New Arrivals: Caran d'Ache Chromatics Inks in 50ml Bottles!

On yesterday’s Currently Inked video, I mentioned that Caran d’Ache Chromatics inks would be joining the T.G.S. Curated Shop in 50ml bottle format. We now have all 11 colors in stock and ready to ship! This is in addition to the major Caran d’Ache restock from a couple of weeks ago, in which favorites like the 849 Black Code, the 849 Original, and more were added back to the shop.

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The Caran d’Ache ink bottle is slightly angled to make filling easier.

The Caran d’Ache Chromatics series features unique and vibrant colors. Favorites include “Infinite Grey”, which has purple undertones and looks almost silver in some light when it dries. “Divine Pink” reminds me of a slightly darker Iroshizuku Yama-Budo, and “Delicate Green” is a very legible grass green suitable for everyday writing. Caran d’Ache Chromatics inks are available now, priced at $35 for a 50ml bottle.

The Gentleman Stationer is an authorized retailer of all brands sold, including Caran d’Ache. Many thanks for your support!

Thursday Drops: Lamy Pens, Traveler's Notebooks, All the Ballpoints, and More!

Just like last year, March and April have both seen a whirlwind of new releases, pen shows, and all sorts of new arrivals and developments here at T.G.S.! This week’s new arrivals include an array of Lamy products, including the Lamy 2000 lineup, the new AL-Star fountain pens, and more! If you missed out on this week’s release of the Olive Traveler’s Notebooks, we have more on the way (hopefully soon), and if you’re looking to jump sooner than that we have all of the other colors available, as well as a fresh stock of refills and accessories.

The Ohto Rays Gel Pens have arrived! These excellent Parker-style click pens feature the Ohto Flash-Dry .5mm needle-tip refill, which is also available individually.

The Gentleman Stationer is an authorized retailer of all brands sold.

1. Lamy 2000 Fountain Pens, Ballpoints, Rollers - Well, Everything! Probably my favorite “all-around” pen in all of its various styles and iterations, the Lamy 2000 pairs Bauhaus-inspired minimalist design with excellent quality and functionality.

2. Lamy AL-Star Petrol and Lilac Pens. This year’s AL-Star special releases finally did it for me, after a couple of years that I didn’t necessarily find inspiring. The Petrol is absolutely stunning. Available in fountain pens, rollerballs, and ballpoints.

3. Lamy Special Edition Safaris and Vista Pens. Lamy has released a series of Safaris where they mixed and matched bodies with different color clips, drawing on their extensive library of past designs. We also have the Lamy Vista demonstrators!

4. Pilot Custom 74 Fountain Pens. After the Lamy 2000, the Pilot Custom 74 is almost certainly my go-to recommendation for a gold-nib fountain pen in the $200 range, especially if you’re looking for something both colorful and exceptionally reliable.

5. Lamy Pico Pocket Pens. If there’s one pen that I’d love to do more to promote, it’s Lamy’s excellent Pico pocket ballpoint. We also have the Lamy M22 refill available in black and blue, in fine and medium tips.

6. Traveler’s Company Restock. While our first shipment of the Olive Traveler’s Notebook covers sold out nearly instantaneously, we’re restocked on the standard covers in blue, as well as nearly all standard refills and brass accessories, including the brass clips.

7. Ohto Ray Needle-Tip Gel Pens. The Ohto Ray features the .5mm needle tip “Flash Dry” gel refill, available for purchase separately. It fits all Parker-style pens, including the Caran d’Ache 849 Rollerball!

8. Mark’Style “Tous les Jours” Needle-Tip Ballpoint Restock. These ultra-popular needle-tip ballpoint pens are restocked in nearly all colors. We also sell the refills.

9. Maruman Notepad Holders. We stock a wide range of excellent Maruman Mnemosyne notebooks and notepads, as well as notepad holders in a range of attractive styles. The popular A5 Notepad Holders with five pockets for organizing your notes are back in stock.

10. Lamy Replacement Nibs, Including Cursive Calligraphy. Looking for extra Lamy nibs? We have you covered, and even added the special Lamy “cursive” nibs with an interesting grind somewhat akin to an Architect/Kodachi. For a short tutorial on how to swap Lamy nibs, check out this recent Youtube video.

Currently Inked for Monday, April 17, 2023: A Demonstration on Swapping Lamy Nibs

Happy Monday! As I mentioned last night on Instagram, I wanted to do a quick video demonstration of how to change the nib on a Lamy Safari/AL-Star/Studio/LX. It’s typically a pretty straightforward process, using the technique of wrapping a small piece of cellophane sticky tape (Scotch Tape for those of us in the states) around the nib and pulling it off. I say “typically,” because as you will see in the Youtube video, sometimes things don’t go according to plan. On one of my Lamy Studios, the nib simply would not come unstuck, so I ended up pulling the entire nib/feed assembly and sliding them together into the section of another Studio. (It’s not as scary as it sounds. You really have to manhandle any of the lower-priced Lamy pens in order to break them. All of my gold-nibs survived the process shown in the video, but for good measure do practice on the stainless steel version first!)

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The Lamy “Cursive” Calligraphy nib features narrower downstrokes and slightly wider cross-strokes, similar to an architect grind.

