New Arrivals: Pocketable EDC Goods from Craighill

Craighill Co. is one of my favorite makers of boutique stationery goods and everyday carry accessories, featuring durable construction and a brass-steel-matte-black aesthetic that speaks to me. We’ve previously stocked the Kepler Pen (a versatile retractable click pen with a contoured grip and a D1 mechanism), as well as a range of practical desk and reading accessories that includes bookmarks and a hefty desk knife/letter opener.

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Yesterday we added two new additions from the Craighill lineup: the “Caro” Ballpoint - a small pen designed to fit on a keychain and deploy from a friction-fit cap - and the “Lark” folding knife - a compact 1.5” blade that can either serve as a very small pocketknife or a utility “penknife” that lives in your stationery pouch or on your desk. As with other Craighill products, both are available in brass, stainless steel, “Vapor Black” (DLC-coated stainless steel), or combinations of the three.

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The Lark, shown here, is roughly half the size of a Kaweco Sport when closed. (Lanyard with bead not included. I added that myself instead of putting the knife on a keychain.)

Many thanks to the readers who brought the Caro pen to my attention and asked me to consider stocking it. I’ve been searching for a keychain pen to replace one that I had carried years ago and either had to retire (or lost), and I never found a replacement. The body of the pen connects firmly to the keychain cap using a garter-spring, and so far I’ve had no issues with the pen coming loose in my pocket. As of this morning, we are also restocked on all colors of the Kepler Pen!

The Gentleman Stationer is an authorized retailer of all brands sold, including Craighill.

Sunday Reading for December 10, 2023

1. Grail Feeling: Aurora Internazionale Orange (via A Gathering of Curiosities). I find myself wishing I had picked up an Internazionale in blue, when they were available!

2. Interview with Daisy from Yoseka Stationery (via Pen Addict - Kimberly). I love reading interviews with other shop owners!

3. Diamine Inkvent 2023 Days 1-5 (via Mountain of Ink). It certainly is that time of year again! I love reading everyone else’s impressions of the various inks.

4. Diamine Inkvent 2023, Day 9 (via Cheryl Lindo Jones). Day 9 (“Moonbeam”) might be my favorite “Inkvent” ink thus far.

5. Montblanc Writer’s Edition Agatha Christie Fountain Pen Review (via SBRE Brown). Reviews of this pen are few and far between, so when I see one, I will post it!

6. Cartier Diablo (via Dapprman). I have a Cartier nib from the late 1980s/early 1990s on a custom pen in my collection, and I enjoy it very much. I’m not sure the original Cartier bodies are to my taste.

7. Dip Pen Handles (via Goodwriterspens). Many people collect dip pen holders/handles, in their various formats. In addition to vintage options, I’m starting to see more custom turned versions as well.

8. Sakura Retrico Ballpoint (via Left Hook Pens). This is cool to see. I love ballpoint pens more of a technical, mechanical pencil format.

9. On Planners: The End… and the Beginning (via Well-Appointed Desk). It’s that time of year again, when we all finish our current planners and/or journals and start new ones!

10. Faber-Castell Electric Pink (via Fountain Pen Pharmacist). Faber-Castell makes a very nice series of often-overlooked inks, and this vibrant pink is one of the more legible (usable) pinks on the market, IMHO.

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What’s one thing I pretty much use every day? Bookmarks.

In Case You MIssed It…

I took a crack at Part II of my “TGS Responds” Series, answering questions from my mailbag about how I curate items in the shop! I’ve enjoyed writing these posts and may continue once a week or so through the month of December. I also wrote the first of a few contemplated year-end “check-in” posts in which I talk about five of my most-used non-pen stationery items.

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TWSBI ECO Creme + Rose Gold pens are now available!

This Week in the T.G.S. Curated Shop

This past week saw a restock of most Hightide and Penco products, including Sandglasses and Penco Perfection Bullet Pencils! We also have some remaining stock of the new Kaweco Art Sports in all but one material (Hickory Brown is now sold out, unfortunately). Finally, TWSBI ECO Creme + Rose Gold Fountain Pens will begin shipping out tomorrow. Don’t forget to check out the 2023 T.G.S. Holiday Gift Guide, and remember that in order to give yourself the best chance of receiving items by December 25, please try to place your orders by December 15. While we will be shipping up until December 23 before taking a short break, the sooner you get orders in the better.

Penco

TWSBI

MT Tapes

Traveler's Company

Check Out TGS Patreon for Free This Week - including Inkvent Content!

