Sometimes...

Recently I did a review of the Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio 4 Multi pen.  One of the inserts that I put in mine was a 0.3 mm pencil.  Avid readers of this blog are well aware of my fondness for 0.3 mm drafting pencils, so I was stoked to have a 0.3 mm pencil in a multi pen.  My write up was rather glowing, and perhaps a bit premature!  As you can see it proved to be a bit fragile!  The pencil refused to advance lead when I tried to use it the other day so I removed it from the Coleto body to see if I could find the problem.  my investigation proved fatal for the poor fragile pencil.  It broke at the swivel point where the plastic push button meets the metal body.

Now as to why the pencil stopped working I'm not 100% sure, but my guess is static electricity!  0.3 mm pencils often have this problem, probably due to the fact that the lead is so small in diameter that there is not enough weight to break the lead free of the adjoining pieces.  It could be any number of problems, but the fact is I have had quite a few 0.3 mm pencils fail to feed over the years and I have had to tear them down and clean them out before they will feed again.  I guess it's the nature of the beast.

I wrote to jetpens.com to inform them of the breakage and to say that I should have bought a 0.5 mm pencil instead, believing them to be less susceptible to feeding problems.  Lo and Behold, I received and email informing me that I was being sent, free of charge a 0.5 mm insert as a replacement for the broken 0.3 mm insert!  Wow!  That was unexpected!  But I guess I really should have expected something like that to happen considering my past dealings with JetPens.

Sometimes it's not about the sales, or the product being sold, sometimes it's all about the service after the sale.  Sometimes it's all about the Customer Service.  If JetPens is about nothing else it's about customer service!  Not lip service, but real, honest, "the customer is always right" Customer Service!  I have dealt with all kinds of customer service personal with all kinds of companies, both small and giant, both via phone and email but I can count on one hand how many of them have been as customer oriented as the people at JetPens!  Everyone I have dealt with at JetPens, from employee to co-owner has treated me with the utmost kindness and respect!  They treat me as if I matter to them, and I believe that I do, as all their customers do to them, I'm sure!

It's not that I received a freebie from JetPens (which is a heck of a lot more than I've often got from companies 10 to 1000 times their fiscal size), instead it's about how I was treated, how I am genuinely thought of as an important customer to JetPens, even though I am sure I am not one of their most prolific customers!  But I am treated as one!  As if I buy high ticket items in quantity all the time!  It's the type of customer service lots of companies reserve for such "important" clients!  But JetPens gives out such customer service to each and every customer they have!

Sometimes it's not about what you buy, it's about who you buy it from!  Sometimes it's all about the people behind the counter, or in this case across cyberspace, that matter.  If all Customer Services personnel across the world were like the Customer Service personnel at JetPens then this would be a much nicer world.  So guys and gals at JetPens, take a bow, you've earned it!

Attention Readers.  I would very much like to read about your experiences with JetPens customer service.  So please leave a comment or drop me an email about your experience with JetPens customer service.  I'll pass along the comments I get to JetPen.

Please check out all the latest items JetPens has to offer by visiting jetpens.com.

Pilot S20, Elegance In Wood

 

The first experience that I had with the Pilot S series was a pleasant surprise!  I really enjoyed my experience with the Pilot S10.  I liked it so much that I ended up buying an S3 and an S5 in 0.3 mm and an S3 in 0.4 mm.  But circumstances would not allow me to buy an S20.  But recently I was gifted an S20, the only one in the series made of wood.  There is no material more naturally elegant than wood.  And the Pilot S20 is nothing if not elegant! 

 

The other pencils in the series are made of plastic with either a plastic grip (S3), rubber grip (S5), or a metal grip (S10) and have a straight grip where the grip of the S20 is nicely curved near the tip.  The over all look of the shape of the pencil adds to it's elegance.  With the satin finish metal components the dark wood with it's satin finish gives the S20 a very sleek and elegant appearance.

 

But appearances alone do not make the pilot S20 such an elegant pencil.  The feel of the pencil is also elegant.  The shape along with the satin finish allows for a good grip and a good feel.  Writing with the S20 is a pleasant experience in part due to it's satiny smooth finish and shape, but the balance point is approximately 65 mm from the tip, just 6 mm shy from center.  This combination for me makes for a nice writing experience.  The pencil is not hard to hold and the wood feels so good in my fingers.

 

But enough gushing over the appearance and feel of elegant wood, let's get down to some stats.  Over all the S20 is approximately 146 mm long and 11 mm in diameter at it's widest.  it weighs 17.5 grams making it a semi heavyweight.  But I like a  weighty pencil, but then again I like a lightweight pencil as well.  Come to think of it, I like drafting pencils of all kinds and weights. Each delivers it's own experience.

 

 

Unlike the rest of the series, with the exception of the S3, the S20 breaks down into only 5 major components, the grip/body along with the metal pocket clip, the tip/end cap, the eraser with clean out rod and the lead indicator/push button.  I am sure that the pencil can be broken down further, but probably at the cost of breaking the pencil.  Besides there is no need to break the pencil down further in order to clear a lead jam.

 

The S20 is a ratcheting/clutch pencil which takes just two presses of the push button to advance enough to write with.  The mechanism is not loud enough to be a bother and the the mechanism is tight.  The lead reservoir is  cavernous enough to hold a tube of lead or more but works best with a tube or less.  To change the lead grade in the lead grade indicator window the push button must be removed so the tube can be held as the top is turned to the desired lead grade.  The pocket clip is removable but I would never do so for fear of damaging the wood. 

