Ink Review: Platinum Blue-Black

November 26, 2014

Platinum Blue-Black is an undersung workhorse of an ink, and one I use a lot. Some feel that this ink isn't really a true blue-black, since it has a strong blue undertone to it, but it's nice-looking nonetheless. In the U.S., Platinum black and blue-black inks are best known for being the pack-in inks for Nakaya pens; each pen sold comes with 10 high-capacity cartridges . As I've mentioned before, when I first purchased my Nakaya, the blue-black cartridges were the only ink I used in the pen for quite some time.

Platinum Blue-Black Writing Sample Shading

This ink contains iron gall, which can be corrosive to metal parts in pens if the ink is left in there for long periods of time (i.e., months), so take care to use your pens and/or flush regularly. Iron gall, however, is what gives this ink its key properties, from its nice color and shading (pictured) to its performance on (most) cheap office papers without bleedthrough or feathering.

Handwritten review with Aurora Ipsilon Quadra fountain pen, stub nib.

Thanks to Jetpens for providing me with this bottle for review. Platinum Blue-Black is available in 30ml and 60ml bottles, although it appears that Jetpens only stocks the 60ml bottle currently. (link here)

DISCLAIMER: I received this bottle free of charge for review purposes.

My favorite Field Notes Colors edition:  Drink Local, Ales.  I've stocked up and have a healthy supply of both Ales and Lagers. — My favorite Field Notes Colors edition: Drink Local, Ales. I've stocked up and have a healthy supply of both Ales and Lagers.

My Favorite Field Notes Colors: Drink Local Ales

November 24, 2014

For this rainy fall Monday I'll give you all a few words on last Fall's Field Notes Colors Edition: Drink Local. It doesn't seem right for me to review a Field Notes edition until I've used at least a three-pack of them. I'm close to being finished with the third Ales of my first pack, so that's close enough. The verdict: These are some quality notebooks, and I'm glad I stocked up and have what, for me, is probably several years' supply. I fully intend to use all of these notebooks (and the coasters).

Gratuitous S.A.B.L.E. shot.  This is just part of my stash. — Gratuitous S.A.B.L.E. shot. This is just part of my stash.

The paper in this edition is very nice. Nothing spectacular, in the sense that you can use a fountain pen on it without bleedthrough/feathering, but I'm enjoying the yellow/orange graph ruling and the slight texture that makes writing with a pencil on this paper satisfying. Gel pens work fine, but I prefer pencils in this notebook.

And finally, a shot of what might be my absolute favorite aspect of this edition: the durable covers. They wear very well, and don't tear easily. The spines look nice when they're a little tattered. I'm pleased to add these to my shelf of "lived in" notebooks.

Drink Local was a pretty large edition, and you can still find them out there in the wild. Gary at Notegeist sells them for slightly above the original market price, at $16 per sealed three pack.

Mechanical Keyboard Cherry MX Red Switch

I Discover Mechanical Keyboards (or, I hate you, Massdrop).

November 21, 2014

I’m now struggling with a new, albeit nascent, addiction, courtesy of Massdrop. For the past year, thanks to people such as Harry Marks and Patrick Rhone who have written lovingly of their vintage manual typewriters, I’ve been wanting one. And I can say that I’ve successfully resisted. In full disclosure: this is not so much a testament to my own willpower as it is to my fear of my wife, who made clear in no uncertain terms that a “typewriter collection” was not in our future. So needless to say, I’ve been hunting around for the next best thing.

Like most people today, and especially office professionals, I do the majority of my daily work on a computer. While I enjoy writing things by hand, the vast majority of my work (for both the day job and the side hustle) needs to be typed in order for the end product to be legible and usable to someone other than me. The problem is that I generally hate using computers to write, especially the (five-year old) Dells we use at the office. There’s no character to typing on modern keyboards, no satisfying click/clack feedback that you used to get from a typewriter. (You purists out there—put aside for the moment that nothing compares "character-wise" to the sensation of putting nib or pencil to paper. I agree with you. But you must admit, it’s not always possible, much less practical.) I’m old enough to have learned to type on my Dad’s old IBM Selectric typewriter (later, the PC Jr.) and Apple IIs at school, and for those of you who have not had that typing experience, it was light-years from what we have today. Much louder, of course, but that’s part of the fun.

