Pilot Legno 89s: A Pictorial

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.)?

Supreme Court Plume

If you haven't been able to tell yet, I'm very big on pens. Aware of this, my boss presented me with a very unique, out of the blue, gift last week: a quill pen from the United States Supreme Court. Apparently, the Court maintains the tradition of placing two white turkey feather quills at the petitioner's and respondent's tables every day during session.


A few years ago my firm worked on a case that went before the Supreme Court and one of the attorneys was given one of the quills from their table. That attorney gave the quill to my boss. My boss then kept it inside a cardboard tube for the next five years. Then, hearing about my love of fountain pens, my boss gifted the quill to me. I couldn't have been more excited or appreciative! He's such a nice guy.

This quill really is a work of art. It must take lots of practice and good deal of skill to get the cuts for the nib just right. When done well, like on this example, the nib can reach a virtually unparalleled degree of fineness. Here is the tip of the quill compared to an Esterbrook 9556, intended for fine writing, specifically for writing records and charts.

That's super fine!

I would compare written lines, but there's no way I'm going to ink this quill... yet. Unfortunately, I'm probably going to stick the plume back in the cardboard tube it was given to me in. I want to keep it safe until I can find/afford something worthy of displaying it in.


I might have to go out and buy a quill pen for myself, for when I really want to add something special to my personal correspondence. Or, maybe for just addressing my envelopes, depending on how good I get.

Have you ever used a quill pen? If so, leave a comment, I'd love to hear about it!