 

Weather you use the S20 at home or at the office, it will defiantly make a statement.  It's design, It's juxtaposition of wood and bright metal, both satin finish make the S20 the most elegant of the Pilot S series drafting pencils.  The entire series is available from our friends at JetPens.com.

Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio 4 Multi-Pen

I have never been a fan of multi-pens.  Mainly because of the early ones like the Bic 4 color pens.  They were always ball points and in four colors, red, blue, green and black!  And the slimmer 2 color pens that came in either red and black or blue and red, again in all point.  Not a big fan of ball point pens either.  Refills, if the pen was refillable, were hard to find, expensive and the reservoir was small!  But over the years things have changed.  Now there are all kinds of refillable multi-pens!  Some are still ball-point pens, but even so many of these come with a built in mechanical pencil!  The best are the ones that are 3 to 4 pen/pencil multi pens that are sold empty.  The user them customizes their own multi-pen with a wide variety of refills, from ball point to gel to mechanical pencil.  Some can even be fitted with a stylus!  These multi-pens are a far cry from the earlier ones and can be custom fitted to suit the need of the user!

One of the very best of these is the very versatile Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio 4 (now that's a mouth full)!  This pen comes as a pen body with nothing in it!  A blank slate ready to be filled with the users desired components!  The components are each sold separately.  The body comes in Black, Metallic Blue, Metallic Pink, Silver, Blue, Gray, Pink, soft Green and White as sold by JetPen.com.  Mine is in silver.  The Hi-Tec-C gel pen refills come in 0.3 mm, 0.4 mm & 0.5 mm sizes in 15 different colors!  The mechanical pencil refill comes in 0.3 mm and 0.5 mm.  There is also an eraser component and a stylus component!  WOW!  That's a lot of different refills!  Choices, choices, choices!

I ended up choosing the 0.3 mm mechanical pencil (a no-brainer) and a black gel pen in all 3 sizes!  Sweet!  I'm happy with my choices as I do use gel pens often.  And 0.3 mm is my favorite lead size.  I carry with me, in a pocket protector, a 0.5 mm drafting pencil, a uni Signo 207 Micro, a Pilot 0.38 mm G2, a stick eraser, a retractable EF Sharpie and an X-Acto style hobby knife.  In a second pocket protector I carry a small top ring note book.  My lovely wife calls them my "Geek Gear".  Cute.  But at one time or another while out and about, I've had need of every item in the pouches!  What I am considering doing is to replace the 2 gel pens and the pencil with the Coleto Lumio 4!  I like it that much!  But to be perfectly honest, if I had not been gifted the body, I probably never would have bought one and the refills to fill it.

Filling the Coleto is easy as popin' the top!

Sliding in the refill, making sure all the grooves and tabs align (they practically thread themselves and lock in with a noticeable feel)!

Then closing the top!  It closes with a snap!  The Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio 4 is now ready for use, eh almost!  Before you insert the pencil component into the pencil you should put a few pieces of lead into the reservoir.  This is easily done as the tip separates from the reservoir easily where the plastic part of the tip connects to the metal reservoir.  Add a few pieces of lead to the reservoir then reassemble the component.  NOW insert it into the body...

Using the Coleto is as simple as any other multi-pen only smoother.  The components go down with a smooth, easy motion using very little pressure because the springs in the pen are light but strong enough to do the job.  Releasing the locked down component is equally as light and easy!  As far as the feel of the pen components goes, they feel like any other Hi-Tec-C gel pen of the size chosen.  Same goes for the 0.3mm pencil.  The tips of the pencils and pens look very similar.  This means the pencil's lead sleeve is short making it definitely a mechanical pencil component, not a drafting pencil component.  So long as excess lead is not extended and excess pressure is not applied then the pencil writes fine.

Pencil tip

Pen tip

Now I guess you blog readers want me to give you some stats!  Well I'm not going to do it!  Nope, not this time!  Ain't gonna do it!  Well, OK!  You talked me into it...  Or was that just the voices in my head...?  Anyway, the Coleto Lumio 4 is a lightweight weighing only15.7 grams filled as I have it.  Different components are going to change the weight to some degree.  The over all length with the components detracted is 142 mm making it of average length.  The upper body diameter is 12.3 mm and the diameter of the grip is 11.4 mm.  The balance point is approximately 72 mm from the tip of the pen body.  This makes the pen nearly perfectly balanced at the pens center.  The pen body is plastic with a metal pocket clip.  The body separates from the grip so the components can be accessed without excessive wear and tear on the pens cap.  The texture of the finish on the plastic is excellent!  Despite there being no roughness to the surface the surface provides an excellent gripping surface!  I have no problem holding onto the pen!

Bottom line...  Like I stated earlier, I would probably never have bought a Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio 4 Multi-pen if it had not been for the gift of the body.  I like the pen so much I am now considering buying another one, maybe in blue, and filling it with both pencil components, the eraser component and the stylus component!  I'll certainly review it if I do!  So, if you are in the market for a good, customizable, multi-pen then I don't think you could go wrong by purchasing a Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio 4 from JetPens.com.

