Friday, February 20, 2009

Pilot Varsity refilled

Pilot Varsity refilled

Okay, so this post isn't DIRECTLY about letter-writing, but it is about fountain pens. And I write all my letters with fountain pens. And I write a lot of letters, and address even more envelopes, with this pen and this ink. So, on to the meat of the post...

Encouraged by this post on the Good Pens blog, I finally gave it a go and refilled a Pilot Varsity. Using needlenose pliers, you can just pop the nib bit out, dump out any unused ink, and fill with a much more exciting color. I wanted a nice fat line for my Noodler's Heart of Darkness, so this was a perfect fit. I address most envelopes with Heart of Darkness because it is so very black and also waterproof, so this is now my go-to pen for that purpose.

I didn't rinse the nib, and you can see in the top of the photo how much lighter the Pilot black ink is than the Noodler's black-black-black HoD.