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  "path": "/2026/04/13/ptpl-203-cheap-fountain-pens-mechanical-pencils",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-12T23:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://ellanew.com",
  "tags": [
    "Pilot Dr Grip 4 + 1",
    "Inktober",
    "Every Day Carry",
    "one-page notebooks",
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  "textContent": "## For writing more, without worrying about losing or lending your pen\n\nI love writing lists and making plans using simple, practical tools. Tools like locally stored plain text, fountain pens, and mechanical pencils.\n\nAs much as I love the feel and space efficiency of the Pilot Dr Grip 4 + 1 ballpoint pen, fountain pens tick other boxes I can’t ignore:\n\n  * Environmental responsibility: refilling a fountain pen doesn’t use extra materials (like plastic)\n  * You can refill them with any colour (so many colours!)\n  * Old-time coolness of the fountain pen form factor\n\n\n\nThe writing implements I’m currently using fall into the budget category (under $30 AUD). I’ve never tried the high end versions, so this won’t be a comparison of the two. My theory is that five times the purchase price doesn’t equal five times the quality! If it’s sturdy, smooth, flows well, has a small amount of flex, and doesn’t leak, I’m happy.\n\nMy first fountain pen was the Lamy Safari. I won’t be reviewing it here except to say that I found it stiff, with little to no variation in line width as I wrote. It’s okay, but still my least favourite pen. Next came the Jinhao for less than $10 AUD, followed by the Hongidan Black Forest, and the Pilot Kakuno.\n\nThe last writing implement I’ll cover in this piece will be the Pentel Sharp Kerry, the only mechanical pencil I’ve found to date with a cap.\n\n### Jinhao - F (fine)\n\n_First paragraph written with the top pen, second paragraph written with the lower pen._\n\n* * *\n\nI call the Jinhao my workhorse. It’s dependable, smooth, and gives a nice variation of line width when writing fast. At around $10 AUD, it was a bargain. I own a 992 in transparent amber brown and an 82 in transparent olive green.\n\nThe 82 is a beautiful pen to look at, and a delight in the hand. Shorter and stockier than the 992, it looks and feels like a more premium pen.\n\n### Hongdian Blackforest - EF (extra fine)\n\nThe Hongdian has a less flexible nib than the others, but is still a delight to use. I find the EF too fine for coarser paper; it works best on smooth surfaces like Tomoe River and Kokuyo. It’s not too bad on premium 100 gsm office paper. This pen set me back just under $30 AUD.\n\nEven though the nib is more rigid than my other pens, there’s still some quite delightful line variation as I’m writing. I also like this pen for drawing. With a light touch you can get some nice cross hatching effects. This was the pen I used exclusively for the drawings I managed to get done for last year’s Inktober challenge.\n\nThis pen excels when writing small, precise characters and lines.\n\n### Pilot Kakuno - F (fine)\n\nWhat a surprise the Kakuno turned out to be! I was put off at first by its juvenile presentation. There’s a smiley face on the nib to show children which way up to hold the pen, and most of the colour-ways are not to my taste. Consistently good reviews prompted me to have another look.\n\nI ended up buying both the clear and translucent black models for around $15 AUD each.\n\nThe Kakuno has no clip, something that bothered me at first. I keep this fountain pen in my Every Day Carry (EDC), in a snug pocket next to my one-page notebooks. The lack of a clip has not been a problem so far. I also like the girth of this pen. As I’ve noted previously with the Pilot Dr Grip 4 + 1, it’s easier on the hand to hold wider pens rather than narrower ones.\n\nThis is the pen I reach for most often when planning the week ahead in my one page notebook, probably because it’s always at hand in my EDC.\n\n### Pentel Kerry\n\nAfter I dropped my Kuru Toga auto-rotating mechanical pencil and it stopped working, I started scouring the internet to see if such a thing as a mechanical pencil with a cap existed. It did!\n\nThe Pentel Sharp Kerry was first released in 1971. It was designed to have a similar feel to a fountain pen, and is, as far as I know, the only mechanical pencil to have a cap.\n\nI have two Pentel Kerry 0.5 mm mechanical pencils. The grey one lives in the Quiver pen holder attached to my A5 notebook cover, and the green goes everywhere with me in my EDC. It’s perfect for carrying with you in a pocket or small bag, without fear of the tip breaking.\n\nUnlike the Kuru Toga, the Kerry must be rotated in the hand as you write in order to keep the tip from wearing down unevenly.\n\nThis pencil initially looks too short to hold comfortably, but it feels good in the hand once the lid is clicked into place on the end of the pencil. It’s around 105 mm without the cap,125 mm capped, and 132 mm with the cap posted.\n\nThis clever little implement has been constructed so that you can still click the end to advance the lead whether the cap is posted, or off! I only recently discovered that this pencil has an eraser, which is easily accessible when the lid is clicked onto the end.\n\n### What’s next?\n\nNext I’d like to try the Platinum Preppy, though I doubt it could be any more impressive than the Pilot Kakuno.\n\nMore expensive fountain pens look beautiful, and I’m sure they have a beautiful heft and a presence that the cheaper ones can’t hope to imitate; but the last thing I want is to be more concerned about the pen than about what I am writing. I should count it a shame if the perceived value of a pen were to make me paranoid about losing it, or reluctant to ever lend it to someone.\n\n* * *\n\nText of the quote on each handwritten pen/pencil sample above:\n\n_The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater._ _—JRR Tolkien; Haldir, in The Fellowship of the Ring_\n\n* * *\n\n_💬 I love to hear from readers! email hello at ellanew dot com or message me on Mastodon or Bluesky. Follow my RSS feed, or sign up to receive a weekly plain text themed email._\n\nIf you’ve found value here, I invite you to share this post with someone you think will appreciate it or make a contribution to my support jar.",
  "title": "PTPL 203 · What I Write With: 3 Cheap Fountain Pens, and a Mechanical Pencil From the 1970s"
}