Ten Fountain Pens

My Ten Pens List

In no particular order, these are my choices.

1. Preppy Wa Modern Maki-e Kachimushi (03 Fine)
   Among the entry-level fountain pens the Preppy remains my go-to, especially the fun Wa series designs. This one with a dark blue-black body and silver and gold dragonflies is my favorite, and the cap seal on the Preppy is so good that even when there are gaps in my use it works right away. The nib is so smooth and pleasant, especially for a sub $20 pen.

2. Lamy Safari Song Dynasty White Jade (Lamy Cursive Nib)
   This special edition from Ink House Hong Kong, which I ordered from a shop in Europe, is just an excellent colorway with the off white matte body, light wood color clip, and dusty green finial and accent ring. I will swap between a gold nib and the cursive nib in this pen, for this list I'll pick the expressive cursive nib.

3. Opus 88 Koloro Beige Teal (Medium)
   I'm a big fan of the Opus 88 Japanese Eyedropper pens. This pen can be a workhorse holding a large volume of ink, and the medium nib felt well-tuned right out of the box. The mid-size Koloro and Halo models are my favorite size and shape, and this colorway pairs really well with one of my favorite inks, Taccia Ainezu.

4. Kilk Luna (Broad)
   I love the sterling silver hardware on Kilk pens, and this special edition featuring the moon is just beautiful. The warmth of the gray sparkle swirled through the material matches with the aged silver moon accents and clip. With this pen I enjoy the aesthetic pleasure of pausing to admire the pen itself and the broad lines of ink it leaves on the paper, maybe with some shimmer.

5. Montegrappa Elmo 02 Nirvana (Medium Katana)
   This pen had a large MSRP but when I found a really good price I couldn't resist getting this material. It looks like layers of oil paint that blend to my signature shade of olive drab green. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy the medium nib initially but after getting Kirk Speer to take a look he did his Katana grind (my favorite from him) and now it's an excellent writer.

6. Pilot Custom Heritage 912 (SFM)
   When I was just beginning to venture into the world of gold nib pens, I tried the demos of all 15 nib options available for the 912 multiple days in a row at a pen show before making a decision. The Soft Fine-Medium (SFM) nib rose to the top as my favorite. While I do love the size and shape of this pen, I wish there were color options—but the nib alone is enough for this to be top-tier among my pens. For the time-being it's always filled with a top-tier favorite ink, Teranishi Emotional Olive.

7. Pilot Custom 74 Blue Stone (Fine)
   This is a more recent acquisition. After the 912, this is the shape of Pilot pen I like best (for some reason the very popular 823 doesn't appeal), and as much as I love the SFM nib I wanted to have a standard Pilot gold nib too. I debated between medium and fine (the advantage of having a local pen shop is I could go look at the different nibs in person). I chose the fine nib for this pen because I intended it to be more practical writer than just-for-fun pen, a finer line that would dry quickly for planning and note-taking. I love the colors Pilot has for the 74s, this smokey blue gray is gorgeous. I've now also got the Forest Green with a Medium nib, but for this list the Fine nib fills a role.

8. TWSBI Eco Serpentine with Bronze (Broad Kodachi)
   My journey started with TWSBI and I love picking up every color of Eco that appeals to me (and a few Diamond 580s). The Serpentine might be the closest "me" color pen TWSBI will make so I got two, not to have a backup to sit in a drawer but to have two active pens with distinctly different nib experiences. This one has a broad nib that was ground to a Kodachi by Matthew Chen earlier this year, and when TGS got a re-stock recently I got a 1.1 stub. I'm very happy with what I got with the "blind-box" lottery for colors and swirl pattern. I look forward to seeing what other combos TWSBI will release, but this one is going to be very tough to beat for me.

9. Sailor Pro Gear Slim Manyo "Nuts" (MF)
   Speaking of my signature olive drab and gold nibs, this was one of the first more expensive pens that I purchased (and it turns out a posted Sailor Pro Gear Slim is one of my favorite writing experiences so it has become one of many PGS pens in my collection). The Sailor Manyo ink Shirakashi was one of the inks in my first fountain pen order, and (especially when I tried painting with it) was the ink that made me truly fall in love with fountain pen inks. So, this pen inspired by Shirkashi (and another favorite, Yamabuki) ink was a no-brainer and will be the last PGS I'd hold on to.