Needless to say, I was intrigued when I was surfing Massdrop last week and came across an entire new product category that I had been completely unaware of. Mechanical Keyboards (link here). So what’s a mechanical keyboard? I’ve done some intensive research (read: wasted a lot of time on the internet and spent a lot of money) over the past two weeks and feel that I have enough of a rudimentary understanding to write this review and explain, in lay person terms, the difference between a quality mechanical keyboard and the $15.99 piece of crap that in all likelihood is sitting on your office desk or is attached to your work-issued windows laptop. **DISCLAIMER: I now own two of these things. I first purchased one (a Corsair K70) at Best Buy on a lark so that I could try it and easily return it if the experience was not everything I wanted. Two days later, I had purchased another so I could have one at home and one at work. You’ve been warned.**

Your typical keyboard these days is what is called a “membrane keyboard.” With my limited technical knowledge, I can best explain it as follows: the plastic keys, when depressed, put pressure on a “membrane”—essentially, a rubber mat overlaid with electrical circuits—which relays a signal to the computer that registers the keystroke. Because membrane keyboards have few moving parts, and the keys don’t have to travel very far to “actuate” (I.e., register a keystroke) they are very light, very quiet, and, most significantly, very cheap to manufacture. On the other hand, they are not very accurate, and frequently lead to common typos such as a keypress not being registered, or a key registering a double press. (Leading to typos such as “OMG I hte this keyboardd.”)

Membrane keyboards offer a very different experience from the keyboards that I used growing up, when I learned to type in middle school. Those keyboards were loud, as in, nearly as loud as typewriter keyboards. At school in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we worked on Macs featuring the old Apple Extended and Apple Extended II keyboards. At home (before my parents caved and bought us a Mac), we had an IBM PC Jr. with the full-size Model M keyboard. Perhaps some of it is simply nostalgia for the time when having a computer at all was a novelty, but I just remember that those keyboards (and those computers in general) were much more fun to use. Today’s computers, which all have the low-profile, cheap plastic chiclet keyboard that weights 3 oz and feels like you could break it over your knee (or maybe even with your bare hands), just aren’t.

My Corsair K70 mechanical keyboard, on my desk at work.  The keyboard is much heavier than the Logitech Wave it replaced, and doesn't slide all over the place.  The wrist-rest is well-constructed and fits my hands/wrists perfectly. — My Corsair K70 mechanical keyboard, on my desk at work. The keyboard is much heavier than the Logitech Wave it replaced, and doesn't slide all over the place. The wrist-rest is well-constructed and fits my hands/wrists perfectly.

Enter the mechanical keyboard. The Apple Extended and IBM Model M keyboards were both what would be termed, in today’s lingo, “mechanical,” which means that each individual key features a three-part mechanical switch containing a keycap, a stem, and a base. When the keycap is depressed, it pushes the “stem” down into the “base” of the key, which registers the keystroke (using technology I don’t understand won't try to explain here) and sends a signal to the computer. The result is a more tactile sensation than that offered by a membrane keyboard. When typing on a mechanical keyboard, you can tell that the key has been pressed. Some mechanical keyboards will “click” when the key actuates. Clicky keyboards are great for typing, it saves the typist from having to press the key all the way into the base of the keyboard (called “bottoming out”), thereby placing less stress on the typists hands and wrists, and increasing overall typing speed. It sounds crazy, but I swear it works. And it’s about as close to the analog typewriter experience as you’re going to get, while still having the convenience of having your work saved on the computer.