If you enjoy our content (whether here on the main website, Instagram, YouTube Channel or elsewhere), there are several ways that you can support us. We do our best to remain 100% self-supported without having to rely on third-party advertisers or affiliates. Of course, the number one way to help is to visit our curated retail shop, especially during the upcoming holiday season! If you enjoy in-person and virtual meetups and having access to more personal content, consider joining the T.G.S. Patreon, which also includes early access to quarterly gently used sales. Patreon support starts as low as $3 per month, and if you pay annually there is a further discount. This month, Patreon supporters have access to additional Inkvent content, including commentary on my favorite Diamine Inkvent inks and more. The first of these Inkvent posts is public, so please check out Patreon to learn more!

No matter how you support us - even if just with a comment, recommendation, or encouraging word - we greatly appreciate your readership!

Checking in at Year-End: My Five Most-Used Non-Pen Stationery Items

I’ve been doing a lot of “checking in and thinning out” lately, with the goal of reducing both physical and mental clutter by keeping tidier workspaces and focusing on having close at hand those specific items that I use the most. The reason for this is twofold: (1) Towards the end of the year, I always take stock and try to figure out what might be eliminated, replaced, or improved; and (2) It’s been a busy holiday season - possibly the busiest I’ve ever had - and I’ve needed whatever edge I can to make it through the past several weeks, even if that’s just a few extra seconds in the morning of not having to sort through a jumble of junk on my desk. For this morning’s post, I asked myself: What are the five stationery items - other than pen/pencil and paper - that I touch every day?

1. My 30-Minute Hourglass. The first thing I interact with after I wake up. Every morning I try to read for 30 minutes and then write in my journal for 30 minutes. Two flips of the hourglass. Later in the day, when I’m doing periods of focused work, I try to maintain 30 uninterrupted minutes of effort between short breaks. While I currently only have one hourglass in rotation, I will likely add another to avoid tempting fate by repeatedly moving the hourglass across the room from my desk to my reading chair over hardwood floors with three (yes, three) dogs underfoot. For more ways on how to use analogue timing devices - of which I’m a big proponent - check out this post.

2. A Cutting Tool. Whether it’s breaking down boxes and packaging, cutting tape, snipping loose threads, or opening mail, a good pair of scissors or a small penknife is essential. Personally, I have four items I use regularly: My Allex fluorine-coated desk scissors that I’ve owned for years and which we now carry in the shop, a pair of discontinued Write Notepads Pocket Scissors, smaller Allex “Mini Scissors” that fit into a stationery pouch, and a pocketknife (rotating brands, depending on whether I’m at a desk or in the warehouse that day).

3. A Bookmark. My accumulation of bookmarks is somewhat embarrassing, second only to pens (and maybe notebooks), but I have a wide range of paper, metal, leather, and even cloth bookmarks that I use regularly, ranging from cheap bookstore and promotional freebies to quality, slightly overengineered metal ones. For some reason I hate dog-earing pages in books. I’d much rather use a bookmark while I’m actively reading, with sticky notes and Book Darts marking those passages I want to flag for long-term reference and/or archiving in my commonplace system.

4. My Classroom Friendly (Carl Angel-5) Pencil Sharpener. When I read, I annotate and take notes in pencil. At home, this relatively inexpensive hand-cranker remains my long-point sharpener of choice. The blades leave as sharp a point as ever, five+ years into its lifespan.

5. Toyooka Craft Pen Trays. I have two Toyooka Craft six-pen trays. One on my personal desk at home, and one at work. Both sit next to my keyboard and hold the pens/pencils that I’m working with at any given time. Typically, this will include 2-3 fountain pens, a ballpoint, a rollerball, and a mechanical pencil. Once I have this rotation set for the day, I don’t go rooting around in my bag or pen case for something “new” and instead just focus on the work at hand.

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If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that you can’t use “all the things” all of the time - at least not if you want to get anything done during the day because you’re spending all of your time and effort picking out your tools. Set your core workhorse lineup and run with it. Periodically evaluate and make changes. If you like to rotate stuff, do it regularly (or at least semi-regularly, just not on a whim). And if you don’t use something, pass it along!

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. We don’t just write about and sell pens! Lately we’ve been expanding more into non-pen (but still stationery-related) content and goods. You can read more about our “stationery philosophy” here.

Thursday Drops: Hightide Restock, Kaweco Art Sports, TWSBI ECO Creme, and More!

