Ink Review: The Colors of Caran d'Ache

I now understand why people enjoy Caran d'Ache inks so much. Like other Caran d'Ache products, the inks don't attempt anything crazy in terms of color range or special properties, but they are extremely solid quality-wise. I sampled three colors, Idyllic Blue, Ultra Violet, and Delicate Green, and had no problems with any of these inks. Of the three, Ultra Violet - a dusky purple - was my favorite, followed by the Delicate Green (reminiscent of Akkerman No. 28 Hofkwartier Groen), with the Idyllic Blue coming in third, just because I found it a touch plain.

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The Ultra Violet made for a great work ink. For some reason, dusky purple inks always work well for me on cheap office paper. Maybe it's something about the combination of dyes? 

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My second-favorite was this grass-green color, which I used as an editing ink. The paper that I used for these ink swabs came from Ana Reinert's Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book! 

It should come as no surprise that like other Caran d'Ache products, the possible tripping point is price. Caran d'Ache inks have never been inexpensive, although the price point now sits at a more palatable $32 for a 50ml bottle, as opposed to the $40+ that I recall these inks commanding when they were first released. I've noticed the price of ink creeping up in general over the past year, so I'm not sure Caran d'Ache is that far outside the "mainstream" of other imported inks such as Sailor Kobe ($30), Akkerman ($29); or Pelikan Edelstein ($26).

You can purchase the full range of Caran d'Ache Inks at Anderson Pens, and they're available in cartridges as well as bottles.   

Disclaimer: Many thanks to the folks at Anderson Pens for sending me these ink samples free of charge. I was not otherwise compensated for this review. 

New Product Alert: Montegrappa Fortuna Heartwood Series

Montegrappa continues to introduce new variants of their "Fortuna" model, which has become the Montegrappa pen that offers a relatively accessible introduction to the brand. I've reviewed the Fortuna before - if you missed it, check out my review of three earlier Fortuna releases: the Fortuna in white/ruthenium trim; the Fortuna Silver, and the Fortuna Mule. Next, I'll turn to Montegrappa's latest: the Fortuna "Heartwood" collection. 

Introducing the "Heartwood" Series

“Heartwood pays homage to that most Italian of values: a love of organic materials and the gifts of Mother Nature. The new pens explore the relationship between man and nature, a precious link that must never be underestimated.”

— Montegrappa

I'm a fan of the Montegrappa Fortuna in general - it's an excellent example of classic pen design modernized to take advantage of the diverse materials available to pen makers today. That said, if I had to recommend one version of the Fortuna over all others, it would be the Heartwood. I absolutely love the look and feel of this pen.

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The brushed bronze-colored trim complements the wood nicely. This picture shows the fountain pen in pear wood.

As it has done with its other Fortuna editions, Montegrappa kept the overall design of the pen the same, but changed up the materials. Here, you can choose from walnut, pear, or (my personal favorite) teak wood, which is so dark it appears nearly black. All three pens feature the same brushed bronze-colored trim, with the fountain pen sporting a plated stainless steel nib in the same tone. Kenro Inc., Montegrappa's U.S. distributor, sent me three pens to check out: the fountain pen in pear, the ballpoint in walnut, and the rollerball in teak. Of these three, I preferred the teak and the pear over the walnut, which turned out lighter than I expected. 

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The Fortuna Heartwood shares all of the design elements of the Fortuna line: the "roller" clip, the "Montegrappa"-engraved cap band, and the metal threads. Like the other pens in the Fortuna series, the fountain pen is cartridge-converter filler.