So how do you know what mechanical keyboard is right for you? It depends on what you are going to use it for. Most mechanical keyboards that you will find in brick-and-mortar stores like Best Buy are marketed towards gamers, because PC gamers value the greater precision that a mechanical keyboard offers. Gaming keyboards generally feature non-clicky switches, to reduce noise when playing online. Non-clicky, less tactile switches include Cherry MX Red and Cherry MX Black switches. (Cherry is a keyboard manufacturer that has been around since the 1960s, billing themselves as the oldest existing keyboard company. Their components are very highly regarded. Most reviewers advise that you can't really go wrong with Cherry or Alps branded switches.)

My Cherry MX Blue mechanical keyboard with switch exposed.  The keyboard with the Blues otherwise looks identical to the keyboard with the Reds. — My Cherry MX Blue mechanical keyboard with switch exposed. The keyboard with the Blues otherwise looks identical to the keyboard with the Reds.

If you type a lot, like I do, and are actively searching for a more tactile and clicky (even, dare I say it, loud) experience, go for the Cherry MX Blue switches. Fans of the Apple Extended II Keyboard, which many regard as a classic, should look at a company called Matias, which has released an updated version of that keyboard called the Tactile Pro which features Alps branded switches, and generally gets good reviews. Those nostalgic for IBM can purchase a modern version of the Model M keyboard from Unicomp. Obviously, I haven’t used all of these different brands—my notes here are based on brief internet research—but I can give you my take on the two keyboards I have. Note: Some keyboards are set up with the Mac layout, others with Windows. My understanding is that since most of these are USB keyboards, they will work on either. The Corsair works fine on Mac, although you can't use their proprietary software to program the keyboard and will have to go through the OSX utilities.

The Corsair K70 features a brushed aluminum chassis and high-quality black keycaps.  The keyboard also features an LED backlight (in red, my favorite color), although there is a higher-end RGB backlight version that is entirely customizable and… — The Corsair K70 features a brushed aluminum chassis and high-quality black keycaps. The keyboard also features an LED backlight (in red, my favorite color), although there is a higher-end RGB backlight version that is entirely customizable and capable of setting a different color backlight for each key. (As you might imagine, it's more expensive.)

As I mentioned earlier, I first purchased a Corsair K70 at Best Buy. The Corsair is a relatively low-profile (for a mechanical keyboard) made out of black brushed aluminum. It’s modern and sleek, and has red LED backlights for working in low-light situations. The particular model I purchased is a gaming keyboard, and features Cherry MX Red Switches. While it has nice, springy keys and a decent amount of tactile feedback, it’s still relatively quiet and is appropriate for work. I keep this one at the office, where our hallways echo terribly. Liking this keyboard a lot, but still chasing that “typewriter-like feel,” I purchased a second Corsair K70 with Cherry MX Blue switches. This one is by far my favorite, and I keep it in my home office.

In short, I love both my mechanical keyboards. This past week, I’ve enjoyed working on a computer again, which has made me more productive. I don’t dread transcribing my handwritten notes or work product as much as I used to. My typing is definitely faster and more accurate.

That’s not to say that mechanical keyboards are without drawbacks, or are for everyone. For one thing, they can be very loud. My Corsair with the Cherry MX Blue switches is easily as loud as some typewriters. It wouldn’t be a good choice for someone working in a shared space, or even an office with a bad hall echo. Your co-workers might hate you. Also, mechanical keyboards are more expensive than membrane keyboards. Be prepared to spend anywhere from $100-150 for a decent quality mechanical keyboard, although some good deals can be had on Massdrop from time to time. Once you spend this money, though, they keyboard should last you a long time. While keys on a a membrane keyboard lasts for perhaps 5 million actuations, quality mechanical switches can last for anywhere from 20-50 million actuations, depending on the type of switch.

