10 December 2012

What type of writing instrument do you use in your Filofax?

Some interesting discussions following on from the meeting notes last week about paper quality and similar topics.

It got me wondering about what sort of pens etc that people actually use in their Filofax organisers. We do see quite a variety in blog posts and You Tube videos. But I thought it would be good to do a poll to see what is the most popular type and see what percentage of Philofaxy readers are fountain pen users.

So please indicate in the poll in the side bar which writing instrument you use.

52 comments:

  1. But what if you use two instruments on a very regular and consistent basis? For example, I use pencil and a fountain pen, probably 40% pencil to 50% fountain pen.

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  2. I use pencil, in various lead sizes, gel pens, ballpoint pens, roller balls, and felt pens, which I love for the vivid colors. I marked 'other', although it doesn't seem to have registered. And then there are the highlighters . . . My pens, aside from the gold Cross sets and various rOtrings, are an inexpensive indulgence - and I have a peck of 'em.

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  3. I use Frixion pens for anything that might change - appointments, work meetings, events or to-do's that are scheduled for a specific day - but everything else is written in ballpoint pen. I love the Frixion pens because I can write appointments in my diary and colour-code them, but erase them if the appointments change (which they frequently do). I used to use pencil, but that didn't really work for me.
    My current favourite ballpoint pen is a Lamy with purple ink - gorgeous!

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  4. I use Frixion pens for anything that might change - appointments, work meetings, events or to-do's that are scheduled for a specific day - but everything else is written in ballpoint pen. I love the Frixion pens because I can write appointments in my diary and colour-code them, but erase them if the appointments change (which they frequently do). I used to use pencil, but that didn't really work for me.
    My current favourite ballpoint pen is a Lamy with purple ink - gorgeous!

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  5. In my personal, I use Zebra F-301 ballpoints, most of the time. They are somewhat thin-barreled and have a fine point, making it easier to keep my writing small. For my half-sheet (A5) sized organizer, I have a ceramic tipped ball-point pen, which feels like pens twice the price. I have to be careful with the paper refills as this pen will bleed on lesser-quality paper. (I printed my own diary insert for 2013 on high quality paper. I also have a set of 12 coloured Staedtler fine point markers to colour-code entries. I also carry a 0.5mm mechanical pencil with 2B lead.

    Steve: I'd love to see a discussion on what paper people use, as I am sure there are many on Philofaxy that print their own inserts.

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    1. When I printed my own inserts I used plain copier paper from Rymans. For some reason this is fine for my A5 inserts like blog planners and my studio time records. I also use this plain and unprinted for some my work notes. But when I printed a set of daily inserts for my planner personal filo... Hated them! I actually preferred the Filofax paper. Odd. Maybe it was that having downsized to personal for that purpose I instinctively wanted the paper weight to downsize too.

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    2. Yes, I know what you mean. I've been looking - somewhat halfheartedly - for a good quality paper under 20lb (75g/m2) for my insert printing, particularly for my personal. I actually have some perforated Filofax laser sheets (3 to a US 8.5x11) which I haven't used yet. I also have some older Dayrunner sheets for lasers, but they are heavier than I want.

      For my A5, I used 24lb (90g/m2) parchment paper for my 2013 inserts and the pages look and fell great, but it has bulked up the binder more than I would like.

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  6. I use two ballpoint pens, a Zebra F-701 and a Cross Century. Each is dedicated to a single Filofax and are my general use pens. I also share a hi-tec-c Coleto 4 for color coding in both Filofaxes.

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  7. I have a metropol, and I use a highlighter on one loop (its so much better to highlight stuff done than to cut it out) and a fountain pen on the other. :D

    DiaryGirl

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  8. In my planner Filo a Waterman rollerball and also Statedler Triplus liners in green and red. In all others Pilot pens in black and either red or green with the addition of a pencil as well for my blog planner.

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  9. I use several Stabilo point 88 pens for appointments and other things which I write on Week on 2 pages, but for other things there's a regular blue ink pen

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  10. I'm using a vintage fountain pen with my hand-guillotined Clairefontaine paper (which takes ages but I guess is a labour of love), and a Frixion Le m diary as my appointments change frequently and at a minute's notice.
    I stopped using pencil as I found the papers were slowly running and smudging my writing and over the course of a couple of week it looked quite ugly. And due to others discussing their liking for brown ink, I'm using montblanc toffee brown ink in the fountain pen.

