Sunday Reading for February 16, 2025

1. A Fountain Pen Lovers Guide to Paris in 2025 (via Pen Addict). One of my favorite cities to shop for pens! I enjoyed catching up on the current state of the market since it’s been a while, but it was sad to see that some of my own favorites didn’t make the list and possibly didn’t survive the pandemic years.

2. 90 Years of Diary-Keeping (via Notebook Stories). “No reason not to.” Couldn’t say it better.

3. Conklin 1898…the Best Conklin I have Reviewed? (via Figboot on Pens). This looks like an updated take on the Conklin All-American, exclusive to Atlas.

4. The Joy of Just Not Buying Ink for a While (via Stationery Pizza). I’ve spent some time lately writing down my own ink supply, and haven’t really purchased much ink in the past year.

5. Majohn P136 Titanium Hammered Fountain Pen Review (via Blake’s Broadcast). A tall order at $140 for a Majohn, but I do like hammered finish pens.

6. Saying Goodbye to a Favorite Ink (via mnmlscholar). Congrats on finishing a bottle! I’ve only done this the “traditional” way (writing, not giving away samples) a couple of times.

7. Pilot Short Pocket Pen (via Dapprman). All of these cool Japanese pocket pens, mostly from Pilot, definitely not made anymore. :(

8. The Forever Pen (via Well-Appointed Desk). How long does the “Forever Pen” really last? Not quite forever, apparently.

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In Case You Missed It….

This week on the blog, I published two posts focused on inexpensive pens. The first answered a question I often get in the shop: When is the right time to “upgrade” from an inexpensive pen? (There’s also a companion YouTube video.) Yesterday I published a few additional thoughts, including some notes on the types of relatively inexpensive stationery that I use daily.

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Oh, and Teranishi Inks are restocked, including the ever-popular Gentle Green.

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

This week we added close to a dozen different specialty Japanese papers, including different Tomoe River assortments as well as a bunch of rare and/or discontinued papers curated by Yamamoto and Sakae Technical Paper. In addition to all of the new paper, check out this week’s Thursday Drops post for a huge laundry list of new arrivals, which I can barely keep up with, including new Lamy Safaris, AL-Stars, and Studios, Tombow pencils, more Uni Mitsubishi Hi-Uni pencils at a lower price point, Uni 2B pencil value packs, Mitsubishi natural pencils, and so many more!

THE Washi Tape!

Lamy

Exacompta Cards

Anecdote Goods

Check Out T.G.S. Patreon for Breaking news and first access/Special pricing on exclusives and Sample Sales

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More Thoughts on (Relatively) Inexpensive Stationery

Building on Wednesday’s post and accompanying YouTube video about why many of us love inexpensive pens, I’ve been thinking more broadly about the role that the less expensive stationery products play in my everyday rotation. While I firmly believe that all stationery - even the very nice pricey stuff - needs to get used at some point, because that’s what it’s made for - even I balk at using more expensive paper for things as routine as grocery lists, meeting notes that won’t be retained, draft markups, and other “junk paper” that I never intend to keep. Similarly, when I’m forced to write on cheap recycled copy paper at work, I don’t necessarily want to use my nicer inks in a context where they’ll just feather and bleed, and where I won’t get much enjoyment from the writing experience. So although I do tend to use the more “upscale” stuff for most of my personal journaling and longhand professional writing, here are five categories of relatively inexpensive stationery that I tend to keep on hand for the more mundane tasks:

1. Rhodia, Clairefontaine, Levenger, and Maruman Mnemosyne Paper. These paper brands handle most ink types relatively well, and the paper is fairly priced so that I don’t feel self-conscious about using it as scrap paper. Sure, I do sometimes still get comments from co-workers such as “You spent $8 on a legal pad?!?”, but honestly, if you care about a baseline level of quality in the tools you use, you learn to tolerate the attitude. (Sometimes I like to gently remind people that the legal pad I’m using still costs less than the coffee/beer they’re consuming during the course of our conversation, and will last 30x as long.)

2. .5mm Mechanical Pencils. For everyday office work, I’ve been relying more and more on mechanical pencils because I can use them for pretty much anything, without thinking about how they’ll perform on the paper. As you saw in Wednesday’s video, I’m a fan of the Pentel Sharp Kerry since it has a cap and slips easily into my pocket. The Kuru Toga Alpha Gel Switch is an underrated writer, which also comes in a .3mm for those who write very small.