The Old Geezer

Pilot Plumix And Penmanship

I first read about the Pilot Plumix while reading an article on “unposted”. I was intrigued to say the least. I used to do calligraphy some years back but I set it aside and have yet to pick it back up. So I appreciate elegant writing and I knew the minute that I saw the nib on the Plumix just what it was supposed to do. It has a broad faced medium wide nib very similar to a calligraphy nib but unlike a calligraphy nib the nib on the Plumix is designed to be pushed! A true calligraphy nib can not be pushed, only pulled, or else it chatters and spits ink! I knew that the Plumix was designed for the average person to use in their daily writing and I knew how to use it! At the time Target was about the only place the Plumix could be found, (it is now carried by JetPens), so as soon as I could I headed out to my local Target store and picked up one in Turquoise Blue.

The Plumix comes carded with a single Pilot Blue ink cartridge. But there are no instructions on how to use the pen! If you are not familiar with broad tipped calligraphy pens then the Plumix may be a strange beast to you! The body of the pen is also different than other fountain pens. Made entirely of plastic the Plumix has 3 body sections, the cap, the grip or midsection and the tail or upper body. The cap is bullet shaped, has 2 wings to aid the user in removing the cap, which screws on. The grip is ergonomically made, the bottom being rounded and the 2 sides slop upward and are curved inward. Thus the grip offers only one way to hold the pen, the correct way. The upper body screws onto the grip and meets the grip at a specific point. The belly of the body slops downward to start then back up then tapers to a blunt end. It sort of looks like a guppy! All in all I find the shape pleasing to the eye as well as to the hand. The pens are two tone with the cap and body being of one color while the grip another. Currently the Plumix is offered in Transparent Black, Turquoise Blue and Purple, with a clear grip.

Some stats…The Plumix weighs 10.6 grams with a full ink cartridge. It is 150.8 mm long capped, 151.1 mm long posted and 144.1 mm long unposted. It is 12.1 mm in diameter at the joint between body and grip. The balance point, from the nib, is 71.4 mm posted and 61.9 mm unposted. The pen is top heavy either way but it has a better balance posted. The nib is 1 mm wide.

To use the Plumix first unscrew the body from the grip and insert the ink cartridge into the grip. The cartridge has to be manually forced onto the feeding tube. Squeezing the ink cartridge a little helps aid in getting the ink through the baffles and to the nib. Reattach the body and remove the cap. I like to post, you may not. Next grip the pen as you would any other pen but using the grips shape as a guide. Tilt the paper as you would normally, as we were taught in school. When the pen nib is touching the paper it should be at a 30 to 45 degree angle to the long side of the paper. When a stroke is made for an upper case “T” it should be a very thin stroke and be at the prescribed angle. The downward stroke should be normally slanted but bold. Subsequent letters should have this thin/thick appearance. Simple, hey!? By adding a little flair you can make your handwriting come alive!

The Penmanship is a horse of a different color compared to the Plumix. While superficially the 2 pens may look very similar they are really 2 different pens. The only thing that they share in common is the fact that the caps are interchangeable as are the nibs and baffles. The grip is shaped the same only the upper body of the Penmanship does not have a belly like a guppy instead it tapers normally like any other pen. The threads on the grip are different on the Penmanship so the bodies are not interchangeable. The shape of the cap on the Penmanship is blunter and the wings are rectangular, not angular fins as on the Plumix. They are also much thicker. The Penmanship comes in two colors only, Clear and Black with red wings on the cap! Now who’s idea were the red wings?… Any way the nib on the Penmanship is an Extra Fine writing nib! This wonderful nib produces a line only 0.3 mm wide!

Some stats… The Penmanship weighs 10.1 grams with a full cartridge. It is 148.3 mm long, capped, 150.3 mm long posted and 146.9 mm long unposted. It is 11.8 mm in diameter at the joint between the grip and body. The balance point, from the nib, is 71.4 mm posted and 61.9 mm unposted. This makes the Penmanship top heavy but the better balance is with the pen posted. The nib is an EF that measures 0.432 mm wide!

This is the first EF nibbed fountain pen I’ve ever owned! In fact up until a few months ago I had only one fountain pen, a soft plastic Black and Turquoise Niji. This pen was made some 30 plus years ago, at least that’s as long as I’ve had it. It seems to have a fine nib though it’s not marked with it’s width. Then a few months a go a nice young lady by the name of Nasferatuia gave me a Pilot Petit 1 and a Pilot Varsirty disposable fountain pen. Then a short while later Nrepose over at unposted did an review of the pilot Plumix where he also mentioned the pilot Penmanship. Shortly thereafter I went to my local Target and bought a Turquoise Blue Pilot Plumix. The next thing you know I have all 3 Plumix! Then I find myself ordering fountain pens and ink from JetPens and fountain pens from J.Stationary and buying fountain pens from Staples! I have gone from owing one fountain pen and an old bottle of Black ink to now owning 17 fountain pens and 6 bottles of ink! Oh, when will the madness end!?

Back to sanity! I am torn between the 2 pens. I like the calligraphic nature of the Plumix with it’s interplay of thin and thick lines. The calligraphic hand looks so elegant! But I also like the very thinness of the Penmanship. I like the ability to write small and the Penmanship allows me to do just that! Both pens feel good in my hand. I like the ergonomically shaped grips. They leave no question as to where I should put my fingers and how to grip the pens. Both pens write first time every time but this may be in part to the Noodler’s ink that I’m using in all my pens. The Plumix is certainly the smoothest writing of the 2 pens but the sound of the Penmanship’s nib as it moves across the paper puts me in mind of a scribe toiling away late into the night in order to finish some manuscript. But if I write light, as neither pen requires a heavy hand, the Penmanship can barely be heard despite it’s needle like nib. And none but the finest nibbed gel pens and rollerballs can compare to the thinness of the Penmanship’s nib!