10. Kaweco Classic Sport Black Crystal (Medium)
    This pen doesn't look like much, but serves a very particular use and I'm incredibly fond of it. This (originally crystal clear) Kaweco Sport is always eyedroppered with a non-black Kala pigmented ink for drawing (or if I need to write with water resistance like an address on a postcard). It's stained, but has never leaked and only rarely "burped" ink into the cap, even when I carry it around. It has earned a spot in the list.

Bonus: Ten Standard Pens

Since I don't have a lot new to say about my fountain pen choices, and I use a wide range of writing instruments, I also quickly assembled a bonus list of ten non-fountain pens that have been in heavy rotation. I feel like I use too many things frequently to keep up with a true "Analog Defaults" page, but this list could be considered a snapshot in time of some default standard pens.

I've included links to these pens—no affiliate links but most were purchased at the dangerously convenient and well-curated local shop The Gentleman Stationer where I'm a long-time customer and part-time employee.

1. Pilot Wood 4+1 Multi-Pen
   I got the "Meadow Green" version of this pen in Joe's second curated box offering so it's not something I picked out for myself but ended up using a great deal, especially once I learned you could swap out some of the Acroball ballpoint refills for Uni Style Fit gel refills in more colors. I have now added a second pen ("Orchard Pink") with one ballpoint and three gel refills, plus the pencil, that I always carry with me at the shop. I just recently added a section of transparent washi tape with a pretty flower vase design to the barrels of these pens to make them a little more mine, we'll see how it holds up.

2. Pilot Coleto 1000 Multi-Pen
   I've had various Coleto multi-pens for many years now, and while discovering the nearly infinite range of shades it's possible to write in with fountain pens has reduced how much I reach for colorful gel pens, this particular Coleto fits a very specific niche with three opaque refills that work on darker paper: white, gold, and silver.

3. Pilot Juice+ 0.4mm Nemophila
   I really like the "synergy tip" found on several Pilot pens including the Juice+ and Juice Up lines. This particular pen is an interesting, uncommon shade of blue (and the ink works pretty well on packing slips). For something even more unique, I'll grab one of the glossy Juice Up colors for an added bit of sparkle.

4. Uniball Signo RT-1 0.5mm Blue-Black
   Several years ago I picked out a bunch of Japanese gel pens to test and figure out my own preferences and this was a favorite. I like the click and the blue black is a good color, and now I can get them locally!

5. Writech Sprinkles Gel Pen 0.5mm Pickle
   While I've tried a few different types of Writech pens and been pleasantly surprised with their performance—my decision to purchase and use this pen is almost entirely because the color is "pickle," chase your joy.

6. Ohto CR02 Ceramic Rollerball Wine Red
   This is a pen I fell for because it was available to test in the shop, even in a body color I wouldn't typically choose. I picked one up for my birthday this year and when the occasion calls for writing with a smooth, dark black ink this is a pleasure to use.

7. Uniball Zento Canary Yellow 0.5mm
   No, it's not a Signature, but I'm good with this soft yellow standard click pen body. I got both the Zento and One pens to try out, and this is the one I keep reaching for. If I do get a fancier Zento body it will be the Zento Flow Birch.

8. Anterique Mach Ball 0.5mm Ballpoint Clear Amber/Mustard Yellow
   Sometimes you just need a classic ballpoint, and there's something satisfying about the style of these Anterique pens—the sort of pen you'd tuck into your checkbook. With dozens of colors to choose from, this mix of smokey dark taupe and earthy mustard yellow is *chef's kiss*.

9. Lamy Safari Ballpoint Scarlet
   I'm team matte finish Safari, and when the Scarlet color joined the lineup I saw it would be a great complement to my Petrol and Savannah Green fountain pens but with the introduction of the M17F 0.7mm Jetstream Refill I pivoted and got the safari ballpoint instead. The standard M16 ballpoint refill is ok, but the darker, smooth line from the M17 is very nice. The style of this pen makes writing with boring black more enjoyable.

10. Pentel Tradio
    The Tradio is a strange pen with a triangle fiber tip, but I enjoy the feel of writing with it. What I didn't love as much was being limited to standard black, blue, or red—so I might have done something about that. ;)