Why Fountain Pen Day is Important: Reflections on 12 Years

November 4, 2023

Has it really been 12 years? I didn’t realize that the community has been celebrating Fountain Pen Day for more than a decade until I opened up this year’s shipment of Fountain Pen Day swag and realized that it’s emblazoned with “12th Anniversary!” I don’t plan to get very far into the history of the holiday - Kimberly over at the Pen Addict recently published an interview with Fountain Pen Day founder/creator Cary Yeager that does just that - but I did want to briefly reflect on why I enjoy Fountain Pen Day and why I think it’s important that we as a community continue to celebrate.

If Things Are Important To You, You Owe Them A Day. Fountain Pen Day is sometimes cynically written off as “Black Friday for Pens.” Look, I get the sentiment. Fountain Pen Day “the event” has grown exponentially since it was first launched, and - intentionally or not - has morphed into one of the biggest sales events of the year for many stationery retailers. Some of the hype borders on FOMO-driven consumerism. That said, I still believe that the idea of a day devoted specifically to fountain pens remains important because of what it represents. With “tech” increasingly pushed on us at every turn, celebrating Fountain Pen Day makes a statement to others about what we value, and provides us with an opportunity to reflect on why we devote so much time, energy (and money!) to this thing we love that goes far beyond a hobby.
If You Value Small Business and Independent Makers, Support Small Business and Independent Makers. I can personally vouch for the fact that the vast majority of us on the “business side” of fountain pens are not in this to make a lot of money. We do this because we love writing and want to do our part to ensure that quality pens, paper, and ink continue to exist well into the future. Events like Fountain Pen Day serve as a concrete reminder that if you value smaller, niche industries, it’s essential to make a conscious effort to support the participants you want to see continue, rather than defaulting to Amazon or whoever offers the biggest discount. Sure, nearly everyone has limited funds to devote to their hobby, but I’ve made a conscious effort to redirect my own personal spending this year to specific people I care about and who I want to see succeed.
It’s Nice to Have a Permanent “Stopping Point” for the Year to Evaluate How I Use My Planners and Notebooks and What I Might Want to Change. Over the years, Fountain Pen Day has become a waypoint, which signals the start of my personal year-end review process and gives me a full two months to think about what works, what doesn’t, and what I need to change for the following year. For example, I rarely buy planners in October, when Midori, Hobonichi, etc. release their new editions. I force myself to wait a month until Fountain Pen Day, which pauses the FOMO and allows me to reflect on what planner or journal I might realistically use.

So How Did I Celebrate Fountain Pen Day? Plus Some Big News!

I actually intended to publish this short post yesterday, but as you’ll read below, the day turned into a bit of an event! I kicked off the day by visiting friends from our local/regional pen club at the Columbia Arts Building in Columbia, Tennessee, about 40 minutes south of where I live. After meeting for coffee, I had the opportunity to stop in and support another small retailer at Butler Stationery. If you ever make your way down to Columbia, it’s a great little shop with a nice selection of pens, ink, and paper.

Second, I took possession of and moved into the new offices of The Gentleman Stationer! Our operation has grown to the point where the business needs to begin moving out of our home. This isn’t a retail location - it will primarily serve as a space for me to work on administrative and content-related projects with a permanent setup - but at some point in the near future we will probably offer the option to pick up orders at the office. (We’re not quite there yet). Stay tuned for updates.

Finally, while the office move prevented me from attending this week’s Ohio Pen Show in Columbus, I will be going to pen club for Fountain Pen Day weekend! Those of you in the greater Nashville, Tennessee area (both residents and visitors!) should consider attending a meetup of the Middle Tennessee Fountain Pen Club. Meetings take place every Saturday at alternating locations. Details are available through the Facebook Group and/or a mailing list. (I’m not an admin - just a member - so please don’t rely on me to sign you up.)

TGS Office and Warehouse Expanding to Accommodate Growth — In addition to adding office space, we recently had to lease a larger warehouse space to accommodate growth!

