Mechanical Pencil Travel Kit unpacked on desk

Five Items for A Pencil Travel Kit (Mechanical and Woodcase)

March 7, 2026

In this week’s post on pen cases, I mentioned that I use stationery pouches to hold my pencils, as well as any ballpoints and gel pens that I generally take with me on the road for my everyday working needs. Since I rely fairly heavily on pencils, and because pencils have their own set of accessories separate and apart from any sort of pen, I thought it might be fun to break down my preferred pencil travel kit. I’ve photographed two setups that I use - one when I’m using mechanical pencils (which is most of the time on the road), and another for when I’m using mainly woodcase pencils.

Woodcase Pencil Kit — Woodcase pencils will require a longer pouch. Blackwing makes a specialized canvas pencil pouch long enough to hold an unsharpened Blackwing Pencil, which is probably the longest pencil you would want to carry.

Mechanical or Woodcase Pencils. First up - the pencils themselves. Lately I’ve been traveling exclusively with mechanical pencils. I generally write smaller for work purposes, so the finer .5mm lead size suits my hand. My current carry for this week is a Lamy Safari .5mm pencil in Scarlet and a .5mm Pentel Sharp Kerry in light green, and I almost always have at least one Uni Kuru Toga thrown in. While I still love a good woodcase pencil, due to their inherently messy nature I don’t work with them on planes and therefore rarely travel with them. If you do decide to travel with woodcase pencils, you will need a different set of accessories, including a sharpener and possibly a point protector.
Erasers. Very few pencils have decent integrated erasers, so I always carry a separate handheld eraser in my pencil pouch. In my opinion, the best ones are made by Pentel and Tombow. Currently I am using one of the Pentel erasers by Craft Design Technology, and the excellent Tombow Mono comes in a sizes ranging from small (tiny) to Jumbo (friggin’ huge) depending on how much you can carry.
Pencil Caps or Point Protectors. If you prefer woodcase pencils to mechanical, you may want to consider a pencil cap to protect your pencil points. Personally, this isn’t something I’ve worried much about over the years, though we’ve sold so many of the Viarco spring-loaded caps that this is obviously an in-demand item that people use.
Mechanical Pencil Leads. Be sure the lid tightens securely, otherwise you’ll have a dusty mess on your hands because loose mechanical pencil leads simply won’t hold up in a pouch. Uni makes these metal cases that have a sliding closure, which are a favorite of mine for travel.
Pencil Sharpeners. NJK out of Osaka, Japan makes the best portable long-point sharpener on the market, especially for the money. While the Blackwing One-Step Long-Point sharpener is probably my favorite handheld sharpener overall, it’s slightly too large to carry in a pencil pouch.

You can and should design your own “carry kit” to fit your specific needs, but I get so many questions about what I use day-to-day that I wanted to do a couple of layout posts showing exactly what items I carry for which purposes. I will plan on doing a few more of these bag dump-style posts and possibly even some posts on how I set up and format my notebooks and planners.

Uni Kuru-Toga Alpha Gel Switch with Lead Holder — The Kuru Toga Alpha Gel Switch (another regular carry), plus the metal lead case linked to above.

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. You can also come visit us at our physical stationery store in Nashville, Tennessee.

2026 California Pen Show Friday Recap and Where To Find Us!

February 21, 2026

Friday at the 2026 California Pen Show is in the books, and so far it’s been a great one. The California Pen Show succeeded the old Los Angeles Pen Show, and for the past few years has been held at the Torrance Marriott in Redondo Beach. While I skipped last year (2025), I’ve long felt that this is one of the best current pen show venues, with an excellent ballroom layout, good after-hours and restaurant options, and clean hotel rooms. So far, this year hasn’t disappointed, even though we’re only one day in. I will have a full show recap next week, since in order to truly evaluate a show you need to have Saturday in the books, but for now I do have some pictures of the pre-show setup, our location in the ballroom, and my first find of the show!

A View from the Airplane CAPS 2026 — Flying out the weather was gorgeous, even though we arrived to rain in the L.A. area!

TGS Table CAPS 2026 Overhead View — An overhead shot of the TGS Table at CAPS 2026, with a selection of products that we brought to Los Angeles. While a lot of this sold I have two suitcases full and will replenish today. You may spot some new Rickshaw items that I will be bringing home with me.

Aaaand my first find of the show: The elusive Uni Zento Signature gel pen in the dark finish with a .5mm tip. Vanness Pens (our table neighbor) had about 10 of them and they went super quickly!

Don’t Forget to Take Advantage of Our Pen Show Weekend Promotion!

