I like this Pilot Custom 912. A pen review.

This was an unexpected grab.

In February 2017 I spent a week in New York City studying risk and unlikely events with Nassim Taleb and others at the Real World Risk Institute. It was a hell of a week, with fun in class eight hours a day and a bit of solo flaneuring around New York before and after class.

Early-ish in the week I took the subway from Chelsea where I was staying toward Wall Street and the Liberty Tower downtown, to visit Fountain Pen Hospital before class started.

Thank God there’s a fountain pen store in Manhattan. FPH is a lovely place. I wandered about and grabbed a bottle of ink I’d never tried– Aurora Black (turns out I quite like it.)

And then what did I see in the case? Oh Shit! The Pilot Custom Heritage 912 with the coveted FA Falcon nib. It’s soft and delicious (or so I had read.) I like a soft, flexy nib. I can get around a little bit with one.

It ain’t a cheap pen. Buuuuut it was a business expense: Office supplies during a continuing education excursion. Totally legit. And I used that sucker the rest of the week, too.

Nowadays I pull this pen out on a regular basis. I have to keep a slippery ink in it or it can railroad when I’m working the flex. The Aurora Black I bought alongside it is a perfect match.

Not too much more to say about this quill, except I’m planning to add another one to my quiver, with a little Mottishafication, if you know what I’m saying. I’m planning to take it back to RWRI again one of these days, too. It was awesome.

I like:

• The color scheme.
• It takes a con 70, a strange but good converter.
• The nib is good for flex and makes regular handwriting interesting

I don’t care for:

• It’s ink picky.

Bang for the buck: it takes bucks to bang.

Special out of the box: nice freaking pen.

Looks: black. Real black.

Writes: bouncy flexy fun.