Dan’s Daily Arsenal

I think it is appropriate for my first post to run through my Daily Arsenal of supplies. This pretty much accounts for what I am using on a daily basis, and it definitely shows my proclivity to mechanical pencils, fountain pens, and graph paper. This rundown probably also exposes my weakness to JetPens.

Holding everything together is the Nomadic PN-01 Pencil Case. When JetPens added the Nomadic line, I flipped and couldn’t wait to get one. I’ve enjoyed the pen case and it definitely holds more than I need on the go. This makes the trek with me everyday to and from work – my little briefcase.

THE PAPER GOODS:

Field Notes, Gridded lines. I usually keep two notebooks in my back pocket when I’m out and about. When I am at work, I keep them right in my desk drawer to make handy notes. The Field Notes book is currently my throwaway types of notes: To-Do list, shopping lists, menu for the week’s evening meals, etc.

Doane Paper notebook: This is the second notebook that I keep. This book is holding my long-term lists: Wishlists and Must Read/Watch/Listen for books, movies and music,  long-term projects with the house, a rundown of planned blog entries for this site. Someday I hope to compile and include a list of weekly specials at the local restaurants, so I know where we can eat cheap, when we’re out and about.

TOPS Docket Gold Planning Pads. Sadly, this is my last pad like this. I love this design, but they have apparently modified their layout for the pad. The new layout splits the page in half, with graph on top, traditional lined on the bottom. I like the boxes at the top and the bottom. For work meetings, this has proven useful to separate the Action items from meeting notes.

THE FOUNTAIN PENS:

Platinum Preppy, Green and Black. I usually toss in a couple of disposable pens just in case, or if I need a different color from the refillable fountain pens. I have Green, Blue, Red and Black, and rotate whichever ones make the pen case.

Lamy Studio, Blue, F Nib. This was my first fountain pen. I’ve had it for a little over a year and truly love it. It’s a great design, good weight, very durable.

Monteverde Paloma, Brown, M Nib. This is a newer pen for me, though I’m getting used to the broader nib.

Sheaffer Prelude, Brushed Chrome, F Nib. This is also a newer addition.

Lamy Safari Al-Star, Aluminum, EF Nib. My second fountain and an experiment in testing EF vs. F nibs.

On all of the Fountain Pens, I usually use converters, though the Monteverde is using a cartridge at the moment. Current inks are as follows:

Diamine Sepia in the Safari

Noodler’s Ottoman Rose in the Studio

Noodler’s Heart of Darkness in the Prelude

Private Reserve DC Supershow Blue Cartridge in the Monteverde

THE MECHANICAL PENCILS
I have an affinity for mechanical pencils. I don’t use pencils as often as it would appear, but there is something very industrial that I like about working with them. All of the pencils are using .5 lead, most either Uniball HB or Pentel HB Polymer. You can see I have the Uniball lead ready. The eraser is a Kokuyo Kadokeshi 28 corner eraser, via JetPens.The Pilot S5 and the Uniball 552 are using Pink and Green Uniball lead, which I use like Highlighters. Here’s the whole list, left to right:

Uniball 552
Pentel S5
Ohto Promecha 500P
Uniball Kuru Toga
Zebra M-301
Zebra F-301 ball point, blue ink. Though not a mechanical pencil, this is my ‘last resort’ pen. If all else fails, this still works.
Pentel Graphlet

That’s it for now. I plan to work in reviews of  most of these pens in weeks to come! Let me know what you guys think.

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