One of the more common questions people have about pens is, “Who invented the ballpoint?” We honestly can’t say why this gets asked so often but it most certainly does, so let’s dive in.
Continue reading “Who Invented The Ballpoint Pen? Origins Of A Modern Writing Instrument”
Neil deGrasse Tyson is a well-known fountain pen collector and user. What pens does he use? Are the pens astronomy inspired, like the Visconti Starry Night, as you might guess of the director of the Hayden Planetarium? Or does this world-famous astrophysicist and author use the same pens as you or I?
Continue reading “What Fountain Pens Does Neil deGrasse Tyson Use?”
If you have been exploring the world of affordable pens in the past few years there is a good chance that you’ve landed on Linc pens. While the company is not a household name in the United States, they have been growing and becoming more of a presence.
So, who is Linc and what’s the deal with their pens? Continue reading “What’s The Deal with Linc Pens?”
Have a Lamy pen but confused about the refill you need to fit it? It’s very easy to know which refill you need because Lamy makes so few refills!
Even so, Lamy doesn’t exactly do a good job of explaining what you need, and it’s certainly not written anywhere on the pen. In fact, most people don’t even know the name of their pen! This guide is designed to solve all your Lamy refill problems.
Continue reading “Lamy Rollerball and Ballpoint Refill Finder”
In case you didn’t know it, one of the best features of Lamy fountain pens (aside from the Lamy 2000) is that they use a modular nib system. That’s right — you can pull the nib off your Lamy Al-Star and put it on your Safari. Or you can take the gold nib from your Scala and put it on your Vista.
Swapping your Lamy nib is an incredibly easy process once you get the hang of it. Here are a few ways to change those nibs…
The Uni-ball Signo 207 and 307 are similarly named pens that are often sold alongside one another. As you can gather from the name, the 307 is the newer pen, but is it a better buy than the longstanding 207? Let’s find out.
Continue reading “Uni-ball 207 vs Uni-ball 307 Gel Pen Comparison”
Pilot basically makes a number of versions of the same pen. This all wouldn’t be worth deciphering if the pen wasn’t so good, but it is so let’s start to dig into the Pilot Precise and Hi-Tecpoint series. The pens have been around since 1984, so they are well established and remain popular to this day.
When you start to dig into pens just a little bit you’ll see that they are separated ink a few major varieties based on the type of ink they use. These categories are blurry and ultimately not very well defined, but it’s helpful to know the basics about them so you have some idea of what you are buying. This guide will run through the major types of inks in order to help you get a better understanding of the major types of pens, how they write, why you might prefer one over the others, and the best uses for each.
Don’t miss our Pen Refills Guide so you can learn about the types of refills these inks go into.
Are you trying to choose between the Fisher AG7 and CH4 space pens? They look so much alike, but there are some differences in shape and price that makes then quite different when in use. So how do you choose? This article will help you tell the difference between these two pens and to find that one that’s right for you.
Continue reading “Fisher AG7 vs CH4 Space Pen: What’s the Difference?”
Did you ever notice that your drafting pencils have different color text printed on them? You might not know this, but those colors aren’t randomly assigned. The color-coding applies to mechanical pencils, but also to drafting pens, like the Rotring Isograph/Rapidograph, and was popularly seen on professional tools but not so much on consumer-focused items.
If you have been learning about fountain pens and have dug deep enough to get into the world of specialty nibs, perhaps you have come across the term “music nib.” After some immediate confusion perhaps you took a guess and figured out it’s a nib for writing musical notes… or is it a nib that produces wonderful music as you write? Just kidding — it’s definitely the former — but what does that mean in practice? What is a music nib and why might you want to own one?
Have you heard the term “tubular nib” thrown around and have no idea what it means? It’s a rarely used, but poorly defined term. This article will explain the uses of the term and outline a few pens that could be described as having a tubular nib.
If you are choosing a higher-end Pilot fountain pen you have a potentially confusing decision to make: do you buy a Custom Heritage 912, a Custom Heritage 92, or a Custom 74? Even the names are alike, how are the pens different from one another?
Continue reading “Pilot Custom 74 vs Custom Heritage 912 vs Custom Heritage 92”
If you are in the market for a Pelikan fountain pen then you are going to want to figure out the company’s naming convention. After all, there is a big difference between an M200 and an M600, so it’ll be worth spending a few minutes to get to know the name schema, even if you don’t commit it to memory.
Continue reading “Pelikan Pen Naming: M200 vs M400, M205 vs M405”
The Pilot Custom 74 and the Platinum #3776 Century are both excellent fountain pens. They are also shockingly similar — they are clearly direct competitors to one another. But give how similar they are on paper, how do you choose one or the other? And which should you buy, the #3776 Century or the Custom 74?
Continue reading “Pilot Custom 74 vs Platinum 3776 Century: How Do You Choose?”