T.G.S. Fountain Pen Day Promotions and Giveaways

All T.G.S. Fountain Pen Day promotions from yesterday’s post will run through 11:59pm tomorrow. Starting today, we are also launching a giveaway of two Esterbrook x Fountain Pen Day pen sleeves (shown at the top), both in this year’s Magenta colorway! All you need to do to enter the giveaway is to comment on either this blog post or the ensuing Instagram post that will be up shortly. No purchase is necessary, and I will choose a winner by numbering all comments and selecting two winners using a random number generator. Each winner will also receive a full T.G.S. Swag Pack. Many thanks for all your support this Fountain Pen Day!

The Gentleman Stationer is supported entirely by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop, and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. Patreon members get exclusive access to meetups, periodic additional content, plus early access to my quarterly “Gently Used” sales. New items not claimed by Patreon members were recently added to the Gently Used page, which you can check out here.

Recent Vintage Pen Finds: Pens Lying in a tray — The five pens on the left in the Toyooka tray were acquired in a single inexpensive eBay lot! All are salvageable, and 4/5 have 14k nibs.

My Personal Approach to Vintage Fountain Pens

October 21, 2023

My acquisitions at this year’s pen shows have leaned decidedly more vintage-heavy. There are a few factors playing into this. First, for the most part I’ve been uninspired by many of the modern releases from mainstream pen companies - not necessarily because the pens are bad, but simply because we’ve reached a point where innovation has plateaued. Thus, in addition to focusing on those smaller makers who continue to experiment, I’ve started looking backwards to an aspect of the hobby that I’ve dabbled in yet haven’t fully embraced: the vintage world.

Vintage Fountain Pen Nibs: Sheaffer Inlaid 14k Gold — All five pens from this lot are salvageable, and 4/5 have 14k nibs. The Kaweco is a new pen to which I added a vintage Mabie Todd 14k nib that I had in my parts bin .

Second, given the amount of time that I now devote to writing about and retailing stationery, I need to carve out some aspect of this hobby that’s pure fun for me. I plan to attend the Ohio Pen Show in a couple weeks, which is one of the premier vintage shows in the country, and is actually the first pen show I attended way back in 2012. In advance of this trip I thought it might be fun to not only show off some of my newer vintage acquisitions, but also provide some insight into how I approach vintage pens in general.

Kaweco Collection Olive Sport with Vintage Mabie-Todd nib — A close-up of the Olive Kaweco Sport with a vintage Mabie-Todd nib. Read more on what I’m doing here below.