One of the most popular items in our store around the holidays is the Hightide Sandglass, which is now restocked in most colors and time increments (3, 5, 15, and 30 minutes). We also have new stock of all Hightide and Penco pens, including the “Perfection” ballpoints, the portable Drafting Pens and Pencils, and the “Attaché” fountain pens. Finally, we still have remaining stock of the Kaweco Art Sports, as well as a couple of Inkvent Calendars. (For Inkvent, if you’d like to follow along, you can check us out on Instagram and Youtube! We’re doing posts and Short videos for each which I have compiled into playlists.)

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2023 Diamine Inkvent: Heavy on the Shimmer! This is yesterday’s Inkvent Ink, an orange + shimmer!

The Gentleman Stationer is an authorized retailer of all brands sold. Be sure to check out our 2023 Holiday Gift Guide for additional gift ideas, and yesterday’s post for more information on our shop philosophy.

1. Hightide Sandglasses. Now restocked in nearly all colors and sizes, these desktop hourglasses have long been among our best-selling desk accessories. Check out this post to learn more about the advantages of having an analogue timing device on your desk!

2. Kaweco Art Sport Fountain Pens. The new Art Sport fountain pens are among my favorite that Kaweco has released in this series, particularly the marble-inspired “Terrazzo” pattern. More details here.

3. TWSBI ECO Creme + Rose Gold Fountain Pen (Pre-Order). We’ve received word that our shipment of TWSBI ECO Creme fountain pens should be arriving this week or early next, and are available for purchase now. They will ship immediately upon arrival.

4. Diamine Inkvent Calendars. It’s not too late to get in on Inkvent and follow along for the remainder of the month! We have a couple calendars remaining in stock.

5. Hightide Attaché Fountain Pens. Many of you asked to bring back the Hightide Attaché pocket fountain pen, and we now have them in most colors (everything other than white, which was sold out). These all feature a fine nib and accept short international cartridges.

6. Penco Perfection Metal Ballpoints. Now available in Matte Black, Gold, and Silver finishes, these pocket ballpoints accept universal D1 refills, and allow you to use a variety of different inks.

7. Penco Perfection Light Pocket Ballpoints. These lightweight ballpoint pens also use a D1 refill in an inexpensive pocket pen format. These are great pens to have in your car and around the house.

8. Penco Drafting Pen and Pencil. These “pocket-sized” drafting pens and pencils have the knurled metal grip and hexagonal format as a classic full-sized writing instrument. The pen includes a .5mm D1 refill, and the pencil accepts .5mm lead.

9. Book Darts. We’ve restocked on all formats of the popular “Book Dart” page markers, which you can use as standard bookmarks or as archivally save linemarkers to permanently highlight favorite passages in your books and notebooks. (A favorite use of mine is to turn a thicker notebook into a multi-subject notebook.)

10. High Quality Japanese Scissors. We’ve expanded our stock of high-end scissors, including many Japanese brands such as Allex that are relatively uncommon in the U.S. Both fluorine/teflon coated and uncoated stainless steel blades are available.

TGS Responds: How Do You Curate Your Shop?

Today’s post is the second installment in a series of answers to questions that I regularly get in my mailbag (both “snail” and virtual). I had so much fun with the first round of Q&A that I went ahead and did another addressing questions about how I choose to stock the shop and my overall retail philosophy. Here goes!

What is your shop philosophy, and in general, why have a shop at all?

What actually drew me into the world of “curated retail” was a frustration with emerging retail and marketing trends in the greater online pen community. As pens and other analogue tools have grown in popularity over the past decade, this higher profile was accompanied by an increase in analog-related internet content - some of it thoughtful and high-quality, but a lot of it simply FOMO and acquisition-driven noise that amounted to little more than paid advertising for inferior products and/or affiliate link farms. As someone who had been working mainly as a blogger/reviewer for several years, manufacturers and retailers were sending me products that I didn’t feel added much to the larger picture, and which weren’t nearly as good as products already on the market. I didn’t enjoy reviewing them as much as I enjoyed writing about things like the joy of finding a Workhorse Pen or experimenting with notebook systems. Morever, it felt as though the proliferation of review and social media content on “the next big thing” was starting to drown out more helpful content targeted to those primarily looking for a reliable “first” pen or a daily driver that they intended to use for everyday writing.

