The Galen A5 Leather "Everyday" Notebook and Scrikss 419 Indigo Fountain Pen: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

Galen Leather and Vanness Pens sent Pen Addict two products for review: the Galen A5 Leather Notebook in Crazy Horse Forest Green and a Scrikss 419 fountain pen in indigo. I decided to review them together, using the pen to test the notebook and the notebook to test the pen.

The Scrikss 419 Fountain Pen in Indigo

Scrikss is a Turkish pen company established in 1964 in Istanbul. The 419 model is a reproduction of a pen created by Scrikss in the past, and it is a limited edition. It comes in a cardboard box with Galen branding.

The pen is made from acrylic resin and has a clear ink window. I was surprised to discover that the pen is a piston filler because the pen is so small and light.

The Scrikss 419 is a diminutive pen, measuring 125mm/4.9 inches capped, 117mm/4.6 inches uncapped, and 150mm/5.9 inches posted, with a grip diameter of 9.16mm. It weighs next to nothing even when fully inked (unposted) (8.21 grams).

The clip is gold-toned with the Scrikss logo and the cap ring is engraved with the Scrikss name.

Although the cap threads are located above the grip, your fingers still touch them, at least partially. But the threads are smooth so the pen is comfortable to hold.

The medium nib is 23k gold-plated stainless steel. It's a simple nib engraved with the Scrikss logo.

The piston is hard to turn at first. Once you get it in motion, however, it moves more smoothly. The pen doesn't hold much ink--maybe .5 ml.

When first inked, the medium nib was wet, sometimes leaving blobs of ink in its wake. But, the longer I wrote, the drier it became, to the point that it suddenly stopped writing. You can see this in the photo below. At the top of the page, the ink is much darker and flows well. It gets lighter and drier and then stops writing mid-sentence.

The only fix for this is to manually push the ink down with the piston. Then the process starts again: too wet, just right, dry, then nothing--a frustrating experience.

In addition to the inconsistent ink flow, the medium nib is a little scratchy. It isn't terribly bad and might be fixed by using micro mesh.

I'm just not impressed with the pen at all. It's too small for my hand (but for people who love small pens, this would be a plus). It feels flimsy, the piston is finicky, the nib is inconsistent, and I found the writing experience unpleasant. $35.00 might be reasonable for a piston-filled fountain pen. However, the problems I had with ink flow and nib inconsistency make me hesitant to purchase another Scrikss pen.

The Galen Leather A5 "Everyday" Notebook

Galen's leather notebook in Crazy Horse Forest Green is simple and beautiful. It arrives in a black magnetic-closure box.

The green leather is smooth to the touch and has variations that add to its character. Over time, scratches, nicks, and fading will make it even lovelier. The leather is thin, so the notebook doesn't feel overly heavy. The only branding is on the back cover, and it is tasteful.

Inside are 200 sheets (400 pages front and back) of hand-sewn, blank, white 52gsm Tomoe River Paper. The corners are curved for a sleek look.

Galen provides four templates: 7mm lined, 10mm lined, 5mm graph, and 10mm graph. Because Tomoe River Paper is so thin, these templates work perfectly to provide guidance for writing or drawing. A plain piece of leather serves either as a blotter or a pad for writing.

The notebook doesn't include any pockets or bookmark ribbons.

I tested the paper with the pens I currently have inked. As expected, the paper handled all of them admirably, although there is significant show through.

Swabs look wonderful on Tomoe River Paper:

I'm quite happy with the Galen Leather Notebook. It is beautiful, simple, and useful. It lays completely flat when open, which is another plus.

I plan to use my notebook to practice Zentangles and Mandalas.

You can purchase the Scrikss fountain pen in a variety of colors for $35.00 fromGalen Leather. The Galen Leather Notebook in either Crazy Horse Brown or Crazy Horse Forest Green costs $36.00 (Galen or $25.00 Vanness (currently out of stock).

(Galen Leather provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Sunderland Machine Works mk1 Review

Machined metal pens are one category that never becomes less interesting to me as time goes on. The idea of taking a metal rod and machining it down to a finished product isn't unique; it's similar to how plastic (acrylic, resin, etc.) fountain pens are made, but with some different tooling involved. I like the industrial and robust feel of a metal pen, and I also like supporting small makers that are using their imaginations to create different pens to hold our beloved refills.

The latest in my collection of metal machined pens is the Sunderland Machine Works mk1. It's unique to me in the sense that the aesthetic has a "softer" personality. There aren't any harsh edges, and there are soft slopes on the pen body as the diameters shrinks toward the butt of the pen. In fact, the soft edges and round ends are found all over the pen. This adds up to a very comfortable writing experience that also looks clean and inviting when not in use.

On the exterior of the pen, there are several machined grooves that add nice visual separation along the length of the pen, and the grip section has several grooves that make it easy to grip the pen when writing. These grooves don't have sharp edges, making them very comfortable and secure when writing.

The clip on this pen is exceptionally strong, which makes sense after reading that it's made from machined stainless steel. It's not difficult to slip onto a pocket or bag sleeve due to the generous angle of the clip opening. Once you've secured this pen to something, it takes a good amount of force to move it. I have no doubts that this pen is staying right where I put it unless something underneath it pushes it straight up and away from whatever it's clipped onto. So, it might not be the right pen to clip onto your jeans when doing maneuvers that require lots of agility.

