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I wrote all my university notes with Bernanke Blue, Bulletproof black (I think) and Widow Maker red. I had a few TWSBI pens, which were nice while they lasted,

by joshvm 6y ago

I wrote all my university notes with Bernanke Blue, Bulletproof black (I think) and Widow Maker red. I had a few TWSBI pens, which were nice while they lasted, but unfortunately the plastic crazed after a few years of sitting in a box and at least two are now broken. I had the big one and two minis. I'm not sure if that was becuaee I didn't flush the ink out before storage, but something to be aware of. My goto before that (and now) are Uniball Jet Stream. The ink dries faster than you can try and smudge it. Refills are slightly hard to come by in physical stores, but I don't write much these days and they last for ages. I got a nice metal one (Jet Stream Prime, I think, single colour) last time I was in Japan - wasn't too expensive. Very hard to find that version elsewhere, but it's lovely and heavy.

bborud 6y ago
Crazed as in becoming brittle? I keep ink in my pens constantly. My philosophy being that any tool that can’t take the way I use it doesn’t deserve its place. (Pens that don’t work get thrown away mercilessly). The environment where my pens are stored and used is very dry with little variation. Perhaps humidity and temperature is a factor?
- joshvm 6y ago
  Yep, they just cracked and broke. Maybe more of an issue with the TWSBI because the reservoir is part of the pen. Maybe environmental, but I don't live in a particularly extreme area. I never had an issue while I was using them regularly, and I believe they're reasonably maintainable in that you can strip them down to lubricate. Most of the internal mechanics are also plastic though.
  - mcguire 6y ago
    TWSBIs have a certain reputation. They have excellent designs and are cheap, but there's something wrong with their plastic. They suffer a lot of breakage. I haven't been following them lately, but they used to be very good about replacing broken parts. (Which would then break.)
wenc 6y ago
I have two TWSBI pens, and so far so good. (but I've only had them for 1.5 years). As for inks, I like really black inks. I've tried Noodlers, Herbin Perle Noir, but they turned out greyish on even on premium Rhodia No 18 pads. Then I found Rohrer & Klinger's Leipziger Schwarz, which is a very dark black ink with a dark blue tint. It's my favorite ink to this day.

by joshvm 6y ago

bborud 6y ago

Crazed as in becoming brittle? I keep ink in my pens constantly. My philosophy being that any tool that can’t take the way I use it doesn’t deserve its place. (Pens that don’t work get thrown away mercilessly). The environment where my pens are stored and used is very dry with little variation. Perhaps humidity and temperature is a factor?

joshvm 6y ago
Yep, they just cracked and broke. Maybe more of an issue with the TWSBI because the reservoir is part of the pen. Maybe environmental, but I don't live in a particularly extreme area. I never had an issue while I was using them regularly, and I believe they're reasonably maintainable in that you can strip them down to lubricate. Most of the internal mechanics are also plastic though.
- mcguire 6y ago
  TWSBIs have a certain reputation. They have excellent designs and are cheap, but there's something wrong with their plastic. They suffer a lot of breakage. I haven't been following them lately, but they used to be very good about replacing broken parts. (Which would then break.)

wenc 6y ago

I have two TWSBI pens, and so far so good. (but I've only had them for 1.5 years). As for inks, I like really black inks. I've tried Noodlers, Herbin Perle Noir, but they turned out greyish on even on premium Rhodia No 18 pads. Then I found Rohrer & Klinger's Leipziger Schwarz, which is a very dark black ink with a dark blue tint. It's my favorite ink to this day.