While I will use any pen and ink that catches my fancy for note taking, I have two pens specifically configured for this task: a Franklin-Christoph Model 02 and a Pilot Vanishing Point. Right now I have a blue-black in both but typically I keep a black ink in the 02.
The Franklin-Christoph Model 02 is the Anderson Pens Edition. It has a marble blue finial and section. This pen helps me realize I prefer a medium diameter, light weight pen. The XF nib works well but after testing the different Franklin-Christoph nibs at pen shows, an even finer nib is in my future. I foresee outfitting this pen with a 14k Masuyama needlepoint nib and laying down a very fine line, perfect for small notes.
My other note taker is a Pilot Vanishing Point Blue Carbonesque purchased at the 2016 Atlanta Pen Show. I immediately took it to Mark Bacus for an architect grind. The architect grind excels when printing and for me note taking involves a lot of printing. The retractable nib is handy when taking notes. Summer time finds me using this pen less. The Vanishing Point is a natural for a shirt pocket. Alas many of my short sleeve shirts lack a pocket.
While I have been experimenting with various black and blue-black inks, I have decided to emphasize note preservation. In particular one incident leads me to deciding on a permanent ink. So far for permanent, or at least water resistant, black I favor Noodler’s Heart of Darkness. The search for a good blue-black continues.
Reducing the note taking pens I keep inked from two to one, would involve alternating between the Franklin-Christoph 02 and the Pilot Vanishing Point. The Franklin-Christoph 02 takes a long time to deplete a convertor of ink. The Pilot Vanishing Point, not near as long. So alternating would not be very even. I expect to try it as an experiment, but I suspect I will miss having the Vanishing Point available while waiting to empty the Franklin-Christoph.
So far, I am not doing much to reduce the number of inked pens. Perhaps tomorrow’s category, good writers, will produce better results.
Read more posts in this series: Currently Inked
Pick a favorite pen and take some notes today.
My Pen Journey 