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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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.

More from the Bargain Bin: KACO Retro Fountain Pen

So, Joe, why have you been reviewing so many inexpensive fountain pens lately? Why have you been scouring Amazon and eBay for $20 pens when you presumably have cases and drawers full of perfectly nice, much more expensive and higher-quality fountain pens at home, not to mention a zillion other things to review?

Fair questions, all of them. And ones I can easily answer: with a few notable exceptions, I'm getting bored with what the old "mainline" pen companies have been releasing (or not releasing), especially where enthusiasts are being asked to pay ever-increasing prices for products characterized by what I view as a general lack of creativity and innovation. So, as I see new Chinese pen companies moving well beyond the "$1.99 eBay pen" market or Montblanc knockoffs and releasing their own original designs, with legitimately good nibs, I've begun to enjoy exploring the so-called "lower-end" of the market.

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Each color version of the pen ships with a different color plastic ball

Some brands stand head and shoulders above the rest. Two of my favorites are Wing Sung and KACO, which in my opinion make some of the better inexpensive pens on the market, to the point where some U.S. retailers are starting to carry them as part of their regular stock. I recently reviewed the KACO Edge, a Makrolon fountain pen that vaguely resembles something that Lamy might have made had they foregone the misguided Aion and created a product for those of us who don't want to write with a metal nightstick. At the same time I purchased the Edge, I picked up the KACO Retro, an even less expensive hooded-nib pen that I think I actually prefer.

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Ink window! A nice touch at the price point.

Why do I like this pen so much? For starters, I like hooded nib fountain pens, for both their design and functionality. With the Retro, KACO actually made an effort to design a pen that's not just another inexpensive Parker 51 clone (there are already plenty of those out there). The name "Retro" fits the pen well, from the hooded nib to the injection molded mid-century modern design to the colors that come straight out of the 1960s. I even like the minimalist wire clip, with a contrasting plastic ball acting as the "keeper" on the end.

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The hooded steel nib arrived with both the feed and the tines properly aligned, which can be a problem-area with low-cost hooded-nib pens.

The KACO Retro definitely isn't a fancy pen. It feels lightweight and inexpensive, uses a generic yet sturdy plastic converter, and at this price point is something you could give to an older child or just throw in your bag to use as a work or travel pen. But it also writes quite well, better in fact than not only all of the cheap Parker 51 clones I've tried, but better than many of the Parker Super 21 and 51 Special fountain pens I've used. (For those of you who are not vintage pen aficionados, the Super 21 and the 51 Special were lower-end, alloy-nib versions of the Parker 51 that Parker released at a lower price point.)

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Sure, it’s a generic plastic converter, but it seems pretty sturdy compared to what I’ve seen on other cheap pens. I do find it odd that this pen comes packaged with a converter, but the KACO Edge (which is more expensive) does not.

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The stainless steel nib writes a slightly wider and wetter line than the nib on the Moonman N3, comparable to the KACO Edge though it’s a different nib.

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Takeaways and Where to Buy

The KACO Retro isn't going to become my daily writer, but it's a good enough pen that a student or budget conscious fountain pen lover could easily use it as one. Fans of vintage-style hooded-nib pens might consider the KACO Retro as a travel pen, for those who don't want to deal with the risk of using their vintage pens on an airplane, or worry about losing a prized pen at conferences or in an office or hotel room. The barrier to entry is very low, and I have no problem recommending the Retro given the price point.

I purchased this pen from Amazon, and it arrived quickly because it was Prime-eligible. Of course, I went with the orange version, but there are turquoise, burgundy, blue, white, black and turquoise pens available as well.

If companies such as KACO, Moonman, and Wing Sung keep this up, and can sustain a decent level of quality at their current price point, Lamy, Pilot, Pelikan, and a few others will have something to worry about with their mid-tier and entry-level offerings, especially since the trend has been towards higher pricing and spottier quality control. If nothing else, it adds variety and a bit of competition to a segment that traditionally has been dominated by a few pens - not just a few companies - and in my opinion more choice for the consumer is always a good thing.

Editor’s Note and Follow-up

I'm going to take a minute here to supplement my review of the KACO Edge and my thoughts on lower-end pens in general. Despite the overall good quality of both Wing Sung and KACO pens, I've experienced cap cracks with both, which I accept as par for the course in this price bracket. At sub-$20, you're going to have to accept a lower level of manufacturing quality control on the front end, and what becomes important is the extent to which the retailers and manufacturers will support their customers on the back end. In the case of the KACO Edge, I was warned by a reader to be on the lookout for cap cracks, and a week or so after finalizing my review, I found one. I reached out to the Amazon Seller (who I assume is affiliated with KACO), who literally responded within 5 minutes offering to mail me a new cap, and requesting that I send her a photo of the crack with details of its location so she could share with the factory. A far cry from the service you would get when you used to receive a bag of five $2 Jinhaos, and you were lucky if two of them actually wrote.

