Pen Refills Guide

Rotring makes the best pens and mechanical pencils, bar none.<p>They&#x27;re well-built, stylish, and incredibly durable. They do not look or feel cheap, and they&#x27;re perfectly weighted.<p>After years of experimenting with different models and refills, I&#x27;ve found the one brand I&#x27;ll stick with forever.<p>Do yourself a favor and look them up.

I&#x27;ve been writing with Mitsubishi ball pens before but switched to a fountain pen - a simple Lamy with a fine feather - and I can really recommend it. The writing experience is very nice as the pen requires very little pressure to write and with a little practice the result looks very good. I also bought a small flask of black ink and an ink converter (a small ink cartridge allowing you to draw ink from the flask into the cartridge via the pen) to refill it, which I have to do roughly every two weeks. I&#x27;ve been almost exclusively writing with the pen since more than a year and went through less than a quarter of the flask so far, so it&#x27;s more economic than using ball pens as well I&#x27;d say.

One nice thing about refills is that it gets you into a much nicer class of pen body - it&#x27;s amazing how much difference a nice texture and better weight and balance can make. Of course, then you need to be careful to not lose them!<p>I habitually carry multiple pens - at very least, a fountain pen and a disposable ballpoint that I like (Uni-Ball Jetstream). The ballpoint is for signing receipts mostly, so I don&#x27;t have to use whatever they give me, and for loaning to people who suddenly need a pen. I assume I&#x27;ll never get it back when that happens.<p>I sometimes carry a fine Sharpie as well, for things where I want a wider line on whatever sorts of surfaces. And if I&#x27;m really swinging, I&#x27;ll have other disposables.<p>For a while, I was carrying a Retro51 Tornado (beautiful and affordable) with a Monteverde blue-black gel refill that is maybe the nicest-looking ink I&#x27;ve found. But it&#x27;s a bit broader than I like, and they don&#x27;t make a finer point.<p>I also really love the Pilot Hi-Tec-C, but unfortunately, they don&#x27;t really make proper refills for it, and the disposable bodies are trash, to put it nicely. Absolutely the best fine-line disposable writing experience, though.

If it ever seems like the refill&#x2F;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&#x27;ll revive most refills.

As an aside, a little tip my father taught me was to always carry a handkerchief&#x2F;towelette sort of thing in your pocket to clean the nib of your pen before you write. That&#x27;ll take away the smear of leftover ink that collects at the tip, and makes your writing generally turn out neater&#x2F; with less mess.

Also strongly recommend cross-referencing the guide on Well-Appointed Desk: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wellappointeddesk.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;06&#x2F;epic-refill-guide-rollerball-gel-and-ballpoints&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wellappointeddesk.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;06&#x2F;epic-refill-guide-...</a><p>The OP article has a good focus on the more technical details, while the guide I linked above gives large lists of specific pens&#x2F;refills compatible which each refill.

This would be incredibly useful if I didn&#x27;t always lose pens before they run out of ink.

Any one else prefer writing with an extremely fine felt tip? My preference is the artline series. Gives the benefits of fountain – no pressure required, but also gives control and speed

Speaking of which, I have to give Wancher a shout out for publishing this guide on how to refill Japanese vintage fountain pens: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=ejuLvB08-nA" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=ejuLvB08-nA</a>

What is the most environmentally friendly analog writing tool?<p>How is ink made? Is it less invasive than mining graphite, etc?

Here is another similar one I had saved: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wellappointeddesk.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;06&#x2F;epic-refill-guide-rollerball-gel-and-ballpoints&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wellappointeddesk.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;06&#x2F;epic-refill-guide-...</a>

The rise and fall of the pocket protector...<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.americanscientist.org&#x2F;article&#x2F;rise-and-fall-of-the-pocket-protector" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.americanscientist.org&#x2F;article&#x2F;rise-and-fall-of-t...</a>

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).