Sunday Reading for March 8, 2026

1. The London Spring Pen Show, 2026: My Stall (via Fountain Pen Blog). When people ask me for a recommendation on how to sell pens, I often suggest sharing a table at a pen show to offload pieces from a collection/accumulation that may need to go to a new home.

2. LIVE from the 2026 Baltimore Washington International Pen Show (via Inkdependence). Mike brings his livestream to the Baltimore Pen Show. If you’re in the area you should definitely check it out on the last day.

3. Visit to Tayama Bungu in Hiroshima, Japan (via Inkredible Colours). Another Japanese stationery store recap! I love following along on these tours.

4. Interview with Rob Sanchez of Rob’s Penworks (via dwrdnet). Derek interviews Rob from Rob’s Penworks for the latest season of dwrdnet Stationery Feed interviews.

5. Vazir Lizard Skin Deep Blue (via Figboot on Pens). A brand I have little experience with and need to check out!

6. Ashera Oleatus Review (via Mountain of Ink). Kelli does a pen review! You don’t see as many wood pens reviewed recently, and this one is beautifully finished.

7. Nikitana Looseleaf Paper and Notebook Review (via Pen Addict - Kimberly). I need to check out some of the offerings from Franklin-Christoph subsidiary Piper Trading Co. I enjoy textured paper, so the combination of texture and lighter weight makes this sound interesting to me.

8. What’s in My Bag: Travel Edition (UPDATE) (via Well-Appointed Desk). Ana is back on the road this weekend to the Baltimore Pen Show, with a fresh travel kit!

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In Case You Missed It….

This week I was finally able to get back to making content, which is the part of writing this blog that I truly love. I wrote a piece on pen transport and pen storage, in which I walk through what pen cases I’m using and how I’m using them. Saturday’s post was a bit more specific, in which I spent some time walking through my pencil pouch and what I travel with when I decide to carry pencils on the road, which recently has been more frequent. Finally, as a special bonus, we did a short YouTube video demonstrating how you can cut down a standard A5 notebook to A5-Slim size. If this is something you’re interested in, reach out through the site, as we may start to offer this service on a case-by-case basis.

Note that we’ve added a social media account and now have a presence on TikTok. I know TikTok is not for everyone, but customers have asked to be able to tag the shop, so if you’re a TikTok user you can find us there.

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This Week in the T.G.S. Curated Shop - Roterfaden A5 Slims!

As you might guess from this week’s YouTube video, the Roterfaden A5 Slim notebooks are back in stock in advance of the Arkansas Pen Show and the San Francisco Stationery Fest. We’ve also added some new pens from Lamy and Kaweco, including the Dialog 3 Capless Lamy and the Metal Kaweco Sports and Liliputs. Finally, we have a major washi tape restock from iLootPaperie, as well as a new shipment of sticky notes from Cloth & Paper in all sorts of unique formats for you to combine with your journals and planners. Check out each week’s Thursday Drops post for a full recap of new arrivals and restocks.

Normal store hours this week in the Nashville Shop, from 1-6pm Thursday and Friday, and from 10am-6pm on Saturday. Come see us in person!

Kaweco

Cloth & Paper

Craft Design Technology

iLootPaperie

How to Support T.G.S. and Our Various Projects

If you enjoy our content (whether here on the main website, Instagram, YouTube Channel or elsewhere), and would like early/extra access to shop releases and special promotions, consider supporting us via Patreon. The T.G.S. Patreon includes early access and discounts on exclusive shop releases, a monthly updates newsletter, and of course our monthly meetups. As of this morning, ALL Patreon supporters (including non-paying free members) have access to one or more initial “practice” episodes of “On the Paper Trail” which have not been publicly released.

Five Items for A Pencil Travel Kit (Mechanical and Woodcase)

In this week’s post on pen cases, I mentioned that I use stationery pouches to hold my pencils, as well as any ballpoints and gel pens that I generally take with me on the road for my everyday working needs. Since I rely fairly heavily on pencils, and because pencils have their own set of accessories separate and apart from any sort of pen, I thought it might be fun to break down my preferred pencil travel kit. I’ve photographed two setups that I use - one when I’m using mechanical pencils (which is most of the time on the road), and another for when I’m using mainly woodcase pencils.

