Myke and I were happy to have Ed Jelley back on the podcast, especially to discuss the recently completed Long Island Pen Show and the crazy nib grind he came home with. We also talk about the arrival of Myke's Nock Co. order, the Retro 51 Tornado Touch, and Myke's first ever fountain pen.
via Ed Jelley on Flickr
I have been a fan of Chadwick Parker and Joe Huang's Kickstarter pen designs since they released the PHX-1 back in 2011. While that pen no longer sees action in my rotation their Solid Titanium Pen + Stylus still hits the page frequently, loaded out with an 0.3 mm Pilot Hi-Tec-C Cavalier refill. The design is excellent, unless you want to post the pen. The Ti POST RAW changes that.
Chadwick was kind enough to loan me one of his prototypes for a quick look and I am pleased with the new design. The main feature is the cap is able to post much deeper into the barrel as opposed to near the very end of the barrel in the previous design. The threads are also wider and longer, making for a more secure fit when the cap is posted. This gives the pen an improved overall balance.
While this is essentially an iterative design, it is one that was much needed for those who want to securely post their Ti pen. The other features, such as the ability to add a stylus tip and use a wide variety of refills, have gone unchanged and provide the excellent options available in their other offerings.
Their Kickstarter campaign for the Ti POST RAW has cruised past it's initial $5000 goal and is sitting above $40K with three weeks to go. Be sure to check it out if you are looking for a great EDC titanium pen. I did.
Thanks for the loaner Chadwick! I'll be mailing it back your way this week.
I received an epic batch of not-easy-to-come-by ink samples in January that knocked my socks off (thanks Richard!), and while I have had a chance to play with some of them I'm just now getting the chance to write them up. Sailor Bung Box Blue Black (aka Sailor 4B) is the first, and maybe the best.
My love of blue black inks is well known, and this package contained a wide variety of samples I had never heard of, much less tried. I went with the Sailor 4B first because I was also sent a cool empty box and bottle of this ink to see how Sailor packages these specialty inks for Japanese retailer Bungubox. Yes, it is only available directly through them unfortunately, unless you want to work some eBay magic.
The ink itself is fantastic. It is one of the most shaded blue black inks I have used and it has a nice red sheen that I had a hard time capturing. This ink could use more close-up photos to show off all of its properties. I'll work on that. It nails the color ratios too. There are no hints of stray colors - like green - that often ruin some blue black inks for me.
This is a standout ink, one I would give up a body part or two to acquire more of. Thanks Richard for sending me this sample!
(Note: Bungubox just launched an Amazon Shop. Several inks are available (not this one) but I'm not going to bother linking them because it would cost you almost $60 for one bottle of ink with shipping.)