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Because these pens were loaners with a relatively quick turnaround, I didn't have a chance to spend an extended amount of time with them. But I liked what I saw, and especially enjoyed my time with the Fortuna rollerball in teak. Before now, I had not had the opportunity to use either the ballpoint or rollerball versions of the Fortuna, and I expect that if I end up adding a second Fortuna to my collection, it will be a rollerball. The Montegrappa-branded refill writes smoothly and keeps a fairly narrow line for a liquid ink pen, causing me no trouble with excessive feathering. The ballpoint refill was nothing exciting, but it was serviceable. All three pens felt extremely comfortable in the hand. Montegrappa did a nice job with the weight and balance of the Heartwood collection, coming in lighter than the Fortuna Silver and the Mule, but heavier than the standard resin version. I could definitely see myself using these pens for extended writing sessions.  

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Pricing and Where to Buy

The Heartwood collection sits at the upper end of the Fortuna price range, though most retailers are offering these pens at a lower price point than the Fortuna Mule and the Fortuna Silver. The fountain pen version will run you around $340, the rollerball $320, and the ballpoint $280 (with prices listed here taking into account available discounts off MSRP). Pen Chalet currently offers the entire selection of Heartwood pens in all three woods (walnut, teak, and pear) and all three styles (fountain, rollerball, and ballpoint).     

Additionally, for every Heartwood pen purchased by retailers, Kenro has pledged to donate money to plant a tree. You can read more about Kenro's charitable initiative here. 

Disclaimer: These pens were loaned to me by Kenro Industries, Montegrappa's U.S. Distributor, for review purposes. I was not otherwise compensated for this review.

Pen Review: Morning Glory Mach 3 Liquid Ink Rollerball

I enjoy the fine, precise line that a needle-tip pen offers, especially when I'm annotating legal documents at work and (1) need to write very small or (2) need to write on crappy paper. Sometimes both. I've previously preferred the Pilot Hi-Tec-C, which is my go-to needle-tip gel pen, but that pen can be finicky and tends to skip and hard-start more than I like. Apart from my Coleto multi pens, I find myself using the Hi-Tec-C less and less. After one particularly frustrating experience in which I had to throw out an orange .4mm Hi-Tec-C that, for whatever reason, I simply couldn't get to write, I took a flier and ordered a few of the Morning Glory .38mm liquid ink rollerballs in blue and orange. Now I might have found a great all-around needle-tip pen that works for me. 

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The textured grip of the Morning Glory Mach 3 prevents the pen from becoming too slippery. 

Before reading this review of the Mach 3 over at The Pen Addict several years ago, I'd never heard of the brand "Morning Glory." The pens have received positive reviews, but liquid ink rollerballs generally aren't my thing. They can feather and bleed just as badly as fountain pens (and sometimes worse) on "office quality" paper once you get above the .5mm tip size. Would a .38mm tip be the sweet spot for this type of pen? 

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So far, yes. The Mach 3 may become one of my standard "office pens," and it will certainly make its way into my "highly recommended" category. I've test driven the Morning Glory for the past two weeks, and I've reached for this pen nearly every time over the Uniball Vision Elite, which simply can't write the extremely fine line that I often need.  And while the Morning Glory may not be quite as smooth or vibrant as the Hi-Tec-C, I've found it more reliable. (No skipping!) 

Takeaways and Where to Buy

If you're a fan of needle-tip pens, or wish that your liquid-ink Vision Elite or Pilot Precise V5 wrote a finer line, then you should check out the Morning Glory Mach 3. I'm not aware of another liquid ink pen that comes in a .38mm tip size. Though it's relatively inexpensive, the Mach 3 can be hard to find. Jet Pens will sell you single pens in more uncommon colors (like the orange one shown here) for around $2.50 per pen. If you're a fan of the more conservative blue, black, or red (and Morning Glory's blue is great), you can purchase packs of a dozen at a much lower cost via Amazon. 

Disclaimer: I purchased the pens featured in this review with my own funds, for my own use.

Pen Review: Tombow Zoom L104 Multifunction Pen

When I published my Guide to Multifunction Pens back in January, my friend Leigh immediately reached out and asked why I hadn't yet tried one of Tombow's multi pens. Though I had purchased a LOT of multi pens in preparation for that piece, I had missed Tombow entirely, probably because they are not easy to find here in the U.S. Leigh was kind enough to send me (via Dan the pen mule) a Tombow Zoom L104 multipen, in metallic orange.  