Lamy Replacement Nibs (Including the Cursive Calligraphy nibs) Are Now Available in the Shop

Yesterday I announced that the T.G.S. Curated Shop is an authorized Lamy retailer! We carry the full line of Lamy 2000 models (fountain pen, ballpoints, rollerballs, multipens, and mechanical pencils), select pens from the Safari and AL-Star lineup, and all of the refills. Look for us to add additional items in the future. As I note in the video, we stock stainless steel Lamy replacement nibs in most sizes, as well as the Cursive Calligraphy nib, which is ostensibly intended to write cursive script such as Chinese and Japanese characters, but is ground similarly to an architect/Kodachi/Naginata-style nib. If you’ve been interested in trying one of these nib styles, but have hesitated to sacrifice a pen on a nib grind that you don’t know you’ll like, one of these nibs could be a relatively inexpensive experiment. I’ve enjoyed it enough to swap the cursive nib onto two of my personal pens and will be definitely writing more in the weeks to come.

The Gentleman Stationer is supported entirely by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop, and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program.

Thursday Drops: Caran d'Ache and M+R Restock, Plus the Lamy Pico!

Many of you have been requesting a restock on Caran d’Ache goods (especially the Black Code and Original ballpoints), as well as M+R Sharpeners like the long-point Castor & Pollux and the refill blades. They’re all here and ready to go as of this morning, in addition to new everyday carry ballpoints from Anterique Stationers and Lamy. Enjoy!

P.S. - Don’t forget to check out the “Best Pens” list, updated for 2023!

The Gentleman Stationer is an authorized retailer of all brands sold.

What’s your favorite color of the Lamy Pico? Maybe the eye-searing Neon Pink?

1. Caran d’Ache 849 Black Code Ballpoint Pen. Even though it’s not specifically made for our shop, the Black Code Ballpoint was the first product that I regarded as a “signature” T.G.S. design. I love the look of this pen and it’s a great everyday carry.

2. Caran d’Ache 849 “Original” Ballpoint. Second only to the Black Code among T.G.S. Curated Shop top sellers from the Caran d’Ache line! This ballpoint features a brushed aluminum finish, yet it’s coated so you don’t get the raw metal feel (or smell).

3. Caran d’Ache 849 Rollerball. The 849 Rollerball is a versatile pen that ships with a Parker-style Caran d’Ache Rollerball refill, but can easily be transformed into a larger version of the 849 ballpoint using any Parker-style ballpoint or gel cartridge.

4. Caran d’Ache 849 Fountain Pens. The Caran d’Ache 849 fountain pen makes another excellent everyday writer, and fits in many notebook and planner “pen slots” due to its slimmer size. The stainless steel nib is unique in that it can have just the slightest bit of spring to it, especially in the narrower nib sizes. Additional Caran d’Ache ink cartridges sold separately.

5. Lamy Pico Pocket Ballpoint. One of the best pocket pens on the market, in my opinion, the Pico expands from palm-sized to a comfortable full-sized ballpoint pen. The M22 refill writes a smooth dark line.

6. Anterique Stationers “Mach Ball” Ballpoints. One of my favorite new discoveries from the past several months, especially if you love finer-points. Be sure to check out the Brass Edition.

7. M+R Castor and Pollux Long-Point Pencil Sharpeners. The Castor is more of a traditional long-point pencil sharpener, but the Pollux creates the signature “concave” curved point that so many people love. Though they typically require you to use good graphite, you can’t get this long of a point from many handheld sharpeners.

8. Caran d’Ache Fixpencil 884. The colorful Fixpencil 884 features the same 2mm graphite lead as the standard black Fixpencils. Though it’s sometimes referred to as the Fixpencil “JR”, it’s the same size.

9. Caran d’Ache Infinite Mechanical Pencils. I managed to grab a handful of these in a couple of the remaining standard colors, plus the Swiss Cross motif. I’ve been told the pencil is now discontinued.

10. Caran d’Ache Infinite 888 Ballpoint Pens. This inexpensive, yet high-quality, pen from Caran d’Ache made the T.G.S. Best Pens list this year. As far as standard ballpoint refills go, the one in this pen is great.

New Arrivals: Anterique Ballpoints and Lamy Pico Pocket Pens!

Following the announcements of new fountain pens, clutch pencils, and more, it’s ballpoint week here in the T.G.S. Curated Shop! A good ballpoint pen has become one of my core everyday writing tools, and as ballpoint ink technology continues to improve, you no longer have to deal with the stickiness and smearing of traditional oil-based ballpoint pens. We’ve recently added a line of pens from Anterique Stationers of Japan, which use an excellent .5mm “Mach Ball” low-viscosity refill and comes in two different formats: a vintage-inspired click-pen design, as well as an upgraded “Brass Edition” with a machined brass barrel. As an added bonus, the parts of the Anterique pens are interchangeable so you can create your own perfect color combination. Standard pens start at $5.50, with the Brass Edition priced at $29.

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For this week’s “Currently Inked” video, we looked at both the Anterique lineup and a bonus surprise that arrived in the mail from WMS&Co. I’ve been more active on the Youtube Channel recently, so please give a follow there if you enjoy the video content, which will include more “hands on” demonstrations than is possible here on the blog.

Over the past couple of weeks, you may have noticed that we are now authorized retailers of select pens from Pilot, Kaweco, and now, Lamy! The first Lamy pen has arrived: the Lamy Pico pocket pen, which is an excellent EDC pocket carry option that extends from a compact 3.5” to a full 5”. We reviewed the Pico years ago, and it’s held up so well that we wanted to add it to our curation. Available now in multiple colors for under $40.

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The Lamy Pico is simply one of the best Pocket ballpoints available.

The Gentleman Stationer is an authorized retailer of all brands sold.