Best Writing Tools, Part 1
This post describes my favorite pens, inks, and paper notebooks. Part 2 will cover my MacOS/iPadOS writing kit for blogging, note-taking, and book planning and composition.
My Favorite Pen & Paper Tools
Early in my life, I didn’t care about what pens I used or the paper in my notebooks because I didn’t write unless I was forced to by school assignments.
While attending college, I became interested in reading, which led to my interest in writing. I became interested in finding tools that I enjoyed using. My tastes evolved. During the last decade, I’ve become fussy about my pens, inks, and notebooks.
Notebooks
These were my first obsession. I’ve developed a strong preference for papers from Japan and Germany. I use small pocket notebooks from the United States that I enjoy.
FieldNotes Pocket Notebooks
I go through two of these 48-page notebooks every month. I love the attention to detail FieldNotes applies to their custom releases. They are fun and fit perfectly in my back pocket. My daily routine starts by recording six metrics that I’m tracking for personal health, writing, and personal finances. I’ve even “commissioned” a custom storage system for them from a maker on Edsy, who made me walnut storage boxes that let me store 2 years' worth of these notebooks next to my desk. I have a nice leather cover purchased from Edsy to protect the paper covers. The quarterly custom notebooks have unique themes that teach something. These little notebooks are the foundation of my daily quick note-taking and measurement tracking.
Leuchttrum1917 120g
I buy these stout hardbound notebooks for bigger projects. Right now I’m using one to flesh out ideas for my next book. I’ve filled 59 pages with notes, trial outlines, mind maps, research, and other thoughts that occur to me. Before I formally outline any book or project, it starts in one of these stout notebooks.
Midori A5 Notebooks
Midori makes beautiful minimalist notebooks in a variety of designs. The paper is normally 80-90 gram. They feel wonderful to write in. They look so nice, I want to take my time when I write in them. I use these for general idea recording and lists.
iAWriter Notebook
I’ve been using iAWriter as my preferred electronic writing tool for my Mac, iPad, and iPhone for more than 15 years. Recently, they released an interesting Japanese-made notebook with 200 pages. The paper is similar to Midori’s, but it adds an interesting design choice—a black backing sheet and paper with translucent lines. The paper provides a way to have lines for writing that disappear for reading. I purchased one for the first time this month and received it a couple of days ago. It is beautiful. I sampled it by writing a few lines with my preferred pens. Wonderful.
Pens and Inks
I have three high-quality pens. Two are made by Big Idea Design. The other is old, and I don’t recall who I purchased the pen from. The old pen uses Schmidt P8126 ink. I prefer rollerball inks.
Big Idea Design Bolt Pen
I was originally attracted to Big Idea Design for two reasons. First, they are a small company based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which is not far from where I live. Second, they designed the Bolt Pen to accommodate over 100 different gel ink or ballpoint pen inks. The ability to sample many different pen inks in the same housing appeals to me because any metal pen housing can provide a high-quality feel. It’s the ink choice that makes the biggest difference. For example, I like using ultra-fine point (0.3mm) or fine point (0.5mm) rollerball tips. They make writing in narrow lines easier.
Big Idea’s bolt pens accommodate a greater variety of ink cartridges than any pen manufacturer. I enjoy experimenting with different ink cartridges in the same pen.
Big Idea Design Auto-Adjusting Pen
A smaller pen that fits in my front pants pocket. Big Idea Design’s Ti Pocket Pro pen accommodates 85 different gel ink and ballpoint pen cartridges. It's smaller than my Bolt pen—better for carrying in my pants pocket—and has the same high-quality build as my other Big Idea Designs pen.
Big Idea now offers a growing variety of pen styles. Check them out. They are not a big corporation. They are guys who like building cool tools.
My Old Machined Blue Metal Pen + Schmidt Ink
I don’t remember where I got this pen. It was from an online pen retailer. The main appeal of the pen for me is the Schmidt P8126 black rollerball ink, 1mm. This pen is great for bold writing. The ink is thicker than the Uniball Signo inks I use in the Big Idea design pens.
Inks
I’ve become loyal to Uniball Signo Micro 207 and 307 inks. You can buy these in cheap plastic pens that aren’t bad for what they are. I like buying ink cartridges in packs of 6 and putting them into my Bolt Pen and the smaller Auto-Adjusting Pen. In each case, I have to cut a small amount of the plastic cartridge down to get the Uniball inks into the Big Idea Design housings. That takes about 10 seconds. The micro 207 and 307 inks work well in thinner notebook paper without bleeding through. The Schmidt P8126 ink is stout and requires thicker paper.
That’s my current handwriting kit. I haven’t tried any new inks in years because I’m content. I receive no compensation for promoting these products.
In my next post, I’ll discuss my writing software.