I am not a big pen buyer because I don’t sit at a desk with pens all neatly arranged in front of me. I use them on the fly, scrabble for them in my bag, use the cheap promotional ones workplaces usually have and then lose them.
For this smaller size binder though, I have been using my three smal Filofax pens and loving them. The Touch Me pen loops are half-elasticated and so pens fit in there nicely. To be honest, they are a little scratchy for my liking but they work well for the few words I need them to write and they are so pretty!
I love the FF pens for their suze and conviebce but teplacevthe ink with a cross brand (same exact size) as that guves me a less scratchy experience (and much less true skipping where there’s no ink at all). I do wish it were as easy to customize aeach aspect of a pen as it is to create the prefect Van Der Spek 🙂
Biros? Huh!
Big pen nut, but you knew that already. Currently I’m back in my red Deskfax DX1CLF7/8 and using either a Chrome Jinhao X750 fountain pen with a medium nib, one of about 3 different TWSBI models, or my current favourite: my OMAS MoMA in black resin with a fine point…
The problem with the Filofax pens is that they’re so small, and biros tend to be scratchy. Which is why I brave the inconvenience factor to stick with fountain pens. They have to clip on the outside of the pen loop though! I do wonder sometimes what Filofax were thinking when they designed (a strong word in this instance!) the pen loops on many of their binders… completely impractical unless you can write with something the size of a toothpick!
I wound up cutting (GASP!) the pen loop out of my pocket Malden. Had no give and only held the slimmest of pens (like my favorite Bic Cristal 1.6m nib, but was too thick to write in such a small space). I now hook a retractable (can’t deal with pen caps) through the back pocket of the planner and it closes just fine. Other than a Pilot G2 or Caliber .07 gels which I use for morning pages (has a thicker barrel so I don’t have to grip so tight nor do I have to press that hard so hand doesn’t cramp) I pretty much stick with Bics or, as you say, whatever pen falls into my lap. Had gone through a pen craze a year or so ago, but quickly amassed a bunch of pens I didn’t use because I always gravitated to the same ol’ ones. Amazing how much social media can make you ‘think’ you need this or that. Destashed and gave away or donated. Now I keep a small mason jar on my desk which holds the ones I keep and will use up. No more buying!
I too have a slight pen fixation. I like these small Filofax ones and I kept one in my pocket Finsbury. I was annoyed when I lost it a couple of years ago so I gave it up for lost and bought another after searching at home and work. A few months ago I was at my desk, looking to replace my pen in my diary. I spotted it and put it away, only to see another identical one also lying on my desk…
So now I have one for my A5 Finsbury too!
Well I have to say, Janet, that pens are one of my passions, but I can’t get on with Filofax ones. I find them scratchy too, and the diameter too wide. So in my pocket Finsbury at the moment I have a nearly 50 years old Parker 51, and in my Amazonia Slimline a Montblanc Cruise, which is a lot narrower than the more expensive Montblanc. Pens and Filofax’s is a jolly tricky business!