Happy "Inksgiving"! T.G.S. Thanksgiving Weekend Promotions

Happy Thanksgiving! Or should I say “Inksgiving”? Starting today and running through Sunday evening at 11:59pm US Central Time, take 10% off all bottled ink, ink cartridge, and refill orders (excluding TWSBI and Pilot) using the discount code “INKSGIVING” at checkout. Select items through the store have also been marked “Clearance” and can be searched using the navigation bar at the top of the shop pages. All orders over $100 will also receive one of our large 3” T.G.S. holographic vinyl stickers, and orders over $50 will receive one of the smaller holographic decals, while supplies last!

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New ink arrivals are waiting for you. Any Thanksgiving weekend promotions apply in-store as well.

New arrivals this week include select inks from Diamine’s standard lineup, as well as the entire line of sixteen different Diamine 150th Anniversary inks. Other discount-eligible inks include the Teranishi Guitar inks from Japan, Tom’s Studio Inks, and Anderillium! If you’re looking for gift ideas, don’t miss our recently refreshed holiday gift guide.

Domestic U.S. orders over $75 ship free. Please review our shipping policies and time estimates prior to placing an international order. Orders to Canada may be delayed due to the ongoing postal strike, and UK orders are subject to a minimum due to VAT rules.

1. Diamine 150th Anniversary Fountain Pen Inks. Diamine’s 150th Anniversary Line contains some of my favorite colors made by the UK-based inkmaker. The blues in this series are outstanding.

2. Diamine Inkvent Calendar. Using your Inksgiving discount to pick up an Inkvent Calendar ahead of the season beginning next week!

3. Col-o-ring Ink Testing Books. Stock up on Col-o-rings to get ready for Inkvent, with sizes ranging from the small “Dippers” to the larger “Oversized” reporter-style books.

4. Teranishi Guitar Inks. This cult favorite from Japan features more than a dozen subtly unique colors. The greens are especially good in this line, as are the blacks and browns.

5. Laban Greek Mythology Inks. Athena Grey and Aphrodite Pink are back in stock, at long last. Though often overlooked, these inks from Laban are rock-solid in terms of performance, and the colors are offbeat enough to be interesting without sacrificing usability.

6. Ohto CRO2 Ceramic Rollerball. This .5mm rollerball pen features a comfortably grippy matte finish and a smooth .5mm rollerball refill that resists feathering and bleedthrough, which can fit many different models of rollerball pens (though you may need to use a spacer).

7. T.G.S. x Sunderland Machine Works mk1. We are down to TWO remaining Sunderland Pens. I will likely reorder more after the first of the year so if this is something you’re wanting for the holiday season, act quickly.

8. Zebra Sarasa Grande Vintage Pens and Refills. This series of Japanese gel pens not only won me over by actually matching the ink to the vintage-y barrel colors, but I’ve also been using the refills in the Sunderland with minor modification.

9. Kaweco Piston Fillers, Classic Sport and AL-Sport. Kaweco recently released a lower-cost version of their piston-filling Sport fountain pen, and we’re restocked on both these and the AL-Sport version.

10. A Full Restock on Lamy Pens. Finally, we’ve recently received additional pens (and pencils) in the Lamy 2000 series, the Lamy AL-Star series, Safaris, and more.

Our shop is closed today (Thanksgiving Thursday), but we will reopen tomorrow (Friday 11/29) from 10am-7pm; Saturday from 10am-7pm; and Sunday from 12pm-5pm. We hope to see you this weekend to kick off the holiday shopping season! Additional detail on location and hours here.

Pocket Pen Converters: Has Kaweco Solved the Mini-Converter Problem?

While I love pocket pens, and pocket fountain pens in particular, those of us who also enjoy using bottled ink have been frustrated by the lack of a functional converter that fits most pocket pens. While Kaweco had released a smaller plunger-style converter designed to fit the Sport series that worked reasonably well, two things kept it from becoming more popular than it did. First, the converter was still too large to fit other popular pocket pens like the Schon DSGN Pocket 6 and the Tom’s Studio Studio Pocket; and second, the plunger didn’t lock, so when the converter was full you could accidentally expel ink into the cap by bumping the plunger.