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The Tombow branding is minimal, and blends into the finish. You might even miss it if you don't look carefully. 

Tombow is a well-known Japanese stationery company that makes a wide range of excellent products, from high-end woodcase pencils like the Mono line to multifunction pens and mechanical pencils to fountain pens. The Zoom L104 is no exception.  It's a sturdy, utilitarian writing instrument that still manages to look interesting. I especially like the combination of the metallic orange pen body with the matte black clip. 

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One drawback - the coating on the matte black clip tends to scratch, so I'll have to ding Tombow a little for that. Still, it's held up pretty well, considering how hard I've used this, slinging it around in bags and pockets. 

If I had to compare the Zoom L104 to another multi pen on the market, it would be Zebra's Sharbo X. The Zoom is ever-so-slightly longer, and a bit heavier, which gives it a nice balance. The Sharbo, while it makes a great "planner pen," can feel a bit light and short. I've used the Tombow to take pages of notes in meetings and found this a very comfortable pen in the hand.  

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Both the Zoom and the Sharbo have three refill slots - two pen refills and a mechanical pencil. While the Sharbo X requires that you purchase separately Zebra's excellent (but expensive) D1 gel refill, the Tombow Zoom L104 ships with two Tombow .7mm ballpoint refills that remind me of the Sailor refills in the Imperial Black multi pen. These Tombow ballpoint refills write smoothly and are all-around excellent D1 ballpoint refills, if you can find them. That said, my favorite D1 refill of all time remains the .5mm Uniball Jetstream refill, which gives you the smooth writing experience of a gel pen with the write-anywhere reliability of a ballpoint. 

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Pull off the bottom part of the barrel to expose the refills. D1 refills are universal, so any pen that accepts them is exceptionally versatile.

The L104 and the Sharbo X also use the same style of "shifter" to switch between refills. As you rotate the lower part of the barrel, a different refill unit clicks into place. If I had one critique of this design, it's that there's no secure way to retract the refill for "safe" carry (for example, when you're carrying the pen in a shirt pocket). To retract the tip, you rotate the barrel halfway between refills and basically leave the pen in "in-between" mode, which raises the risk of accidentally extending the refill and staining your shirt, or purse, or pen case, etc. This isn't so much an issue with a ballpoint refill, but if you swap in gel refills, consider yourself warned. 

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And, like many multi pens, you unscrew the end cap to expose the eraser. You can also get a glimpse of the shimmer on the metallic finish here. 

Where to Buy

The Tombow Zoom L104 typically runs around $30, and you may have to hunt for it. If you're in the U.S., Amazon is probably your best option, as there are multiple Japanese sellers who stock the pen. The Zoom L104 is a solid multi pen option, and this one has won a spot in my rotation as a reliable workhorse. Many thanks to Leigh for my first introduction to Tombow products - I wish they were more widely available over here!  

Pen Review: The New Wahl-Eversharp Skyline Technik

There are good ways and bad ways to relaunch vintage pen brands. We all know the bad, but I don't see a lot written about brand revitalizations done correctly. In 2013, Syd Saperstein did just that - acquiring the rights to and manufacturing pens under the name of a vintage brand that he had collected and loved for years: Wahl-Eversharp. I won't go into a full history of the brand here, but Wahl-Eversharp was a major American pen brand until the advent of the ballpoint in the 1950s, at which point it failed to keep up, fell by the wayside, and ultimately disappeared.

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Potentially the most impressive pen packaging on the market, though I don't believe the lacquered boxes still feature the wood inlay. 

