The Well-Appointed Desk

Pen Review: The Leonardo Momento Zero Grande with Oversized #8 Nib

I remember vividly the first pen show that the Nibsmith had Leonardo pens stocked at his table. The Momento Zero model caught a lot of people’s attention at that show, and for good reason. I was not immune. It’s one of the only pens I can think of that I purchased immediately when seeing a brand for the first time.

I was impressed with Leonardo then. But what is arguably more impressive is that I’m even more enthusiastic about what the brand is doing now. They continue to release great new materials in the Momento Zero. They’ve added a new filling mechanism. They are even working with makers like Jonathan Brooks to use some of the best handmade resins in the world as a canvas for their pens. (P.S. If you missed the first round of the primary manipulation, the preorders are up at that link for round two!) And now, they are working with the Nibsmith to bring an exclusive #8 nib into the mix.

I have been bugging Dan on a regular basis about when the oversize nib version would drop since Dan first mentioned the possibility to me. He was kind enough to loan the Leonardo Momento Zero Grande in Blue Fiodacqua to me for review, and it was worth the wait.

We will get to the star of the show (the nib of course!) in a minute, but there are a few things about the pen worth noting as well. This was my first experience with Leonardo’s new piston filling mechanism. The highest compliment I can pay is that it reminds me a little of a Pelikan piston mechanism. Pelikan has the best pistons in the business, and I don’t think they will even be matched. But this might be my second favorite piston. The mechanism feels as smooth as it is solid. It’s difficult to put into words what about the build of this pen gives it such a high-quality feel. But when you pick the pen up, you can just tell it’s well-made.

I was honestly surprised by how much I love this material. I think all of Leonardo’s materials look every better in person than they do in photos online, and this one is no expectation. The white portions of the material are a swirly mix of slightly transparent areas and a pearlescent shine. That extra depth to the material is what makes so many of the Leonardo materials special.

Beyond the obviously great materials, it’s the details that Leonardo really does well in my opinion. The metal bands at the end of the body and the section are a really nice touch. The grip section of the Grande is a little longer than that of the Momento Zero, and I think that length is needed to balance the pen. The section tapers a bit, and the thinness of the pen at the point of the grip makes this large pen manageable to use even for someone with small hands like me.

That being said, there’s no getting around the fact that this is a large pen. I show it below compared to everything from a TWSBI Eco to a King of Pen. The body is not as wide as the King of Pen, but it is longer and heavier. Maybe I’ve just gotten used to big pens over time, and others with small hands may not agree- but because the pen is so well balanced, and because the section works so well for me- I have no issues with the size of this pen.

The overall size also makes the Grande a perfect home for the oversize #8 nib. This nib makes even the M800 (second from the left) nib look small.

It’s a big size upgrade from the typical #6 sized nib. What does that size upgrade get you in terms of performance?

Others reported some early issues with early #6 Leonardo nibs, but I can honestly say everyone I have tried has been stellar. Even the steel nibs are truly exceptional, almost to the point where I can’t tell much of a difference between the gold and steel #6 nibs. I would have likely told you to stick with the steel #6 nib for a regular Momento Zero if you asked me at a show. I did for my Momento Zero Blue Hawaii, and haven’t regretted it once.

But a #8 gold nib is a completely different story. Larger sized nibs are where you really start to see a huge impact of gold nibs, and there is really no other nib material that can match the experience.

I’ve waxed poetic at pen shows and on the internet about the 823 nibs. It’s an outstanding daily workhouse pen. This #8 nib takes everything I love about that nib and takes those things up a notch. For anyone who knows how much I adore the 823 nibs, that is really saying something. It’s impossible to communicate the feel of a nib on a page in photos and words, but it’s really the smoothness on the page that sets this type of nib apart.

The pen also has an ebonite feed that is made in-house by Leonardo. Flow can be can an issue when you get up to nibs of this size, but with the ebonite feed the pen has great flow and leans towards the wet side.

Larger nibs tend to write broader lines. This M #8 nib writes about the same line as the Leonardo broad steel #6 nib. So if you want a line true to size, make sure to size down.

