It’s been a while since I’ve done something like this. So here is a shortlist of my current favorite pens.
- If love was a pen it would be the Jotter. I love the jotter, there is so much history and so many imperfections contained within each pen. After more than fifty years Parker has come upon the closest thing to perfect that is possible in this plane of existence: the Parker Jotter XL. The original jotter has everything I love in a pen without the size. I have big hands. The Jotter XL takes everything I love about these pens and makes them all fit my big meaty claws.
2. Even before I came to know Parker I knew Rotring. This German brand does not have as large a catalog as its competitors but it beats their quantity with quality. Rotring was one of my first loves, and I have never left it. They have so many good pencils and pens. Nearly all of them are built on the same design and each one of them is great for its own reasons. Rotring is one of the few brands that can make both a good pen and a good pencil.
3. Michael’s Fatboy was a pen I didn’t know I needed. When I first got into this hobby I was buying pens left and right. Now I have a solid core collection of pens that I use on a regular basis and another group of pens that I just like to have. Michael’s Fatboys were an outlier. I never knew I needed one until I signed a receipt with one at Bittner Pens. The experience was brief but it stuck with me. The Fatboys have a distinctive appearance and a pleasurable writing experience. Other pens might be better for long writing sessions, but nothing can beat the look of a Fatboy on your desk.
4. Kaweco is a brand that I have ignored for too long. From what I have seen they have an extensive collection of fountain pens. I only know them from their mechanical pencil; the kaweco special mechanical pencil. It has everything you would want in a pencil; ease of use and a comfortable feel.
5. I just can’t get away from LAMY. Especially the LAMY 2000. I only have the ballpoint. I have nothing bad to say about this pen, except that they use a proprietary ink cartridge. But the feel of using this pen…it’s an instant classic. If LAMY didn’t insist on a proprietary ink I might have made this pen number one. It got just the right amount of girth and the ink flows smoothly.
So that’s my top five pens of this year so far. What have you been writing with?