As you can probably tell, my preferred tool for writing is a fountain pen. I collect them... sort of. I really just keep around as many as I can use, and then I try to sell off those that end up gathering dust to purchase new pens! It's a wonderfully delicious cycle.
Well, I recently made the decision to begin "trading up" my pens, getting rid of many in exchange for a few. The first pen to come to my mail box using this new strategy was a Pilot Legno 89s. The definition of legno is "with the wood." This makes perfect sense when considering how the 89s' barrel is made. The body is made from a kind of compressed wood, where thin slices of wood are pressed under high pressure and impregnated with resin. The exterior is then somehow imprinted with a remarkably authentic looking wood texture.
Released in 2007, only in Japan, the 89s commemorates the 89th anniversary of the Pilot pen company.
The pen comes with a Pilot No. 3 14 carat white gold nib. Mine is a medium, which writes like a western fine nib. Asian pen nibs tend to run more narrow than their western counterparts.
At 4.1" from end cap to nib, the 89s is made to be used while "posted," or capped. To put it in perspective, the 89s is just a hair shorter than an Esterbrook SJ, although it is reasonably, and pleasantly, heavier.
The 89s is a cartridge pen, which means exactly what it sounds like: it takes cartridge ink. But I was lucky enough to score mine with a squeeze converter. To fill, all I have to do is insert the nib into a bottle of ink and press the pressure bar a few times.
This magnificent piece of art walked into my life at a substantial discount by way of a gracious seller over at the Fountain Pen Network. It's been my frequent experience that the people selling pens in FPN's classified section are generally good folks who sell at reasonable prices, all in the name of spreading the fever. The fountain pen fever... of which I was a willing victim.
What instrument do you prefer to write your correspondence with? Do you have any dream pens or pencils (or markers, or paints, etc.)?
4 comments:
Fountain pens are my #1 writing instruments of choice. And, so far as art supplies go, I buy first and think later :-X Ack! To that end, though, I have been enjoying my new Faber-Castell Watercolor Pencils :-D
Btw, received the paper today (as if my blog post wasn't enough of a heads-up). Thanks so much!! What paper is it? Southworth with 25% cotton?
Fountain pens, of course! Though I couldn't possibly choose a favorite.
fountain pens as well but mine sadly broke in two pieces a couple of wks ago and have not been able to replace it due to tough economic times , I miss my pen wah!!!
Got to be a fountain pen for me. I re-discovered fountain pens about a month or two ago and now wonder how I ever managed without one!
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