My Recommendations For Enjoying Vintage Pens

Don’t Worry About Locating “Mint” Pens or Valuable Collectibles. Nearly all of the vintage pens I own would be deemed “user grade” by a serious collector. I’m totally fine with that. A 75+ year-old pen that’s served as a functional writing instrument for nearly a century should have some dings, scratches, and signs of use. Not only do they make me less reluctant to use a pen for fear of damaging it, these marks add character. In certain vintage watch circles, it’s considered a faux pas to overly restore and polish a vintage watch to where it looks like new, and I take the same approach to my pens. (User-grade specimens of common vintage pens like Sheaffer Snorkels and Parker 51s are also much easier on the wallet than new-old-stock or “mint” condition versions, and you can get them at extremely low prices if you purchase unrestored examples.)
Learn How to Restore Pens Yourself. To get seriously into vintage pens - and arguably, to have the most fun with them - it helps to learn a bit of basic pen repair. Most vintage pens use some variation of a sac-based filling system, which may need to be serviced periodically. Learning how to restore your own pens not only saves you money (and the inconvenience of having to ship off pens to get fixed), but in the course of doing your own work, you also learn how pens are made, the intricacies of vintage filling systems, and how they differ from the modern filling systems we use today. Repairs can range from simple and straightforward (lever filling pens like Esterbrooks) to time consuming and more complex (such as a Sheaffer Snorkel, some of which you can see in the stories on my Instagram profile). Many vintage pens are incredibly durable, including the Parker 51, 51 Special, and Super 21, and often require no restoration beyond a flush with water or bath in an ultrasonic cleaner to remove dried ink.
Swap Vintage Nibs into Modern Pens. While I would strongly advise against purchasing your first vintage pens on eBay or Etsy (unless you absolutely know the seller is reputable), it’s sometimes fun to buy a big lot of unrestored vintage fountain pens sold “as-is” or “for parts”. Usually you can get one or two salvageable fountain pens out of these lots, and the rest you can scavenge for spare parts for other restorations or - my favorite - for nibs and Frankenpens! Many vintage pens, even inexpensive ones, featured 14k gold nibs, some of which are compatible with the feeds and sections used today. You will need to experiment, and it will most certainly void your warranty, but this is a great way to add a luxurious gold-nib writing experience to a less expensive modern pen like a Kaweco Sport. As shown in the picture below, I swapped a Mabie-Todd No. 2 gold nib directly into a modern Kaweco Sport nib unit, so now my Olive Kaweco Collection pen has a 14k gold nib.
Don’t Baby Your Pens - Write with Them! As you can probably tell, I am not a traditional vintage pen collector. I purchase pens both to use them and to help me learn more about the history of writing instruments in general. Because I acquire user-grade pens and have a basic knowledge of restoration and repair, I’m much less hesitant to use my vintage writing instruments and carry them with me semi-regularly. (Most don’t handle airplane travel well, however. Fly with them un-inked.)
Learn About Your Pens. My interest in history, antiques, and “old” technology is what led me to the pen hobby in the first place, so it’s a bit ironic (and inexcusable) that I’ve let this part of the hobby slide. One thing I’ve started doing recently is keeping a “pen journal” about pens I’ve acquired - vintage and modern. For the vintage pens, I note the make, model, and approximate date of manufacture, as well was where I acquired it and how it was restored. I’ll also make notes about why I acquired each pen, what I know about its history, and why I found it interesting enough to add to my “collection.” I’m also considering adding photographs, keeping both a digital archive and a printed copy using my Fuji Instax or similar printer.

Vintage Sheaffer Snorkel Dissassembled for Restoration — The Sheaffer Snorkel from the eBay lot shown above, disassembled and ready for restoration. While a Snorkel is a sac-filling pen, it has a more complex - yet fun - filling system that also requires the replacement of a gasket and an o-ring.

The Best Paper for Everyday Writing, Part VI: Legal Pads

October 18, 2023

While I had originally envisioned “The Best Paper for Everyday Writing” as a five-part series, based on reader questions, I thought it made sense to expand it to include a stand-alone article on “Legal Pads”. I’ve placed the term in quotation marks because it’s regularly used to describe several very different types of stationery, ranging from the traditional 8.5” by 14” U.S. “legal-sized” pad of paper to any writing pad that is glue-bound on top and features detachable perforated sheets. I use the broader definition, since in my experience as an attorney fewer and fewer people are using actual legal-sized paper each year, and most of the legal pads I see in everyday practice now feature either letter (8.5” x 11”) or A4 (8.3” x 11.7”) sizing.

The main question I get from readers is very straightforward: What is the best fountain pen friendly legal pad available today? The answer, however, is NOT so obvious, because people prioritize different things. For example, many office workers will churn through a lot of legal pads (think three or four per week), so they look for the least expensive option with acceptable fountain pen performance. I don’t go through as many pads as I used to, so I no longer take this approach myself. Therefore, I’m not up to date on which Amazon or eBay brand of inexpensive legal pad is currently using decent paper - batch performance tends to change from year to year or even month to month. I tend to stick with slightly more expensive paper that delivers consistent performance with fountain pens, rollerballs, and fineliners, and that is how I’ll approach this post.

Clairefontaine Pupitre Lined Legal Pad with Writing Sample — In my mind, a classic “legal pad” has to allow you to easily fold sheets over the top, and feature a backing board sturdy enough to permit notetaking while standing up. In order to write on both sides of the page, you will have to tear the page out (hence, perforations).

