New Arrivals: Pilot Iro-Utsushi Dip Pens

By customer request, Pilot Iro-Utsushi dip pens have arrived! These relatively inexpensive dip pens feature a simple holder and a fountain pen nib in either fine or medium, and have become a favorite of enthusiasts looking for a simple way to write from an ink bottle or to sample fountain pen inks. Not as delicate as a glass pen, and not as temperamental as some calligraphy dip nibs, Pilot designed the Iro-Utsushi line for simplicity. Pens are available in five different colors: Black Wood, Natural Wood Grain, and Clear, Clear Blue, and Clear Black Acrylic.

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The pens do not have a cap, but Pilot does include a reusable rubber sleeve in the box that you can use to protect your nib during travel.

The Pilot Iro-Utsushi dip pens are priced as low as $8 for the resin models and only $20 for the wood grain versions, the latter of which have a facet on one side to serve as a roll stop. Available now!

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Dip Pen Comparison: Kakimori Metal Nibs vs. Tom's Studio One-Dip Nibs

I’m far from an accomplished artist or calligrapher, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying and messing around with dip pens! While most traditional calligraphy nibs aren’t intended to be used for longer than a month or so, as they corrode, over the past couple of years certain companies have focused on brass and stainless steel nibs that are more akin to glass nibs and lettering pens, in that they can be reused over the long-term.

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From left, the Kakimori Brass Nib, the Kakimori Antique Brass Nib, and the Tom's Studio One-Dip Brass Nib.

The two receiving the most attention are Kakimori’s metal dip nibs (particularly the brass options) and Tom’s Studio’s relatively recent “One-Dip Nib”. Since I was in the shop all day yesterday and had some down time, I broke out my personal dip pens and started playing around with a few different inks to get a better sense of how these nibs compare.

A close-up shot of the Kakimori Antique Brass Nib, where you can see both the ink channels and the (very) sharp tip.

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A writing sample with the Kakimori standard Brass Nib. I've done a couple different writing samples showing the line variation you can get with the Kakimori metal nibs - as you can see it's a bit easier to write sharper lines with the Kakimori, whereas the Tom's Studio One-Dip below lends itself to a more rounded script.

To start: I’ve previously reviewed the Kakimori metal dip nibs, so for a more specific analysis of how that nib particular nib works and how I’ve used it in the past, you should check out that review. While I haven’t fully reviewed the Tom’s Studio One-Dip nib on its own, I would describe it as more akin to a traditional “lettering pen” or “ruling pen”, which operates via a thumbscrew/dial that you use to open and/or close the ink channel to adjust how wet the pen writes. These pens are very different, and while I’m personally inexperienced with ruling pens and therefore still getting the hang of the One-Dip Nib, here are a few observations:

• I’ve found the Kakimori nibs to be the most user-friendly and intuitive. They hold the ink in the channels that encircle the conical nib, and feature a sharper point that makes it easier to write a finer line with the pen held vertically. You simply dip the nib and go. The downside? I’ve found that the channels have a tendency to clog with heavier shimmer inks, and can be difficult to completely clean without something like a toothbrush. Certain free-flowing inks may also “blob” onto the page, and there’s little you can do about this, whereas the Tom’s Studio One-Dip nib lets you adjust the inkflow.

• The One-Dip nib is probably the more versatile tool, especially for accomplished calligraphers, illustrators, and other artists who actually know what they’re doing, unlike yours truly. My main observation with this nib is that with very wet inks, you can control line width by turning the thumbscrew/dial on the side, which either narrows or opens the ink channel. Even the slightest of adjustments will give you variation, though the narrowest line I’ve been able to get with the One-Dip nib is still wider than what I can achieve with the point of the Kakimori. Writing with this pen is more akin to folded nib calligraphy.

• Each nib lends itself to different techniques, especially outside of writing. For example, if you enjoy drawing, illustrating, or simply playing around with how ink behaves on paper, the Tom’s Studio One-Dip nib has smooth sides, which means that you can dab some ink onto the paper and use the rounded edges as a brush without flooding the page with more ink. It’s difficult to do this with the Kakimori nib, since the ink is stored in the channels on the outside of the nib.

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Showing just a bit of line width/wetness variation with the Tom's Studio One-Dip Nib. Here, I've adjusted the thumbscrew to get alternately lighter and darker lines.

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From what I've seen online, many people have been using the Tom's Studio One-Dip nib to draw and then brush/fill in their illustrations with color. For those who want to know, the inks featured here are three of my favorite Tom's Studio ink colors: New Forest, Mallard, and Loch Ness!