It’s a good thing that we live in a world where we have choices yet don’t have to choose! If I had to pick one pen over the other I would be in a mental dilemma of mammoth proportions! I can now understand the fondness fountain pen users have for their pens! For me it’s like rediscovering a fondness that you didn’t know that you had lost, or ever had in the first place, like the awaking of a buried desire, a very pleasant desire, that now has bloomed into a full blown obsession!!!… No, wait, I was already obsessed with pens! Fountain pens are only an extension of that obsession!… Oh, when will the madness end!?

Sorry for that little outburst!… So if you are in the mood to try something different then I suggest that you pick up a Pilot Plumix and get ready to produce some elegant writing. Or if you like things thin then pick up a Pilot Penmanship and tell the fat pens to step aside! Or, if you are like me (Heaven forbid!) then why not just pick up both! Both are available from our friends at JetPens!… Oh, when will the madness end!?

08/03/2009 Update: There has been some confusion among others as to the "M" designation on the Plumix nib and the "Fine" designation on the package. The confusion is, is it a "fine" nib or a "Medium" nib. Well while looking at some Platinum pens I ran across a nib chart. That's where I saw the "M" designation defined and suddenly all was clear! The Plumix pen nib is a "Music" nib! The original use for such a nib was to write sheet music! It is not, as I has assumed, a calligraphy-type nib used to write with, at least not originally. But a music nib lends itself to the writer as a pen that will produce an elegant hand, much like a calligraphic pen. Only a "Music" nib can be pushed when tuned correctly, a calligraphy nib can not. The "Fine" designation is probably correct for a calligraphy nib in that the width of the Plumix nib is 1 mm.

Pilot S10 0.3 mm Drafting Pencil

This pencil was a surprise to me, a very pleasant surprise! I don't know just what I was expecting but it certainly wasn't what I got! From the moment that I first pick it up I knew that this was no ordinary drafting pencil. It felt weighty, thought why this was a surprise to me I don't know as I knew that the long grip was metal, not plastic. I like a weighty pencil, it makes me think that I have something substantial in my hand, something of value. That's not to say that lightweight pencils are of low value, on the contrary, it takes a lot to make a pencil both lightweight and sturdy! It's just that most of us equate weight with value. But the surprises didn't stop there.

The next surprise was styling. I'd seen pics of the pencil but seeing it in person was different. I thought the pencil a little funky looking until I saw it in person. It was then that the overall beauty of this pencil hit me! It really is an attractive looking design. The pocket clip is unusual
in design but very attractive, even sexy, in appearance with its curved lines and side opening clasp. It's a beautiful satin silver color with the name "PILOT" spelled out in all caps near the top of the clip. It's maned of sheet metal, stamped and formed.

Another surprise was the lead grade indicator. It is an integral part of the
push button and is made of plastic over a metal shaft. The window is round and the lead grades are white against a dark yellow (plastic) background, which is the same color as the top of the push button which has the lead diameter printed in white in the middle of it.

Yet still another pleasant surprise is the cavernous lead reservoir. It's large enough to hold a lot of lead, a feature that I like a lot. I like to fill my pencils with as much lead as they will hold and when that is over a single 12 piece tube I'm happy. I can dump several tubes into the belly of the 0.3 mm S10!

With all that lead in there how does it come out? Slowly! Two clicks of the bush button produces enough lead to write with without the danger of the lead breaking. With some pencils no matter how many of few times you press the push button either too much lead is produced or too little, never just enough! So with these pencils I am constantly having to adjust the length of lead that is produced. This is a pain to say the least. But not so with the S10 0.3 mm pencil! Two clicks and there is enough lead to write with but not enough to cause breakage, unless you are heavy handed!
Yet one more pleasant surprise about this remarkable pencil is the fact that the end cap/lead sleeve and grip are not integral! The end cap/lead sleeve and the grip are separate units. To remove the grip all one has to do is to remove the end cap/lead sleeve. The end cap/lead sleeve screws on but the grip slips off. There is rather a thick body colored "O" ring behind the grip where it would otherwise contact the translucent plastic body. I assume that the "O" ring is there to protect the plastic upper body from damage due to over tightening the end cap/lead sleeve up against the grip. This could possibly happen as the end cap/lead sleeve thread onto plastic, not metal. There is a two step brass ring on the lower body under the grip acting as a fitting, snugging the grip up to the plastic.

I was also pleased to find that there was a clean out rod under the eraser! Since this was my first Pilot drafting pencil I was not sure if I would find one or not! Then while looking over stuff at JetPens I discovered that Pilot actually sells clean out rods! They are sold with 5 replacement erasers in a small plastic box! They are sold like this for 3 different pencils one of them being the S Series line of drafting pencils! I was so intrigued that I had to buy a pack even though I never use the eraser that comes with drafting pencils.
The erasers themselves do not have clean out rods with them, the one from under the original eraser must be used. But the 2 clean out rods that come with the set of erasers are stand alone clean out rods, the first that I've ever seen that are commercially made! They are 28.4 mm long and one is for 0.3 & 0.4 mm pencils while the other is for 0.5, 0.7 & 0.9 mm pencils. They are looped at one end to form a handle. They are excellent little clean out rods, my hat's off to Pilot for making them and to JetPens for selling them!



