My friend, you owe it to yourself to try Platinum Carbon Black ink. More permanent and waterproof than Noodlers, and a black so dark and dense you'll think you can see the end of the void in it.

Ignore the haters who claim pigmented ink wrecks your pens--both my wife and I have drawn miles of lines with it, and even leaving it sitting on the desk unused for weeks, we never have a problem with it.

The Safari changed my relationship with handwriting. My natural grip makes my hand cramp up after a couple paragraphs. The Safari’s triangular grip forces me to hold it the “right” way, and voila, no more writing pain. I can’t believe what a vast change that made.

Edit: Also, Noodler’s Baystate Blue. If your pinky isn’t stained afterward, have you even written?

I still write a few checks every month and use a dedicated medium-nib TWISBI Classic with Noodler’s Heart of Darkness Bulletproof ink to write them.

Over here with my Pilot Vanishing Point that I use between sips of 30-year scotch.

Oh wait, this is a $20 bottle of whiskey.