Support The Pen Addict With A Membership

As The Pen Addict is barreling towards its 10 year anniversary in November, and I want to give a huge shout out and thank you to the Pen Addict members who support me and the operation of the site. There is no better thanks to a content creator than direct support, so thank you to the nearly 500 (!) members for allowing me to do this for a living.

If you have ever considered becoming Pen Addict Member now is a great time. I’ll be recapping the Live at Field Notes event this weekend, plus I have already teased my next Retro 51 collaboration, which will be available to members first, and at a discount. Members also get access to the full Refill archives - all 92 issues so far - plus other great benefits.

For $5 a month or $48/year you get all of the extra content Pen Addict members receive, and support me and the site directly. Thanks to the members I have been able to do things I never thought possible, and I hope you will consider joining in on the fun.

Posted on October 10, 2017 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Members.

Modern Fuel Mechanical Pencil 2.0 Review

Andrew Sanderson, the owner and designer behind Modern Fuel, sent me a prototype of his 1.0 mechanical pencil last year to get feedback on. I liked it, but didn’t love it, and explained to him why. It was too light, and the balance was a bit off. The refinement for a 1.0 release wasn’t there, at least in my book.

With Version 2.0, Andrew has made all the updates I personally was looking for in a quality machined mechanical pencil, and, after getting to test out this prototype, I am happy to back his current Kickstarter project.

The change list from Version 1.0 to Version 2.0 is large, and includes new materials, a retractable tip, and most impressively, a custom built internal mechanism. That last item alone had to be quite an engineering feat.

By designing his own mechanism, Andrew allows you to easily swap out the internals of the pencil and change the lead size. 0.5 mm, 0.7 mm , and 0.9 mm mechanisms are available, and you can even order all three for a single pencil. The retractable tip was a pleasant surprise as well. I didn’t expect that at all, but it is a big bonus for mechanical pencil fans.

My prototype model is made from stainless steel, and is accordingly heavy. Not too heavy, mind you, but I prefer using the 0.9 mm mechanism due to the weight. In general, the heavier or larger the pen or pencil, the wider the tip I prefer. The 0.9 mm delivers a line similar to using a wooden pencil, and allows for a greater range of motion when writing. I’m still surprised at how much I like the width.

One add-on that I haven’t seen offered before is an option for an eraser plug. The standard configuration ships with an eraser, but you can buy an accessory that allows you to remove the eraser and seal the opening. I’m generally a no pencil eraser person, but I think I prefer having the eraser available on this style of pencil. I don’t think the plug adds anything style or functionality wise and likely isn’t worth the additional $12 unless you are really committed to the look.

Like most of our buying decisions, this one comes down to value. Will you get enough usage out of this product to justify the price? The Modern Fuel Mechanical Pencil starts at $70 for Stainless Steel, Brass, or Copper, and $130 for Titanium. That’s very expensive, but worth it in my book. The amount of engineering alone justifies the price for me, plus I like supporting people who make cool things. After using this prototype for the past few weeks I decided to back the Stainless Steel model, and am excited to get this in the rotation once the project completes.

My thanks to Modern Fuel for loaning me this prototype for purposes of this review.

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Posted on October 9, 2017 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Modern Fuel, Mechanical Pencil, Pencil Reviews.

Lamy Joy 1.1 mm Calligraphy 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.)

The Lamy Joy Calligraphy Fountain Pen is a black resin pen that comes in nib sizes of 1.1, 1.5, and 1.9.

The pen is packaged in a red cardboard box with a plastic sleeve. It comes with one blue Lamy ink cartridge.

The design is sleek with only the red stainless steel clip, the red finial, and the red tip on the bottom of the pen as accents. But, boy do those accents pop! Although there are two ink windows, they are embedded deeply in the barrel and the cartridge is so dark, it’s difficult to tell how much ink is left in the cartridge. The cap snaps on and off and can be posted.

Lamy is lightly enscribed near the bottom of the barrel. The barrel itself has two flat sides and two rounded sides. If you use the pen unposted, the flat sides of the barrel will keep the pen from rolling off your desk.

The pen is longer than average fountain pens, measuring 179mm capped, 169mm uncapped, and 176mm posted. But it is quite light, weighing only 11 grams unposted.

The Lamy Joy comes with one blue ink cartridge, but you can purchase a Lamy converter if you wish to use bottled ink.

Like Lamy Safari pens, the Joy has a triangular-shaped grip meant to keep your fingers in the proper position. Some people love this grip, others (like me) don’t. It’s a matter of personal preference.

This pen has the 1.1mm nib. It’s a stainless steel nib and, in typical Lamy minimalist fashion, it is unadorned. It bears only the nib size and the Lamy name.

So, how does it write? Well, I’m no calligrapher, but I do use italic nibs quite often, and this nib is, after all, a 1.1mm italic. I found it to be adequate in terms of wetness, though I like my nibs much juicier. However, it isn’t a smooth nib. I’m not sure if the tines are slightly misaligned or if there’s some tipping material causing the scratchiness, but it feels like the nib is digging into the paper on every stroke. In other words, my writing experience was not pleasant. Perhaps a bit of micromesh would fix the problem.

In any case, I wrote a couple of test pages, and the 1.1mm offered some line variation and shading with the Lamy blue ink.

For calligraphy, I would suggest choosing the 1.5 or 1.9 size nib since the 1.1 seems a bit narrow.

Neverthless, for everyday writing, the 1.1 nib is a good choice as you can see with the following writing sample.

You can purchase the Lamy Joy from Pen Chalet for $28.00. The converter is an additional $4.70.

At $28.00, the Lamy Joy is quite a bit more expensive than other plastic calligraphy pens, such as the Pilot Parallel ($8.00 at JetPens). Granted, the Lamy Joy looks much nicer than the Pilot Parallel. But if you’re wanting a decent calligraphy pen for a good price, the Pilot Parallel pens are excellent. I own the 1.5mm and the 2.4mm Pilot Parallels and both nibs are smooth.

Pros

The Lamy Joy is a sleek resin calligraphy pen. The red accents make the pen pop.
The pen is very light, so it is easy to work with during long writing sessions.
It sports a grip that many users find very comfortable.

Cons

I honestly think the Lamy Joy is overpriced at $28.00.
Although many people like the triangular grip, I find it inhibiting. I tend to rotate my pens a bit when writing, so I feel like I have to fight the grip on this pen.
The nibs on Lamys can be hit or miss. This steel 1.1mm nib was scratchy.

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

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