The magnificent seven: week four

My "magnificent seven" project is having good results. This week I wrote three of last week's pens dry, even though I had another new pen day (the replacement Graf Guilloche after my bad experience... I filled it with Montblanc Spider Web Grey). I wrote dry the Desiderata Soubriquet, Montegrappa Extra, and Graf Classic. I decided to …

The frustrating pursuit of a functioning nib… is it too much to ask?

I buy a lot of pens. All kinds of brands. All kinds of price ranges. Steel and gold. Fine and broad. From many different pen shops. I assume that most of the time, the pen arrives ready to write. But sometimes the nib lets me down. And that "sometimes" is starting to feel like "too …

The UKFP awards 2018

It's nearly December, and my thoughts are turning to a review of the year. Last year I enjoyed putting together a lighthearted list of awards, based on products I've encountered over the course of the year (and on the full understanding that I saw only a fraction of the new releases). But first, let's start …

A portrait of the Visconti Van Gogh

Almost without planning it, I've ended up with five Viscontis — more than any other brand in my collection. And two of those five are the "Van Gogh" model, Visconti's relatively inexpensive steel-nibbed model (alongside the Rembrandt and the new Mirage, I guess). The Van Gogh isn't perfect — in fact, it has some of …

Magnificent seven: Black Friday edition

I swore to myself: no new pens before Christmas. But (predictably) I failed. The Black Friday discounts got the better of me. I'm undecided how I feel about this ultimately consumerist holiday, and what it means for the small retailers and brands that I try to support. But my actions speak louder than my words. …

The great puzzle of the Pineider La Grande Bellezza

The Pineider La Grande Bellezza is a confusing pen, with some head-scratching design decisions marring what could have been a great addition to the pantheon of Italian fountain pens. Let me rattle through the basics first. This is a cartridge/converter pen, of pretty good size, with a 14k nib and a metal section. It comes …

I really wanted to like the Lamy Imporium

When I found out that Dapprman had a Lamy Imporium, I practically jumped up and down with glee to try it. And then he let me borrow it! See, the pen community is a wonderful thing. The Imporium is Lamy's flagship, descended from the 1990s Persona. It's an uncommon pen. I am a huge fan …

Montegrappa’s Extra ‘The Sea’ makes a big splash

Let's get the name out of the way first: the pen I'm reviewing here is the Montegrappa Extra 1930 Colori del Mare 'The Sea', a limited edition of 27 pens produced for Chatterley Luxuries (there are six other colours too, each in an edition of 15 pens). I'm going to call it the 'Extra' from …

Doing the best we can with our brains

Positivity vs objectivityI recently watched one of SBRE Brown's videos, titled Justifying Expensive Pens in Reviews and Cognitive Dissonance Reduction, which is all about the knots you tie yourself in to manage psychological trauma when you've made large pen purchases, as well as whether it's possible to objectively review expensive pens you've bought, versus ones you've …

The magnificent seven: week two

Last week's seven turned out great. I used every pen heavily, with the exception of the Pelikan M400. At last I managed to gel with the Pilot 823, although it still doesn't feel 'right' to me every time I pick it up. The Montegrappa Extra and Montblanc 1912 proved deliciously smooth for evening journalling; the …