Lamy Petrol - I Have Seen You Before

Lamy Petrol is the hot ink topic in the pen community as of late and every time I saw a swab of it online, it looked so familiar. At our last pen group meetup, I had an opportunity to obtain a sample of Lamy Petrol from a friend and then it hit me on where I had seen this ink before. It is a dead ringer for Noodler’s Ink Air-Corp Blue Black.

It is amazing how closely related these two inks are here. Both inks are a very dark teal, sometimes to the point of looking near black. The only difference I can see if the Lamy Petrol tends to sheen more than the Noodler’s Air-Corp but only if you decide to glob it on.

Lamy Petrol is having issues with meeting demand, for whatever reason, so if you are wanting to get a bottle of this ink, the Noodler's Air-Corp Blue Black ink is available from your favorite retailer, I would bet.

This is based off of my experience and opinion. I do not represent Noodlers or Lamy nor am I being compensated in any way

Inkjournal InkFlight #5

Oh man, I have been wanting to try this ink brand for quite some time and now I get to thanks to this months Inkflight. Can you tell I am a bit excited? Here is what awaited me in this month's box.

Akkerman inks! This Dutch company has the best ink bottles but I didn't want to buy one blindly without seeing what the ink was like. I was not at all disappointed.

These are some rather lovely flowing inks with some high saturation, much like the Robert Oster inks tend to be. The inks were sampled on Mnemosyne paper and I must say, Shocking Blue and Simplistes Violet both sheened on this paper. I cannot even get Fire and Ice to do that without copious amounts of ink.

See the sheen? Very nice, indeed.

Along with the inks were a few other surprises. A nib holder and 3 Brause flex dip nibs.

I do have an interest in Calligraphy and working on my flex writing, I sure need it too. This was a really unexpected addition but I really like it. I have heard great things about Brause nibs and I look forward to trying them out. I will admit, I haven't yet as I have been having way too much fun sampling and playing with the inks. I will be buying some bottles now and more ink isn't what I need but oh well.

Overall another successful InkFlight box. I still find the $25 price tag to be totally worth it. Try one out.

This review is based off of my opinion and experience. I do not represent InkJournal nor am I being compensated in any way.

Smooth Operator Battle - Who Wins?

I realize I am treading on dangerous ground here as people have very strong opinions on certain pens. This is based on my findings and preferences since smoothness is completely subjective.

I looked at my smoothest writing pens in my collection and originally had 6 pens picked out but then I decided to limit this to gold nibs across the board so my Twsbi pens are out. Perhaps I should also do a smoothness comparison amongst my steel nib pens.

Let the battle begin!

Let’s start with the Platinum 3776 with a 14kt gold nib. Japanese nibs are generally finer in their grinds so this is a broad Japanese nib which is close to a German medium. It is a lovely writer and a gorgeous pen with a classic shape. There is noticeable feedback on this nib both audibly and physically which puts it down on the list. It isn’t unpleasant but since this is the smoothness battle, it must tap out.

On to the Pilot Vanishing Point here with an 18kt gold medium nib. I have a few Pilot pens but the VP seems to perform above the other Pilot’s I have. It is smooth and writes very well every time I call upon it. It is a very smooth writer with some feedback but when compared to the 3 pens below here, it just cannot compete.

The Visconti Homosapiens Steel Age has a 23kt nib in Palladium and this particular nib is a medium. This nib is super smooth with the most minimal of feedback but is quite an ink cannon. This nib deposits a generous flow of ink to the page which is great but how much of the smoothness is the nib and how much is attributed to the ink flow? I am not complaining about this pen as I love it but I feel the ink flow helps too much. Yes, super smooth writing here but due to my criteria, I am pushing it to third.

Which leads to the battle of German pens apparently.

The Pelikan Souverӓn M800 is an absolute delight to write with. It has some audible feedback but is super smooth when writing with the medium 18kt nib here. Ink flow is adequate and not anywhere close to gushing.

The Lamy 2000 has a 18kt medium nib and is super stealthy and smooth.  Much like the Pelikan, it has trace amounts of audible feedback but is butter smooth when writing. Ink flow here is also adequate and nowhere close to gushing.

This is super tough. I will have to give the edge to the Pelikan but the margin is very slim compared to the Lamy 2000. Price can be a deciding factor if you are looking at these two pens but the Pelikan gets my winning nod. 

This is solely based off of my opinion and experience. I do not represent any company featured here nor am I being compensated in any way.

Pilot Sterling Silver Fountain Pen - Dragon

I treated myself. This pen has caught my eye and has been in my radar for quite some time now. I finally pulled the trigger and I knew I had to review it because there are hardly any reviews on this pen, that I could find. I wonder why that is?

This pen is Sterling Silver and has an engraved Dragon motif in both the barrel and cap. I will admit, this pen is a tad hard to photograph due to all of the shiny.

I love a heavier pen and this one is up there at 19g uncapped and 31g capped. When I opened it, I almost didn't want to touch it and get fingerprints all over it. The pen does come with a jewelers cloth and a polish cloth for the silver, which can tarnish over time.

