Woodshed Pen Co. Nordic Snow Fountain Pen Giveaway

My friend Mike Allen recently launched his Shimmer Collection on Kickstarter to help raise funds for a CNC machine to make even more awesome fountain pens than he already makes. To celebrate, he sent me an early look at Nordic Snow, one of the campaign rewards, and I’m giving this pen away to one very lucky reader.

This project was an insta-back for me, and with over $47,000 raised as of this writing, I think it was for others as well. Be sure to check it out, including the awesome ink-only level, featuring a new color collaboration with Papier Plume.

Woodshed Pen Co. Nordic Snow Fountain Pen Giveaway

Traveler's Company Brass Pencil Factory Green Limited Edition Review

As I was discovering Japanese stationery in the early days of this blog, I remember being fascinated by the Midori Brass Bullet Pencil Holder. It would show up in the hands of friends, and in all types of stationery marketing. I knew Patrick Ng was a huge fan, and still is, after all of these years. And so am I.

While the brand naming convention has changed, dropping both Midori and Bullet (for different reasons, I’m sure,) the Traveler’s Company Brass Pencil is still alive and thriving, so much so that the brand has decided to include various limited editions over the year, including this beautiful Factory Green model.

Let’s get the main talking point of this pencil out of the way up front: This is a clear style over substance product. Despite how amazing it looks, and how much I will fawn over it for the rest of this review, things like an average eraser, huge clip that gets in the way, and some fidgeting to fit in your favorite pencil refills, make it hard to recommend from a pure functionality perspective.

And I’m completely fine with that. There are some products for some people where the style and the story rate higher than performance. The Traveler’s Co. Brass Pencil is one such product for me. Also, it is easier to feel this way about a $30 product than a $300 product.

The out of the box writing experience with the included Traveler’s HB pencil is a good one. The core is dark and soft for an HB, and feels exactly like the quality I would expect from parent company Midori. If this were the pencil I kept in the Factory Green holder, I’d be sure to keep a pencil sharpener at the ready. But swapping out pencils to make them even more perfect for you? That’s where the fun of this product comes in.

I’m surprised at how many pencils fit naturally into the bullet tip of this pencil. I didn’t perform exhaustive testing, but in grabbing some of my favorite Uni Mitsubishi, Tombow, Blackwing, General’s, and Midori pencils, I was surprised at how many fit in without modification. In fact, a few of the Mitsubishi pencils fit so well it’s almost as they were tailor-made for it. Others were slightly looser, but usable. And the ones that didn’t would work fine if you shaved down the end of the pencil to fit better.

I chose the eraser-less Mitsubishi 9800 for my first swap out, measuring two lengths of pencil to match the existing Traveler’s pencil length. I scored around the barrel of the pencil, carefully, with a pocket knife, and then snapped the pencil to the appropriate length. Boom - perfect inserts!

The Traveler’s Company Brass Pencil is one of those products that I hope never goes away. Is it a best in class product for price or performance? No. But it doesn’t need to be to be an absolute joy to own and use.

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

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Misfill, Pigeon Service Edition

Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:

— Pigeon Service (Henry/Bragg)

— Remembering Old Stationery Stores (I Love The Upper West Side)

— First Impressions: Leonardo Momento Zero in Primary Manipulation (The Gentleman Stationer)

— Here's How You Can Help Save the US Postal Service (Hyperallergic)

— Entry-level luxury: the ST Dupont D Initial (UK fountain pens)

— A look at the Diplomat Excellence A Plus fountain pen. (Fountain pen blog)

— Composition Book Round Up: Which to Stock Up (Comfortable Shoes Studio)

— Figurare Notebook Review (Fountain Pen Love)

— The Sailor Naginata-togi Nib (Flex & Other Follies)

— Four Ways to Carry the Galen Leather Zippered Pen Pouch (The Well-Appointed Desk)

— Ink Review #1239: Diamine Turquoise (Mountain of Ink)

— Not Traveling in my Traveler’s Notebook (Wonder Pens)

— Have a Sinister Day! (Penquisition)

— Faber-Castell Regent 1250 Pencils (Writing at Large)

— Personal Pens: Leonaro MomentoZero (SBREBrown)

— John Lovett on Artists' Sketchbooks (Notebook Stories)

— Esterbrook The Journaler Nib A Great Writer for Handwriting and Journaling (Gourmet Pens)

— £10,000 per night, including pencils (Bleistift)

— Review: Karas Pen Co. Ink V2 Fountain Pen (The Pencilcase Blog)

— Designer Wallpaper: Twilight at Nihonbashi by Shinji Tsuchimochi (Spoon & Tamago)

— Ancoats Bag Company The Tote Review (Carryology)

— Monumental Ballpoint Pen Portraits Are Rendered on Vintage Collateral by Artist Mark Powell (Colossal)

— Bullet Journaling to Help ADHD Minds in Quarantine (Attitude Mag)

Want to catch the rest, plus extra articles, reviews, commentary, discounts, and more? Try out a Pen Addict Membership for only $5 per month!