Filtering by Author: Jeff Abbott

Wearingeul The Old Man and the Sea Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

One of the inks I've been using recently takes inspiration from a work of literature that I'm sure many are familiar with. For me, it was required reading for 9th grade English in school. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway was my first exposure to his work, and it's also the inspiration for Wearingeul's ink of the same name. While the source material is about an epic struggle of human versus beast and nature, the ink focuses on the serene but unknown beauty of the sea.

The Old Man and the Sea is a deep teal ink with lots of shading and a heavy dose of red shimmer to mimic the sparkly reflection of the sun off the ocean's surface. I've used many Wearingeul inks at this point, and I've come to expect great performance. This ink is no exception.

I've really enjoyed the color of this ink. The dark teal is a pretty shade and there's enough shading to produce a good amount of color variation in even small nibs. Comparing this ink swatch to others in my collection, I was surprised by how similar it is to Sailor's Yama-dori. The main difference is that the Wearingeul ink has an additional red shimmer component.

While I'm not a huge fan of shimmering inks, it's really well-done with this ink. The ratio of glitter particles to ink is on the lower side to ensure it never overwhelms the beautiful teal color, and the choice of using red glitter is a fantastic complimentary color. There are many blue/green inks that use a red sheen for the same reason — they just go well together.

Wearingeul The Old Man and the Sea Ink Shimmer

Writing with this ink is a joy. It feels smooth on the nibs and papers I've tried, and it flows well. Since this is a shimmering ink, you need to remember to shake the bottle well and ink your pen immediately to get a good sampling of red glitter. If you forget to shake the bottle, you will barely notice the red shimmer when you start writing.

Wearingeul The Old Man and the Sea Ink Shading

The ink also dries in what I'd call an average amount of time. It's not setting any records (on either end of the spectrum), but it falls right in the middle at around 20-30 seconds to become smudge-proof. Not an ideal candidate for anyone that wants a fast-drying ink. That said, I think the color and shimmer is worth the extra hassle of waiting for the ink to properly dry if you know you won't be in a hurry. For left-handed writers, it will be challenging to keep your hand from smudging this ink as you write — even if you're using a really small nib.

Wearingeul The Old Man and the Sea Ink Comparison

It's been so long since I read The Old Man and the Sea, but I'm pretty confident that I can say that I've enjoyed using this ink for the past several week more than I enjoyed reading and writing about the novella. To each their own, right? Wearingeul really did a great job at designing an ink that pays homage to the source material, while also making it a fantastic ink on its own rite.

The Old Man and the Sea is $22 for a 30ml bottle, or you can pick up a small sample vial to try out first for a few bucks. Regardless of what you think about the book or the author, this ink is a great color that looks great on paper. If you like how it looks, you'll really enjoy using it.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Wearingeul The Old Man and the Sea Ink Writing

Posted on April 9, 2025 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Wearingeul, Ink Reviews.

ensso Bolt Fountain Pen Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

The idea of a retractable fountain pen is something of a white whale. There are very few options, and it seems every one of these options comes with some serious trade-offs. For something that seems like such a big design challenge, that doesn't stop people from trying. It's also not often that we see new options come onto the scene in this category, so that's why I'm excited to talk about the Bolt from ensso.

On the outside, the Bolt looks like another machined metal pen that uses a simple bolt mechanism to control the retractable refill. The all titanium body is lightweight and feels great in the hand, but it's really surprising to extend the refill and see a slim fountain pen nib emerge from the end of the cone.

At just 5.16 inches (13.2 cm), the Bolt is a really comfortable size both in hand and when storing. The barrel diameter is fairly slim at just 3/8" (9.5mm), similar to most gel pen barrels and a little slimmer than most fountain pens.

In most cases, there are two Achilles heels when designing a retractable fountain pen: clip placement and sealing the nib when not in use. There are other challenges when designing a pen like this, but these two seem to be obvious factors with the products we have access to today. The way we hold a pen when writing is unique to each individual. For a pen like the Pilot Vanishing Point or Decimo, the clip placement might make the pen uncomfortable for many people. If you can't accommodate the clip being part of your grip pattern, then it just doesn't work for you.

With the Bolt, the clip is an optional accessory that installs on the back of the pen barrel. The unit I have for testing didn't come with the clip, but it's easy to install by using a coin to remove the plain end and screw on the clip end. When using the clip to store the pen upright, this does face the nib toward the ground. I thought that might be an issue since gravity and motion might cause some ink to leak out and stain whatever it's clipped to.

I tried this out by simply carrying the pen around in a pocket with the point faced down. In my testing with normal walking, no ink escaped from the pen, and the nib was clean when I got it out to write. My assumption is that some leakage could still occur depending on the environment and the level of movement you put the pen through. I would certainly be careful about flying with this pen due to the large air pressure change. Either empty the pen before flying or isolate it in a bag to prevent some inky mishaps in your luggage. Overall, though, I really appreciate the clip placement on the Bolt, and I like the optional nature of the clip even more. Even though I don't have a clip to try out, I still think I prefer this pen sans clip. It's more sleek and the bolt mechanism acts as a great stopper to keep the pen from rolling around on flat surfaces when not in use.

Similarly, a fountain pen isn't much use if the tip dries out after a couple of hours while retracted due to a bad seal that lets too much moisture leave the nib and feed. This seems to be the really tricky bit to design and manufacture at scale. Pilot seems to have a good solution, as does Platinum.

With the Bolt, I've been incredibly impressed by how well their seal design works. According to their webpage, they spent over a year developing and testing this system, and it's really simple in practice. It's just a small piece of silicone that has a couple of slits that form an X pattern that allow the nib to pass through, but come back together to form a seal over the nib when it's retracted. I've left this pen alone for over a month and come back to use it only to find that it writes almost immediately. Very nice. Also, ensso includes two extra silicone seals with the pen in case the original one (or second) fails. Time will tell how these hold up.

