Cross Century II in Royal Blue: 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.)

I've never owned a Cross fountain pen. So, I was excited to try out the Cross Century II when Goulet Pens sent it to the Pen Addict for review. I love blue pens.

The Cross Century II is a small, thin pen. It is 5.35 inches capped, 6.06 inches posted, and 4.84 inches unposted. The barrel diameter is 0.38 inches and the pen weighs only 23 grams. The cap and barrel seem to be made of lightweight metal, (aluminum, perhaps?), coated with a pearlescent blue finish. The color of this pen is fantastic.

The grip is black plastic with vertical ribs that make it easier to hold than a metal grip.

I haven't had much luck lately with stainless steel nibs (see here and here), but the Century's is smooth and trouble-free. I've had no hard starts or skipping with this nib. I really like how it writes.

The pen requires Cross cartridges or the Cross screw-in converter. The converter works well.

This is a minimalistic pen design. The Cross name is engraved on the clip and on the barrel (but you have to look closely to see it there).

The cap has a chrome ring and an elegant finial.

The barrel is smooth and unadorned except for the chrome ring where the barrel meets the grip. Another ring provides a grip stop near the nib.

The cap pulls on and off and can be posted. I rarely post my pens, and when I tried writing with the Century II posted, it felt off balance. It's such a small pen, however, some may find they need to post it.

My main criticism of this pen is how thin it is. The grip is only 0.31 inches. Even though I have small hands, I like thicker grips, otherwise my hand tends to cramp while writing.

Still, I think that the Cross Century II is a great mid-priced fountain pen. You can purchase it from Goulet Pens for $110.00 (converter and two black cartridges are included). This pen would be best for people with small hands who prefer slender, lightweight pens.

Pros

• Light, well-balanced pen (unposted).
• Beautiful finish.
• A reasonably inexpensive pen.
• Excellent steel nib.

Cons

• The pen is thin and lightweight, so it may be unsuitable for people who have larger hands or for people, like me, who need wider grips to avoid hand-cramping.
• You need a proprietary Cross converter for this pen (or cartridges).

(Thank you to Goulet Pens for providing this pen to Pen Addict for review at no charge.)

Lihit Labs Teffa Bag in Bag Review

(This is a guest post by Nick Folz. You can find more of Nick and his work on his blog, Smallberry Drive, Twitter, and Instagram.)

I like to carry stuff. Back before EDC was an acronym and the internet had a subculture for everyone, I was just a weirdo who carried a bag with me everywhere. My first love was backpacks. I played a lot of videogames growing up, one of my favorites was a game called Earthbound, it was a modern day RPG and your backpack was your inventory system. That idea really stuck in my head. I made sure when I left my house I would be prepared for adventure, even though most days all I would use was a bottle of water (+1 hydration!).

In college I moved to messenger bags, for lots of reasons but what it really boiled down to is that I thought they looked cooler. My videogame style inventory went from adventure items to more practical items. I was an art student, so I carried my art supplies around (+2 paper, +1 ink!). Lots of people at my school were painters and sculptors, but I was the only illustrator in my graduating class. One of the reasons I picked illustration, besides enjoying it, was that everything I could possibly need to do my job could be carried in my bag.

Now that I am a grown up working in the field, I stuck with the sling bag look. My current bag is The J. Peterman Counterfeit Mailbag (full disclosure, I work for The J. Peterman company). It is my studio. It is not overburdened with compartments: one large main inside, one zippered outside.

I needed something to keep the main pocket organized. So I thought I would try out the Lihit Lab Teffa Bag-in-Bag, A4 size. It does its job in spades. This is mandatory equipment if you have a large compartment bag, it worked equally well in my older Chrome Citizen. I keep a medium sketchbook, a large pad of Bristol board, a ruler and a multitude of pens, pencils, markers, aqua brushes and erasers in this thing. My bag would be chaos without it.

The whole bag-in-bag system is a large rectangle, on the outside are three pen slots and two large flap pockets. These are all sewn into two slit pockets that fit narrower items, pocket notebooks or even a wallet. The edge of the rectangle is zippered to open up a pocket the size of the whole rectangle. The brand calls this A4 size (8.27in by 11.7in, what the world calls “letter” and America calls “almost letter”) don’t let this turn you off if you are stateside, I can fit my 9in by 12in Bristol board with room to spare for a magazine or two.

I have had bags in the past that had built-in sections for all of these things, but here is where the bag in bag system excels over built-in compartments: When I go to grab my paper or pens, I can pull the whole thing out. All of my paper and utensils are right there. I usually have some other non-drawing items in my bag (laptop, book, harmonica, etc.) and this way I don’t have to lug that on to what ever flat surface I have deemed as my desk at the moment. I can’t tell you how many times I have grabbed the Teffa out and felt comforted that no matter where I was, on the road for business or at my coffee table at home, everything is right there organized and ready.