If you’re interested in trying out a mechanical keyboard (or, like me, are interested in how they sound) spend some time on Youtube. There are plenty of clips offering samples of the various keyboards and types of switches. In terms of buying mechanical keyboards, B&M stores like Best Buy might carry a few models of gaming keyboards, but unless you live in a larger metropolitan area with lots of specialized computer stores you will probably have to go online. One great website that has a huge selection is MechanicalKeyboards.com. If you are a registered Massdrop user, you can also find some good deals on what appear to be more boutique brands. I ended up purchasing from Amazon to take advantage of my Prime shipping on the Corsair, which was a heavy purchase. If you're considering going mechanical, and purchasing one of the products reviewed, I'd appreciate you using one of my links to help support the site. This new addiction looks to be expensive.

The TUL .5mm needle point gel pen is a long, slender pen that is fairly light.  The build quality is average for a stock "office supply cabinet" writing implement. — The TUL .5mm needle point gel pen is a long, slender pen that is fairly light. The build quality is average for a stock "office supply cabinet" writing implement.

Gel Pen Review: TUL Needle Point .5mm

November 19, 2014

The TUL line of pens is proprietary to Office Depot, a store I don’t visit often. I was in picking up a printer ink refill several months ago and ran across a four pack of these needle point pens, which intrigued me. As far as gel pens are concerned, I’m a big fan of needle point, as opposed to conical tips. To me they are more precise, and leave cleaner lines. I prefer the Pilot Hi-Tec-C to the Uniball Signo DX, and also enjoy pens like the Pentel Energel in needle point form. This TUL pen is no different, and ended up being quite a pleasant surprise. The pen leaves very sharp lines, and I’m really enjoying the dark blue ink. The body is nothing spectacular, but is functional. The nock rattles and the clip does not feel very substantial, but then again, these are intended to compete with office supply-cabinet pens like the Pilot G-2 and the Zebra Sarasa. Viewed from that perspective, the TUL line compares very favorably to the Pentel Energel. While the refill appears to be close to the same size as the Pilot G-2 refill, it’s ever-so-slightly longer, and unfortunately doesn’t fit in my Tactile Turn Mover or my G-2 Karas Customs Bolt. Oh well. It’s a nice refill that would be fun to use in a more substantial pen body; I’ll have to explore other Kickstarter options to find this pen a new home.

Very dark blue ink that leaves a very clean line.  The ink is almost a blue-black, which I like. — Very dark blue ink that leaves a very clean line. The ink is almost a blue-black, which I like.

I did not try the TUL ballpoint, but I did buy a pack of the marker pens in black, blue, and red. The tip size is a little broad for my taste, but I’m nevertheless enjoying those. The store close to my house stocked the ballpoint only in the broader tip sizes, which eliminated it as an option for my writing style, and I've not heard good things about those pens anyway.

You can purchase this pen at Amazon, if you don’t have an Office Depot near you or are a Prime customer who wants to take advantage of the “free” expedited shipping (which sometimes makes sense if, like me, you place dozens of orders annually for pens and stationery). I’ve included some links to the blue and the black TUL pens, and tried to find the overall best deals in terms of price/Prime shipping availabiity. No guarantees that there aren't better deals out there, so you may want to hunt a bit. I will say that this pen appears to be a better buy when purchased as a dozen as opposed to by the four-pack, and the .5mm tip size is a little pricier than the broader width.

One Week With: The Noodler's Ebonite Konrad

November 14, 2014

For this week’s in-depth review I’ve chosen a pen that gets surprisingly little love from the pen blogosphere: the Noodler's Konrad. This review is going to be fairly lengthy, so I’ll provide my preliminary conclusions up front for those of you who don’t want to read the background.

The Noodler's Dixie No. 10 Methuselah Ebonite, with standard Noodler's luxury packaging.