3. Platinum Plaisir Fountain Pen with EF Desk Pen Nib. This particular pen requires a bit of a hack, but if you take the EF steel nib from the Platinum Desk Pen and swap it into a Platinum Plaisir fountain pen, you get an excellent everyday writer that works quite well on less expensive paper, especially when you pair it with Platinum Carbon Black or Blue-Black cartridges (both great “cheap paper” inks).

4. Standard Blue, Black, or Blue-Black Ink. Speaking of ink, I always have one or two workhorse fountain pens inked up with very basic water-based “pen company” inks that I know will behave moderately well no matter how they are used. All of the Waterman Inks, basic Pilot Blue, Black, and Blue-Black, and the Platinum cartridges linked above are all rock-solid options.

5. Low-Viscosity Ballpoint Multi Pen. Alongside my mechanical pencils, a versatile three or four-color multi pen is always in my rotation. While not the most inexpensive, the Lamy 2000 4-color is my main workhorse, supplemented by various Jetstream Multi Pens and the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto gel pen. The ballpoints come in handy for when I need to sign documents in permanent ink (not an infrequent occurrence), and the Coleto Multi Pen when I need a pop of color.

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My Platinum Plaisir Frankenpen (Top) and a green Pentel Sharp Kerry I’ve had for years.

As someone who makes a chunk of their living writing about and selling stationery, people often expect that I use the most expensive stuff available, and that’s far from the truth. Most of what I use day-to-day falls well under the $30 price point (and sometimes sub-$20). It’s one reason I’m not overly pessimistic about the future of our hobby in the face of inflation and rising costs. Even if we end up having to scale down, there’s plenty of great options to be had for not a lot of money!

Thank you for reading! The Gentleman Stationer is supported by the T.G.S. Curated Shop and the T.G.S. Patreon Program. If you’d like to visit our in-person location, you can view directions and up-to-date hours here.

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Thursday Drops: Lots of Lamy, Even More Pencils, and Japanese Paper Galore

It’s been pouring outside this week, which is good because I’ve not really been able to leave the shop, trying to get all of this new inventory entered and listed! As we talked about in Tuesday’s post, we received a large shipment of assorted Japanese papers from Yamamoto Paper, as well as Iroful Paper from Sakae Technical. All of this paper will work well with most fountain pens, and will vary in texture and thickness. We’ve also restocked on most Lamy pens, as well as the more popular colors of the Teranishi Guitar Inks.

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New pencils, such as these Mitsubishi 9800EW, are arriving almost daily.

Finally, woodcase pencil enthusiasts take note: we are rapidly moving to expand our pencil offerings, from individual pencils to pencils by the dozen to sharpeners. This week’s Thursday Drops post highlights a few of the brands we have added, but more will be hitting the shop every few days!

Thank you for reading! The Gentleman Stationer is supported by the T.G.S. Curated Shop and the T.G.S. Patreon Program. If you’d like to visit our in-person location, you can view directions and up-to-date hours here.

1. Yamamoto Specialty Paper. We have packs of 50 A4 sheets of the following specialty Japanese papers, selected for distribution by Yamamoto due to scarcity (either current or impending). Many of these papers are extremely small-batch creations or have been discontinued. (We also have standards such as Sanzen Tomoe River Paper and Tomoegawa Tomoe River Paper writing pads.)

2. Iroful Paper by Sakae Technical Paper. This ink-friendly paper was developed specifically for fountain pens, and comes in a wide range of looseleaf formats as well as A5 notebooks. Iroful is known for showcasing ink color.

3. Teranishi Guitar Ink Restock! Favorite colors such as Gentle Green, Antique Black, and Night Time Soda are back. We have plenty of Gentle Green, which is one of my favorites from the line. Read the review here.

4. Lamy Safari Restock, Including All the Standard Colors. Per the photo above, we received a new Lamy display! Included with that was a large shipment of Safaris and AL-Stars in standard colors, as well as lots of ballpoints and rollerballs. Some of them are listed but photos may lag a bit.

5. Lamy 2000 Taxus and Blackwood Ballpoints. These two unfortunately overlooked entries in the Lamy 2000 lineup are stunning. I can’t decide between them. One of each?

6. Mitsubishi 9800EW Recycled Wood Pencils. Made in Japan from wood scraps, you’d never guess these uncapped HB pencils were recycled because they still feature a gorgeous natural finish.

7. Faber-Castell Grip Series Pencils. The Grip 2000 pencils have a distinctive triangular shape and textured grip. We currently have both untipped and eraser-tipped versions, in HB, B, and 2B hardnesses.