Compared to two of my other favorite gold nibs, the oversize #8 is a little softer than the 823 but has less “give” than the Sailor King of Pen that tends to produce a bit of line variation. It’s also a little broader than the M nib counterparts of those pen models.

I was talking with some of my other Desk friends earlier this week, and it was mentioned that the non-Grande Momento Zero is one of the best-built pens you can get in the sub-$200 price range. I definitely agree with that assessment. Beyond that “entry” model, there are a number of upgrade options. I especially appreciate that there are a variety of models with different price options across the range. Even in the larger Grande pens, for example, you can still opt for a steel nib. And the less expensive “captured converter” models are also still available. But if you are going to go big, the Momento Zero Grande with the piston fill and this particular nib checks a lot of boxes for me.

It’s hard to talk about “worth” at the price point of this Leonardo Grande. But looking across the market in this range, I think you get a lot of “bang for your buck” comparatively. This type of nib is not something you usually get unless you are buying a pen like the King of Pen, a Custom Urushi, or an M1000. On top of the nib, you are also getting a pen with an excellent piston filling mechanism and plenty of excellent options when it comes to materials. For me, it hits a sweet spot between build quality, aesthetics, and the writing experience that few other pens can match.

I’m pretty sure Dan sent this to me knowing it would be difficult for me to send back to him! I guess the only question now is whether or not I decide to get a nib grind (included with purchase for this pen) or leave the nib as is. With a nib this good, it makes for a difficult decision.

DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were loaned for the purpose of review by the Nibsmith. Thanks to Dan for sending this over! Please see the About page for more details.

In feature, Pen Review

Is that a fountain pen? Or a rollerball? Fountain Roller?

Jessica ColesNovember 19, 2020November 19, 202010 Comments

by Jessica Coles

This is not a review of the Traveler’s Factory Green lineup. It begins that way but don’t be fooled. There is more to this post (and the pen) than just a review of a pocket pen.

The latest lineup from Traveler’s Company is a set of compact writing tools – fountain pen, ballpoint pen, rollerball, and pencil – in a new finish. The sea foam green color was chosen to match the color of a factory floor and it certainly brings that to mind.

From the outside, these four items look almost identical (the pencil has an eraser rather than an eyelet). Ana wrote a review recently on the fountain pen and I’ve copied her photo here so you can see the similarity.

I appreciate the compactness of these pens (and pencil) plus the eyelet for a possible strap or chain. To use the pen, the brass insert is pulled out of the factory green section of the pen, turned around, and reinserted. The ballpoint and pencil each use this brass section as a holder for the ballpoint refill or small pencil. But the rollerball – there is no refill included.

To fill this rollerball, the brass section opens to reveal… a connection for a fountain pen ink cartridge.

I’m not sure when I first saw a ballpoint/rollerball pen that used fountain pen ink. It might have been a Super5 pen or a small brand from Japan or perhaps the rollerball pen from Noodlers. I do know that the concept caught my attention immediately and soon became an item that I searched out. I found out quite recently that the Traveler’s rollerball pen uses fountain pen ink and I hunted down the factory green edition at JetPens.

Of course I had to use a purple cartridge for the first fill.

Below is a photo of the factory green rollerball pen and the brass ballpoint pen for size comparison. I’ve had the brass edition for several years which I purchased after learning about an amazing hack to convert the ballpoint into an easy-to-carry dip pen.

Using a Zebra G dip nib instead of the ballpoint pen refill makes the brass pen significantly shorter though.

For size comparison to more common pens, the Traveler’s pen is slightly longer than a Schön Pocket 6 pen and slightly shorter than a Kaweco Sport when closed.

When open, however, it is the longest of the bunch.

You may notice that the Schön pen also has a rollerball section instead of a nib. Yes, it also takes fountain pen ink. I love these things.

As I confessed earlier, rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink have been an obsession of mine for a while. Here are four of the easier-to-find models: PenBBS 350 (affiliate link), the Factory Green Traveler’s rollerball, Schön Pocket 6 rollerball, and Monteverde Engage. The PenBBS and the Monteverde pens use converters. The Traveler’s and Schön pens use short international cartridges – they are too short to accept any converter although you could easily refill empty short cartridges with any desired ink. Ana demonstrated this in a recent Instagram post.