I chose a bright yellow model because I thought any brightness to help find things would be helpful. It looks sunny and friendly in my bag, eager to be pulled out and used. I am the kind of person who likes to be able to draw wherever I am, and not just sketch, I like to have the ability to start and finish a project in one spot. If I'm going to stop mid-stride while walking down the road to draw comics, often enough my mind is telling me dumb things like “Draw a robot ghost!” I like to draw cartoons, I’m not making high art over here. Regardless, I find comfort in having my tools nearby and at the ready, even if I go a few days without touching them.

You can find the Lihit Lab Teffa Bag-in-Bag in two sizes at Jetpens.com. These two things, the Mailbag and the Teffa bag-in-bag, are comforting to have around. They travel well and I take them everywhere: One part security blanket, one part library, one part studio, one part briefcase. It’s my inventory system, and the Teffa levels it up (+5 organization!).

(Disclaimer: This product was provided for me free of cost but I am not otherwise being compensated for this review. The opinions contained are my own.)

Rotring 600 Drafting Pencil, A Lesson In Design

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

The Pen Addict podcast has seen a lot of interest lately regarding pencils — both mechanical and wood case pencils. Because of this, I found myself browsing the mechanical pencils section one day in JetPens. I hadn't looked at mechanical pencils since I was in college at our local bookstore, which always had a nice selection of drafting pencils for the engineering classes. But, of all the cool pencils I acquired during college, I'd never seen something as beautiful and striking as the Rotring 600 Drafting Pencil. This seems like the exact pencil that draftsman would use daily in the course of his craft. It's always a bit sad to think that this craft has been largely replaced with computerized tools, but you can never completely do without paper.

To call the 600's design timeless is a good place to start. It features the classic Rotring red ring and plenty of knurling and angled edges. This pen is not soft in appearance. It's a clean precision instrument, and it oozes industrial design aesthetic.

Appearance and feel

When you first pick up this pen, you'll notice the weight immediately. The insides are brass, which contribute to that weight. The second thing you'll notice is how much it feels like an instrument instead of a pencil. This isn't the pencil you used in high school trigonometry, or even Calculus III in college. This one is reserved for the professionals.

The barrel is hexagonal except for the knurled grip section, which is round. The cap comes off to reveal a small eraser, which can be removed to add more lead to the reservoir. The top of the pen features an indicator window (knurled, of course) that allows you to select what type of lead you currently have in the pen. I'm assuming that people who use these types of pencils in their work would probably have more than one, or might swap out different leads for different tasks. Thus, an indicator.

The tip of the pencil features a pipe to protect the lead and make it easier to use with a straight-edge. It reminds me of something you'd expect to see in a space ship.

Of course, there's a red ring between the lead indicator and the push cap, which is a signature Rotring feature. There's also some text one one side of the hexagonal body that reads, "rotring 600 / 0,5mm" (mine is a 0.5mm version) in red paint. Apart from that, the pencil is devoid of any branding. I believe the design of the pen is the branding, since you recognize it as a Rotring from any angle.

The clip is really strong, and I don't see there ever being an issue with the pencil coming unclipped. It's actually a bit difficult to clip onto something due to the strong resistance in the clip. Again, it feels industrial and serious.

Writing with the Rotring 600

Since this is a drafting pencil, it's more geared toward precise drawing, lettering, and use with other tools (like a straight-edge). As such, I don't really enjoy using it for normal writing. I'm sure other people wouldn't have any problem with this, but I certainly feel like I should be doing something like drawing, sketching, or lettering when I pick it up.

That said, the pencil is extremely easy to control since it has a knurled grip. The weight and balance is perfect and also makes it easy to control the pencil. Since it's a mechanical pencil, I find myself rotating the pencil a bit every other word to keep the sharp side of the lead on the page, which is something the Kuru-Toga aims to solve.

The included eraser in the cap is a joke, but that's the case in almost every mechanical pencil.

Conclusion

The Rotring 600 is a pencil that feels like an expensive tool for specific jobs. It's not a hammer, but a micrometer. It's an example of timeless design and looks good on any desk, whether or not it's used for drafting, lettering, or other artistic purposes. If you're a fan of mechanical pencils, you owe it to yourself to try one of these at some point. And, if you're not a fan, this one might convert you.

You can pick one up at JetPens in either black or silver and in 0.35mm, 0.5mm, and 0.7mm lead sizes.