The Well-Appointed Desk

Notebook Review: Puggy’s Best High Stationer Note Book

The Puggy’s Best High Stationer Notebook from Hightide had a lot to recommend it when I found it. It’s approximately A6 sized (4.1×5.7″), it was filled with blank, recycled paper, and cost just $7 (600¥). It has a kraft paperstock cover and has a smooth, glue-bound spine. Everything about it says “understated Japanese stationery”.

The notebook I ordered has 100 sheets of paper but the Hightide web site indicates the “small” notebook only has 66 pages now. Either way, at $7 it’s still a steal. But remember that old adage “you get what you pay for”? In this case, it very much applies.

Upon opening the notebook, I cracked/tore the spine from the text block. Clearly there was too much glue along the spine.

In testing the paper, most of my favorite writing tools did not perform well on the slightly toothy, natural white paper.

I tested several pages using a range of tools. Above, you can see on the left that the page behind it can been seen through the paper. Even though the paper feels fairly thick (no paper weight info was given), there is still evidence of show through.

The page above is the back side of the righthand page from the previous photo. Most fountain pens bleed through but worse than that, fountain pen ink splines! I haven’t tested a notebook in a long time that had this level of bleeding and feathering that the Puggy’s Best suffers from.

Even brush markers look splotchy in the way color is absorbed into the paper.

This close-up above will more clearly show the splining issue. At the bottom of the photo is a fine nib that looks slightly spline-y and splotchy. The TWSBI 1.1mm stub really shows the issue.

Above is a fine nib WingSung S and you can see where the ink travels through the fibers creating the splines. This is my biggest pet peeve with paper. Bleed through and show through I can live with as long as the ink does not spline. It’s a travesty.

Shown above is the back of the tests with the TWSBI, Traveler’s Notebook FP and the WingSung. Two are fine nib pens and the other is a 1.1mm and all resulted in dots of show through.

Not wanting to completely write this notebook off , I thought I’d try some brush pens to see if the notebook might be used with pencils, gel or rollerball pen and pencil — a budget travel sketchbook.

Unfortunately, I noticed the same blotchy color when using brush pens that I had noticed earlier.

Puggy’s Best, despite the name, really isn’t the best for much. If you exclusively use pencils, ballpoint or gel pens, then you may get some use out of this notebook but I prefer a notebook that can at least tolerate a larger array of tools. Save your money and put it towards a better notebook.

Purchased with my own money.

In Paper Review

Notebook Review: Profolio Oasis Notebook

AnaJuly 30, 2021July 25, 20212 Comments

I was wandering around my local art supply shop recently and stumbled across the Profolio Oasis Notebook. It must have been kismet but the same week, several reviews popped up about the new Profolio Oasis Summit notebook. This Oasis is the simpler, cheaper cousin of the Summit.

I grabbed the standard A5 size with a blue/teal cover. I can’t remember but it may have been the only one they had left. Never fear, our friends over at Pen Boutique have it in stock and the color is called Wintergreen ($9.99).

The Oasis Notebook is a fairly common cardstock cover style notebook with paper tape on the spine. It has sewn signatures hidden under the tape so when the book is open the pages lay flat.

Inside the paper features an unusual multi-divided line-dot-grid-Seyes structure. Unless your paper preference is blank, this paper pretty much has it all. The dark lines are 7mm and the dotted lines are one-third of that — so, every 2.33mm. The vertical ticks are also every 7mm.

The paper is on the ivory side making it very challenging to photograph. (My camera kept trying to make it more peachy or whiter than it was.) The color is a warm ivory like the inside color of a fresh croissant.

The paper is smooth and great for all pen types I tried. It wasn’t glassy. I often think Clairefontaine can feel a little glassy — like too slick. The Oasis paper was just smooth. It’s weird. To my hands, the Oasis paper feels slicker but to my pens there’s a bit more bite. It’s very enjoyable to write on this paper.

This is a view of the reverse of my test writing page and a full view of the page with the top margin (place for date and description) and notation ticks at the top and bottom of the page for center and quarters (dots) and eighths (ticks).

This is a reasonably priced notebook with good paper — really good paper — that would fit into many covers that would be perfect for journaling, bullet journaling or work notes. If I were to make a new top 5 notebooks list, this would probably be on it.