As a final test of these fountain pen ink guzzling rollerball pens is the writing experience. Nib sizes vary in rollerball pens, typically 0.7 or 0.5 mm sizes. At times the size is not called out so I have compared these below to a known rollerball size, a Lamy M66 (in a Lamy Swift pen) which is approximately 0.8mm.

The Lamy rollerball definitely has a thicker feel to the ink – more viscous. The Traveler’s pen and the Schön pen feel like I am writing with a more narrow point although the writing doesn’t look finer – these two pens also feel smoother. One plus – if the fountain pen ink rollerballs start to write dry, it is easy to squeeze the cartridge a bit to help.

Have you ever used a fountain pen ink rollerball? What did you think of the experience?

DISCLAIMER: All items in this review were purchased by me. There is one Amazon affiliate link in the post, all other links are only to show a similar item.Please see the About page for more details.

In Link Love

Link Love: The One Where I Go POSTAL

AnaNovember 18, 2020November 18, 20202 Comments

I cannot believe we are a week away from Thanksgiving here in the US. I feel like I was at the Baltimore Pen Show just a few weeks ago and, at the same time, I feel like 2020 has gone on for years. This means it’s the start of Gift Guide season in the blogosphere. Next Wednesday, the annual Pen Addict podcast will once again allow me to grace the digital airwaves with opinions about what should and should not be under the tree, in stockings or however one chooses to recognize the end of 2020 and the holidays that accompany that.

I’m going to pause for a second to bring your attention to two seemingly unrelated postal posts, hence the title. One is from Fountain Pen Love about receiving packages from various online pen shops and the ways they are packaged and at what point a purchase qualifies for free shipping. The second post is from the USPS news releases about the latest bump in Priority Mail shipping prices. I just want to remind people that when shops give customers free shipping, the shipping is not really free. The shop is still paying the shipping fee to the tune of a 3% mark-up higher than before plus the latest surcharge due to increased volume caused by the holidays and the pandemic. So, sure if you’re ordering a $1000+ pen, Priority Mail shipping is probably a small discount but on $35 or $50 purchase, that $8-$14 really adds up. Remember that many of these online pen shops are small, family-run businesses. And shipping is not just the postage but the cost of boxes, bubble wrap, packing material, mailing labels, and the time it takes to do all that work. Amazon and Etsy have set an unreasonable precedent with free shipping that diminishes the small profits that small businesses earn. Most of those profits get reinvested in buying or making more products to sell. Okay, I’ve said my peace. I’m hopping off my postal soap box.

For those who participated in the survey on Monday about the possibility of The Desk hosting an occasional video, YouTube won by a landslide.

(FYI: two of the votes for “I don’t want to see your face” were me and I’m sure at least one of them was a certain rabblerouser named Tony. The other 13 of you…thanks!)

And.. this video is amazing. I still feel like this so when we do start our videos, remember we are all weird on the inside.

We need each other. Please support our sponsors and affiliates. They help keep this blog going. Your patronage of their shops, services and products 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 DIY

Holiday Cards

Laura CameronNovember 17, 2020November 17, 202011 Comments

Every year around this time I start thinking about holiday cards. Now holiday cards have a ton of decisions to be made. Do you hand write them or do you get them printed? If you’re not religious (or you’re of different religions) can you find non-denominational cards that you can send to everyone? How many do you send? Do you hand address them?

I’ll take a stab at answering the questions for myself. Many years ago, when my list was only in the single digits, I sent handwritten cards at the holidays. For the last several years the list has grown and I have taken the easy way out and put together photo collages of the highlights of our year, and gone to Vistaprint to get them printed. Since my husband and I are not religious (and we were born of different religions), I usually opt for a “New Year’s” themed card and add a short bit of text to what’s being printed. The one thing I have done for the past few years is hand address the cards using my fountain pens. I really enjoy putting Robert Oster’s Fire and Ice in a broad-nibbed pen and going to town – all that shimmer and sheen just feels holiday-inspired.

Of course my dilemma for this year is that we haven’t gone anywhere and we’ve done very little due to coronavirus and the state of the world. While I miss my family and friends terribly, and I am deeply thankful for all my blessings this year, I can’t figure out the best way to go about sending holiday cards. I don’t have new photos of us, and it’s hard to think of what to write if I go the handwritten route.