My Favorite Fountain Pen Friendly Legal Pads

Clairefontaine “Pupitre” Writing Tablets. My long-time favorite for a legal-style writing pad remains the classic Clairefontaine “Pupitre” series. Available in A4 and A5 sizes, this durable writing pad is both glue and staple-bound across the top, and features a wrap-around cover in addition to a thick chipboard back for maximum durability and ease of use while standing. The combination of paper quality and high-end construction has kept this pad at the top of my list for many years, and I can’t recall a time when I didn’t have at least three of these in my office desk.
Rhodia A4 Dot Pads. The reliable Rhodia Pad can be found pretty much anywhere these days, including in big-box art supply and craft stores, so they get extra points for availability when you may not have a brick-and-mortar pen store nearby and need quality paper quickly. Also, when I’m looking for dot grid paper, which can easily be turned sideways to use in a “landscape” orientation, Rhodia is my go-to. Of course, Rhodia pads are available in other rulings and a wide range of sizes. I place them at No. 2 on this list, essentially tied with Maruman Mnemosyne, for the same reasons discussed below.
Maruman Mnemosyne A4 Pads. Basically, Maruman Mnemosyne pads tie with Rhodia after Clairefontaine in my book, with Clairefontaine given the edge due to the slightly sturdier build. Rhodia edges out Mnemosyne based on availability. That said, Mnemosyne paper is excellent quality, and if you enjoy having a dedicated space for a header at the top of the page, their layout makes it very easy to organize your notes. Maruman also makes a range of portfolios/padholders across a range of price points, including both PVC and vegan leather options.
Write Notepads Memo Pads. Featuring excellent paper and versatile layouts that include a “Meeting” format, these memo pads are sold in packs of two and therefore also offer good value. While the Write Memo Pads have a backing board, they don’t have a cover like the first three pads on this list, so they’re not quite as durable for portable use, but I’ve absolutely used them in a portfolio. Note that these are letter-sized (8.5” x 11”) and not A4.
Plotter A4 Pads. DesignPhil’s proprietary paper is exceptionally fountain pen friendly, but the A4 writing pad itself is (1) tailored toward users of the Plotter system, and (2) suffers from durability issues that will keep most people from using this as an everyday legal pad. You can use the Plotter A4 pads in either traditional “portrait” or “landscape” mode (i.e., horizontally or vertically), and the paper comes hole-punched for an A5 Plotter binder along the top edge. Because A5 is exactly half the size of A4, you can simply fold the sheet in half (or do a tri-fold) to carry with you in your binder. As a fairly heavy Plotter user, I’ve been experimenting with one of these pads in my A4 Roterfaden, and the primary drawback is that the pad doesn’t have a sturdy backing board or binding and falls apart fairly easily. This product appears to be designed primarily with desk use in mind, where you tear the sheets out one by one as you use them.

Honorable Mention: Midori MD and MD Cotton Writing Pads

Intended more as a desk pad than a traditional legal pad, the Midori MD and MD Cotton pads are glue bound on two sides (crosswise and lengthwise), which ensures the paper lies flat and prevents “curling” of pages as you get to the end of a pad. I include these as honorable mention because, while you can’t use them easily in a portfolio or padholder without breaking the binding, they are excellent pads of paper and can absolutely be used to take legal pad-style notes as necessary.

Fountain Pen Friendly Legal Pads, Showing Backing Boards — Thick backing boards on the Clairefontaine Pupitre (top), the Write Notepads Memo Pad (middle), and Maruman Mnemosyne (bottom).

Back from Vacation! Recapping The Year In Pen Show Travel, Upcoming Shows, Etc.

October 14, 2023

Since we are back in town today, any orders placed over the past week should start shipping out this afternoon, and you will see labels and tracking numbers being generated over the weekend. Remember - all orders placed in the shop through 11:59pm Sunday (10/15) will receive some of the new/restocked T.G.S. Swag that I recently ordered! Many thanks for continuing to support us while we were out on this much-needed break!

To recap 2023 a bit: I attended a lot of pen shows! If you’ve missed reading about my year in pen-related travels the first time around, I’ve linked to most of my show recaps below.