But, even if the pen does go for a tumble, it should be just fine due to the aluminum material. The pen is still lightweight, but the aluminum material makes the pen feel very solid and high quality. I'm sure it will take on lots of micro-scratches over the years, and I look forward to that worn-in look it will surely develop.

One of the most marvelous things about this pen is the unique cap threading design. I was baffled when first playing with this pen out of the box. It's a screw-on cap, but I couldn't find any threads on the grip or body to accept the cap threads. After more inspection, I noticed that there's a small gap between the cone and the grip section. Inside this gap, you can see some threads on the inside of the grip section that mate up with threads in the top of the cap. It's an ingenious design that really adds to the clean look of this pen. On top of all that, it feels remarkably smooth when capping and uncapping. The pen slots into the cap threads in a way that feels like there's almost zero tolerance in the thread size. It's extremely satisfying, and probably explains why this design is patent-pending.

After a bit more inspection, I noticed that the interior of the cap is also lined with some sort of plastic sleeve. It's extremely thin, and I think the only functional purpose of this addition is to avoid the scraping, clanking sound you get from metal on metal. This is something I've grown used to with custom machined pens over the years, but this extra little "nice to have" feature is just delightful. I can uncap and cap this pen with almost zero noise. Not something I can say about any of my other machined pens, but that doesn't mean I love them any less.

Writing with this pen is comfortable and enjoyable. It ships with a Pilot G2 0.7mm black refill, and I quickly swapped that out for a Pilot Juice refill. The G2 is ubiquitous, so I understand why someone would pick it for a bulk operation, but I just wish the Juice would become the new standard for this kinds of things, similar to how the Schmidt P8126/7 is the standard refill now for custom rollerball pens. Besides the lack-luster default refill, this does mean your options for refill replacement is huge. Any Pilot G2 size refill will work with this pen, not just the Pilot Juice that I chose to swap in.

I really like the "clear" aluminum color of the pen I have, but there are several other colors to choose from — Blue, Green, Orange, Red, Black, and Grey to be exact. At $85, this isn't an impulse purchase, but it is priced fairly considering the materials and competition. I think it's a great value and serves well as a personal treat or a gift for someone else.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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ystudio Brassing Portable Fountain Pen Review

Finally.

For a pen that has been a personal favorite of mine for years, I am finally putting pen to paper and writing my review of the ystudio Brassing Portable Fountain Pen.

What has taken me so long? I can’t really say, other than I use it a lot, which, for some reason, puts it in a different mental work queue. It even got to the point where I used it so much, and raved about it on top of that, that I just assumed I had reviewed it. It was only when I went to search for the link of the review to share that I realized I hadn’t. Repeatedly.

I’ve had plenty of opportunity to review it, too. It was my first ystudio product, and since then, I’ve reviewed six other ystudio products. But never this one.

As the origin story goes, I first saw this pen shared by my online friend Patrick Ng and my jaw dropped. I had to have it, but as with many products from the Asian market, it was tough to acquire. I kept a keen eye on the situation, eventually discovering a shop named Kohezi in Amsterdam, who became my first ystudio dealer, and where I acquired this pen. That was in November, 2016, and it has been in regular use since.

The style is what first drew me to the Brassing Portable Fountain Pen. Hex barrels have been used in pens for quite some time, but the way this one was executed is unique enough to make it stand out from the pack. The lines are clean, and are set off by brass highlights peeking out from under the black exterior coating.

The black coating is what gives this pen its Brassing name. Over time, it will wear with use to show more of the underling brass barrel. I see more wabi-sabi in the grip section that I do in the black paint, but I do have plenty of dings on the exterior edges, giving it the well-loved look this pen deserves. You can speed up the Brassing effect with the included sandpaper, but I decided not to go that route with this pen.

The top of the pen features an integrated lanyard loop, where you can slide through the provided leather rope, and tighten it up with a brass bead. There is even an external carrying tube you can slide the lanyard through for added protection, although I haven’t seen mine for years. The leather rope and brass bead do reside permanently on my pen.

As much as I love the design of this pen, it wouldn’t be worth a mention if it didn’t perform well, and feel great doing it. In use, I would consider the Brassing Portable Fountain Pen to be a small pen. The grip section is narrow, and tapers down towards the provided #5 gold-plated steel Schmidt nib. The Schmidt nib works perfectly well, but I swapped it out for a Franklin-Christoph Steel #5 Broad Nib, with a Mike Masuyama Cursive Italic grind. It’s a mouthful, but it has proven to be the perfect compliment to this pen for years.

(Side note: Schmidt and Jowo #5 nibs are swappable, but the same #6 nibs are not due to feed differences.)

I honestly cannot speak highly enough of this pen. It’s not for everyone - with possible questions around size, barrel materials, nib choice, and cost - but I’ve found it perfect for me. The way it feels in my hand. The way the cap clicks on. The way the barrel lines up. The way the brass hits just right. The way the lanyard allows me to fidget with it. And, most importantly, the way it writes.

Luckily, since I bought mine, ystudio products have become much more accessible. Kohezi is the best choice in Europe, and even worldwide if you are looking for some of the more rare releases. In the US, distributor Kenro brought ystudio in earlier this year, meaning you can check out their full product lineups at all of my site sponsors - JetPens, Goldspot, PenChalet, and Vanness Pens.

ystudio keeps doing good work, and I keep adding them to my library. The Brassing Portable Fountain Pen was my first, and despite the competition from their own catalog, it is still the best for me.

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