Have you thought about your holiday cards yet? What will you do this year? I’d love to know!

In feature

News & Questions

AnaNovember 16, 2020November 16, 202020 Comments

There’s a lot going on behind the scenes at The Well-Appointed Desk Shop right now. We have all sorts of things in the work that I am dying to share with you. I also have the urge, as the pandemic stretches on, to connect with people.

As an introvert, this is a new sensation. When I first started going to pen shows, I would almost make myself sick with stress the night before knowing I would be interacting with so many people. It got even worse when I had my own table. I am also not inclined to be center stage, on camera or whatever it is that lures people to the spotlight. But… I know that sometimes, showing objects, colors, inks, textures, etc in motion, being able to do live Q&A and demonstrations can be incredibly useful. Sometimes, a picture and description is just not enough.

So, I decided to ask you, dear readers, if this is something you would want? And if so, what online channel do you most frequently use? So, if you could take a minute to answer my survey and leave any comments, I would most appreciate it. I’d like to start planning, if not weekly, at least the same day and time every time I host a video chat.

At this point, I think I prefer a live chat over pre-recorded video but you tell me.

[ays_poll id=”1″]

If you have more you’d like to say, please leave your additional thoughts in the comments. Thanks!

In Paper Review

Notebook Review: Leuchtturm 1917 Some Lines a Day

AnaNovember 13, 2020November 13, 202015 Comments

Review by Tina Koyama

A lifelong journal keeper, my mom used various diary and journal formats throughout her life. One I remember her using when I was a child was a small, five-year diary. Each page was headed by the date, and below that were five small spaces, one for each year. My mother, a practical woman, probably liked the five-year format because it was small, compact and less expensive than keeping a bunch of single-year diaries.

She wrote in Japanese so I couldn’t have read it if I had wanted to, but I had the impression that she noted things like the weather, which of us had a cold or stomachache that week, current events, the books she was reading, things like that. Sometimes she also used it to have the final word: If someone whined, “I can’t believe how cold it is! It’s never this cold in October!” she would pull out her diary, refer to the same date a few years prior, and say, “No – it was even colder than this back in 19__.” End of discussion.

A lifelong journal keeper myself, I’ve tried many different formats, too. Every now and then I have looked at the five-year diary format, but I never made the commitment. I already keep a DIY journal/log book (here’s what I’m using this year), but I prefer to keep a single year in one volume with more space for freeform writing when needed. What would I write in a five-year diary that would be different from the kinds of things I already note in my ongoing log (books and movies I’ve consumed, places I’ve sketched, current events, people I’ve socialized with, the weather – you can see my mom’s influence, I’m sure)? And yet, I clearly see the appeal of having five years of entries for a given date on a single page: More than a snapshot of a day, the format captures patterns over a five-year period.

Several months ago when I was shopping for a Leuchtturm A5 blank journal (one of my favorites for my DIY log book), the Some Lines a Day 5-Year Memory Book ($27.95) came to my attention. It’s familiar A5 size, paper and hardcover material were attractive to me. Maybe it was finally time to give the format a try.

About a quarter-inch thicker than a standard Leuchtturm A5 notebook or weekly planner, the 5 Year Memory Book “provides space for some lines per calendar day over 5 years. In time, this special diary will become an interesting reference book of your own past.” I chose the berry cover. It’s also available in black and Nordic blue. Like all Leuchtturm notebooks, it has an elastic closure band.

The flyleaf offers space to record the years covered by the undated book and the owner’s name. The next page includes a quotation by Lincoln.

Immediately following are the 366 days of the book. Each day offers about an inch and a half of writing space. If you’re familiar with Leuchtturm’s weekly planner + notebook format, it’s just a smidge of space more per day. I think it will be a comfortable amount of space to write two or three sentences with my large handwriting – not too cramped, not burdensome.

Two fabric ribbon page markers – one striped, one solid – are bound in. (Ana would be pleased that they are long enough to pull all the way out past the edge of the book, so they could be used to open the book to the page.)

