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Pen Refills Guide

unsharpen.com

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Re: Pen Refills Guide

#3
post #2

This would be incredibly useful if I didn't always lose pens before they run out of ink.

I've found pens to more commonly break before they run out of ink anyway. And my preferred roller ball pens (Uniball Air Micro) aren't refillable anyway.

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.

Re: Pen Refills Guide

#4
As an aside, a little tip my father taught me was to always carry a handkerchief/towelette sort of thing in your pocket to clean the nib of your pen before you write. That'll take away the smear of leftover ink that collects at the tip, and makes your writing generally turn out neater/ with less mess.

Re: Pen Refills Guide

#5
post #2

This would be incredibly useful if I didn't always lose pens before they run out of ink.

I've found pens to more commonly break before they run out of ink anyway. And my preferred roller ball pens (Uniball Air Micro) aren't refillable anyway. 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.

One of us! one of us! (the fountain pen ppl)

Re: Pen Refills Guide

#6
If it ever seems like the refill/pen is dried but you can clearly see ink still in there on a rollerball or gel pen, dip the tip in some really hot water for a few seconds and it'll revive most refills.

Re: Pen Refills Guide

#7
zebra sarasas (cobalt color) are my faves! they smear less than other gel pens like the G2’s, which is good for lefties. great to know they’re an ISO standard size (parker-style G2).

Re: Pen Refills Guide

#8
post #2

This would be incredibly useful if I didn't always lose pens before they run out of ink.

I've found pens to more commonly break before they run out of ink anyway. And my preferred roller ball pens (Uniball Air Micro) aren't refillable anyway. 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.

Heh. I've found that my odds of breaking a pen are negatively correlated to the price of the pen. I switched to using pigma microns at the beginning of the year. Just starting on my 3rd pen. The first two are not only not broken, but they are also neatly arranged in my stationery drawyer. Marked as finished.

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.

Re: Pen Refills Guide

#9
post #7

zebra sarasas (cobalt color) are my faves! they smear less than other gel pens like the G2’s, which is good for lefties. great to know they’re an ISO standard size (parker-style G2).

+1 for Zebra Sarasa. (I was excited to see it mentioned as well.) I'm a fan of them (for 15+ years) since someone I knew who owned an office supply store introduced them to me. They look a lot like G2's but if you look closely at a G2 you see a brown smear of color at the top of the refill which Sarasa doesn't have.

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.

Re: Pen Refills Guide

#10
Rotring makes the best pens and mechanical pencils, bar none.

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.

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