Takeaways and Where to Buy

As someone who primarily uses my pens for writing, I’ve been trying to introduce another layer to my enjoyment of this hobby by doodling/drawing more frequently, and as a result I’ve accumulated a fairly large collection of dip pens. In addition to drawing and some creative journaling, I also use these pens for most of my ink swatches, as they allow you to alternate between lettering and broad brush-like strokes of ink. I haven’t posted most of this - some of it’s really bad - but I find it fun, relaxing, and I’ll try to do a better job of sharing more in the future.

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We currently stock both Kakimori nibs and Tom’s Studio One-Dip nibs in our own shop. As mentioned above, the Kakimori nibs come in brass, antique brass, and stainless steel finishes, and the Tom’s Studio One-Dip nibs are available in brass and stainless steel versions. We also have Kakimori-compatible nib holders in stock, though the One-Dip Nib requires a standard metal-clutch ring nib holder, as opposed to the rubber used by Kakimori.

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. If you’re in the Nashville area, come visit us in person at our new shop and check out these pens, inks, and more!

New Arrivals: Midori MD Dip Pens, Stalogy Notebooks, and Laban Aphrodite Pink!

At customer request, we’ve also started adding some dip pens to the shop. The first to arrive are the Midori MD dip pens, featuring the same super smooth nib as on the Midori MD fountain pen. I’ve been using this pen to swatch inks, and am very much enjoying the hexagonal holder, which is apparently made from a blend of paper and plastic and has a unique tactile feel. The nib on this dip pen has a medium point, and it’s intended for standard writing/ink testing as opposed to calligraphy.

Stalogy Notebooks are also back in the shop, including the 2022 and 2023 limited edition covers in both 1/2-year and 365-day formats. Colors include, from left, Cream, Forest, Salvia, and Fog.

Finally, yesterday’s pleasant surprise was the arrival of a full box of Laban’s Aphrodite Pink ink, the perpetually backordered favorite color from this ink series! We now have a full restock of all colors of the Laban Greek Mythology Inks, available to ship immediately.

Is it a pink? Is it a red? Is it a “Brown Pink?” However you describe it, I absolutely love this color and it’s long been a go-to when I want to write with something interesting.

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My Experience with the Drillog Metal Dip Pen: Hype vs. Reality

For those unfamiliar with Drillog, it’s a Japanese CNC-machined dip pen designed to look like a drill (hence the name) and advertised as being machined with “aircraft grade precision” (hence a hefty price tag). The pen launched last year on Kickstarter, and with as much hype as this product received, I couldn’t NOT back it. I’ve had my Drillog machined dip pen in hand for a few weeks now, and wanted to provide my initial impressions of this niche product that, while certainly interesting, I unfortunately can’t recommend until the manufacturer either works out the quality control issues or provides additional clarity on what ink and/or techniques need to be used to get the advertised performance.

As a preliminary note, I backed this product on Kickstarter and paid full price for it with my own money. I was not asked to review it or promote the Kickstarter in any way. You’re reading this as an unvarnished review from someone whose information comes from personal experience and the Kickstarter page, with no communications with the manufacturer.

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My experience with dip pens and calligraphy is rudimentary at best, so I came to the Drillog as a true novice, and mainly saw this as a tool that could help me sample inks and experience writing with more “high-maintenance” formulations without having to worry about cleaning them out of a fountain pen. I was especially intrigued by Drillog’s claim that a single dip can “fill a sheet of A4 paper with writing lines”, even though I could never really see myself actually using it for that long of a session. So does Drillog live up to the hype and promise? In short, no.

The top two writing samples were done with Ink Institute’s “Cat at Dawn,” a shading ink that’s on the watery side. The top paragraph was written with the Drillog, and I circled in red the two points at which the nib ran dry and I had to re-dip the pen. The middle paragraph was written with a glass pen, using the same ink. The last paragraph was written with Noodler’s Blue, a slightly thicker, more saturated in that performed better, but I still didn't get close more than a quarter page.

