I am going to build a pen in the future. One of the many requirements I have is that it be able to use almost any refill. I’m constantly looking for the best refill. Often, the best refill doesn’t work in the best pen. To get the process started I thought I would do a survey of the most common refills and build my pen around them. I have not been able to find a diagram of a refill that labels the sections so I just labeled the sections a, b, and c. Uncreative, but it serves its purpose. The list of refills follows…
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Over the years I’ve had many ways to test a writing instrument before purchasing. These tests have mainly been determined by trial and error. Born out of the frustration of purchasing a pen, using it for five minutes and concluding I hated it because of a tiny thing I should have tried in the store. I have boxes of pens and pencils I no longer use. I keep them because I like the design or some feature about them, but most of them write poorly. Following below are a few steps that I use to determine if a writing instrument is worthy of my time and money.
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When I first heard that Levenger was getting rid of all writing instruments other than their own brand I was very disappointed. I often visit the Levenger stores in Chicago and for years they were the only place I could test the writing instruments I wanted to buy. Now that Levenger has disposed of their inventory of other brands, I decided to give one of their True Writers a try, see if it is worth it, and write my first review.
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So I’m sitting, reading the Editor’s Note in the Aug/Sept. edition of Stylus. It’s on Pen Mythology, specifically, fountain pen myths. Myth 7: “Fountain pens leak”. No more than 5 minutes after reading this and disagreeing with the editors answer, comedy ensues.

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I thought I would start off the site with one of my favorite hacks. I like Lamy pens but I don’t like their rollerball refills. I found that with a standard rollerball refill, nylon spacer, and some tape that a Lamy can be a great rollerball.

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