In Fountain Pen Review

Giveaway WINNER: Ranga Abhimanyu Premium Ebonite (from Peyton Street Pens)

Laura CameronJuly 29, 2021July 29, 2021Leave a comment

Thanks to everyone who entered to win the Ranga from Peyton Street Pens. We let the random number generator do its thing and and the winner is Karen!

Excellent choice Karen – we hope you enjoy your new pen!

In Link Love

Link Love: Don’t Believe the Cat (Photo)

AnaJuly 28, 2021July 28, 20213 Comments

This week brings us FAKE cat photos (Really? Do we need fake cat photos? If the world is seriously lacking in cat photos, I can certainly start posting more photos of the Cats That Run The Desk but honestly I thought we’d reached cat-capacity on the internet… but no. Now we have FAKE CAT NEWS! What is the world coming to?), lots of BENU pens, Van Diemans inks and news from the London Pen Show. Ooh, yeah, and the Tokyo Olympics. That’s happening too. I watched badminton, table tennis and surfing last night. Are you watching the Olympics?

We need each other. Please support our sponsors and affiliates. Your patronage will let them know you appreciate their support of the pen community. Without them, and without you, we could not continue to do what we do. Thank you!

In Fountain Pen Review, photo

First Look: Sailor Pro Gear Slim Sound of Rain, Spring Rain

Laura CameronJuly 27, 2021July 27, 202111 Comments

I’m generally pretty happy with my collection of fountain pens. Truly, I have more than I need since I can only write with one at a time and I’m at the point where adding to the collection usually means I vote one off the island. The pandemic has also been a good time to explore those frenzied moments at pen shows, FOMO, and making intentional choices about what I purchase. Unlike many, I don’t have a holy grail pen I’m working up to. I have dreams of one day owning a Nakaya, but I haven’t played with enough of them to even know what model, what finish or anything like that.

I am almost exclusively a modern pen collector. While I do love the look of the Parker Vacumatics and of course I have an Esterbrook from Jessie, the remainder of my collection is modern. I love the modern acrylics and I have quite a few demonstrators. I was discussing with someone recently that I love the look of7 the Aurora 88 Demonstrator, and I do believe Aurora’s are fine quality pens, but that I can’t wrap my head around spending $700-900 on a plastic demonstrator.

So I realize that it is entirely illogical that when I saw the Sailor Sound of Rain series I plunked my money down on a pre-order. When I got the email, I absolutely could not decide which one I wanted. They are each so gorgeous in their own right. If I had enough money, I know I’d just buy all four and not make myself choose.

I selected the Spring Rain. Sound of Rain is offered only in the Pro Gear Slim model, which happens to be my favorite. The barrels are matte finish, and two in the series are translucent while the other two are opaque. All have gold hardware, and a 21k gold bi-color nib. Nibs are only available in MF, which suits me just fine.

I haven’t had a chance to play with the pen too much; it just arrived on Friday. But it writes super smoothly – gotta love those Sailor nibs. Since Spring Rain is a mint green with purple finials I tried for a complementary ink and ended up with J. Herbin’s Violet Pensees. I also think something with a bit of iridescence or sheen would be fun to play on the light on droplets of water theme.

So now I need to vote someone off the island, and zip up my wallet tight. Until the next Sailor special edition that catches my eye?

In Fountain Pen Review

Fountain Pen Review: Fountain Pen Revolution Himalaya V1 Chrome Flex (Peacock Aqua)

AnaJuly 26, 2021July 25, 20214 Comments

I confess that I’ve had this pen in my queue for a long time. When I received it from Fountain Pen Revolution to write my review, I immediately filled it with ink. What I hadn’t expected was the RED ink that I used immediately stained the pale blue pen. What to do? So, I buried the pen in the bottom of my “to review” pile. Then, the pandemic hit and we all had a lot of other things to worry about. But I also had time to soak my pen. And lo and behold, patience and some industrial grade pen cleaner managed to get the red ink off the pen and most of the converter. Note to self: clean your pens more regularly.

So, here is the long-awaited review of the Fountain Pen Revolution Himalaya V1 Chrome in Peacock Aqua Acrylic (Note to potential buyers: If you like highly saturated ink colors, maybe choose one of the darker acrylic colors to avoid staining issues. Learn from the “Mistress of Disasters”.).