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Woodcase pencils will require a longer pouch. Blackwing makes a specialized canvas pencil pouch long enough to hold an unsharpened Blackwing Pencil, which is probably the longest pencil you would want to carry.

1. Mechanical or Woodcase Pencils. First up - the pencils themselves. Lately I’ve been traveling exclusively with mechanical pencils. I generally write smaller for work purposes, so the finer .5mm lead size suits my hand. My current carry for this week is a Lamy Safari .5mm pencil in Scarlet and a .5mm Pentel Sharp Kerry in light green, and I almost always have at least one Uni Kuru Toga thrown in. While I still love a good woodcase pencil, due to their inherently messy nature I don’t work with them on planes and therefore rarely travel with them. If you do decide to travel with woodcase pencils, you will need a different set of accessories, including a sharpener and possibly a point protector.

2. Erasers. Very few pencils have decent integrated erasers, so I always carry a separate handheld eraser in my pencil pouch. In my opinion, the best ones are made by Pentel and Tombow. Currently I am using one of the Pentel erasers by Craft Design Technology, and the excellent Tombow Mono comes in a sizes ranging from small (tiny) to Jumbo (friggin’ huge) depending on how much you can carry.

3. Pencil Caps or Point Protectors. If you prefer woodcase pencils to mechanical, you may want to consider a pencil cap to protect your pencil points. Personally, this isn’t something I’ve worried much about over the years, though we’ve sold so many of the Viarco spring-loaded caps that this is obviously an in-demand item that people use.

4. Mechanical Pencil Leads. Be sure the lid tightens securely, otherwise you’ll have a dusty mess on your hands because loose mechanical pencil leads simply won’t hold up in a pouch. Uni makes these metal cases that have a sliding closure, which are a favorite of mine for travel.

5. Pencil Sharpeners. NJK out of Osaka, Japan makes the best portable long-point sharpener on the market, especially for the money. While the Blackwing One-Step Long-Point sharpener is probably my favorite handheld sharpener overall, it’s slightly too large to carry in a pencil pouch.

You can and should design your own “carry kit” to fit your specific needs, but I get so many questions about what I use day-to-day that I wanted to do a couple of layout posts showing exactly what items I carry for which purposes. I will plan on doing a few more of these bag dump-style posts and possibly even some posts on how I set up and format my notebooks and planners.

The Kuru Toga Alpha Gel Switch (another regular carry), plus the metal lead case linked to above.

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. You can also come visit us at our physical stationery store in Nashville, Tennessee.

Thursday Drops: Lamy Dialog CC, Roterfaden TGS_25, Galen Leather Cases and More!

We’ve been scrambling to get all the recently arrived inventory listed, in light of two upcoming pen shows (the upcoming Arkansas Pen Show and San Francisco Stationery Fest)! We recently received a large Kaweco restock along with additional Roterfaden TGS_25 A5-Slim covers. I am planning to set aside a portion of these for pen shows later this month, so if you are looking to purchase one online please get your orders in sooner rather than later as a subsquent restock may be delayed.

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Craft Design Technology makes these gorgeous leather pen/pencil pouches in either black or brown.

We also have some new pens to announce, including the capless Lamy Dialog CC in two different finishes and more of the Kepler pens from Craighill, a range of pen cases and portfolios from Galen Leather in different finishes, pen and pencil pouches from Craft Design Technology, and fresh washi tapes from iLootPaperie, including restocks of old favorite as well as some fun new designs!

We have normal Nashville shop hours this week, open from 1-6pm Thursday and Friday, and from 10am-6pm on Saturday. Come by and see these and more in-person!

1. Lamy Dialog CC Fountain Pen. Lamy’s take on the capless fountain pen, the Dialog Series, includes two pens: the Dialog 3 and the Dialog CC. The clipless, more compact Dialog CC is in my opinion the most usable for the most people, as it’s shorter and a much more well-balanced pen.