    ENABLE MODE = ON


    Just received this discount code from www.filofax.co.uk and I think it's for today only:

    Use code DAY10 to get 20% off orders over £5, plus there's free postage at the moment, within UK.



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  11. I use a Parker ballpoint, a Bic Multicolour and an erasable pen.

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  12. I use anything to hand! I keep a Muji erasable pen (which don't seem to be on their website - are they discontinued?!) in my Filo, so I'm voting that.

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  13. Pencil.

    Fat 1.4mm pencil leads in my Lamy ABC.
    Skinny 0.5mm leads in my Filofax Barley.
    Medium 1.18mm indelible leads in my vintage Yard-o-Led.

    Who needs pens anyway?

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  14. What a nice question. My boyfriend calls me ‘the Queen of the Pens’ and we live in the ‘House of pens’.
    I have tried all kinds of pen. Last Saturday I received some new pens from ‘PenStore’: the Frixion. I have read so much about them, that I wanted to tried them out. I do not know how they are, but I think that I am going to pre-order some more. The first letters on paper where pretty good. And also the erasing went very good!

    I have been using the Pilot G2 pens Fine with a 0.7 mm pen point. Love them! I got them after reading reviews regarding these pens on Moleskine paper. It does not bleed through! And it also does not bleed through the Filofax paper. Besides the Pilot G2 I also use fountain pens from Waterman and the ballpoint also from Waterman. I have for the fountain pen different colors: blue, green and purple. For some reason I almost never use the black inkt. Just don’t like the color. For both Waterman pens I use the fine pen point.

    I never use pencil in my planner. Always a pen. If I have to make corrections I use my Tipp-Ex micro tape.

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    Replies
    1. And in my Malden Person I carried the Waterman ballpoint. It is slimme enough for the pen loop.

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  15. I'm a fountain pen user - I collect vintage fountain pens and find ballpoints uncomfortable to use, although I can cope with rollerball types. I don't bother with Filofax paper but instead punch Rhodia paper for my A5 (a black Ascot). Currently I'm using a Waterman L'Etalon with a fine nib, filled with Sailor Sei-boku permanent blue-black ink - but this will probably change within days to something else. Paper-wise, I have a mix of punched pages from a Rhodia R notepad (cream paper, fractionally smaller than A5, 90gsm) and pages from a Rhodia Meeting Book (A5, white paper with a meeting notes specific layout). I hate bleedthrough and feathering!

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  16. I voted for Gel Pen, which I use in my main organiser. But I also use a fountain pen in my A5. The A5 Filofax paper seems to handle FP ink better than the Personal size. Plus I use the A5 on a desk, which makes fountain pens more practicable.

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  17. I use a mixture of gel pen (Pilot & Muji), fountain pen (Lamy) & ballpoint (Caran D'ache & Parker). I'd use fountain 100% of the time but gel pen is so much better on filofax paper.

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  18. It's great to read about what pens people are using because, let's face it, endless talk about binders can become quite monotonous. Pens and paper are just as interesting and, in my opinion, ought to be discussed more frequently.

    What we all need to consider, however, is that there are factors that will skew this poll. In particular, the fact that Filofax doesn't currently supply paper suitable for the use of fountain pens means that many fountain pen users, such as myself, will be using a different pen in their filofax.

    Also, the pen loop may well restrict a user's choice of pen.




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    1. I know what you mean about the pen loop restricting choice. I mostly use my A5 ascot which has two fairly large pen loops - one bigger than the other, I often use a Parker '51' fountain pen and its matching mechanical pencil in the big front loop and smaller rear loop respectively. The pencil is very rarely used...

      However I've just got hold of a personal Ascot (felt like trying a personal size to see if it would work) whose single pen loop is absolutely miniscule and not even big enough for the pencil from the A5, so I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do about that. I suppose leather is slightly elastic, so I may have to try gently stretching the loop or use something like my very tiny Verelyte ringtop button-filler which is extremely narrow and only about 4 inches long! Another possibility would be to hook the pen clip through the pen loop on the binder... its diminutive size was quite a surprise as I've had other personal size binders which had perfectly sensible sized pen loops capable of taking a full size pen!