The new Wahl-Eversharp chose to launch with the Skyline collection, an updated version of the vintage pen of that same name. For those unfamiliar with vintage pens, the Eversharp Skyline features iconic 1940s design, taking inspiration from city skyscrapers, hence the name. Skylines are great little pens - I've restored several myself - though as the years go by the plastic on these pens becomes brittle, and many people dislike having to deal with the often temperamental sac and lever-filling system on the original.

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Here, the new company has taken the Skyline's original design and modernized it. They retained the oversized cap and slim, tapered barrel, but have utilized modern materials such as anodized aluminum and transparent acrylic (though they also have a gorgeous series of celluloid pens as well). The pens use a cartridge-converter filling system, and the barrel accepts the long Waterman-style ink cartridge. 

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Unfortunately the blue Skyline Technik is no longer available in rhodium trim, only gold. The rhodium pairs better with the blue, in my opinion. 

Ceramic Coated Nibs and Optimized Feeds

The new Wahl-Eversharp nibs have drawn much of the attention around the brand. The nibs are stainless steel, but they've been treated with a ceramic coating that makes the nib not only super smooth but gives it some bounce. The company describes these nibs as "semi-flex," and claims that they writes from a fine to medium line. I'm not a flex-pen aficionado in any sense, but I'd caution against expecting a true "flex" experience - if that's what you're looking for, save up for a Decoband. Regardless, the nib on this Skyline has some nice variation, and I would describe the fine-to-medium range as accurate. 

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Wahl-Eversharp also pairs these nibs with a specialized "magic" feed. I'm not exactly sure what exactly the company has done to the feed to optimize the ink flow, but the result is impressive - I experienced no dry writing or railroading, and the nib wrote a pleasantly wet line throughout my test-drive of this pen.  

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Not the best writing sample, but this will give you some idea of the bounciness of the nib. The nib is NOT a dry writer - this particular ink looked a bit washed-out when it dried. 

Overall Takeaways and Where to Buy

Pros:

• If you're a fan of the original Eversharp Skyline's design, but don't want to mess around with often-temperamental vintage lever-fillers, you now have a cartridge-converter option. 
• Sturdy construction
• Smooth stainless steel nib that's on the softer side - not flexible, but most should be able to coax out some line variation 
• Gorgeous presentation in a lacquered box

Cons:

• The slim barrel might make this pen too small for some to use comfortably over longer writing sessions.
• This particular pen (the Skyline Technik) sits at a high price point, though other versions of the Skyline fall into the $160 range.

I can absolutely appreciate the new Wahl-Eversharp Skyline: it's more than a tribute pen or an homage to the vintage brand - it's a full-on modernization of an iconic piece of 20th century design, which arguably retains the best aspects of the original and improves upon its faults. It's a well-made pen that writes well, especially if you like a little bit of spring in the nib. 

At the same time, I probably won't be acquiring one of these pens, for the same reason that I'm not a big fan of the original Skyline - the look of the oversized cap paired with the tapered barrel just doesn't do it for me, and I find the pen a touch small for my hand, especially since this nib is one that I'd want to use for longer writing sessions. Now, if Wahl-Eversharp ever makes a normal-size version of their oversized Decoband, or brings back the faceted Doric from the 1930s, then I'm all in. (I've heard rumors on the pen show circuit that both are in the works, but it might just be wishful thinking on the part of Wahl-Eversharp enthusiasts.)   

You can purchase the Wahl-Eversharp Skyline directly from the company itself, or through retailers nationwide. Anderson Pens currently offers most of the Wahl-Eversharp product lines, including the Skyline Technik Collection featured here. Price-wise, the various Skyline models range widely from $159 for the "Skyliner 50 Collection", to $280 for the aluminum Technik Collection, to $289 for the "Empire Celluloid Collection". There are even more expensive special/limited edition models, some of which have crazy cool packaging, but those are beyond the scope of this review.         

Disclaimer: Many thanks to Anderson Pens for making this review possible. Brian Anderson loaned me this pen from his personal collection. I was not otherwise compensated for this review.