The inside back cover includes the obligatory pocket. Leuchtturm books always include a sheet of title page and spine labels. (I never have a use for these, but they are a nice touch for those who do use them.)

My media tests confirmed that the paper is the same as what I’m familiar with in Leuchtturm’s other notebooks and planners. Although it’s less opaque than I would prefer, only the fine-point Sharpie showed actual bleed-through. Even my juicy Sailor fude nib and pigment brush pens did not feather or bleed.

So that’s the product – familiar, reliable, unlikely to disappoint – but what about its contents? What would I want to record and later read over the course of five years? I thought about it long and hard. This pandemic year seems like such a crazy time to think about any kind of diary. On the one hand, I’m not doing much of anything worth documenting. On the other hand, I’m doing so many things differently out of necessity. I suppose it might be interesting to compare those mundanities in future years . . .

Then I started thinking about something about myself that has distressed me. This year I have had many unkind, ugly and even vicious thoughts about certain individuals and many people that I don’t even know – based on what I perceive to be their beliefs. In the moment, I feel better, but later, I realize I do not want to have such thoughts.

My Leuchtturm Some Lines a Day will be devoted to thinking one kind thought about someone each day. It could be a loved one, the mail carrier, a social media acquaintance, the Instacart delivery person, or another total stranger, but I know that if I commit to writing one kind thought at the end of each day, I will be more mindful during the day about having such thoughts. When I read my entries later, perhaps the thoughts from a prior year will prompt me to call someone I haven’t talked to in a while. Or perhaps I’ll see some type of interesting pattern that will give me insight. My hope is that I will become a kinder person over time.

I also decided that I don’t need to wait until Jan. 1 to begin. The Gregorian calendar is a practical device, but each of us began our actual first day of the year when we were born. My birthday is just around the corner; I’m going to begin my Leuchtturm Some Lines a Day on that day.

DISCLAIMER: The item in this review include affiliate links. The Well-Appointed Desk is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. Please see the About page for more details.

Tina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

In feature, Ink Review

Ink Review: Sailor Studio 224, 252, 280

Jessica ColesNovember 12, 2020November 12, 2020

By Jessica Coles

Sailor Studio inks are a collection from Sailor covering 100 ink mixtures from pastel, multi-chromatic to saturated and highly sheening. Over the summer, Sailor announced that they would be retiring three inks from the lineup (543, 531, 864) and adding another three inks – 224, 252, and 280.

The first number of the Sailor Studio ink name indicates the relative saturation of the ink with 1 as the lightest up to 9 with 0 as the darkest. Sailor Studio 224, 252, and 280 are light enough that significant color combinations can be seen in ink swatches.

Sailor 224 is a tough ink to compare to others. The haloing green is a good match for Vinta Karnival.

The shading color in 224 is close to Sailor Chushu while the base color (the lightest on the swatch card) is somewhat similar to Vinta Aegean Armada. As I said, 224 is a tough ink to compare to other colors!

Sailor Studio 252 was easier to match up for comparison. Birmingham Grant Street Weathered Brick is close in color, especially to the base color. The haloing color here is a greenish brownish shadow.

I’ve also compared 252 to the popular Sailor Studio 237 (252 is much dustier) and the hard-to-match Private Reserve Arabian Rose (252 is almost a toned down Arabian Rose).

Moving on to Sailor Studio 280 – a tough ink to describe. As you can see on the swatch card, the ink writes closer to a yellowish brown than the actual yellow green of the swatch. The written ink looks a bit lighter than Sailor Rikyu-cha or Troublemaker Kelp Tea with a touch more brown. The swatch is closer to PenBBS Tolstoy or KWZ Green Gold.

I will be looking at how these three inks change dramatically when using a wide variety of paper types – that was what originally had me waiting impatiently for these inks to be released. Until then, however, here is a small look at how the ink performed on Cosmo Air Light paper and Bank Paper with the ink swatches (the same used above) for comparison.

Swatch Cards: Col-o-ring cards (100 for $10)
Ink: Sailor Studio 224, 252, 280 ($18 for 20mL)

DISCLAIMER: The inks in this review were purchased by me although the Col-o-rings were provided to me by Ana because she knows she can keep me writing all the time in exchange for the wonderful cards. Please see the About page for more details.

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