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Kaweco recently redesigned the mini converter to address both of these issues, and the fix was somewhat creative and fairly simple: The plunger rod folds down and “locks” once the converter is full. This not only reduces length, but a slight “lip” on the top of the plunger prevents it from accidentally depressing once folded. I’ve tested the new model, and it not only fits all of the cartridge/converter Kaweco Sport models, but the Schon DSGN Pocket 6, the Tom’s Studio pocket pen, and even the recently released Good Made Better Jester.

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Takeaways and Where to Buy

Is a mini-converter revolutionary? Not really, but sometimes small incremental improvements like these can drastically increase your enjoyment of a pen. You’ve always been able to refill cartridges with bottled ink using a syringe, but many people (including myself) find a converter more convenient, and having this converter option makes it more likely that I’ll reach for my pocket fountain pens. Plus, plunger-style converters make it very easy to clean out a pen since you can flush water through the nib and feed with more force than with a piston-style converter. The more options, the better!

We currently have a small-ish number of these Kaweco Mini Converters available in the shop, but since I’ve liked how they work so far, we will probably plan to carry these as a regular item. We’ve also recently restocked our supply of Kaweco bottled ink and Kaweco cartridges, not to mention a bunch of new releases from the Sport and Perkeo lines.

During the upcoming holiday season, our store will be open for extended hours. Please check the “About” page for directions and updated operating hours, as well as announcements regarding any special events.

New Arrivals: Pilot S20 Ballpoints, Uni Jetstream Prime and Edge, and More Giftable Ballpoints

Ahead of the holidays, one of my top priorities was to restock our supply of higher-end ballpoint, rollerball, and gel pens, especially Japanese imports, but we also made room to bring in some new finds. Last week, we received our first shipment of the excellent Pilot S20 ballpoint, which uses Pilot’s hybrid “Acro-ink” and performs similarly to the Uniball Jetstream. A friend from our local pen club gifted me a S20 last year, and I couldn’t get over how comfortable this pen was to use: it sports an hourglass silhouette and soft, polished wood finish in two striated wood grains: red/black and brown/black. We also have a healthy supply of the Dr. Grip “Cocoon” refills, which is that cartridge that fits the S20.

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Other new arrivals include the Pilot Birdie/Birdie Switch: a small format writing instrument from Pilot that comes as either a mechanical pencil or “reversible multi-pen”; as well as additional stock of the Uni Jetstream Prime, the Uni Jetstream Edge, and the Zebra Sarasa Grande Vintage. All colors and tip sizes should be restocked and showing as available.

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The hourglass shape of the S20 ballpoint simply fits very well in your hand!

Store Holiday Hours and T.G.S. Holiday Gift Guide

I’ve updated the shop hours for Thanksgiving week. While we will be closed Thursday, we plan to open Friday (10am-7pm); Saturday (10am-7pm), and Sunday (12-5pm) to kick off the holiday shopping season. Remember that you can always shop by appointment outside of our public hours.

Also, don’t miss our 2024 Holiday Gift Guide, which walks through stationery gift options and recommendations that include pens, pencils, paper, and other desk and reading accessories for those who appreciate analog things! If you have gift-related questions, always feel free to reach out.

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If you come see us in-store, you’ll be able to peruse our growing selection of inks, including the entire range of Teranishi Guitar Inks in over a dozen colors!

Sunday Reading for November 24, 2024

1. 10 Useful Things (via Olive Octopus). Non-pen items can be repurposed to make your cleaning/collecting/and testing easier and more enjoyable! This is a great list, and I’ll double down on the glass stirs for ink swatching.

2. Personalized Stationery (via Pen Addict - Kimberly). I’ve often wanted to customize some letter-writing stationery and notecards - maybe I need to use the discount code included in this post!

3. Best Esterbrook Ever? King of the Night (via Figboot on Pens). This Dracula-inspired campy Estie has a great red, white and black swirl pattern.

4. Kilk Yggdrasil and Kilk Dusk (via A Gathering of Curiosities). Kilk is a rapidly growing brand from Istanbul, Turkey that specializes in unique designs, many of which include sterling silver inlays and accents.