I guess it's time for some stats! I know you all have been waiting for them so here they are! The pencil is 145.3 mm long, 10.4 mm in diameter at the widest point (the top of the grip), weights 20.3 grams and has a balance point 98.5 mm from the push button. This makes the pencil bottom heavy, which I like! It takes only 2 clicks to produce enough lead to write with, as I've said before, a feature that I really like.

The pencil breaks down into 6 major parts and 2 minor ones. They are the lead sleeve/end cap, the grip, the amber colored body with integral lead reservoir/3-jawed chuck assembly, the removable pocket clip, the push button/lead grade indicator and the eraser. The brass fitting and rubber "O"ring are on the outside of the body. The grip is tapered so it goes onto the pencil only one way. The grip is finely checkered with 4 grooved rings,equally spaced, at the working end of the pencil and is made of chrome plated brass. The fine checkering aids greatly in holding the pencil, being not too sharp. The end cap/lead sleeve is also satin finished brass with a 4 mm fixed stainless steel lead sleeve. In nice silver print on the side of the pencil are the company logo, The words,"PILOT", "0.3", "S-10" and "S-SERIES". Just below the satin silver tone pocket clasp are the words "PILOT JAPAN B2" raised in the plastic. That's it for the stats!

The last surprise the S10 had in store for me was how good it feels in my had and how well it writes! It's girth, weight and long checkered grip make the S10 a dream to write with! It's rock steady in my hand and steers effortlessly across the paper. Combined with it's stylish good looks the Pilot S10 0.3 mm drafting pencils is a real winner in my book! I'll give it a 5 out of 5 stars!

The Pilot S10 Series Drafting Pencils as well as the eraser refills and clean out rods are available from our friends at JetPens.

How To Refill A Pilot Takoizu Green Petit1 Fountain Pen With Pelikan 4001 Brillant Black Ink From An Old Bottle

(This is a lighthearted look at something every Penaholic who has ever owned a cartridge fountain pen has done)

For this project you will need the following: One donated Pilot Takoizu Green Petit1 mini fountain pen (Ah, where would we be without the kindness of others?); An old bottle of Pelikan Brilliant Black ink; An eye dropper; A pair of long noise tweezers; A sink (free of cats who drink from the sink) with running water; One facial tissue; One paper towel.

The procedure: Open the pen by unscrewing the back of the pen and removing the ink cartridge. If it's not empty then move to the sink and empty the ink out of the tube using gravity and water pressure. Turn the cartridge so that the mouth is facing down and allow the swirling water in the bottom of the sink to pull the ink from the cartridge. See the pretty green water? Squeeze the cartridge to siphon up more water. Turn the cartridge up and allow the water stream to force out more ink. Keep at it until all the ink is gone. Bye bye green ink! Once the cartridge is free of the green ink use the tweezers to remove the little green disk of plastic from the cartridge. Now you can shake any excess water from the tube and set it a side.

Next clean out all the green ink from the nib and the feed tube by running water through it and blowing the water and ink out the nib end. Your lungs supply the air, your lips go on the back of the feed tube and you blow. Repeat the process until all that comes out is clear water, or you pass out. Then blow out the water. You can also shake the nib and feed tube to help rid it of water. But no matter how hard you blow or shake, there will still be water in the feed tube. Dry the exterior of both the nib and feed tube as well as the now empty cartridge. Use the paper towel.

Dry the interior of the cartridge by rolling up one corner of the paper towel to form a long skinny spike. Stuff the spike into the cartridge. See how the paper towel absorbs the water? Remove the spike. Roll a second spike from a different corner of the paper towel. Dry the space between the outside of the feed tube and the inside of the connector. Use the spike. See how the paper towel absorbs the water? Once the nib and feed tube and the cartridge are dry it's time to refill the cartridge with fresh ink from the old bottle of Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black ink.

To refill the refill open the ink bottle and using the eye dropper siphon up some ink from the ink bottle. Very carefully poke the end of the eye dropper into the mouth of the cartridge. Don't poke it in too far! You need an air space so the air can escape the cartridge as the ink goes in. If you fail to do this you'll end up with ink spurting from the end of the cartridge! What a mess that would be! Don't fill the cartridge beyond the point where the cartridge widens out! If you do you'll be sorry! The wide part of the cartridge is the part that fits onto the feed tube. If you get any ink in the mouth of the cartridge remove it with a paper towel spike.

Now you are ready to attach the newly filled, with fresh ink from an old bottle of ink, cartridge to the feed tube. Hold the feed tube so that the nib is up, towards the ceiling. Take the refilled refill cartridge, holding it vertically, so the ink doesn't spill and make a mess, and shove it, gently, up the connector until it completely covers the feed tube. Now, holding the partially assembled pen over the sink, gently squeeze the ink cartridge to force the ink into the pen. Let gravity assist you by turning the nib down toward the sink. Once you see ink start to flow into the nib proper, stop squeezing! Now you'll notice that only bubbles of ink remain in the cartridge. It needs to filed again. Remove the ink cartridge and set the nib aside for the moment. Taking the eye dropper, siphon up more ink and holding the cartridge over the sink, use the eye dropper to force out any air pockets before refilling the cartridge for a second time. Once refilled replace it back onto the feed tube. There may be some watery ink between the cartridge and inner wall of the connector. If there is, yep, use the spike. If there are no more unused spikes on your paper towel, then get another one. Once the cartridge is seated and the pen dried, replace the tail piece and post the cap. You are now ready to write.