As beautiful as this pen is, the nib is what steals the show here. It is a 18kt Rhodium plated gold nib and is surprisingly springy. Just a teensy tiny bi of pressure and this nib opens up to lie some ink on the page and I really enjoy it.

Placing a shading ink in this pen with this nib is an absolute must. I filled it with J. Herbin Bleu Ocean without shaking the bottle, as I prefer the ink without the sparkly particulate. The blue seemed to really match the shiny of the silver. I am in love with this nib. It may have more spring than the 14kt Pilot Custom 74. That is surprising.

My only complaint with this pen is the converter. Unfortunately, it takes the Pilot Con-50 which has a tiny ink capacity. It would be wonderful if it could hold the Con-70 converter but I guess it is fine. For this being my only complaint, that is pretty minor. I am super happy with the purchase and absolutely love writing with this pen.

This pen is a tad expensive at $478 (Goulet Pens) but for the Sterling Silver finish with the engraving and the gold nib, I find it to be a value. Especially for the writing experience.

This review is based off of my experience and opinion. I do not represent Pilot in any way nor am I being compensated.

Lamy 2000 Gift Set

Guess what? I had a birthday recently and I was very surprised to have received this Lamy 2000 gift set. As a fountain pen enthusiast, the Lamy 2000 is well known and is a must have staple for any collection. I know the Lamy 2000 has been reviewed to death but what is one more?

Here it is.

The gift set comes in this rather large box, which is quite nice, and includes a 50mL bottle of Lamy Blue Black.

I have considered buying this pen for quite some time but there was just something about how plain it looks when capped. It just looks like a plain ol' felt tip marker pen on the outside. 

But, when you uncap this baby, it becomes much more. 

The pen is made from a fiberglass based resin called Makrolon and it has a very aesthetically pleasing tactile quality. The section is round, slick and the nib is the star. This semi-hooded nib is 18kt gold with Rhodium plating and is so butter smooth. Writing with this pen is so effortless. 

Germany is known for being an engineering powerhouse. The Lamy 2000 is a great example of this as this pen is a piston style filler and the blind cap is super hard to see the seam on. The tolerance is that high. I find that to be amazing and it really is the little things that make me smile.

See it?

There it is, it just needs a turn.

I have fallen for this pen and now I understand why this pen has been adored for so many years. The ink, however, I am not so fond of.

This is my first Lamy ink and I must say I am not overly impressed. Yes, it behaves well on paper and the flow is fine. A Blue Black, in my mind, should be a nice dark ink with some dark blue undertones. This ink will flow onto the paper nice and dark but dries to a pale bluish color that I do not find appealing.

This is not a blue black color, in my opinion. I really cannot complain as the ink was free with the gift set and I was happy to have it included so I could write with this pen immediately upon receipt. 

All in all, this is a lovely gift set and if you have not tried a Lamy 2000, please do. Yeah, it has some negative press about a narrow "sweet spot" when writing and blah blah blah...I have had no issues with the performance of this pen just oodles of writing with a big smile on my face. Bob the cat likes it too!

This review is based off of my experience and opinion. I do not represent Lamy in any fashion nor am I being compensated in any way.

Inkjournal Ink Flight #4

Huzzah! I always love coming home from work and finding some pen related inky goodness to be on my doorstep. I am really enjoying the Inkjournal Ink Flights so far and it is a great idea. So what do we have for May?

The physical box this month was dramatically smaller than the other three before but it still held a lovely surprise for me. First off, the ink samples. J. Herbin is the company featured this month for inks and I am alright with that as I have some of their inks and I do like them. Featured this month are the following:

• J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir
• J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche
• J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune
• J. Herbin Rouge Caroubier
• J. Herbin Stormy Grey 1670 Anniversary 
• J. Herbin Cacao Brown (scented)
• J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor 1670 Anniversary

That is a lot of French and it is a good thing this is not a video as I would murder these pronunciations.

The surprise here was the Col-O-Ring book from Ana at The Well Appointed Desk. I have been considering ordering one of these books and test it out with my ever growing ink collection and I greatly appreciate it.

I must admit, I really enjoy this ink testing book. It is handy, conveniently sized and the paper is quite lovely for fountain pen ink. I figured, what better time to use it than right now for the new ink samples to show them off.

This paper shows the shading and sheen when applicable. I am so thankful that this was in the Ink Flight this month.

Another surprise is this:

Yup, a paint brush but more specifically a watercolor paint brush. Why? Well, Ana, with The Well Appointed Desk, made a YouTube video showing everyone how to use, or how she uses,  the Col-O-Ring book for ink swabs. Ana uses a #4 Princeton Neptune brush for the swabs but a cotton swab works fine as well. This brush is a #2 size but big deal. I used it to make the swabs above and I greatly enjoyed it. I may not swab with Q-Tips again.

$28.00 for Ink Flight #4 and it was money well spent. I loved this month's package and I look forward to June's offering.

This review is based off of my opinion and experience. I do not represent Inkjournal or The Well Appointed Desk in any way nor am I being compensated.