2. Roterfaden TGS_25 A5-Slim Notebook Covers. We have fresh stock of our exclusive Roterfaden model in A5 Slim. Based on the volume of requests, we chose to restock the dark green cover with dark grey suede interior. For those who made requests for a cover, I have e-mailed most of you regarding availability, but please note that if I don’t hear from you by tomorrow or see an order I will release held-back stock for online and pen-show purchase.

3. Kaweco Collection Sport Fountain Pens. We have additional stock of most Kaweco Collection fountain pens, including the Honey (yellow) and Apricot Pearl releases.

4. Kaweco Metal Sport Fountain Pens. We have also received additional stock of the Kaweco Metal Sport pens, including brass, stainless steel, bronze, and titanium.

5. Kaweco Liliput Fountain Pens. Stainless Steel, brass, copper, and “Kolibri” Liliput fountain pens are available, in addition to the standard aluminum in all the popular finishes.

6. Kaweco Sketch Up Clutch Pencil. The Kaweco Sketch Up is a versatile tool that can be used as a clutch pencil, a drylighter (highlighter pencil), and even a dip nib holder!

7. Galen Leather Pen Cases. We are happy to announce that we are now authorized resellers of Galen Leather, including zippered cases, Magnum Opus cases, certain A5 notebook covers, and bankers bags.

8. Craighill Kepler Pen. The subtly sculpted Kepler pen uses universal D1 refills, so it can serve as a classic ballpoint, low-viscosity ballpoint, or gel pen, depending on your needs.

9. Craighill Summit Card Case. These hefty metal card cases caught my eye at the NYNow trade show, and I picked up a couple in two different finishes. These can be used as both business card holders and even as a metal cardholder/wallet.

10. Craighill Chroma Scissors. These large, sharp desk scissors not only work extremely well, but they make a statement on your desktop!

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I personally think the Honey Sport from the Kaweco Collection series is one of the better looking Kaweco Sport fountain pens that Kaweco has released in recent years.

How I Roll in 2026: Pen Cases vs. Pen Rolls vs. Pen Sleeves vs. Pouches

Pen storage sparks almost as much debate as the pens themselves. Once you’ve accumulated more than a handful of pens, the questions multiply: How do you store/protect your pens when they’re not in use? How do you carry your pens when you travel? Should pens ever be allowed to “touch” in the case? Not helping the matter is the recent proliferation of pen cases, wraps, rolls, albums, briefcases, display boxes, and more. This topic can be confusing, so I figured it might be helpful to talk a bit about the various categories of storage solutions and how I personally store my pens, both longer-term and day-to-day.

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My Nagasawa Kip Leather 5-Pen Case that I picked up in California. I wonder why I chose this particular one? A five pen zippered case with soft interior is a great way to protect more valuable pens when traveling.

Pen Cases

The most represented form of pen storage in my personal collection is by far the classic zippered pen case. I have cases ranging from 40-pen albums to three-pen wallets. Because my needs aren’t limited to personal pen storage - I own a pen store and maintain a large archive of product samples, prototypes, photo props, and other “business” assets - I likely use far more large pen cases than the average enthusiast and I’m certainly not recommending that everyone needs to own this much storage capacity. That said, I’m in a unique position to compare various brands. My current favorites for high-capacity storage are the Galen Leather 40 slot pen cases (sturdy, secure storage in a relatively compact format) and KACO 40-pen albums (less sturdy but very inexpensive for less valuable pens).

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This isn’t all of them….

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I’ve sold off most of my pen boxes, since they take up too much room, but I do keep one three-drawer display in my home office. My Toyooka Craft Trays are being used as shop displays in-store.

On the more compact side, for everyday transport and work use, I favor Rickshaw Bagworks Fillmore and Sinclair cases, as well as smaller leather cases like those from Galen Leather and Nagasawa. The Rickshaws are sturdy and feature a wide range of fun designs (we even have our own series!), while leather cases age well and lend a classic look to your everyday carry. Personally, I like cases that can double as trays on your desk, which nudges the Rickshaw Fillmore and Galen Leather Magnum Opus to the top of rotation.

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The large Galen Leather Magnum Opus case/tray, which currently houses our shop testing station, along side my Rickshaw Fillmore, which is my EDC Pen Case du jour.