Pretty much everything we brought with us from Lochby, Rickshaw Bagworks, Craft Design Technology, Notsu, Musgrave, and more remains available online and in our Nashville store (which is open for modified hours today). We usually run a pen show weekend promotion whenever we’re away, and this weekend you can take 10% off Lochby, Notsu, and all pencils through 11:59CT Sunday using the code “CAPENSHOW26” at checkout. If you’re looking for us in Los Angeles, see the map below!

Ask TGS: What's In Your Travel Bag for 2026?

February 7, 2026

Since I’m gearing up for a fairly significant round of travel over the next two months, and just returned from two trips, I thought it might be fun to break down my “go bag” travel stationery for 2026. Sometimes I bring more than the items on this list, sometimes less, but I’ve made an effort to dial in my travel kit according a few basic preferences for stationery travel:

If I don’t know that I’ll use it on the trip, I’ll usually leave it at home.
One fountain pen for non-pen show trips, to use for journaling or longer-form writing projects.
Use modular cases that pack flat or roll, and minimize paper as much as is practical to reduce weight.
On pen show trips, all the rules go out the window, since the purpose of the trip is to share pens.

Joe's Notebook Stack from his 2026 Travel Kit — I know it’s not packing “light”, but it’s a lot less than I used to carry! From top, journal, planner, and 6-ring binder for work notes.

My 2026 Travel Kit From The First Two Trips of the Year

Mechanical Pencil (Uni Kuru-Toga). I rarely take multiple fountain pens with me on an airplane unless I’m traveling to a pen show. If it’s a true work trip, and especially one where I have to work on the plane, I’m using either a mechanical pencil or some sort of multi-pen. On a bumpy flight, it’s nice to be able to erase your mistakes with the pencil, and there’s nothing worse than having a much-loved pen roll off your tray table and having to dive for it before it slides under someone else’s seat. Lately my pencil of choice has been one of the Uni Kuru-Togas, since the rotating lead mechanism helps keep the point sharp.
Gel or Low-Viscosity Ballpoint Multi Pen (Pilot Frixion 3 or Pilot 4+1). A good multi-pen allows you to have multiple ink colors readily at hand, and if you have a 4+1 design, you also have the mechanical pencil in the same pen body. While low-viscosity ballpoint ink is my default, lately I’ve been experimenting with Pilot’s line of Frixion gel pens, which I’ve enjoyed for many of the same reasons I like using mechanical pencils - erasability! The Frixion is hugely popular in Japan, and has increasingly made inroads among planner enthusiasts because, well, sometimes plans change.
Sticky Notes or Document Flags. Even though I’ve moved many of my larger work documents to pdf format, I still mostly read physical books, and I tend to annotate my personal notebooks so that I can find things later. Cloth & Paper and Craft Design Technology both make highly versatile lines of document flags and sticky notes that I enjoy, and lately I’ve discovered Japanese-style memo rolls, which are essentially rolls of paper tape that you can cut to size and write on. That said, there’s not really a specific format I prefer, and sometimes I’ll even roll with classic Post-Its since I’m usually writing with a pencil or gel pen and I don’t need excellent paper.
Pen Roll or Pen Case. I’ve moved towards pen rolls and smaller pen cases as opposed to zippered pouches or bulkier album-style storage. I find pen rolls to be the most versatile for those of us who travel with a heavier kit, since they hold a lot yet still roll up to a compact size that fits in a carry-on travel bag. On this last trip, I was testing out one of our new Rickshaw 6-pen Coozy Rolls as well as the new Fillmore zippered pen case. The Coozy Rolls are a classic that I’ve talked about before, but the Fillmore is a newer design that I like because this layout holds up to six pens in individual slots plus a larger slot for a notebook - or more pens. Best of all? The Fillmore unzips flat to form a tray that works great on a hotel desk.
Two Notebooks: One Personal and One Work. If there’s one area where I’ve cut down on bulk when traveling, it’s been paper. I used to travel with several journals out of a misguided FOMO-like fear that I would find myself without the exact notebook I wanted to write in. I finally realized that it made little sense to take five notebooks on a three-day trip, so now I’ll usually carry my personal journal and planner. Sometimes I’ll add a 6-ring binder if I think I’ll need to take work notes that I don’t want to permanently add to the planner. This past weekend was a three-notebook trip.

I have a lot of trips on the horizon, so this topic was particularly timely for me. If you come see me at this year’s California Pen Show (which is just around the corner) I’ll probably have much more than this in tow. How many pens do you travel with? Do you have a dedicated travel notebook that you only use for trips? I’m interested to hear from you, and this may even make it into a future podcast episode as a topic for discussion.