“Ink Retention Structure for Uninterrupted Writing”: I’ll start here because this is what drew me to the Drillog in the first place. I write very small and like to take notes and make annotations in tiny handwriting, so there was something attractive about the (theoretical) ability to quickly switch inks and play around with different colors in my journals and notebooks without having to flush and refill multiple fountain pens. And to be honest, the Drillog does allow you to do that, to a point. My issue is that despite testing a half-dozen inks with this thing, I’ve never been able to get more than a quarter page of writing out of the .5mm Drillog, much less the full “A4 page” touted by Shion, the manufacturer. That’s similar to what I get out of a $25 glass dip pen, which writes a much wetter line and lays down more ink. I’ve also experienced consistent hard starts and other problems with getting my Drillog to write, often having to dip the pen multiple times to get it started. Upon close inspection, the tip of my pen appears ever-so-slightly bent or curved, and one side of the pen won’t write at all because ink doesn’t flow through the grooves. While I plan to reach out to Shion to request a replacement (or an explanation), I’m disappointed something like this made it through QC at this price point.

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The drill-bit-like grooves in the nib are designed to hold a large volume of ink and, theoretically, allow you to write for a full A4 page before having to re-dip the nib. I’ve been unable to duplicate that in real life.

Ability to Use All Sorts of Inks and Easily Change Them. Drillog doesn’t expressly represent that the pen is intended to be used with fountain pen inks, but let’s be honest, that’s why many people ordered this pen and there needs to be more transparency around what users can reasonably expect. Jacob (writing at Fudefan) has done more extensive testing with the Drillog, and remarked that the nib appears to be sensitive to surface tension/ink viscosity, with certain inks performing better than others. Drillog also has a proviso on the Kickstarter page stating that “the area that can be written on may change due to the ink drying up.” I don’t know what they’re specifically referring to here, since there’s no context for the statement, but I suspect that because many fountain pen inks are water-based, with varying degrees of viscosity, surface tension, and saturation, thinner ink formulations may dry out on the nib before you have the chance to write the nib dry. This could be the source of the issues I’ve had with my pen, though I suspect that it has more to do with a manufacturing issue given the hard starts and scratchiness. Given the massive discrepancy between what I’ve experienced and what was advertised, I can’t get past that, especially where I can get similar performance in a less expensive product.

Performance aside, the Drillog is visually stunning, and a gorgeous piece of machining.

Comfortable and Convenient Nib Holder. I give credit where credit is due, and one area where Drillog did a nice job was the design of the nib holder. I opted for the longer round barrel, as opposed to the spiral or grooved designs, and I love the cap, which means that I can transport this dip pen easily to pen shows. Honestly, this is why I’ll probably hang on to the Drillog - so that I can sample different inks after hours in my pen show notebook. That said, you can find inexpensive capped glass dip pens by Moonman and other brands for much less money, and even if you have to buy a few to find one that works reliably, you’ll have spent much less money than on the Drillog.

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Takeaway and Final Thoughts

I hate to say it, but I consider the performance of my Drillog dip pen to be unacceptable for the price. At ¥25,692, which equates to roughly $225 at today’s exchange rate, that’s a huge premium for a dip pen that promises performance based on precision engineering - the source of the astronomic price tag - but fails to deliver a writing experience consistently better than much less expensive options. If I paid $50 for this pen, I might say it was “ok” and recommend that people pick it up if they’re interested in using it for testing inks or are looking for a machined dip nib with a very small tip that might be advantageous for certain types of lettering and other artwork requiring a great degree of precision. That said, I’m not sure what this offers the typical writing and ink enthusiast over a glass pen or inexpensive traditional XXF calligraphy nibs, other than the Drillog will last much longer and comes with a capped holder (which is quite cool).

This purchase was intended as an experiment, and I went into it suspecting the Drillog would likely not live up to the lofty promises, having read a handful of online reviews and comments similar to my own. Still, I expected more than this. I’ve also had the opportunity to test a handful of early-release “tester” Drillogs sent to other bloggers and reviewers, all of which worked much better than the one I received. That leads me to suspect that these review units were subjected to a higher level of QC testing than the ones that ultimately went out the door to paying customers, which is disappointing. A quick scan of the comments on the Kickstarter page confirms that I’m not the only one who’s had problems. I’ll be keeping on eye on Shion and Drillog to see if there are manufacturing tweaks made to a “version 2.0”, and whether they offer to take back any malfunctioning pens. So far, I’ve not seen any outreach in the Kickstarter comments.

UPDATE: Following this review, Drillog reached out, confirmed that it looks like something is wrong with my pen from the writing sample, and offered to send a replacement. I plan to take them up on it and will report back on how the new nib functions.

Disclaimer: As noted, I purchased the product featured in this review with my own funds, for my own personal use. All opinions expressed here are my own. This post does not contain affiliate links, and I was not compensated in any way for this review.