “What have I had to go back into storage to dig out of boxes because I can’t function without it?” The number one thing? My stash of sticky notes and page markers.

I use a broad range of sticky notes and page markers for everything from making notes to myself, to creating makeshift bookmarks, to annotating documents at work, to marking up books I’ve been reading where I want to go beyond marginalia. Honestly, for my day job, I probably do just as much writing on Post-its as I do on traditional legal pads or notebooks.

A real-time shot of my work desk from this week. Lots of Post-It flags. Always.

So What’s In My Stash?

I keep a wide variety of stationery readily available for this purpose, ranging from your classic Post-Its (purchased in bulk every couple of years at Costco), to 3M document flags, to fountain pen friendly stickies from Midori and Traveler’s Company, to repurposed washi tape. For books that I plan to keep (as opposed to library books I can’t mark up), I’ll use Book Darts and more expensive paper tabs such as those from Duncan Shotten. Here are a few of my favorite options, chosen by what’s actually on my desk at this very moment:

Classic Post-It. While overall performance with fountain pens definitely varies by batch (and especially by paper color), on the whole I’ve had a decent experience using standard 3M Post-It notes with fountain pens and most other writing instruments. The classic yellow are my favorite, and as I mentioned, I usually buy them in bulk at Costco.
Midori MD Sticky Notes or Traveler’s Company Sticky Notes. I don’t use these on “throw away” notes for work, since they’re more expensive, but when I’m reading a book or wanting to add a sticky note to my journal, and intend the note to last for posterity, I’ll definitely use one of these higher-quality, fountain pen friendly sticky notes. The Traveler’s Company sticky notes come in a handy insert with plastic protector so you can store them as a refill inside your Traveler’s Notebook. The Midori MD versions are slightly larger (A7 size), so they can really double as “sticky memo pads.”
3M Post-It Flags. I probably wouldn’t buy these myself (b/c you can’t really write on them well), but I work at a law office and they have them lying all over the place so they’re always in my bag and sometimes “whatever’s available” (or “whatever’s free”) is what you use.
Book Darts. These classic metal page markers are infinitely useful, and I never find myself without a tin of them in my bag or next to the chair I’m reading in. While they’re reusable, I typically only use them in books I’m reading and plan on saving, since I like to leave them in long-term to revisit certain passages. (They’re archivally safe and won’t degrade paper over time.) You can also use them to create a multi-subject notebook divided into sections.
Duncan Shotten Sticky Page Markers. I have several packs of these quirky sticky page markers in various themes. (Lately I’ve been using the “alien” ones.) They’re great for when you want to show more personality than a Post-It flag allows.
Folded-over Washi Tape. If you ever want to mark a page in a book or notebook, and don’t have a Book Dart or other page marker handy, you can always fold a small piece of washi tape over the edge of a page. I forget who told me this trick but it’s stuck for years!

Anything I’m missing? What are your favorite sticky notes and page markers?

Book Darts in a Notebook — Book Darts on Tomoe River Paper!

Lamy 2000: All-time Favorite — The Lamy 2000 fountain pen remains at the top of the personal favorites list.

2022 "Best Pens" List Update Is Now Live!

April 16, 2022

I warned you it was coming, and since I’ve been exiled from my constantly-under-construction home office, I’m taking care of some necessary annual housekeeping here on the blog. First up - the 2022 Updates to the T.G.S. “Best Pens” Recommendations. While there aren’t huge changes to the list, the TWSBI Swipe makes an appearance on the “First Fountain Pens” list, mainly for its value proposition and versatility, and the Schon DSGN full-size fountain pens and Opus 88 Jazz and Omar move into the “Personal Favorites” top five. Enjoy!

The annual “Best Pens” list reflects my personal opinion, and I have not been compensated by any brand or retailer for including any links on this list.

Caran d'Ache 849 Gold Bar and Black Code

Why It's Time to Stop Reflexively Avoiding Gold Trim: The Caran d'Ache 849 "Gold Bar" and Others

April 13, 2022

One of the more unfairly enduring myths in the pen hobby is that gold trim is somehow “generic”, “undesirable,” or “boring” - you pick the descriptor, but you get the gist. It’s a throwback to the early 2010s, when interest in high-end pens and other fine writing instruments was starting to take off, and gold trim was the default option for nibs, clips and other hardware regardless of whether it was the best choice for the pen material. I clearly remember those days when it was a considerable coup for a manufacturer to respond to consumer demand by offering rhodium trim on a standard pen - more exotic options such as ruthenium or rose gold were nearly unheard of and mostly confined to much more expensive limited editions. No choice is a good choice when it’s forced upon you.

These days, it’s time to reconsider gold trim and to evaluate it on its merits with respect to individual pens - namely, whether it’s actually the best choice to pair with a given design or material. Three pens in particular prompted me to write this article. The first is the Caran D’Ache “Gold Bar” 849 ballpoint, which is a distinguished matte-gold ballpoint pen that I’ve watched sit (relatively) unloved in the shop, despite its “Black Code,” “Original,” and “Brut Rosé” counterparts selling briskly to the point where I have trouble keeping them in stock. Of the four entries in Caran d’Ache’s “Pop Line” series, the Gold Bar might be my favorite, simply because it’s so different from what “Pen Instagram” and popular “Penfluencers” say you should like.

Esterbrook Estie Accutron Gold Trim — Honestly, I couldn’t imagine pairing the Diamondcast material on the Accutron Estie with anything other than gold trim.

The other two pens with gold trim versions that caught my eye are the Esterbrook Estie in Nouveau Blue and Scarlet. While there’s nothing necessarily wrong with rhodium trim on either of those pens, the gold highlights the depth in the materials, especially the golden brown undertones in the Nouveau Blue. Pairing either of these vintage-inspired resins with rhodium trim leaves both of them looking a bit flat. Of course, this is my opinion, but the point here is that I made an informed choice of trim based on what I think looks best and what I want to see in my hand when I’m writing every day, not because pen-related social media tells me that gold trim “isn’t popular.”

Blackwing 2019 Black Friday — Even Blackwing has explored using gold, adding a gold ferrule clip to certain special releases such as these 2019 Black Friday pencils.

It’s long past time that we stop reflexively rejecting gold trim pens as the “generic” or “uninteresting” option, and consider them on their merits. While I was once as eager as anyone to have rhodium trim available as a regular option, I think I’ve gone too far in the other direction. As I’ve considered recent pen acquisitions, including my Nouveau Blue Estie at the Baltimore Pen Show, and certain of my Stacy Robinson pens in Atlanta, I’ve started to reconsider what’s become a default preference, as certain materials just don’t look right when paired with chrome. If you like the gold trim, then get the gold trim! I’ve found that by opening myself to considering finishes beyond rhodium, including ruthenium, rose gold, and now, standard gold, my pen collection started to take on a less one-dimensional look and became more visually interesting. (And I’ve already gotten at least four comments at work on how great that gold ballpoint looks!)

This post does not contain paid third-party affiliate links. The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop, as well as the T.G.S. Patreon Program. I was not otherwise compensated for this post. Esterbrook Nouveau Blue and Scarlet images courtesy of Vanness Pens.