Three Questions With David Brennan

David Brennan takes his fountain pens and inks seriously. More specifically, his Pelikan pens, and he has the database to prove it. If you want to work on rotating through all the pens and inks in your collection you could learn a lot from what David does. My thanks to him for answering Three Questions.

1. What role do analog tools such as pens, pencils, and paper play in your day to day life?

Analogue tools allow me to strike a balance in my life. I work in IT for a large transport company and could easily spend all of my time in a purely digital world, however I chose not too. At home I write in a journal daily, keep paper lists and choose to post hand-written birthday cards to friends and relatives. At the office I tend to print out documents to do my revisions rather than on the screen and I enjoy nothing more than sketching out a process flow with a good pen onto Rhodia grid paper. My work colleges think I am strange for using fountain pens and paper and they might be right.

2. What are your favorite products you are currently using?

I have so many favourites but here are five:

• Apple MacBook Air 11" - I consider this the best portable laptop available, it hosts my Filemaker Pro fountain pen database and all my other digital guff.

• Canon EOS 6D DSLR with a 100mm F2.8L Macro lens - my first choice when taking close-ups of pens, nibs and inks for my blog.

• Franklin-Christoph Penevelope Six leather pen case - I own two of these cases, one in Brown boot leather, one in black, they keep six fountain pens safe and secure.

• Topo Mini Mountain bag in Duck Camo - This current work bag whilst quite compact it is large enough for my MacBook Air and Franklin Christoph P6 case.

• Rhodia products - their paperstock works so well with fountain pen ink that I use it for all my blog writing samples and for general use both at home and the office. I will nominate their elasti book and the 80 year anniversary range of Ice pads as my current favourites.

3. What is your perfect Pelikan pen, nib, and ink combo?

I actually laughed out loud when I read this question - how do I pick between my 38 lovely 'birds'?

Actually my fountain pen database's next proposed combo into rotation turned out to be as good as any I could think of myself.

The pen is the M800 Tortoiseshell Brown Special Edition - the 2013 release that gave us Pelikan fans a chance to own the pen we could only dream about. (This size, pattern and colour was only previously available as a Spanish only limited edition, so was rare and expensive) The nib proposed by the database is one of my many custom grind nibs from Mr Richard Binder, it is a Medium nib ground into a 0.7mm cursive italic. Like many of my Binder CIs this is quite crisp and with that comes good line variation - it makes my average handwriting look decent. Sadly (for me) Richard seems to have now closed his online pen business but I hear he still does grinds and nib adjustment at selected pen shows.

My database selected one of my long time favourite inks, Kon-peki, the beautiful blue ink from PIlot Iroshizuku to be used with this combo. This ink normally shades but not much from this fairly fine CI. I think I would be happy to use this combo everyday if I had too.

Parker Penman Sapphire Ink Review

You have heard me talking about grail pens before, but is there such a thing as a grail ink? Lovers of Parker Penman Sapphire would undoubtedly say yes.

What makes this ink so special? For starters, it was only produced from 1993 to 2000. That brings on a rarity other readily available inks do not have. But there is a valid reason why Parker no longer makes it: It damages pens. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?

Fans of Parker Penman Sapphire don't seem to care that it may stain and clog pens. To them, the vibrant blue color, deep saturation, and amazing sheen are worth the tradeoff. I see all of those things in my sample, which was sent to me by my wonderful ink benefactor in a vial simply marked "PPS". It is a very nice shade of blue, and the sheen is amazing - nearly 100% sheen on some of my letters - but overall I don't see what all the fuss is about. There are so many amazing blue inks currently on the market.

That is part of the chase right now for fans of PPS. When they aren't shelling out $75 or more for a bottle on the secondary market, the hunt is on for the closest match currently being produced. Private Reserve American Blue comes up in my searches as a close comp, as does Diamine Majestic Blue, Noodler's Baystate Blue (with staining and clogging built right in!), and Sailor Bung Box Sapphire. (Comparison shot of the last two and PPS found here.)

For me, I don't get it. It's a fine ink, and the sheen is undeniably cool, but it probably wouldn't crack my top 20 inks if I were to even effort a list like that. And that is only if it was currently available. I certainly don't see paying a premium for it. You won't find a stash of Parker Penman Sapphire hidden under my bed anytime soon.

Kaweco AL Sport Stonewashed Roller Ball Pen Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

The Kaweco AL Sport is a classic, beautiful design that many of us love, but we also probably assume that we're talking about a fountain pen when that name comes up. Well, there's also a roller ball version of the pen, and it's pretty nice.

The Kaweco AL Sport Roller Ball is exactly what you might expect — it's the same as the normal fountain pen, but with a different section that uses a roller ball refill instead of the fountain pen nib. In fact, you can even swap the section out with other AL Sports if you want.

In my opinion, this is one of the best pocket carry pens out there. It's well made, durable, and has a refill that behaves better than most fountain pen nibs. Even better, it can accept the Schmidt capless refills. Yep, the same ones found in the Retro 51. Knowing that, this pen was an insta-purchase for me.

How does the pen perform? In many ways, it's the same as the regular fountain pen version, so I'll just summarize it with: it feels great in the hand, it's made of durable materials with high tolerances, and it can withstand a lot of punishment. With this particular version, the stonewashing effect means you don't have to worry about making that first scratch because there's already an infinite number of scratches on the pen from the factory. (I hope I'm not the only one who has a fear of making a first scratch on a new pen.)

If the body is the same as the fountain pen line, then the most important thing to consider here is the refill. I'll be honest with you — the Kaweco refill included with the pen is OK. It tends to skip every now and then and it doesn't fit in the pen perfectly. When writing, the refill moves a tiny bit and makes a noise that distracts me when writing. I like the refill to be snug when writing. And, the skipping can be a bit of an annoyance as well. Like I said, it's OK.

But, you have to also consider that the awesome Schmidt Capless refills work with this pen. Any Parker style refills will work this pen as well, but I'm a huge fan of the Schmidts. Most of us probably had our introduction to these refills from a Retro 51 of one kind or another, and you'll know immediately if you like it or not. Basically, the Schmidt refills are really smooth, dark, and skipless. I've never had problems with them hard-starting, skipping, or any other problems that sometimes come up with roller balls. They're really one of my favorite refills, and I'm really happy when a pen accepts them.

With that in mind, I whole-heartedly recommend this pen. Just remember to pick up a Schmidt P8126 or P8127 with your order. The combination of a comfortable, nearly indestructable pen with an awesome refill is what joy is made from. The price for the pen is a bit high, but you probably already know that this is a standard price for the Kaweco AL Sports, and it's certainly fair due to the materials and high quality craftsmanship that goes into them. If you're in the market for a great roller ball, definitely check them out!

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