Pen Rolls

I tend to use pen rolls for situations like meetups or pen shows. You can carry a surprisingly large number of pens in many roll-style cases, and some even include room for accessories. Roll-style cases can also be a better fit for longer pens or when you want to mix in different tools like brushes, dip pens, or calligraphy pens such as the Pilot Parallel. Best of all, when rolled up, you can fit multiple pen rolls in a relatively compact bag like a Rickshaw Banzai bag, which is important at a show or meetup because you don’t want to be the one with the giant backpack knocking into tables and displays (or other people).

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Certain pen rolls like the Lochby Tool Roll shown here are more “utility” cases, in that they’re designed to be able to hold more than just nice pens. This one has pockets in the back where I keep things like gel pens and fineliners.

Pen Sleeves

For more casual sessions where I am bringing two pens to work or to a coffee shop for a journaling session, I sometimes opt for a simple pen sleeve. Rickshaw has even designed its "Coozy" case system to fit one, two, or three-pen sleeves inside the zippered case, allowing you to expand the storage capacity of your case beyond the built-in slots while still protecting pens from scratches. (See the pictures below.)

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Pen/Pencil Pouches

I think of stationery pouches as separate and apart from the cases that house my nice pens, since I sometimes don’t even use them for stationery but rather chargers, cords, etc. All of my gel pens, ballpoints, multipens, and even less expensive mechanical pencils are typically carried in a zippered pouch, together in a single compartment. I usually have some book darts, document flags or sticky notes, mechanical pencil leads, and erasers thrown in for good measure. Lately I’ve been opting for something fairly minimal. Shown below is a slim Japanese leather pen/pencil pouch by Craft Design Technology, which I brought with me to the CA Pen Show, and which is starting to patina nicely after only two weeks or so!

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Current Everyday Setup and Final Thoughts

If I had to pick one case that I’ve been carrying more frequently than any other, it would be the Rickshaw Fillmore in a 3+3 layout (3 pens on each side). Because I value versatility above all else, I love that I can use it as a zippered case, a pen tray when the case is fully unzipped, and even a zippered pouch. While I have many different rolls and cases that I rotate in and out regularly, the Fillmore has replaced the Rickshaw Sinclair as my everyday driver for fountain pens and I can see it becoming my “case of the year”. Because I also have a soft spot for leather, I’ve really enjoyed discovering Nagasawa’s line of kip leather pen cases, as well as the Craft Design Technology and Superior Labor leather products.

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The Nagasawa Kip Leather Pen Cases come in two sizes: 5-pen and 10-pen.

In short, storage is highly personal, and dependent on (1) how many pens you own; (2) how many pens you need to carry with you at any given time; (3) how hard you are on pens and how much protection you think you need; and countless other factors that will vary among users. I’ve cycled through dozens of cases over the years and tend to return to the more classic styles, though there’s an endless number of fun designs and experimental concepts out there. It’s what makes this hobby so great - chances are that no matter how specific your needs, there is a case for you!

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. You can also come visit us at our physical stationery store in Nashville, Tennessee.

New Arrivals: Kaweco Is Back, Along with More Roterfaden TGS_25 Covers!

Last week we received a large shipment from Kaweco, including Classic Sport, Collection Sport, Metal Sport, and Liliput Fountain Pens. Many of you have requested additional stock of the stainless steel, brass, and copper pens, and we listened! Personally, I’m most excited about the Liliput Kolibri (German for “Hummingbird”), which applies a rainbow anodized finish to both the stainless steel body and the nib. We are also restocked on Kaweco bottled inks, as well as the “Sketch-up” Clutch Pencils in all finishes.

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TGS_25 Roterfaden Taschenbegleiters Return!

We have restocked the green leather version of our A5 Slim exclusive model in dark green, with both green and grey elastic options. While we will plan to bring available stock to the Arkansas Pen Show and San Francisco Stationery Fest later this month, we cannot guarantee availability, so if you are interested in this please do not wait. We will have stock available in the Nashville shop during normal hours later this week. Many thanks for all your interest and support for this project - we never could have anticipated the level of demand it’s received so far!

Come see us in our Nashville Shop! Our store is open normal hours (1-6pm Thursday and Friday, and 10am-6pm Saturday), so please swing by and see these and more!