I’m not even ashamed of it. I love pens and pencils and empty journals and planners and pretty much anything that involves putting words onto paper. (Typewriters? Oh, yes indeed!)
If you get the pen bug, you might start getting pulled into ever more expensive and exotic choices. But if you simply want really good inking experience, here are my recommendations.
The Pilot G2 Shown here in a variety pack of colors. My favorite version of this one is the black ink. These provide a silky smooth writing experience, with good coverage and no skips.
I tell you a secret: I hate the red one. Not because there’s anything wrong with the way it performs. I just hate red ink. It means I made a mistake or I wrote a typo or a grammatical error. Or that I did any math assignment ever. 😛
The G2 also come as refills that can go into many other pen bodies.
Rotring 600 is my choice for a pen on the go.
The metal body and knurgled (I know it’s “knurled”, but I like my typo better) grip makes it the perfect field pen. It won’t slip out of your hand. It’s also fairly small in the pocket. The cartridge it comes with is good, but when used up, replace it with any standard Parker refill (like the Polot G2!)
Lamy Safari Fountain Pen: This is always my recommendation for fountain pen newbies. They are affordable and the cartrdiges have decent ink in them. Once you get used to a good fountain pen, watch out. It can lead to a deranged obsession. I had to put a moratorium on new fountain pens several years ago because it was getting out of control.
These come in several colors if you don’t like charcoal. Like red, white, and blue.
If you don’t know what size nib to try, I recommend choosing a medium at first. If you like your pens to be very fine, then go ahead and try the fine. I can’t write with larger nibs because my handwriting is fairly cramped and my letters all blob together.
Fountain pen ink is another huge adventure. There are so many colors and sheens. If you want to dive off the deep end, go to Goulet Pen Company’s website and try their “ink drops.” They send little sample vials of different colors to try out before you invest in a whole bottle.
Skilcraft Ballpoint Pens are the official pens of the US Government and manufactured in the US by Nation Industries for the Blind.
Check out this infographic from their website. I have a box of these and they feel fairly cheap in the hand but they do perform way better than the Fisher Space Pen, in my opinion (although I have a couple of those as well because they are “dope” too.)
