14 Friday Nov 2025
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Recently, I seem to have reviewed a reasonable number of retractable fountain pens. Some good, some poor. Go back through my blog and you will see even more as I have covered most available under the £1000 mark. So how does one of the cheapest available compare.
Continue reading22 Friday Aug 2025
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EDC, EDC Fountain Pen, Endless Stationary, Endless Stationary Phantom, fountain pen, Phantom, retractable
Back mid-July I gave a first impressions post on my newly arrived Endless Stationery Phantom fountain pen in stealth finish. Now it is finally time for the review.
Continue reading11 Friday Jul 2025
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EDC, EDC Fountain Pen, Endless Stationary, Endless Stationary Phantom, fountain pen, musings, Phantom, retractable
Think this actually might be my first Initial Impressions post, but as this is a brand new pen I received through backing the KickStarter campaign and it will soon be available to buy outside of that, then this is appropriate to post. Note I have had the pen for four days.
Continue reading11 Friday Apr 2025
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Ensso have made a brave decision in taking their own route on how to make a retractable fountain pen. Instead of the more usual knock they have gone for a side bolt design (hence the name). This is minor however compared with how the nib is sealed. Instead of a trap door there is a silicone membrane which the nib pushes through.
Continue reading28 Friday Mar 2025
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EDC, EDC Fountain Pen, Endless Stationary, Endless Stationary Creator, fountain pen, retractable
Endless Stationery were know for their range of respected notebooks and in mid 2023 they added to this by the introduction of the Creator retractable fountain pen. This did create a fair bit of interest across the community. I missed out on getting one at the time but was changed by the arrival of this loaner.
Continue reading21 Friday Mar 2025
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Decimo, EDC, EDC Fountain Pen, fountain pen, pilot, pilot capless, Pilot Decimo, pilot vanishing point, retractable, vanishing point
I reviewed my pair of Pilot Vanish Points back in 2020 however there are a number of other variants now available in the UK. One of these is the thinner model, the Decimo, which has been around in Japan for almost as long as the original model.
Continue reading21 Friday Feb 2025
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EDC, EDC Fountain Pen, fountain pen, lamy dialog 3, musings, pilot vanishing point, Platinum curidas, retractable, vanishing point
Many of us like retractable fountain pens. Not all are based around a bolt or knock, some are twist, and in reality not all can be opened one handed despite that being an often used excuse behind the purchase.
Continue reading29 Friday Jul 2022
Let’s be blunt. China has a bad reputation in the pen world for supplying little but cheap blatant clones. It is not the only country to do this, but it is the main offender. This is what spurred me to write my articles on UK sold fountain pens for under a fiver and the follow up post. Recently Ania over at Penchantink has reviewed three Chinese originals, each costing under a fiver. She has now leant me these pens, so here are my views.
Continue reading07 Friday May 2021
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EDC, EDC Fountain Pen, fountain pen, japanese, platinum, Platinum curidas, retractable, Review Revisted
It is now close on a year since I joined the masses and put in my order for a Platinum Curidas in Urban Green. It should be noted I was not caught up in the initial hype but rather garnered interest over time as I started to hear feedback from friends who’d been early adopters. As with so many the feed on mine cracked around one of the nib securing wings and while Cult Pens were happy to swap it for another pen or give me a refund I decided to keep it as the crack did not affect the writing nor ownership experiences and there was no guarantees Platinum had fixed the issue with newer pens, in fact I still do not know if this design flaw is still in place.
Continue reading12 Friday Jun 2020
Posted in Pens
Not sure anything else raised so much hype, confusion, divisiveness and controversy in the fountain pen world in 2020 (so far). Limited supplies, production/design problems, different perceptions on costs have already created plenty of bandwidth on the various on line forums. But is the Platinum Curidas any good? (for me the title may be a bit of a give away).
dapprman 