Rickshaw Coozy Roll being used as pen tray. — Traveling with the Coozy Roll (or any pen roll for that matter) is convenient because it serves as a pen tray on your desk when not being used as storage.

I Didn't Know There Was a Pen Show Last Weekend! Pen Shows and Stationery Fests vs. Trade Shows

February 5, 2026

I had a couple of people write in to ask which pen show I was attending over the past few days in New York City, and the answer is that there wasn’t one! Sunday through Tuesday I attended both NY Now and Shoppe Object, which are two “to-the-trade” shows, meaning that they are open only to retailers, distributors, and sometimes to the press. I initially attended NYNow years ago as “press”, when I was running T.G.S. primarily as a stationery enthusiast website, reviewing products, and keeping track of all the new product releases. Now that I have both brick-and-mortar and online retail operations, I can attend as a buyer.

Leuchtturm1917 Master Size Notebooks — Yes, those are Leuchtturm1917 “Master” Size Notebooks in multiple colors!

What’s the Main Difference Between a Pen Show and a Trade Show? No Buying on Site.

Think of these shows as exhibitions - manufacturers and distributors bring samples of their goods, including their latest releases, for retailers to see and handle in person before ordering. Why is this important? Because many brands have large minimum order requirements and there’s a lot of risk involved if you have to order 50 units of something without ever having seen it in person. Traditional trade shows minimize that risk. It can also be quite helpful to have direct access to sales representatives and be able to ask questions in person, especially as some tend to be nonresponsive to e-mail and telephone inquiries by smaller shops as they nearly always focus most of their service and attention on larger internet retailers. While you can place orders at trade shows, there is no purchasing on site. Products are delivered later.

Notem Undated Planners from Denmark — Notem - a brand from Denmark that makes clothbound undated planners.

I Can’t Talk About Much of What I Saw

Most of what I saw - or at least those things readers would be most interested in - are forthcoming products that will be announced in the coming months. While there were a lot of interesting items on display, both NY Now and Shoppe Object seemed sparse this year, which has been a trend as these sorts of shows get pushed online to wholesale marketplaces like Faire. It’s a double-edged sword: while I appreciate getting to see things in person at trade shows, the shows themselves are expensive to attend, and online marketplaces typically allow you to order smaller quantities and even tester/sample products before committing to larger orders. It remains to be seen whether the traditional trade show will continue to exist in its current format with twice-a-year frequency.

I will likely continue to attend these shows in addition to the normal pen show circuit because over the years I’ve discovered some unique products that I wouldn’t have found anywhere else. For example, brands like Anecdote Goods, the distributors of Toyo Steel and Braun, and even Leuchtturm exhibit at these shows, and the relationships cultivated in person make it easier to expand my offerings. I hope you enjoyed this quick look “behind the curtain”!

Our shop is open normal hours this week! Come see us 1-6pm on Thursday and Friday, and 10am-6pm on Saturday!

Westminster Dog Show 2026 — NYNow had some company in the Javitz Center this year!

Lots of Dogs in Stalls at Westminster — Lot of dogs on site!

We're Officially Open! Plus New Rickshaw Cases Have Arrived!

January 31, 2026

For those of you following along (or living through this weather yourself), the snow and ice are finally starting to melt in Nashville and we were able to reopen today. While we avoided significant damage, others in our building weren’t so lucky, as a water main froze and burst, flooding two suites and a downstairs storage area. Because management had to cut water to the building (power was out anyway until Wednesday evening), we were unable to open until this morning. Many thanks to all of you who continued to support us online and today in-store, as we very much appreciate your business. It’s not easy for any small business to lose effectively two weekends of revenue but hopefully we are through the worst of this now!

Deluxe and Standard Rickshaw Bagworks Rolls

Things should get back to “normal” this week - we had sporadic power and internet access at home, and at one point even our cell service cut out, so there’s not been much new on the content front. In the meantime, we managed to publish Episode 2 of On the Paper Trail, visit Pilot Pens in Jacksonville on a quick 24-hour turnaround, and as of today, launch the second round of T.G.S. x Rickshaw Bags cases, featuring Nick Dominguez’s unique “cloud” patterns that were hand-drawn using multi-shading fountain pen inks. We’ve added both standard and deluxe 6-pen Coozy Rolls, and also have more Fillmore pen cases which open flat and hold six pens (three on either side) plus a notebook. There has been a lot of interest in these cases so we will likely continue to carry them for the foreseeable future and hopefully I will have them at the California Pen Show at the end of February.

January was a blur! Stay tuned for more announcements on pen shows and more. In-store hours should return next weekend to our normal 1pm-6pm Thursdays and Fridays, and 10am-6pm Saturdays.