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Towards the latter half of 2019, I decided to let paid advertising expire on the blog and unlinked my affiliate accounts, with the goal of becoming 100% self-sustaining. I opened a Patreon account, placed an order for Book Darts and Write Notepads (thanks guys!) and took a table at the 2020 Baltimore Pen Show. While running a shop involves a LOT more daily work than relying on income generated by referrals, I prefer this method of operating for three reasons that are very important to me personally:

1. Independence. I no longer have to navigate the politics of offering a negative or lukewarm opinion on a product given to me by a paid monthly sponsor or advertiser. While there’s always going to be some degree of tension - I still review products made or provided by those I consider friends and colleagues - the lack of a paid relationship removes a layer of complications. I can choose to write my own content and/or review what I want, when I want, without having to worry about preserving a business relationship or ensuring that my site remains appealing to potential advertisers. If someone loans or gives me a pen that I want to review on a one-off basis, I simply disclose that fact. In a bit of internet heresy, I ignore site analytics as they have little value to me. Knowing whether people choose to support me by buying from the shop or pledging Patreon is enough.

2. Accountability. If I recommend a pen and you purchase it from a third-party advertiser or referral source, I have no control over the customer experience, whether at retail or in after-market customer service. On the other hand, if I’m selling directly, I can do whatever I can to ensure the customer experience is positive, and address any customer service or warranty issues that may arise myself.

3. Transparency. In my opinion, selling directly and not relying on third-parties is one of the most transparent ways to generate revenue. Any business has to navigate conflicts of interest, particularly when reviewing products or offering opinions, but under my current model you all know exactly how I get paid: through the shop or Patreon. If I write about a product or brand sold in the T.G.S. Curated Shop, I try to be as objective as possible, but to the extent there is a conflict of interest readers know exactly what that is. Third-party relationships with affiliate networks and advertisers get murky, and in my opinion many blogs and websites (not just in the pen world but all across the internet) fail to adequately disclose both the existence of these relationships and the extent/nature of the financial compensation being paid. I’m not throwing shade - the “rules” (where they exist at all) are murky and involve all sorts of judgment calls. Personally, it felt like the right choice to just remove the issue from my own business model as much as I possibly can.

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Has Your Philosophy/strategy Evolved or Changed over the years?

I first launched the T.G.S. Curated Shop in early 2020, with the goal of offering a small selection of handpicked goods that best reflected my philosophy of how I use stationery. In short, I chose practical, well-made goods within a moderate price range, targeted to those who use their stationery on a daily basis for work and study. Over time, in response to reader/customer feedback and what I perceive as the needs of the market, I’ve branched out a bit to include some special editions and products that are just “pure fun,” but at the end of the day I would say that the mix of products in the shop is weighted 80/20 to my original philosophy, and occasionally I find myself dialing it back to return to my original focus.

What’s The Plan for T.G.S. in 2024? Do You Plan to Open a Physical Shop?

Right now, my family and I are just trying to survive the holiday season, but if I had to set a goal for 2024, it would be to further grow the shop while refining the product selection, including more custom and exclusive items. Our collaboration with Hinze Pens was extremely successful, we sold out of our second run of the T.G.S. Penwell, and in October we were proud to become one of a handful of retailers in the U.S. to carry Roterfaden. If I had to point you to an area of the shop where we test product categories and experiment in areas where we are actively considering expansion, check out the “Reading and Desk Accessories” page, which also offers a lot of insight into my own personal interests and hobbies. We are also looking to expand our selection of woodcase pencils, in response to what we perceive as a gap in the market. And while we almost certainly will have a permanent physical location in 2024, it remains to be seen exactly what that will entail as so much depends on a local real estate market that is incredibly unfriendly to small business.

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My house is basically a museum of the analog life.

In terms of content, I don’t review as many “new releases” as I used to, and this is by design. Longtime readers may wonder why I often circle back to pens I’ve previously reviewed, such as the Lamy 2000, Pilot Custom 74, or Pilot Custom 823. The reason relates to what I alluded to above - there are new users entering this hobby every day, and the internet (and social media) often suppresses older content in favor of the new and shiny. Those searching for a “best first fountain pen” can miss out on an excellent recommendation because the reviews of said pen were published eight years ago. While it’s important to stay current on new trends, the priority of T.G.S. is to offer a well-rounded perspective on what’s out there as a whole, which includes regularly coming back to the basics.

I do get a lot of mail, and unfortunately there just aren’t enough hours in the day for prompt responses. Please know that I read everything! I try to get back to everyone eventually, but as the readership grows it may not be possible logistically to do personalized replies.