Pen Refills Guide
unsharpen.com
unsharpen.com
They're well-built, stylish, and incredibly durable. They do not look or feel cheap, and they're perfectly weighted.
After years of experimenting with different models and refills, I've found the one brand I'll stick with forever.
Do yourself a favor and look them up.
Always liked fountain pens, they slow me down a little which makes my writing so much more legible.
Why is it that a fountain pen needs to be filled in a matter of weeks and a cheap Bic Cristal never runs out of ink?
I have an inexpensive Pilot Metropolitan that I do like writing with, but the amount of ink I put through it seems crazy for how much I write.
Used to use the pilot disposable fountains myself, they're pretty good.
Ballpoints and fountain pen deliver ink to the paper very differently! You can't really fill a fountain pen with thick ballpoint ink because it would jam the feed very quickly. Likewise, if you were to fill a ballpoint with fountain pen ink it would leak as soon as you touch its tip onto the paper.
However, thanks to fountain pen ink being thinner, you don't have to apply nearly as much pressure when writing. Like many things in engineering, it's all about tradeoffs!
That way, you avoid the wastage of throwing out empty cartridges, which are effectively unrecyclable because of the leftover ink inside and also because they don't carry material markings. They also hold considerably more than a converter, and not all Pilot pens (such as my Decimo) can even take a converter in the first place; worse, even if your pen can take a converter, refilling one at work or similar is a messy, time-consuming pain in the neck, where cartridges are easy to carry and quick to swap.
Whether you use a cartridge or a converter, it's also worth noting that inks formulated for Western pens often have trouble flowing in the narrower feeds and finer nibs of Japanese pens; I've had considerable trouble with Herbin and Monteverde inks in my Pilots, while they flow perfectly well in Western pens with broader nibs. Something to keep in mind to avoid the frustration of constant hard starts and other flow problems. Pilot's Iroshizuku line is well matched to their pens, and offers an extensive range of colors; for a Metropolitan, especially one with a nib narrower than M, I'd recommend starting there.
Except when I forget to take my daily out of my pencil case before flying. :(
Since air expansion in the reservoir is why low pressure pushes ink out the front, a seal between reservoir and the feed means they're safer to fly with.
I wonder if this is also better from an ecological perspective. At first sight looks better (less waste), but I would like to be able to do the calculations just to confirm it.
I habitually carry multiple pens - at very least, a fountain pen and a disposable ballpoint that I like (Uni-Ball Jetstream). The ballpoint is for signing receipts mostly, so I don't have to use whatever they give me, and for loaning to people who suddenly need a pen. I assume I'll never get it back when that happens.
I sometimes carry a fine Sharpie as well, for things where I want a wider line on whatever sorts of surfaces. And if I'm really swinging, I'll have other disposables.
For a while, I was carrying a Retro51 Tornado (beautiful and affordable) with a Monteverde blue-black gel refill that is maybe the nicest-looking ink I've found. But it's a bit broader than I like, and they don't make a finer point.
I also really love the Pilot Hi-Tec-C, but unfortunately, they don't really make proper refills for it, and the disposable bodies are trash, to put it nicely. Absolutely the best fine-line disposable writing experience, though.
The vast majority of my writing, however, is in fountain pen. It may not be as convinient as a ball point or gell pen, but the writing experience is just far better--especially for more expensive fountain pens.
The OP article has a good focus on the more technical details, while the guide I linked above gives large lists of specific pens/refills compatible which each refill.
https://penpaperpencil.net/comparison-of-d1-refills-part-two...
But I've taken to using a Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen more often anyway, and that's easily and cheaply refillable from a bottle of ink.
Wish they had a way of refilli g the inks on these pens. I wanted to try fountain pens but couldn't find archival quality ink (waterproof + smudge proof once dried) for them.
I like the ink of the Micron, overall the feel are similar enough that both are fine for me, but the Pilot simply lasts longer.
I've a set of both, and what I've found is that when unused for a while (despite being neatly capped) the Micron will simply dry out and stop working. I've almost never had this with the Pilot.
For oddball diameters and colors which I use rarely it's a nuisance.
How is ink made? Is it less invasive than mining graphite, etc?
I don't know how practical it is, but the wax tablet[1][2] is perhaps the closest thing meeting this description that I've seen currently available [that I can think of, anyway]. No personal endorsement or any agreements or experience one way or the other with the seller, just something I found and thought was interesting.
[1] https://www.scribalworkshop.com/shop/historic-wax-tablet
[2] https://www.scribalworkshop.com/blog/2019/6/5/how-to-use-a-w...
https://www.americanscientist.org/article/rise-and-fall-of-t...
However, I cross out things often (to do lists), and sometimes draw a line across the page (as a divider), and if you do that, you will get a big blog of ink on the next letter you write. Another issue I've had is that some batches I've gotten were unreliable.
I recently got into fountain pens (which I thought this article would mention; figuring out refills was confusing for me at first). I have a cheap one (as far as fountain pens go, $18 but it's refillable (Sheaffer VFM)) and it's really great: no more blob issues at all.
[1] https://www.jetpens.com/Pilot-Vpen-Disposable-Fountain-Pen-B...