One of the concerns I had when looking at this silicone sleeve mechanism is that the contact with the nib and the silicone might cause excessive ink creep on the nib. By ink creep, I mean how ink tends to leak a tiny bit around the slit on the top side of the nib. And if you try to use a paper towel to clean up a tiny dot of ink, you end up dragging a lot more ink onto the nib due to the capillary action of the towel when it hits the slit. I'm happy to report that this just isn't an issue with the Bolt. There hasn't been any ink creep on this nib at all.

And while talking about the nib, let's just take a minute to admire this custom nib unit that ensso designed. It's reminiscent of the nib units you see in Pilot's offerings, but this one uses a standard international cartridge converter to supply ink. The actual nib and feed are super small — they're like miniatures.

I've really enjoyed using the Bolt over the past couple months. It's a solid performer that has really impressed me and removed any doubts I had about the performance of the retractable nib design. Operating the bolt mechanism is really easy to do one handed, and I really like the amount of resistance the spring provides. I also love how the nib retracts a bit slower than you expect due to the drag of the silicone on the nib unit. It's similar to watching a soft-close drawer finish closing. Satisfying.

The only nitpick I have for this pen is about the feel of the bolt mechanism. It works well, but I don't love the metal-on-metal feel/sound when operating it. This is likely unavoidable since all the parts are metal, but I wonder if a small synthetic bushing would help smooth out the feel and get rid of the minor nails-on-a-chalkboard sound of metal grinding against metal. Or maybe a little dab of carefully applied silicone grease would alleviate that problem. Either way, it's a minor gripe on an otherwise stellar pen.

The Bolt is only available in the titanium finish, but you have an option of EF, F, or M nibs (and you can pick up several), along with the option of a clip. The clip is an additional $25 on top of the standard $120 price for the pen. You can pre-order the pen now and expect delivery later this month. If you like retractable fountain pens and like the aesthetic of this pen, you should go for it. It's a solid performer at a great price, and it will hold up to years of use thanks to the titanium material and the extra silicone seals that ensso provide with the pen.

(Brad purchased this pen via the enso Bolt Kickstarter campaign.)

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Posted on April 2, 2025 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Ensso, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Blackwing Illegal Pad Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

The legal pad is one of the most iconic stationery items that comes to my mind. Even though I don't use them very often, I always have some around for when I need large sheets of paper to sketch or write out ideas. Whether you prefer white paper or the classic yellow paper, I'm sure everyone has seen or used a legal pad at least once in their lifetime. One common thing about the economical legal pads that you can pick up in bulk at the big box stores is that they don't use great paper. They work best with ballpoints and gel pens, but you can try your luck with fountain pens or rollerball inks with some brands. What about a legal pad with good paper that works well with all types of pen and ink? Well, the options aren't plentiful, but they do exist. One such option is from Blackwing, and I've really enjoyed using it.

The Blackwing Illegal Pad is a simple, no-frills pad of paper that comes in either blank, lined, or dot grid variants. The 50 sheets of 8.5 x 11 inch (21.6 x 28 cm) 80gsm ivory paper work well with all types of writing instruments, and it also manages to have a more premium feel than the standard cheap-o legal pad from the big box retailers.

The pad consists of only the 50 sheets, which are perforated for easy removal, the top binding, and the back cover. The back cover is a stiffer chipboard material, but I wouldn't say it's sturdy enough to provide a stable writing surface if you're holding the pad on your leg. It works, but there's a bit too much flex to write without making lots of mistakes. This is definitely meant to be used on top of another hard surface for support.

In typical Blackwing notebook style, the back cover and binding are matte black. The front side of the binding features a debossed Blackwing logo that looks great without attracting attention. The back cover — both interior and exterior — are completely blank. There's zero marketing or printing on the pad except for the debossed logo on the front. To me, this is a great aesthetic that nods to the strictly utilitarian origins of the humble legal pad.

Writing on the paper is a great experience. There's a slight amount of feedback when moving across the page, but it still feels really smooth and it's easy to control your writing instrument. In my testing, the paper does really well with all types of inks. I can't see any bleeding or feathering, and there's minimal show-through on the back of the page. I'd argue that with a legal pad, you typically aren't using the back of the page anyway. In most cases, a legal pad is used as scratch paper or drafting paper — not something you keep and store away. When you're done with a page, you either tear it out and do something with it, or you flip the page over the binding out of the way so you can continue writing on the next page. So simple!

While I love the utilitarian purpose of the legal pad, it only works if the pad is cheap enough to justify the ephemeral use. Once you cross a certain price threshold, it's harder to treat a notebook as something you use and quickly discard with each sheet. The Blackwing Illegal Pad comes in a set of 2 and costs $18 per set. That's $9 per notepad. You can easily find a 12-pack of legal pads from a big box retailer for about $30, or roughly $2.50 per pad. I think the threshold for determining if the Blackwing Legal Pad is a good value will be different for everyone. If you really enjoy the legal pad format and are looking for the same thing with better paper quality, the Blackwing option is superb and I think the price makes sense. If the price seems steep, then it's probably not the right pad for you. I think the target market for this notepad is people who already love and use legal pads, but who are looking for a more premium version and are willing to pay $9 per pad. If that's you, then you're going to love this pad. And, this product is really for those people who like legal pads and also want options outside of the normal lined paper. Dot grid or blank!

I've really enjoyed using the Blackwing Illegal Pad, and I think I'll be ordering more when I use these two up. The paper is a joy to use, and there's just something about the legal pad format that makes me happy and encourages me to keep using it. Some days, that's an invaluable quality for a notebook to have.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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