Posts filed under Storage

Nakabayashi Lifestyle Tool Wall Box Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

You know those sweet antique steamer trunks that fancy travelers always had, where they opened up to be an entire wardrobe with drawers and compartments and hangers and everything? This is like a mini one of those for your stationery. How clever is that?

The Nakabayashi Lifestyle Tool Wall Box is made of firm cardboard, reinforced with steel, with a textured paper surface. The box can be decorated, but also looks good with its plain minimalistic design. The interior is also lined with strong magnets, so the box can stick to metal surfaces or a fridge, which is a feature I didn't think I needed until I tried it. Once I tried it, I realized that is probably where mine will stay. Partly because it's extremely useful and partly because the magnets are so strong it's actually really hard to get it off the fridge.

The box folds open lengthwise, and inside are a series of small compartments for all your desk necessities. The left side has one larger compartment that is perfect for scissors or a handful of pens, or both. The top flap of the box folds up on that side, so if you're using it as a pen stand or on your fridge, you can fit even taller items on that side. On the right are three smaller shelves--two like pockets, and the bottom one like a shallow tray. There is also one tall, narrow pen slot toward the middle. These pockets are great for washi tapes, sticky notes, clips, pencil sharpeners, or other wee sundries.

At $18, it's expensive for a cardboard box. But it really is well constructed and cleverly designed--more so than some similarly priced fabric pen pouches. When closed, the box is held shut by its magnets and fits well on shelves or in bags, and the hard cardboard keeps your items safe. They're ready for a jaunt across campus or a steamship across the Atlantic, whichever.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on November 19, 2020 by Sarah Read and filed under Nakabayashi, Storage.

The Pen Rest by Walden Woodworkers: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

Galen Leather sent me several wonderful pen items after I encountered problems with my six-pen case (reviewed here). One of those items was “The Pen Rest” by Walden Woodworkers.

The Pen Rest is made out of a single piece of mahogany wood. It has an aged brass plate on the front with “Walden Woodworkers Istanbul” inscribed in it.

The holder is carved with three slots for pens to rest lengthwise. I really like the design with its subtle curves and simplicity.

The Pen Holder accommodates small and medium-sized pens well. I tried it with a Platinum, Sailor 1911L, and Pilot Vanishing Point, and all the pens fit and were accessible.

However, oversized pens overwhelm the holder. You can fit two comfortably, but three is definitely a crowd.

I definitely prefer a pen holder that allows my pens to be in a horizontal position. In vertical holders, the ink sinks to the bottom, and that can lead to hard starts. That said, detail that would make this pen rest even better is felt on the bottom to protect other surfaces.

You can purchase the Walden Woodworkers Pen Rest from Galen Leather for a very reasonable $16.00.

(Galen Leather sent me this pen rest as a gift. I did not request it for review nor did they ask me to review the product.)

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Posted on January 18, 2019 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Walden Woodworkers, Storage.

How I Keep Track of My Pen Collection

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

When I started collecting fountain pens over five years ago, I never imagined I would own enough pens to need a system to keep track of all of them. But collecting pens is an addiction, and like any addiction, there’s always at least one more pen to buy. You start with one and wind up with one hundred.

I decided that, for insurance purposes and my need for sanity, I should come up with a way to keep my collection organized. I despise Microsoft Excel, so I knew I wouldn’t want to use it. I found a database app that works on my iPad, iPhone, and Mac called TapForms.

TapForms can manage any kind of information you want: recipes, books, home inventory, research, and cats (if you’re a cat lady). And what I love most about it is I can design each database with the layout, content, fields, and photographs I want. Right now my most used database is my fountain pen collection, but I also created a database to keep track of all my poetry for my M.A. thesis, and I started one to organize my ink.

I set up my Fountain Pen Collection Database with the information I need, and the great thing is, if I want to add more fields at any point, I can. Here’s a screen grab of the form I created:

You can see what kinds of information I find useful for each pen, including the manufacturer, color, nib type, photographs, where and when I bought the pen, repair information, and information about pens I’ve sold.

Here’s a screen grab of one of my pens catalogued in the form:

I can have the database organize the pens alphabetically by manufacturer (that’s my default), but I can also categorize pens by searching any field. For example, I can get lists of all the pens I’ve sold, all the pens with fine nibs, all the pens from a particular manufacturer, etc. Below is a partial list of pens with italic nibs in my collection:

This is a terrific tool for many reasons. First, I can keep track of all my pens. Second, I have the information I need for insurance purposes, including photos of each pen, limited edition numbers, and how much I paid for each pen. Third, if I decide to sell a pen, I already have the information about it in my listing, including whether or not I have the original packaging, what I originally paid for the pen, if it’s been repaired, etc. For example, here’s the information on one of the pens I sold.

I highly recommend TapForms if you don’t already have a method for keeping track of your pen and ink collections. You can secure the database with a password, which is especially useful if you keep it on your iPad or on a computer accessible to others.

For computers, TapForms is Mac only, but if you own an iPhone or iPad, there’s a stand-alone app. If you own both a Mac and an iPhone/iPad, you can sync your data across all devices (and you can even have it on your Apple Watch if you like).

The iPhone/iPad app is $16.99, and you can download it from the App Store here. The Mac app is $49.99, and you can purchase it directly from TapForms (or download a trial) or purchase it in the Mac App Store here.

(I purchased TapForms for Mac and iPad with my own funds.)

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!