8. New Pencil Sharpeners! We have all sorts of new pencil sharpeners in the shop, including the super-portable Iwako Mini Ace sharpeners and Faber-Castell Grip Trio sharpeners.

9. Pilot Kakuno Fountain Pens. One of the best inexpensive pens on the market, featuring the signature smiley-face nib. Don’t miss this week’s YouTube Video, in which the Kakuno features prominently.

10. Exacompta Index Cards. You all tore through the excellent Notsu dot grid cards we introduced a couple of weeks ago, so I thought it would be prudent to bring in more brands! These cards from Exacompta feature Clairefontaine cardstock and come in blank, grid, lined, and grid/multicolor formats.

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These Exacompta Index Cards are ink-friendly and come in four different rulings!

Ask TGS: When Should I Upgrade from My Inexpensive Fountain Pen?

This is a common question I often get from customers in the shop and pen show attendees who approach me at the table. Unfortunately, there’s a perception out there that eventually, everyone will necessarily want to upgrade/graduate/progress from your “starter” fountain pen to a “nicer” (meaning more expensive) one. I don’t buy into this mindset for several reasons:

• In today’s market, you can get an excellent writing experience without spending a lot of money. Over a certain price point, you are paying for style and design, not functionality. If you use your pens primarily for writing and journaling, you don’t need to spend $100+ to have an excellent writing experience. In addition to the Kakuno, the Platinum Plaisir, Pilot Explorer, Pilot Metropolitan, Platinum Prefounte, and even the $3 Preppy are all exceptionally good options, at what I’d consider an extremely cheap price point for the quality you get.

• Even a $15 fountain pen is already an expensive pen. In today’s world flooded with disposable junk, the fact that you spent $15, or $10, or even $5 on a pen puts you in the rarified 1% of people who will ever spend that much on a pen in their entire life. Keep things in perspective and enjoy the fact that you already are writing with a “nice” pen.

• The best pen is the one that meets your needs. For some, that might be a pricey piece of art that not only writes extremely well but features a hand-lacquered urushi finish that they love to look at every day. For others, it’s a Pilot Kakuno. If you like your Kakuno and don’t find the writing experience lacking in any way, then stick with what works for you.

Check out the video featuring some additional thoughts on this topic over on the YouTube Channel.

I talk a bit more about this question in a YouTube Video I posted this afternoon, which I tongue-in-cheek titled “Cheap Pens: We All Love Them!” Honestly, I do love (relatively) inexpensive pens, and in the video I pull out the three pens/pencils I’ve been carrying at work all week, none of which costs more than $30. The main theme is that if you have a pen you love - even if it’s an inexpensive “beginner” pen - you shouldn’t feel obligated to upgrade for the sake of upgrading. If you want something different, like a clip or a larger ink capacity or a different nib, sure, but above all go with what you enjoy!

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I mean, how could this NOT work for anyone? :)

For pen recommendations at a range of price points, check out our “Best Pens” resource. For more Q&A-style discussions such as this one, I’ve pulled together a FAQ page featuring some common questions. Finally, if you’re in the Nashville area, you can now come pick my brain in person! You can view directions and up-to-date hours for our brick-and-mortar shop here.

New Arrivals: Select Japanese Papers from Yamamoto, Iroful Paper, Tomoe River and More!

If there’s one request we get, it’s for more fountain pen friendly paper, especially paper designed to show off ink. Of course, the gold standard for years has been Tomoe River (which is back in stock!) but of course there are so many more excellent options that have now reached the U.S. market. Sakae Technical Paper, known for it’s Tomoe River notebooks and pads, has developed “Iroful,” an incredibly ink-friendly paper that comes in blank, .5mm dot, and .5mm grid layouts, in both A4 and A5 looseleaf, as well as A5 notebook formats.

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Yamamoto Bank Paper and Tomoegawa Tomoe River (not Sanzen) A5 writing pads are back, along with A4 looseleaf packs of various Japanese Specialty Papers including different Tomoe River varieties, OK Fools, Slight White, Kin Kaku Den, Soliste, and Typewriter Paper. Though the specialty paper packs ship in packages of 50 A4 sheets, note that by cutting these sheets in half you will have 100 sheets of A5 paper, should you wish to hole-punch them for use in a disc-bound or ring-based notebook system.

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by the T.G.S. Curated Shop and the T.G.S. Patreon Program. If you’d like to visit our in-person location, you can view directions and up-to-date hours here.