5. Traveler’s Notebook as a Planner: After the First Use (via Stationery Pizza). The ability to easily experiment with different formats is one of the benefits of modular notebook systems like the Traveler’s Notebook.

6. If You Like: Pelikan Piña Colada Rollerball Pen (via A Fleeting Ripple). The “ink ball” rollerball technology has vastly improved in recent years. I’ll need to keep an eye out for this Pelikan!

7. Visit to Hands (Orchard Outlet) in Singapore (via Inkredible Colours). Now that I have a shop I always love to look at display options, especially for the individual gel pens and ballpoints.

8. Inky Madness - Diamine (via Rachel’s Reflections). I’m re-exploring Diamine as an ink line after a few years away, and a few of these caught my eye.

9. Video Review: TWSBI Diamond 580 RGT-II (via Scrively). Even as TWSBI expands its range of pens that include rose gold trim, the original Rose Gold Diamond 580 remains a stunner.

10. Saying Goodbye to Anderson Pens (via Well-Appointed Desk). I feel super sad about this, as the Andersons were a fixture on the early pen show scene when I first entered this hobby. I wish them nothing but the best for the future.

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The Kaweco Classic Sport vs. the Classic Sport Piston Filler. The gold ring means piston!

In Case You Missed It

This week we launched the 2024 T.G.S. Holiday Gift Guide! An annual tradition for several years, I walk through multiple categories of gift ideas ranging from gifts for pen enthusiasts (pro tip: don’t buy a fountain pen), to those in your life who are stationery curious but not yet full-blown enthusiasts. I also offer some insights into trends I’m seeing in delivery times leading up to the holidays, so be sure to give yourself plenty of time for gift deliveries. Since we also received our initial shipment of Kaweco Classic Sport Piston Filler fountain pens, yesterday I posted my initial thoughts on how this pen compares to not just the standard Classic Sport, but also the previously released AL-Sport Piston Filler.

The week ahead of me is already planned…

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

In addition to the arrival of the Classic Sport Piston Filler, we also received the latest AL Sport “Kaweco Collection” release in Olivine, and the entire Kaweco Perkeo lineup. Most of this week, however, I spent getting ready for the upcoming Inkvent season, as well as processing and swatching multiple new lines of inks such as the Teranishi Inks from Japan, the new Diamine 160th Anniversary Inks, and a curated selection of my favorite inks from the standard Diamine Ink lineup.

Check out this week’s Thursday Drops post for the entire listing of new arrivals.

Diamine Ink

Platinum Ink

TWSBI

Pilot

Check Out T.G.S. Patreon for Breaking news and first access/Special pricing on exclusives (Including the Sunderland Mk1)

If you enjoy our content (whether here on the main website, Instagram, YouTube Channel or elsewhere), and would like early/extra access to shop releases and gently used stationery opportunities, consider supporting us via Patreon. 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 either online (or in person, if you’re in the Nashville area)! If you enjoy in-person and virtual meetups and having access to more personal content, the T.G.S. Patreon includes these as well as access to early shop releases, the quarterly gently used sales, a monthly updates newsletter, and of course our monthly Zoom meetups. Patreon support starts as low as $3 per month, and if you pay annually there is a further discount. For example, Patrons receive an extra bit off the TGS x Sunderland Collaboration Pen, and Patreon supporters have their own special Fountain Pen Day promo “mystery box” opportunity, while supplies last and which is still available!

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

Kaweco Sport Piston Filler Redux: Classic Sport vs. AL Sport Piston Comparison

This release took me a bit by surprise. While I did suspect that Kaweco would eventually release a lower-cost version of its initial piston-filling fountain pen, I didn’t expect it to happen so soon. Of course, we’re talking about the just-released Kaweco Classic Sport Piston Filler fountain pen, which arrived Wednesday. Now that I’ve had a few days to mess around with it, I can answer a few of the questions that I received and offer my initial impressions on how it compares both to the standard (cartridge) Classic Sport model and the AL Sport Piston Filler.