As mentioned, this is an acrylic pen with chrome trim and can feature either a standard nib option or the FPR Flex nib. These peens are manufactured in India for Fountain Pen Revolution. FPR also adds a custom ebonite feed to help improve overall ink flow.

In order to create the flex, the nib is split all the way down below where it is held into the grip section. The cut outs on the side are designed to help the nib flex further.

There is an o-ring seal between the grip and the body. I suppose it would be possible to eyedropper the pen, if you so desired. However, knowing how much the cap and grip stained from my own inkcident, I would tread carefully before considering this course of action.

Pictured above are two of thee push-pull converters from FPR. The one at the top is brand new and the one at the bottom is stained red from use. From what I understand, this staining of the converters is fairly common and should not be cause for concern. There is a newer version (V2) with a screw converter that may not be as prone to staining.

The pen is lightweight weighing in at 16 gms capped and 11gms uncapped. The length is 13.5 cm (5.625″) capped, 12cm (4.6875 “) and 15cm (5.875”) posted.

It’s comfortable in the hand and can be posted without getting oddly top heavy.

I know why you’re here… you want to know if it flexes. Alright, I won’t make you wait any longer.

Indeed, it does flex. The nib I received was the flex and not the “ultra flex” so there may be more potential for MORE FLEX. We don’t need more cow bell, we need MORE FLEX.

I did not have to press as hard to get the FPR nib to flex as I have had to do with other flex nibs or soft nibs I’ve tried. Head-to-head, the FPR nib is much better and easier to use than the Noodlers for sure.

In my longer writing sessions, I did find that even with this modest flex, the feed did still choke occasionally — even with the ebonite feed. And when it did choke, it choked HARD. It took a good minute or two to restore flow. Now, this could have been the slightly drier Oster ink I was using or the fact that it is upwards of 90ºF (32ºC) here today. I often think that there can be too many variables when testing pens and inks to be entirely certain. Writing materials are not an exact science.

The feed did seem a wee bit chonky too. When I pressed down with any vigor, it would actually touch the paper creating an extra little, unwanted line. (see above and below)

I think that the FPR Himalaya, or any of their Flex nib compatible pens are a worthy investment with caveats. These are not pens for beginners. I recommend them for someone who is familiar with the mechanics of fountain pens and is comfortable with inky fingers. Because the nib may hard start, this pen is best used with a wet towel, glass of water or a small stack of scrap paper to prime your nib. It might stain so be comfortable with a pen that looks “lived in” — think of this as your “beater pen” not your pristine, buffed and shined just-from-the-car-wash. It will have a history of stains and scratches that will tell the tale of your flex writing experiments. At the $30-ish price point, it can be well-loved pen.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Fountain Pen Revolution for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In feature

Giveaway: Ranga Abhimanyu Premium Ebonite (from Peyton Street Pens)

Laura CameronJuly 23, 2021August 4, 2021126 Comments

Teri from Peyton Street Pens was sweet enough to send us two pens this year for review and giveaway. The first was the Miwok 2 pen that we reviewed and gave away in early June. And today we’re able to host a giveaway for the Ranga Abhimanyu Premium Ebonite pen that Ana reviewed later in June. Check out her review for more information, but the basic deets are below. Good luck and may the odds be in your favor!

THE GIVEAWAY: One Ranga Abhimanyu Premium Ebonite in Green-Yellow with a broad cursive italic nib that was custom ground by Nivardo, the Peyton Street Pens in-house nibmeister. Pen has been used for testing purposes only but was cleaned and returned to like-new condition.

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below telling us what ink you would put in your new pen! (Play along and type in something. It makes reading through entries more interesting for me, okay?) One entry per person.

If you have never entered a giveaway or commented on the site before, your comment must be manually approved by our highly-trained staff of monkeys before it will appear on the site. Our monkeys are underpaid and under-caffeinated so don’t stress if your comment does not appear right away. Give the monkeys some time.

FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Wednesday, July 28, 2021. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Thursday. ONE winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please include your actual email address in the comment form so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear. If winner does not respond within 5 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. Shipping via USPS first class is covered. Additional shipping options or insurance will have to be paid by the winner. We are generous but we’re not made of money. US and APO/AFO only, sorry.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this post were provided free of charge by Peyton Street Pens and other vendors for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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