To get the ink flowing through the nib I like to draw circles, or rather one long continuous spiral, until the ink is flowing properly. You may choose the design that you like best. At first the ink will be watery, maybe even black/green. Keep moving the nib until you see solid black. When you do you can do some writing or drawing or cap the pen and move onto something else with the knowledge that you have accomplished, with minimal mess, a feat dear to every Penaholic's heart! You can now use the tissue to wipe the tears of joy from your face!

Many thanks to Nosferatuia for her generosity in giving me the Petit1 (Please visit her blog, Abysmal Musings), and to JetPens.com for the use of the photo.

Sakura Pigma Micron vs Pilot DR Drawing Pen

Recently I was able to purchase a few technical pens. Namely four Sakura Pigma Micros and four Pilot DR Drawing Pens. The Microns I obtained locally but the DRs I bought from JetPens, though JetPens also sells the Microns. I purchased only the smallest 4 nibs available: #005 (0.20mm), #01 (0.25mm), #02 (0.30mm) and #03 (0.35mm). I have no use or desire for the larger sizes.

Both pens are of the plastic covered pourous material type, commenly called "felt tiped" pens. Both have a long metel tips that measure approximately 5mm long. The long tips are so the pens can ride up next to drafting instruments such as sliding squares and triangles as the primary use for these pens is mechanical drawing and drafting. However I, and many others, use them mainly for writing, drawing with them is secondary. I rather like technical pens for writing for they are generally smoother writing than any rollerball/gel pens. The porour tips are a bit more fragile than the metal ball of a of a gel pen or a rollerball but as long as they are treated right they should last the life of the pen.

For this test I used what has now become my standard pen test. I write a short line with it, in order to get the "feel" of the pen. I then draw a short line, later to be used for the water test, then I lightly hold the pen to the paper for 10 seconds for the bleed test. The water test consists of me placing a single drop of water from an eye dropper on each line. I do not smear the ink, I simply allow the water to soak into the paper to see if the ink will run, or "feather". After the paper had dried I scanned it and posted the results here.

The results pretty much speak for themselves. The lines produced by each pen of the same point size are relatively the same width. The second #03 pen test for line width was because the Sakura seemed to have been wider than the Pilot so I wanted to be sure. The subsequent test proved the widths to be the same. The water test showed that the ink from both pens is waterproof, which is to be expected since both inks are pigmented. There was no feathering or running of the ink iwith either pen. They are also light fast and at least the Pigma Micron is acid-free. The bleed test showed that all the pens bled through to the second page with only the #03 DR bleeding through to the third page but you had to look carefully in order to see the mark. The DRs were scratchier, in every point size, than the Microns, especially the #005 point size. The ink from both appears to be dark, not watery. The DRs are just slightly longer than the Microns and weigh about the same but I like the feel of the Microns better than the DRs.

Both pens are available from JetPens.com, the Microns for $2.00 each and the DRs for $2.50 each. As far as I am concerned my money is on the Sakura Pigma Microns.

Many thanks to JetPens for the use of the pen photos.

Pilot Hello Kitty Cap Limited Edition Hi-Tec-C Gel Ink Pen, 0.3mm

When JetPens sent out a call for reviewers to do a review of the new Pilot Hello Kitty Cap Limited Edition Hi-Tec-C Gel Ink Pen I answered the call. Little did I know what I was getting myself in for. I pride myself on knowing a little something about the products that I write about and while I do know a little about the Pilot Hi-Tec-C line of gel pens I must admit my ignorance about the Hello Kitty phenomenon. So I did a little research on the web and to my amazement I found just about everything under the sun came as a Hello Kitty product, even Fender guitars! It started in 1974 with a vinyl coin purse and has spawned in to an industry making billions of dollars a year. And I thought it was a recent phenomenon, silly me. I guess that's what happens when you don't get out much!

To die in the cat fur Hello Kitty fans introductions are not necessary. You already know more about Hello Kitty than I could possibly learn and you're only 8 years old! While there are an abundance of things out there for the younger generation there are also as many it seems for the slightly older Hello Kitty fans. One of those products is an adorable set of 9 differently colored Pilot Hi-Tec-C gel pens. These well known and liked gel pens are being offered in a limited edition series featuring Hello Kitty, Charming Kitty and their adorable little mouse friend. The charms come cleverly attached to the cap of the pen, riding in the groove of the pocket clip. The accent colors of the charms are the same as the colors of ink in the pens, which are offered in both the 0.3mm and 0.4mm sizes.

Now usually such charms are permanently attached to the pen in some way so that when the pen is empty, unless it's refillable like the Hi-Tec-C's, you are left with a cute, but, almost useless item. But with the Hello Kitty Hi-Tec-C's not only are they refillable but the charm is removable and transferable to any other Hi-Tec-C stick pen! So once you have enjoyed your Hello Kitty Hi-Tec-C to the last letter not only can you buy a refill and continue to enjoy the Hello Kitty Hi-Tec-C experience but you can transfer the charm to another Hi-Tec-C gel pen. And if it happens to be one of the same point size and color you don't even have to remove the charm, just use the existing cap on the new pen. Now how clever is that?