I really like this pen. It’s a nice writer, flexed or unflexed, and a good buy for a pen with a piston-filling mechanism at the $40 price point.
I prefer the Ebonite version of the Konrad to the standard version because it’s larger and sits better in the hand, IMHO.
The Konrad, like other Noodler’s pens, is customizable, with any No. 6 nib being swappable. **If you are going to swap nibs on these pens, be aware that the nib that comes pre-installed with this pen has been heat-set and hand-tuned by Nathan Tardiff, so be prepared to tinker with the pen and the feed to get optimal performance from a substitute nib.**
If you want a mid-range pen that has some flex capability, or even just slightly more character than a TWSBI or a Safari, the Konrad is a solid choice.
I received this pen free of charge for review purposes from our sponsor at Pen Chalet.

A Brief History of Noodler’s Fountain Pens

Noodler’s pens have a somewhat controversial history. The company first introduced in or around 2011(?) a bare-bones, entry level, piston-filled “resin” fountain pen with a fine/medium steel nib. These initial pens were functional but known more for their knock-you-on-your-backside smell than anything else. I purchased two of them for around $14 each when I was first re-testing the fountain pen waters, used them sporadically, and paid them forward via FPN or FP Geeks. One of these pens was originally a clear demonstrator, which eventually mutated into a “violet” demonstrator after four hours of use as my “Baystate Blue” pen. **Disclaimer—I no longer use Baystate Blue, but if you want to, I would strongly recommend devoting a single pen to this ink, unless you want to spend a lot of time cleaning your pens with bleach.** These pens were nice little writers, and certainly functional, but too small for my hands.

Noodler’s next introduced what until now has been my favorite of their pens, an ebonite “aerometric filler” in green and brown mottled ebonite with a nice medium nib. You could remove the aerometric filler, which was essentially a glued-on press converter, and use the pen as an eyedropper. This little pen made a good everyday user with its large ink capacity. It sat on my desk at work for a year and a half filled with Heart of Darkness. I wish that I still had this pen, and so far have looked in vain to find them on Ebay or Fountain Pen Network Classifieds. I paid this one forward as well.

Noodler's steel flex nib.  Note the nib slit that runs the entire length of the nib. — Noodler's steel flex nib. Note the nib slit that runs the entire length of the nib.

Enter the Noodler’s “flex pens.” When these pens first hit the market, demand could only be called insane. The original flex pen, now called the “Nib Creaper”, was an updated version of the original piston filler that included a steel “flex” nib. Those of you who have ever played around with a Noodler’s flex pen know that they are nothing like vintage gold-nibbed flex pens. These are steel nibs, manufactured in India, and feature a slit which runs from the tip of the nib all the way down to where the nib meets the section. With no pressure, the nib writes what I would call a “Western fine” line, though when you “flex” the nib, you can get pretty decent line variation, up to a broad or so. YMMV with these nibs. I’ve written with some that barely flex at all, and others that make your writing look flat-out gorgeous. All of these pens feature an ebonite feed, which is rare these days, and **generally** do a decent job of delivering sufficient ink flow to this nib.

As mentioned, the initial run of pens were extraordinarily well-received. Goulet Pens would get a shipment in, only to sell out in minutes. Because the parts were manufactured in India, and hand-assembled in the United States by Nathan Tardiff (owner/sole employee) of Noodler’s, months would pass before there was a re-stock. While the time between re-stocks is better now, I believe Nathan still hand-sets and heat-sets each feed and personally tests each nib.

The pen that I’ve been using for the past week, the Noodler’s ebonite Konrad (Dixie No. 10 Methuselah Ebonite version), is the third iteration of the Noodler’s flex pen. A year or so after introducing their first flex pen, Noodler’s released the Ahab, which was billed as a larger flex pen with a large capacity pump filler that could be removed to create an eyedropper with a massive ink reservoir. (9ml of ink, anyone?) I will save discussion of the Ahab for another time, because I want to re-review this pen now that early quality-control issues supposedly have been resolved. BUT, in full disclosure, from the outset many Ahab purchasers experienced poor ink flow (in some instances the pens would not start at all), stuck converters, and the ever present very strong smell. The flow issues could often be fixed by cleaning the feed—or for the intrepid, carving an additional channel into the ebonite—but retailers sometimes made the mistake of marketing what was intended to be a “tinkerer’s pen” to fountain pen newbies, who were overwhelmed.