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The standard Kaweco Classic Sport (top) vs. the Kaweco Classic Sport Piston Filler (bottom).

Kaweco Classic Sport (Cartridge) vs. Classic Sport Piston Filler

• Appearance. As with the AL Sport, Kaweco chose to use the most basic version of the Classic Sport (clipless black with gold trim) as the starting point for the Classic Sport Piston Filler. Capped, you won’t notice any meaningful difference from the standard cartridge Classic Sport other than the gold ring at the blind cap, which you remove to access the piston knob. (The blind cap at the back of the pen prevents the piston from accidentally being turned when the pen is posted.) Uncapped, you will of course see the ink window, tinted grey, which immediately differentiates the barrel on the piston filler from the standard cartridge pen.

• Weight. The first thing about the Classic Sport Piston Filler that struck me was the weight - the pen is notably light, with the added heft from the piston only slightly perceptible in my hand. It’s of course much lighter than the AL Sport Piston Filler, but that’s to be expected given the difference in materials.

• Clip Compatibility. There is no integrated clip in the Classic Sport Piston Filler. The standard add-on Kaweco Sport clip fits, so you can use that as you like. I personally prefer a sleeker clipless look on the Classic Sport, and if I need a clip on a pocket pen, I usually opt for the AL Sport Piston Filler or one of my Art Sport models (which also feature the integrated clip).

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Both piston fillers feature ink windows.

Classic Sport Piston Filler vs. AL Sport Piston Filler Fountain Pen

• Overall Aesthetic. The designs of the Classic Sport and Al-Sport piston fillers are distinct, even though the internal mechanics may be identical. Personally, I think the AL Sport Piston Filler looks more upscale, with the curved clip, matte metal body, and greater heft in the hand. Of course, it’s also more expensive, priced at $165 as opposed to $75 for the Classic.

• Clip vs. No Clip. As noted above, the AL Sport Piston Filler features the integrated clip, borrowing the same design from the Kaweco Sport Luxe series and the latest collection of Art Sport fountain pens. The clip is a matter of personal preference that often draws strong opinions. If you absolutely need a clip, you can add one to the Classic Sport.

• Ink Capacity. Both pens appear to use the same piston mechanism, and hold the same volume of ink. While I’ve not done a scientific measurement, the pistons took in enough water/ink to fill approximately 3/4 of the way to the 1ml marker on a sample vial. So I’ll guesstimate approximately .7ml of ink. This is roughly what would fit in a standard fountain pen converter, and probably more ink than you would get in a short international cartridge and certainly more than in the Kaweco Mini Converter. Piston or not, the Kaweco Sport will never be an “ink tank” fountain pen, but the piston pens hold more than enough ink to get most people through a few days of writing.

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The integrated clip on the AL Sport Piston Filler (left) vs. the standard Kaweco Sport Clip on the Kaweco Classic Sport Piston Filler. The add-on clip is sold separately for the Classic Sport.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

This post contains only my initial thoughts on Kaweco’s latest release - one thing I want to see is whether the Classic Sport Piston Filler shares the same excellent ink flow as the AL Sport version. As I pointed out in my post on that pen, having the ink sit directly behind the nib and feed (as it does with most piston fillers) often leads to heavier ink flow and an overall wetter writing experience, which I’ve always found to be a good thing with smaller nibs like those in the Kaweco Sport series. So far, the writing experience has been quite nice and consistent in both the Classic and AL Sport versions, but I plan to do a longer-term test.

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Come by our shop and see not just the Kaweco Sport Piston fillers, but also the other new releases like the latest Kaweco Collection AL Sport “Olivine” (shown at left).

We currently have stock of both the Kaweco Classic Sport Piston Filler and the AL Sport Piston filler in the shop. If you’re in the Nashville area, I have two tester pens inked up so you can come by and try them in person if you like. We’ve also just received a major restock of Kaweco Bottled Ink, Kaweco Ink Cartridges, and other styles of fountain pens such as the full-sized Kaweco Perkeo!

During the upcoming holiday season, our store will be open for extended hours. Please check the “About” page for directions and updated operating hours, as well as announcements regarding any special events.