The pen that I received for this review was the 0.3mm in Aqua Blue. The charm attached to the pen is the character Charming Mouse with an aqua blue bow tie! How cute! Being the curious type it wasn't long before I had the charm detached from the pen and attached to my 0.3mm Black Hi-Tec-C. Removable and attachment is easy but does require a little effort. I suggest removing the cap from the pen then while firmly holding the cap in one hand and the charm in the other pull straight back in one continuous motion. To attach the charm do just the opposite. The clip of the charm is plastic so don't be rough with it during removal and attachment. It just wouldn't do to break such a cute charm!

Of the 4 sizes of nibs the Hi-Tec_C pens come in my favorite size to write with is the 0.3mm. This is because it is less scratchy than the 0.25mm yet still produces a very fine line. And if it's anything I like in a pen or pencil it's fine lines. The thin needle like sleeve of the Hi-Tec_C's have been criticized by some as being too fragile and easily broken. I have yet to break the tip on a Hi-Tec-C, even the 0.25mm. Sure, anything can be broken if you apply enough pressure to it. So in general heavy handed writers should never use any king of needle point pen as they all will bend and break under abuse. But I rather like the needle point of the Hi-Tec-C's much for the same reason I like the lead sleeve on drafting pencils: It allows a clear sight picture of what's being written and it works well in drawing templates.

As I mentioned earlier the 0.3mm is less scratchy feeling than the 0.25mm pen. The 0.3mm is surprisingly smooth for such a fine tipped pen, smoother than some a bit larger in size. For this is one reason I like writing with the 0.3mm version of the Hi-Tec-C, it's smooth and makes a fine line! This is a hard combanation to come by in a thin line pen. So hat's off to Pilot Pen of Japan for coming up with it.

According to a write up at JetPens the ink in the "Hi-Tec-C pens contain a gel based ink that is insoluble with most pigments when dry (so they won't bleed)". I'm not sure if this means that the ink is a pigmented in but it sounds like it. I do know that the ink did not smear or bleed when moistened nor did it bleed through to the next sheet of paper when I held the point to the paper for 10 seconds. These are very desirable qualities in a pen and Pilot has hit the nail on the head with this ink formula.

The Hello kitty Cap limited Edition Hi-Tec-C is offered in a 9-color pack in either 0.3mm or 0.4mm point sizes at JetPens for $30.00. The colors include Black, Green, Pink, Aqua Blue, Orange, Clear Blue, Baby Pink, Apricot Orange, and Red. Mine is in Aqua Blue, which is a very, very beautiful lightish blue color. It happens to have been the very color I had ask for! Hurray for Lily!

The Hi-Tec-C is a short pen so in order to give it good balance putting the cap on the back end while writing is a must. Besides, if you don't you won't get a chance to look at the adorable Hello Kitty charm! The grip area is ribbed which makes for a good grip surface and doesn't get dirty like some rubber grips do. I find it easy to grip and fun to write with. So, if you are a died in the cat fur Hello Kitty fan and want a nice functional collectible then go to JetPens.com and buy a set of the Pilot Hello Kitty Cap Limited Edition Hi-Tec-C gel pens today! Better hurry before they're all gone!

Many thanks to JetPens.com for the Hello Kitty pen for consideration in this review and for the use of the photos.










Edit 02/04/2009: I called the charm on the Hi-Tec-C "Charming Mouse" because that was who I was told was the name of the character. I have since been informed that the real name of the character is "Sugar, The Hamster". This tells you the shallowness of my knowledge about the long standing Hello Kitty phenomenon. If I offend any Hello Kitty fans, I humbly apologize. If I made you laugh, all the better. Just remember, I'm an old geezer!

A Test Of Four

While viewing blog Toying with Light, where Ruby did a short review on 8 blue gel pens, I got the idea to do the same thing with the 4 black ink 0.5mm RT gel pens that I have. I shamelessly copied her technique as I thought it a good one for a short quick test. I only hope that she is more honored that I copied her than she is miffed at me. We are members of the same pen forum so maybe she will forgive me.

Anyway... The 4 gel pens I used for this test were the four that I had on hand: The Mistubishi uni-ball Signo 207 Micro (top); the Pilot G-2 Extra Fine 05(second from top); the Pilot Precise V5 RT (third from top) and the Pilot V Ball RT Extra Fine (bottom). The V5 has a needle point with the other 3 having conical points. All the pens are supposed to be 0.5mm pens. But since different manufacturers label their pen nibs differently it's hard to tell just what size the balls in the points really are. The Signo 207 Micro is touted as having a 0.5mm ball but that it writes a 0.38mm line. I have read that to determine the size of line a particular size ball should make is to divide the diameter of the ball by 2. If that is the case then all four pens should make a 0.25mm line! But we already know that's not true in this case just by looking at the pic, not all the pens produced the same size lines. More on that later.

The paper that I used was common notebook paper 0.003" (0.076mm) thick. There was 1/4 of a loose leaf package under the top page. I wrote the first half of the holoalphabetic sentence, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog", followed by a short line then a dot. The dot was where I held the pen in place for 10 seconds with moderate pressure. After the ink had dried for a minute I used a drop of water on the end of my finger and placed it on the line. I did not attempt to smudge the line, I simply let the water do it's thing. After the water had dried up I began to examine the results of my test.