The Konrad is born

Enter the Konrad. **Disclaimer—I don’t have one of the standard Konrads. This review is based on the Ebonite Konrad, which is a more expensive pen at $40, as opposed to the $20 price point of the standard Konrad.** The Konrad is probably the most “accessible” Noodler’s pen made so far, in that it is a large-capacity piston-fill fountain pen (no pump fillers) that is fairly traditional looking, and because I understand Noodler’s made an effort to address the Q.C. issues that plagued the Ahab by paying closer attention to the feeds and heat-setting the feeds to the nib to ensure better flow.

Build Quality and Design

The build quality of the Konrad is pretty good for the price point. The standard model is a resin/celluloid variant that is made in India, and they come in a wide range of colors with Noodler’s typical “descriptive” names (“Hudson Bay Fathoms Blue?”). I particularly like the clear demonstrator models, and may pick up a few. The pen I have is made out of ebonite, with a black cap, section, and blind cap and a brown mottled barrel. There is an ink window that you can use to check the pen’s ink supply. Ebonite pens are incredibly durable—it’s the same material used to make bowling balls, so I’m sure that the clip/nib/piston mechanism will wear out of this pen long before the body of the pen breaks down.

Noodler's Konrad ink window, barrel and section.

In a nod to vintage pens, Noodler’s has created a two-part piston mechanism, where the user removes the blind cap entirely to access a plastic piston knob that is turned to refill the pen. The only other pen company I’m aware of that features this type of piston filler is Delta.

Noodler's Konrad piston mechanism with blind cap removed.

At what you are paying, this pen is solidly constructed. There are machining marks here and there on the pen body, and my cap came with a slight knick under the clip, but it doesn’t bother me. I would probably advise, however, that at $10 more, if you are a true fountain pen newbie who wants to minimize having to tinker with your pen, and don’t care about “flex,” you are probably better off going with TWSBI (who, be advised, has their own quality issues).

The “Flex Nib”

The “flex” you can get from these pens is variable. As you can see in the writing sample below, this particular pen gets decent “flex” from the nib, and makes my cursive handwriting look quite nice. In order to get “vintage flex” line variation many people are looking for, you will either have to press very hard on this nib or adjust the nib and feed (see below). This pen writes so nicely that I’m not going to tinker with it further, and am perfectly happy with the amount of flex I can get out of it.

You can adjust the feed by moving it further away/closer to the tip of the nib in order to increase/decrease the amount that the steel nib will flex. I did this with an Ahab a while back, and it’s not necessarily easy to do and get right. I’d advise against it unless you are prepared to tinker for an extended period of time.

Konrad writing sample with Iroshizuku Asa-Gao, on Clairefontaine Seyes-ruled paper.

Other Notes

The Konrad, like all Noodler’s pens, is designed to be customizable, and is compatible with any No. 6-sized nib. If you don’t like the flex nib that comes with the pen, Goulet Pens offers their own line of compatible replacement nibs in a full range of tip sizes, including 1.1 and 1.5mm stub nibs. Noodler’s themselves sell standard F/M/B nibs that fit the Konrad and the Ahab. Of course, you can also find a vintage 14k gold No. 6 nib if you want to go that route. Be advised that once you swap nibs, the feed will no longer be heat-set and tuned, so you may have to tinker with the pen to get optimal performance.

In conclusion, this is a nice pen and I’m very happy with it. As you often find with lower-priced pens, it is less temperamental and writes more consistently than some of the more expensive pens in my collection. You can purchase this pen from Pen Chalet. I received this product free of charge for review purposes.