Disclaimer: This post contains links to paid sponsors and affiliates. I purchased the pen featured in this review with my own funds, for my own use.

Further Thoughts on (Very) Inexpensive Fountain Pens

I’ve previously touched on how we seem to be living in a new “golden age” of fountain pens. Pen companies - both new and old - are regularly releasing new models every few months or so, each more irresistible than the last. Sure, it may not be the best of times for the “legacy” companies such as Parker, Sheaffer, Waterman, etc., but the likes of Sailor, Pilot, Pelikan, Platinum, Lamy, and a host of relatively recent entrants have stepped it up.

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That said, in the ten years or so I’ve been following this industry, there’s been a real void at the “low end” of the price spectrum. Other than two models from Pilot, the Metropolitan and the Kakuno, or the Nemosine Singularity, there just hasn’t been that much available at the sub-$20 price point - much less the $15 price point - and a lot of what was out there was ridiculously low quality. Sure, you can go with a Platinum Preppie, but it still sort of looks like a disposable pen. As vintage collectors are aware, even during the original fountain pen “golden era” from approximately 1920-1970, there was room in the market for so-called “third-tier” brands like Wearever, Majestic, etc. Some of these cheaper pens featured interesting materials, were quite nice looking, and sold for well under a dollar. (CENTS, people, imagine that!) Apparently there’s now a flourishing vintage Wearever collectors’ community.

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Wing Sung pens have excellent nibs, in my experience. Most are paired with a transparent plastic feed.

Lately, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the resurgence of inexpensive pens being manufactured in China. Inspired by bloggers such as Frank Underwater and the Economical Penster, I made a few VERY inexpensive purchases off of Amazon and eBay. We’re talking five-pens-for-$13 kind of cheap. And you know what? The quality was more than acceptable - most of the pens I tried had very nice nibs, solid plastic construction, and some even featured piston fillers. (To be honest, the quality on many of these pens was better than pens I’ve reviewed in the $50-75 price bracket.) Cheap pens have their place. Not only do you not have to worry excessively about losing them on your desk at work, at a hotel when you’re traveling, or even in the car - you can use all those crazy permanent, shimmering, non-freezing, flammable, likely-radioactive, pen-dissolving inks that we all know you want to test out.

OK, Which Pens to Buy?

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From left: Wing Sung 3010, Wing Sung 3001, Wing Sung 3008, Wing Sung 618, and Wing Sung 698.

I’ve discussed most of these pens in a previous post where I talked about how I was making more of an effort to test inks. It turns out I’ve found myself using these pens for much more than ink testing, and have carried a couple of the Wing Sung pens as daily writers. The 3001 model has become a favorite.

• Wing Sung 3001. These are currently my preferred “cheap” pens. I purchased a five-pack, and every single pen wrote well without any adjustments. The colors look pretty nice too. I especially like the peach and smoke colored demonstrators. The filling system is cartridge-converter, but from what I can tell these don’t accept standard international cartridges. (I’ve heard Wing Sung pens accept Parker cartridges, but have not tried this myself.)

• Wing Sung 3010. Along with the Wing Sung 3001, these are the super-inexpensive pens that I’ve been using the most as daily writer. Like the 3001, these pens feature extra-fine nibs and cartridge-converter filling systems. Because the 3010 has a “snap cap”, it might prove to be less durable over time, but then again, the plastic feels pretty thick.

• Wing Sung 3008. The Wing Sung 3008 is a piston filling fountain pen that I originally purchased after using them at the DC Pen Show. Of the pens on this list, these are the ones that I’ve confined to “tester” status. They simply don’t feel as sturdy as others that I’ve used. The plastic feels a bit more flimsy and the blind cap on the piston is loose. That said, I’ve had no issues with them leaking or evaporating while they’ve been sitting on my desk, and the nibs are quite nice for a steel extra-fine.

• Jinhao Shark Pen. For a pure coolness factor, you can’t beat the Shark Pen. While I don’t own any, I’ve written with them at pen shows and everyone I’ve talked to that bought a pack enjoys them.

A bit more money ($15-20) gets you into some very interesting pens such as the Moonman M2, the Wing Sung 601 Vacumatic, and the Wing Sung 618 and 698 piston fillers. Other people have had great success with the wide variety of acrylics and styles available from PenBBS (who also make popular inks). While I’ve used the Moonman and all of the Wing Sung piston fillers and vacumatics extensively, and they’re great, there’s something incredibly satisfying about writing with an excellent fountain pen that cost you $3. For that reason, if I had to recommend one super-inexpensive pen, the Wing Sung 3001 would take the prize.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

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