Though my aging eyes are just that, aging, I do wear corrective lenses (called glasses) and when I have to see something up close I add on a pair of reading glasses. with the reading glasses on I made the following observations: The finest line width was the Pilot G-2, followed by the Signo 207, then the Pilot V Ball and finally the Pilot Precise V5. I must say that I was a little surprised by the results that I got. I expected that the 207 would have produced the finest line not the G-2. And I expected the V5 to have produced a finer line than the V Ball. So much for preconceptions. The 207 has the lightest ink of the four with the Pilots all having the same shade. This was no surprise at all as I had noticed this before.

The results of the dot test was that all four pens bled through the first layer of paper onto the next. The G-2's bleed through was barely noticeable though while the 207's was a bit more so though their respective spots on the top sheet were about the same size. The V Ball's was 3 times that of the G-2 and the V5's 4 times as great. Both of the latter bled through to the third page. While the ink in the 207 is pigmented (meaning it penetrates the papers fibers instead of staining them) I was only able to find out that the Pilot's ink was "water resistant and smudge proof". Which brings us to the third part of the test, the water drop test.

With a single drop of water placed on each of the 4 lines the results are obvious. The Signo ink was the only one not to bleed through the paper and feather out. This leads me to believe that the Pilot ink is dye ink, not pigmented. Though all four pens passed the smudge teat, a test that I performed by drawing a line with one pen at a time then immediately rubbing my finger across it. The result was unanimous: all 4 inks did bot smudge. I half expected the Pilot inks to smudge in I did not think that they dried as quickly as the Signo ink. Again, so much for preconceptions.

The V5 wrote the smoothest of all four, not surprising as it was the broadest, with the other three tying for 2nd place. All four have thin rubber grip sleeves over the plastic barrels which offers a non-slip grip without being squishy, which is something I like in a rubber grip, firmness. All four pens are about the same length, the differences being to small to mention. All are attractive pens: the Signo with its stylish chrome and black pocket clip and chrome end cap; the G-2 with it's clear and black body; TheV5 with it's silver, chrome and black body and the V Ball with it's chrome, white and black body would all make stylish accessories on a desk top.

Ultra Fine Point Gel Pen Comparison Part 2

As requested here is a close up of the writing of each of the pens. I hope it is of some help. Though you can't tell by the scanner images it appears to me that the darkest ink is that of the Pentels, followed by the Zebra, the Pilots and finally the uni-balls.

Ultra Fine Point Gel Pen Comparison

Over the past few months I’ve read a lot about how others feel that one brand of ultra fine point gel pen was better than the other. Particularly how the Pentel Slicci was better than the Pilot Hi-Tec-C. I finally acquired some Slicci pens so I could run a side-by-side test myself. For the test I also included some uni-balls, a Pilot and a Zebra just to make it interesting. I picked nib diameters that were either exactly the same size or comparable. I grouped 0.28mm and 0.3mm pens together and 0.38mm and 0.4mm pens together. I did not include the Signo bit line of pens as I have only the 0.18mm version. I did not include the Hi-Tec-C 0.5mm pen because I have way to many 0.5mm pens to run a side-by-side test. The pens that I did include in the test are listed below.

0.25mm: Pilot Hi-Tec-C; Pentel Slicci.
0.28mm – 0.3mm: Pilot Hi-Tec-C; Pentel Slicci; uni-ball Signo DX
0.38mm – 0.4mm: Pilot Hi-Tec-C; Pentel Slicci; uni-ball Signo DX; Uni-ball Signo RT Gel; Pilot G-2; Zebra SARASA Clip.

The test was short and simple. I wrote a short line of text with each pen paying attention to each pens writing characteristics. The two characteristics I was concerned with were how smooth the pen wrote and how sturdy that I felt the nib was. That’s it.

0.25mm – This test included the Pilot Hi-Tec-C and the Pentel Slicci, both in 0.25mm. Both have a needle style point and that of the Slicci was noticeably thicker than that of the Hi-Tec-C. It is also something of a hybrid being a needle point that suddenly tapers into a small conical point. Of the two the Hi-Tec-Cs nib was the most fragile. I could see it wobble and bend under the pressure of writing. Both were equally as scratchy when writing on notebook paper.

0.28mm – 0.3mm – This test included the Pilot Hi-Tec-C and Pentel Slicci, both in 0.3mm and the uni-ball Signo DX in 0.28mm. Of the 3 the Signo DX was the only completely conical point. Here the Signo DX was the scratchiest of the 3. This is really no big surprise as it has the smallest point of the three. But with its conical point it is the sturdiest of the 3. The Hi-Tec-C was the smoothest of the 3 but it had the weakest nib. Like the 0.25mm version it had a noticeable wobble under pressure.

0.38mm – 0.4mm – This test included the uni-ball Signo DX, the uni-ball Signo RT Gel and the Pilot G-2 all in 0.38mm. It also included the Pilot Hi-Tec-C, the Pentel Slicci and the Zebra SARASA Clip, all in 0.4mm. Here the smoothest pen turned out to be the Hi-Tec-C. While not the sturdiest of the nibs it felt a lot sturdier that the other 2 Hi-Tec-C nibs. The Zebra turned out to be the 2nd smoothest while the scratchiest turned out to be the Slicci. All the others were about equal in smoothness, falling below the Zebra but above the Slicci. Of course the sturdiest points were the conical points, regardless.

Bottom Line, the Sliccis have stronger tips than the Hi-Tec-Cs but are equal in smoothness, or the lack there of. The conical points were the strongest of them all with smoothness varying across the board between them. So while the Sliccis may have sturdier nibs they do not write any smoother than the Hi-Tec-Cs.