NY NOW and Shoppe Object (Trade Show, not a Pen Show, but it was still fun!).
2023 Baltimore Pen Show
2023 Arkansas Pen Show
2023 Atlanta Pen Show
2023 Washington, D.C. Fountain Pen Supershow
2023 San Francisco Pen Show

Vintage Pens at the Dallas Pen Show — Maybe I’m looking forward to hunting more vintage in Ohio?

I don’t currently plan on doing any additional shows as a vendor this year, though as I mentioned I may attend the Ohio Pen Show during the first weekend of November. Other shows taking place during October include the Colorado Pen Show (this weekend!) and the Detroit Pen Show next weekend (October 20-22, 2023). The Scriptus show also takes place in Toronto on October 29. You still have several opportunities to get a pen show in before things shut down in November and December. Stay tuned as I will continue to be off from the day job through the first week of November, and have a bunch of fun content planned!

Adventures in Pen Cleaning: Pens Sitting on Towel Waiting to be Flushed

Adventures in Pen Travel and Pens for Vacation, 2023 Edition

October 11, 2023

Now that I’ve had a few days to decompress, It seems like a good opportunity to talk a bit more about my travels over the past two months, the ongoing “hard reset” of my work and personal life, and, of course, my marathon pen cleaning session last week.

I recently announced that I’m changing day jobs, which is a big move for me. I held my old position for nearly 10 years, and while I won’t be changing employers, I’m stepping into a role that (1) involves less of an overall time commitment; and (2) has fewer administrative responsibilities. One reason for the shift is the rapid growth of T.G.S. - while it’s not yet a full-time project, it requires more attention each month, and I’m of course more than happy to rearrange my working life to accommodate the expansion. That said, it’s likely going to require a complete reorganization of my workflows and how I go about my daily working life if I want to keep things manageable.

These two pens - shown here with a new ink I tested at the Dallas Pen Show - stayed in rotation!

The biggest change is the lack of formal structure. My new duties are primarily project-based, allowing me to work mostly remotely, on my own schedule. Outside of the posting routine that I’ve fallen into over the years, T.G.S. also doesn’t have a “schedule”, so my greatest concern about the new arrangement involves my ability to structure my time in a way that ensures that (A) I get everything done, and (B) I keep work confined to “regular” hours as much as I can, allowing me to have a greater semblance of a personal life that includes picking back up other hobbies and interests that I’ve necessarily had to let slide. Case-in-point: I’ve not done nearly as much personal writing and journaling as I would have liked over the past year, despite having a half-dozen notebooks “in rotation” and 30+ fountain pens inked up.

Pens Inked for Vacation, shown on a desk with a Rickshaw Bagworks Sinclair R — The 10 pens I took with me on vacation, identified and discussed below from left.

Current Setup: Fountain Pens

While of course there’s a lot that I’m thinking through and working on that I can’t publicly discuss here, I CAN tell you what I’m doing about my pen problem. The first order of business was to flush 20 or so pens, most of which had been inked for the Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Dallas Pen Shows. The cleaning process was aided considerably by the Schon DSGN Luer Syringe Cleaning System, which Ian kindly gifted me in San Francisco to test out. The system consists of a series of fittings designed to attach to the section and/or nib unit of your pen, with different attachments made to fit JoWo, Bock, Pilot, and Sailor (with more to come). You can then thread a 1cc syringe into the fitting and easily flush out a pen in much less time than it would take you to clean using a converter, and with less mess than a bulb syringe. I left nine pens inked up, which I’ll identify from the photo above, listed from left:

Santini Libra in Blue Swirled Ebonite: This pen is on loan from a friend, and I left it inked because I need to write with it and get it reviewed so I can return it to her! Santini pens have long interested me because they are made entirely in-house, nibs included! Though Santini visited this year’s D.C. Pen Show, I was disappointed that I didn’t have the chance to visit their table.
Leonardo Momento Zero in Bohemian Twilight Resin. Jonathan Brooks’ Bohemian Twilight material is one of my favorites, and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to pick one of these up since I didn’t yet have a pen in this material in my personal collection. The ink I chose to pair with this pen? Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing Butterfly Green, from the recently released Anderillium Lepidopteran Series. It’s a slightly brighter dark green than the swirls in the pen, which complements it perfectly.
Conid Bulkfiller Kingsize. I’m torn on Conid, and I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about the brand, especially compared with the Kyuseido Kakari (discussed more below). While extremely well-constructed, I’m not loving the Bock Titanium nib, and I hope to soon procure a gold nib option because I need more consistent inkflow and less of a “squeaky” writing experience. This pen is currently inked with Nahvalur “Dark Forest,” an excellent ink that I plan to review in more detail as soon as I’ve had the opportunity to try more from the series.
Sailor Pro Gear “Moonlight over the Ocean”. I’ve long loved the form factor of the Sailor Pro Gear, and odd name aside, this edition spoke to me so I picked one up for my personal collection. It’s inked with Anderillium Atlas Moth Brown, also from the Lepidopteran Series. For some reason I thought this pen needed a good brown-black ink?
TWSBI Diamond 580 ALR “Sunset Yellow”. I always have a TWSBI inked and in rotation, and the one I haven’t been able to put down is the recently released “Sunset Yellow,” - really more of an orange gold. The matching ink is Monarch Butterfly Orange, from yet again, the Anderillium Lepidopteran Series.
Montblanc 149 in Rose Gold with Bokumondoh Urushi Work. This pen will stay inked for the foreseeable future because it’s beautiful, and the result of a year spent on the Studio Bokumondoh wait list. Fittingly, when I reviewed this pen nearly three years ago I was on vacation in the same spot I’m sitting in now typing this list.
Kyuseido Kakari Fountain Pen. The Kakari is the first pen release from Kyuseido, the new company recently started with C.Y. of Tokyo Station Pens and the Tokyo Inklings podcast. I chose the black PVD titanium version, with a Sankakusen nib grind. It’s worth reading Kyuseido’s description of the “Pump-Piston” filling mechanism - you’ll see why this pen is of interest to so many people. The pen is currently inked with unobtanium: Diamine “Suman” created especially for this past year’s Manila Pen Show that a friend was kind enough to gift to me.
Nagasawa Kobe Affection Kyomachi Legend Blue Sailor 1911L. My friends at Vanness Pens are now the exclusive U.S. retail partner for Kobe Japan-based Nagasawa Stationery, and I couldn’t resist taking home two of their current Sailor collaborations from the Dallas Pen Show. The first is the 1911L version of the “Kyomachi Legend” pen, which features a metal section similar to that on my 1911 Black Luster. Currently I have this pen inked with Sailor Souboku in cartridge form. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this pen is the broad nib I chose. I’ve never used a Sailor Broad (which frankly writes very much like a JoWo medium), and I’m enjoying it.
Nagasawa Kobe Pro Gear Mini “Mouette”. The two-toned grey on this one got me, along with the fact that this edition of the Pro Gear Mini doesn’t have threads on the end of the barrel, allowing for quicker deployment. I inked this one up with Taccia Hiroshige-Ainezu, a beautiful grey that I’m enjoying.

Current Notebook Stack: Four vacation journals stacked on top of one another on a table

Current Setup: Notebooks

I took four notebooks with me: My Roterfaden A5 kitted out with my Laconic Monthly Calendar and two Plotter pads; my older (and now-discontinued) Traveler’s-sized Roterfaden with a few blank Traveler’s Midori MD refills; my Midori 5-Year Diary, and a Bank Paper journal from Atelier Musubi. As I mentioned above, I haven’t done much personal journaling and want to experiment with different formats. So far I’ve managed to write each day for at least an hour! What didn’t I bring? My Plotter notebooks. I use them more as binders to organize papers by topic, and since I’m not actively working on any projects this week I decided to leave them at home as I can incorporate pages from the Plotter notepads as necessary upon my return.

Notebook Carry in Backpack — One goal of mine is to streamline my everyday carry. As I journal more, I want to finish up several notebooks “in progress” and limit what’s active going forward.

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my current stationery life! As you might imagine, things are a bit chaotic right now, but in a good way, as I’m excited about what’s to come. Stay tuned as I have much more to announce over the coming month!

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