Pen Type-A: A Minimal Pen

I was followed on Twitter by @saywey yesterday afternoon, and while I am not an auto-follow-bot, I usually at least check people out to see what they are into. As it turns out, Che-Wei Wang is a big fan of the Pilot Hi-Tec-C, and along with his design partner Taylor Levy (they run the Brooklyn based design firm CW&T), they launched a Kickstarter project called Pen Type-A.

All of the technical details can be found on the Kickstarter page, but in a nutshell, this is a custom built stainless steel barrel that is designed to hold Pilot Hi-Tec-C refills of any tip size and color. When not in use, it is housed in a stainless steel sleeve that also doubles as a ruler. A pen made by designers, for designers.

Once this campaign is complete, the Pen Type-A will retail for $99, but while it is funding, you can get one for $50 through your Kickstarter pledge. I put my money where my mouth is last night and ordered one. I wasn’t the only one apparently, because when I went to bed the campaign was a little over $1400, and is now at $3140 and has easily surpassed its $2500 goal.

There is still plenty of time to get in on the early pricing - 29 more days in fact - so if this is something that appeals to you may want to consider jumping on this now.

(I get nothing for writing this post other than the warm fuzzy of supporting a cool looking project that pushes all of the right buttons. You can view my full Kickstarter profile right here).

#OnePenOneDay Pilot Dr. Grip Full Black

I am still mad at the Pilot Dr. Grip Full Black for not actually being full black (I blame the chrome clip for my poor photo quality). But my second go-round with this pen has me really enjoying it. The black ballpoint refill writes very cleanly, and there wasn't any messiness to speak of.

The only real issue is how much lint collected on the grip in its months of inactivity. I took the photo early in the process to capture that, but I cleaned it up immediately afterwards and prior to writing with it. This is a pen worth a second look.

New Pilot Petit1 Mini Fountain Pen Review

Almost exactly three years ago, I reviewed the original Pilot Petit1 fountain pen. Needless to say, I was not a fan at that time, but I have learned a lot of things since then. First and foremost, Moleskine paper is not fountain pen friendly. I alluded to that fact in the original review, but never followed up on different paper - until now.

The new line of the popular Pilot Petit series just recently came out, and included the traditional Petit1 fountain pen, but also added the Petit2 marker pen, and Petit3 brush pen. I went with the Petit1 first because I wanted to give it another shot, and this time on some good paper!

Doane Paper has been my go to paper for years, and the Pilot Petit1 works like a champ on it. I chose blue black ink to test first (why is it that I think all fountain pens are supposed to have blue black ink?), and with its fine nib the Petit1 performed impressively, and I might even say flawlessly.

I got very clean and sharp lines on the Doane Paper. The ink dried into the page quickly, and while there was some show through on the back of the page, there was no bleeding through to the next page behind it. I also tested it on a Rhodia Dot Pad, and it performed superbly as well. The ink doesn't soak into the fibers of the Rhodia as much, so the line is finer, but doesn't dry as quickly.

Pilot has done a great job reintroducing the Petit line, making it fun and affordable for everyone to try out refillable fountain pens, marker pens, and brush pens. I can't wait to see more reviews on these.

Products used:

Pilot Petit1 Mini Fountain Pen - White Body - $3.00 from JetPens

Pilot Petit Pen Refill Cartridge Blue Black - $2.25 from JetPens

Doane Paper Writing Pad - $10.95/3-pack from Doane Paper