The Moonman M600S may be the best pen yet with Moonman's new Nº 6 nib. Everything about the Moonman M600S is spot on: size, girth, weight and balance. Clearly, working from the Duofold Centennial dimensions makes for a great pen.
For a moment there, orange was my color of choice. I think I was coming off a sepia phase, but don't rightly recall. I got myself some Diamine Autumn Oak and took a flier on J. Herbin Orange Indian.
The Autumn Oak was a great success but I c...
Moonman has released their own No. 6 nib - and it's a winner. It comes in the new Moonman M6, a medium-sized, cigar-shaped wooden pen.
The PenBBS 471 is like a little jewel - a bauble of sorts - at least when closed. Assembled for writing, it's as big as a PenBBS 355 and less than two grams lighter.
The Wing Sung 699 is a handsome, full-sized pen. It is wonderful in the hand and feels balanced posted or unposted. The vac-filling mechanism holds a good quantity of ink.
Kaco has been busy. Their new pen is interesting.
Kaco is a Chinese stationery company that put themselves on the fountain pen map with their Sky model.
The Sky set itself apart is a couple of ways.
All in all, the Sky has been well recei...
I’ve waited some time before writing this review. This has been my go-to pen for about a month now, making lists, jotting notes and annotating life as it goes by. The regular stuff.
The long and short of it is: this is a high-quality writing ...
It's no secret I like the PenBBS 350 aluminum pen, especially since I swapped a #6 M nib for the standard PenBBS one. It's a great writer and very comfortable in the hand.
I can safely say, however, I like the PenBBS 380 even more. And it com...
The PenBBS 352 is a well-designed cartridge-converter pen offered in an attractive range of acrylics and sold at a reasonable price. Almost everything about the pen strikes a positive note. It's available with a new EF nib.
Just when we were getting used to US$20 pens, Wing Sung reminds us that they do cost-down production as well as anybody. The Wing Sung 3013 is true vac filler with a reliable nib, a good size and solid-looking quality.
The T1 is Moonman's first piston filler fountain pen. It's also their first pen made from aluminum. Turns out the T1 is a very nice pen!
It doesn't take too long poking around the pocket knife world to discover great swaths of titanium.
Traditionalists may consider it out of bounds, but titanium is a premium handle material for all kinds of modern folders. And for good reas...
Moonman continues to explore new ways to incorporate their #6 nib into new pens. The Moonman C2 pocket pen is easy to like. The pen posts perfectly and feels great in the hand. The #6 nib fits the pen well and performs flawlessly. The C2 is a fun ...
Wing Sung have released a lot of pens recently. But, then again, so have Moonman and Delike. It’s easy to lose track, especially when new pens don’t jump out and generate a bunch of buzz in the pen community. The Wing Sung 627 is a release that...
The PenBBS 480 is a redesign of the 359 introduced in 2018. Very similar in size to the 308, the 480 is a superb writer that fits naturally in the hand posted or not. The pen is a cartridge converter filler that also works as an eyedropper.
The PenBBS 491 may be at the low end of the PenBBS price range but it still features outstanding design, top-drawer materials, excellent fit and finish and PenBBS's best nib.
Chinese pens continue to impress. It’s clear manufacturers are investing in improving their products to grab market share. The Wing Sung 618 is an excellent case in point. Bottom line: this is a terrific pen and, at under $8 on Taobao, a great ...
The pen business must be OK in Taiwan. The Lee brothers have moved their store 小品雅集 to new digs around the corner.
The new place is impressive.
More than enough pens to keep you busy for a while. The Lee brothers have their own pen models...
Attention fountain pen lovers. PenBBS is at it again. They've just rolled out another new pen. The new PenBBS 355 is interesting from a couple of angles:
Bulk Filling System Pen makers have been thinking about ways to make pens hold mor...
The Kanwrite Desire is a terrific, entry-level Indian pen. It combines great materials, excellent size, solid fit-and-finish and a high-quality #6 nib that comes in a bunch of sizes.
If you have a chance, get one!
A New Pen? Sort of. I ...
To my mind, the Moonman M100 pen was a watershed. It put Chinese pens in a new league. Where PenBBS pens are clearly the product of people who know and love fountain pens, their strength is in the engineering, manufacture and huge range of materia...
Here's another under-the-radar Chinese pen well worth a look. The Natami Inception is a Platinum #3776 Century clone. And a very well made one. I've never treated myself to a Platinum #3776 Century - as much as the Chartres Blue appeals.
The...
The PenBBS 500 makes a strong first impression. It feels substantial with solid size, girth and weight. Unfortunately, spring-loaded piston filling system is likely to be tricky for new fountain pen users.
A vintage Aurora 88 has been on my grail list ever since I first encountered pelahale’s landmark video paean to this pen, HeartBreaking Pens of Staggering Genius. Naturally, I set my sights on an original 88 in Nikargenta. The Aurora 88 is intr...
Part of the pleasure of vintage pens is thinking about what it was like to experience the the golden age of fountain pens. The drawback is it’s an impossible task.
NOS (new old stock) and vintage pens in near-unused condition is a game for f...
The 323 was an early PenBBS model, coming to market in late 2017 - a bit before PenBBS came on my radar.
Was the 323, after the 266, the second pen PenBBS released? Drop some knowledge in the comments. It's hard to find background info on Pe...
When writing a short story or other piece of fiction, it can be frustrating to feel "stuck" on something as simple as a character's name. This is especially true if you have to name some minor characters for whom no name has sprung to mind yet. ...
Think PenBBS, think great pens and quality nibs. Even if the nibs only come in one size. 😄
Think ink too! I just got my hands on a bottle of no. 232, Ugly 丑. What a name! What a color!
More and more, think crazy-cool materials. Stunning eye-...
The mother-of-pearl, gold- and silver-leaf resins of the Moonman M8 make this pen unique. The connection to the Moonman M6 make it a great writer.
Remember the PenBBS 322? It came out last fall as a low-cost PenBBS offering. A slim pen, the 322 featured a #5 mini-fude nib (with a cool heart-shaped breather hole), less metal and was only available in transparent acrylic. This FPN review compa...