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    2. I've been meaning to find myself a Parker 51. I cannot fit any of my fountain pens into my pen loop so I carry those in my pocket. Pencil in the tiny pen loop

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    3. Or try a Hero 616, it is a clone of the Parker 51. It is made in their former factory in fact. You can buy them by the pack very inexpensively. They write similar to the "51", but you will need to adjust the pen when you first get it and do a bit of tuning of the nib. The quality of the body material is not as good as the Parker either, but I find it a good starter pen to get used to the aerometric filling system that this and the Parker uses.

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  19. Paul - the solution to the pen loop problem is obvious to me, and I'd be happy to divulge it to Filofax if they asked me. But I'm a bloke, which means they won't, lol.

    Paul, my filofaxes are working tools, so I tend to use the nearest pen to hand, but I'm a big fan of Rhodia notebooks. I always have an A7 webbie in my pocket (quite an unusual size) and invariably carry a Kaweco Sport fountain pen because of its extremely small size. I find it essential to be able to wtrite about experiences as they are actually in progress, which probably makes for untidy prose, but is undoubtedly the real deal - coffee stains at street cafes, beer marks in pubs, salt crystals from trips across the bay - is essence, the DNA of a notebook's life.

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  20. I use an assortment of fountain pens, rollerball, and my newest pen - a Parker Ingenuity fiber tip.

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  21. Nothing fancy for me! I use either a Frixion erasable in black or purple. I also have a grey Frixion erasable nearby if I'm at home which is very light but good for check boxes, lines, etc.

    I also regularly use my favorite Uniball Jetstream pens. I would say the Frixion is mostly in the pen loop but like my glasses pens seems to grow legs and go astray around here so often I'm grabbing whatever's handy if I'm at home.

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  22. I keep a Hi-tec-C Coleto 4 color pen in one pen loop on my Malden A5 binder, and a Papermate Inkjoy 100 in brown ink in the other. I love the way the Papermate Inkjoy 100 flows...and they are very inexpensive too.

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  23. I must be odd, I had to use a fountain pen at school (many years ago) and used a left handed nib. Could never go back to fountain pens and quite happy with my cheap Bic 4 colour pen. I bought my 12 year old a Frixion for her Domino (she wanted to be like me and we have planner sessions together lol) and I'm not keen on it. I dont use an expensive ballpoint as I might lose it but maybe I need to give some other pens a try.

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  24. I use a Cross-Franklin Covey Melbourne Multi-pen at the moment. I write provisional appointments in pencil and then ink them in when need be. I love that the multi-pen has a really easy mechanism to use where depending which colour tab is on the up side, it pushes that colour into use.
    For Christmas, I know that a "new fangled" Coleto pen is coming my way with some very pretty colours in it. This will go into my Leuchtturm 1917 pen loop and be a welcome addition.
    I do collect pens, only good ones, and when I am writing at home, I'll pull out one of those but for day to day use, it's the ones mentioned above for my Finsbury Zipped Personal.
    In my Pocket Savannah, I have an e-juice pen with the ipad stylus end on it. Takes mini ballpoint refills and is more of a cutesy gadget than a serious pen.

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  25. I use a ballpoint that I purchased years ago, but I also have a newfangled coleto 5 barrel coming.

    I've also just bought a Frixion in black for writing on washi tape

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    1. Writing on Washi Tape? I just use mine as decoration or edgings. Never thought about writing on it, hmmm.x

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    2. Yes, you could use it to highlight something important in your diary, so write that event on the washi tape. A few of us bought some on Ebay last night thanks to Puddytat purr!

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  26. I usually use a black Uniball pen and a blue fluid highlighter, one for each loop. I find ballpoints hard to hold and write with and I stopped using fountain pens when I went into middle school, but I really like the idea.

    I sometimes use a CD pen to write on top of highlighting strips, but I really like the 'look' of the ink on paper, too. All smooth, matte and uniform - I have yet to find a normal pen that's like that.

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  27. I use pencil for anything that is tentative. For my daily writings, I use the Uniball JetStream pens (love!), blue for personal and black for work. I also use two coleto 4's - green, purple, orange, and aqua for personal; red, brown, pink, and lime green for work. Then there are different colored highlighters for different things.

