I fell down the metal pen rabbit hole and now I’m basically carrying a pocketful of tiny steel crowbars.
Current lineup: Parker - IM Roller, IM Ballpoint, Jotter, Jotter XL (black/steel) Rotring - 600 (black/silver) BID - Slim Bolt, Slim Click, Click EDC Uniball - Zento Flow, Signature
Refills are simple: Parker Quink .55 gel and Uniball One .5. The darker the ink, the better.
Did I need all of these? Absolutely not. Do I enjoy clicking, twisting, and writing with them like someone who’s found their perfect set of tools? Yes. Every day.
So, what're your faves? Have ya found the ideal bunch to use, or wanna see other/more options? For more, maybe mosey on over to the r/machinedpens sub... 😎
My favs are the Slim Bolt (bolt action!) and the Zento Signature (magnetic cap!). The Jotter is an all-time classic to me, but prefer the XL for better grip due to its size. Definitely prefer minimalism. Some of the pens posted in r/machinedpens are a bit too "flavorful" for my taste. 😅
Yeah, there's definitely a range or spectrum out there of machined writing instruments. Whatcha think of the Machine Era writing instruments? They're pretty low-key or not too "out there" in the designs...
You need a space pen, my friend. Since you like retractables, a Cap-o-Matic would fit perfectly into your collection while being much less expensive than Fishers other retractables.
I was only familiar with the regular Space Bullet Pen, so I hadn’t really looked at the Cap-o-Matic before. The click mechanism definitely gives me Parker Vector vibes. Appreciate the suggestion!
Nice collection..metal pens are great.
Please don’t go to r/machinedpens to save your wallet.
Thanks! And don’t worry, I took one look at r/machinedpens, felt my credit card warming up and immediately backed away. I also own some regular Zentos (nice rubbery feel) and Vision Elite pens, so its not all metal. Great writers!
Very nice collection.
What’s the lightest?
The lightest is the Zento flow, 14 grams. Its got a half aluminum and half pastic body. The heaviest is the Parker IM Roller coming in at 30 grams, surprisingly 2 grams heavier than the titanium Slim Bolt.
Buying bolt action titanium stonewashed. Not slim version. Hope it is not that heavy! :-)
Nice! That'll be 26 gram without a refill. It's a nice weight. It'll have a thicker grip compared to the slim, similar to the click version I posted. The best part is it takes practically any refill. The slim bolt requires a tool to re-adjust refill size, whereas the regular bolt does not.
Do you try using them all most of the time ? I ask because I wonder if I’m the only crazy person who can’t just use one pen at a time. One of my pages can be gel the other ballpoint the other rollerball sometimes fountain pen - I rotate between like 6 pens everyday. Maybe I’m crazy. I carry them all. (Not all metal tho.) your collection is pretty sweet.
I do like to swap around every few days between most, right now I’m really liking the Zento signature for its nice grip and magnetic cap.
That's a really nice collection of metal pens. Nothing to fix!
Where’d you find the .55 quink? I like how smooth they are but the fonts so thick
Amazon, it's called the Quink Gel Fine tip 0.55.
Why is there no Lamy unic?
The Lamy 2000M is 50g or so. Have you tried Pilot Acro Drive 10th anniversary or the Uniball Prime Single Twist 2025? Each are about 30g