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  28. I carry a ballpoint together with a fountain pen clipped into the pen holder of my Personal. The ballpoint is used for calendar entries, the fountain for journaling, drafting, notes. I find that with the strap buttoned in, the pens are reasonably secure.

    I have a collection of modern fountain pens, with which I rotate what I carry every few days. Today, I'm using a Rotring 600 with a medium nib and Pelikan "cheap" (not Edelstein) blue ink, with a complimentary Rotring ballpoint containing a Fisher Space Pen refill.

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  29. I go for the frixion pens. The color is nice, though the red ink tends to pool on the paper, so if you don't dab it after writing, you'll end up staining other pages. Still, for me it's important to be able to erase notes in case of change. In the past I used only pencil.

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  30. I would like to use a fountain pen (and managed to do so in the 2012 TM for A5 pages - however the 2013 are completely different and don't like my fountain pen). I use frixions for appointments that may well move. I also have the bic four coloured biros which I like to add some colour (I have two different ones so in total 8 colours). May try the Coleto which everyone is raving about. I tried pencil but found when I tried rubbing it out that I ended up with lots of dirty smudges.

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  31. I use Muji 0,5 mm pens in 12 colors. Love them.

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  32. Bic 4-color pen with red, green, blue and black. If I had a second pen loop, I'd have a mechanical pencil.

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    1. I have two Bic four-colours: one with red, green, blue, and black; the other with pink, light green, light blue, and purple. Eight colours in one Filo makes for great colour-coding!

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  33. Ok i have a stupid question...someone just asked me why your called philofaxy...and i have no idea, does it say somewhere? Am i being really really dim...im guessing i am.....

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    1. It's a very good question! PH makes an F sound yes? So Ph instead of F, sounds makes Philofax and Filofax sound the same... Philofaxy is named after the original founder of the blog who called himself Philofaxer The Filofaxer I assume...

      You have to go back to the beginning of time to discover some of the mysteries of this blog... or about October 2005 if you want to be accurate...

      But on your way back in time call in on this post... it will I hope make you smile..

      http://philofaxy.blogspot.com/2007/02/public-service-announcement-pee-ess-ay.html

      Steve

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    2. It also avoids trade mark issues... but strange how Filofax didn't spot the spelling thing that allowed me to register http://philofax.co.uk/ and yes it will bring you back here again if you try it!

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    3. Well at least i was saying it right!
      I did think that maybe the guy who started it all was maybe called Phil?
      But then i couldn't find anyone on the About' page called that so it then confused me!
      I was promoting philofaxy just today to a fellow student at uni...so you may soon have a new 'member'

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  34. Bleeding fountain pens; usually with only enough ink for 3 words. So normally 0.5mm pencil

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  35. Currently I had a papermate inkjoy fine point ballpoint pen in the pen loop of my personal chameleon, but I use papermate flair pens for colour coding and I use a black flair pen most of the time, but can't get it to fit in the loop.

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  36. Yesterday I had voted that I used a ballpoint, but last night, my husband gave me my Christmas present - a Diplomat Traveller fountain pen! It fits in the pen loops of both my A5 Finsbury and my personal Adelphi. From now on, I use fountain pen inside my filos! :)

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  37. I want to be grown up and use a fountain pen (maybe one day it´ll happen), and I occasionally use a Frixion, but mostly I´m in the Bic gang. More often than not I´m using one of the Bic 4 colour (standard or fashion), but also love the bog standard Bic Cristal Medium ballpoint pen. :-)

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  38. Fine liners, because I can write more in smaller spaces. Plus, the shape and size means I typically write notes in small caps, so it's much more legible.

    Currently have 2 coloured Sakura Pigma microns in blue and red at 0.20mm, and a uni pin fine line in 0.5. Works for me but would love to use my fountain pens it there...

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  39. Sorry, rather late to the discussion on this one. I use a Waterman fountain pen, and I also have two Parkers one vintage) and a Schaeffer also vintage). I'm still working to establish which is my favourite writing instrument, a project which could very likely lead to me leaving the Filofax camp altogether, as I've rediscovered just how much difference paper quality makes, and just how poor the FF paper really is....

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