Dominant Industry Keyno Stay.tionery Fountain Pen Review

I’m always skeptical when a company known for its fountain pen inks decides to make the jump into fountain pens, but credit to Dominant Industry, who I think has done a nice job with their Keyno Stay.tionery Fountain Pen series.

Launched earlier this year, there have been two Keyno Stay.tionery releases so far, the first being No. 014 Cherishment, and the second named No. 001 Serenity, which is the model I am reviewing. Dominant Industry is looking to expand their storytelling beyond their inks, paper, and accessories with these pens. What story, exactly? From their marketing:

“Born from Dominant Industry in 2026, this fountain pen brand aspires to create writing instruments in harmony with beautiful inks. Their story starts at Hotel Keyno, a secluded retreat perched in the mountains of a faraway peaceful island. Each release is created with a a hotel visit in mind through each "key number" assigned to a pen. With a refined touch and balanced weight, each piece delivers an indulgent writing experience. Their pens are fitted with an ebonite feed for a rich and seamless ink flow. Rooted in story-driven design and detail, their fountain pens aim to inspire and nurture creativity.”

I’m the first to roll my eyes at marketing out of thin air like this, and even held off on the Cherishment release despite finding the pen nice looking. I just didn’t feel the overly Instagrammable style of the pen was something I would use regularly.

The second release, aptly named 001, hooked me for two reasons. One, the barrel color landed a bit better for me personally, and two, the short timeframe from when the second pen released in relation to the first. Why does that second detail matter to me? It told me that this pen concept wasn’t going away soon, so I may as well test it out and share my thoughts. Best case, I have a fun pen to add to the rotation. Worst case, I give it away to one of you tomorrow.

Spoiler: This is not tomorrow’s giveaway.

Let’s get aesthetics out of the way first, because I think that will be the biggest contention with Keyno Stay.tionery products. I love fun, pretty, colorful, and stylish products, all of which I think are good descriptors for this fountain pen. There is a balance, though, and the 001 Serenity gets right up to that edge for me. On one hand, this pen is on the same style family tree as Pelikan’s popular color editions. You know, the ones with the White caps, Gold trim, and colorful barrels? You can find them in various Pelikan sizes, and I do see a little bit of that in Serenity.

Upon closer look, Dominant Industry turned that classic style into something more. The details on the clip, clip band, both finials, cap ring, and nib etching show that they wanted to maximize the style of this pen to fit in with their storytelling vision. Keys and key holes everywhere! Overall, it is themed well, but is not for everyone.

What might be for everyone with this pen is the nib. I say might, because I ordered mine with an Extra Fine nib (Fine and Medium are the other options, all Steel,) and haven’t tried the others. Visually speaking there is not a lot of tipping on this nib, which got me excited for fine lines. It delivered.

This nib is so good, and was from the first touch on the page. I inked it up with Wearingeul The Blue Castle, and have used it across many paper types. It has been solid, smooth, and controllable. For a “who knows who makes this,” nib, it is perfect. Bonus, it has an ebonite feed, which helps with ink flow and consistency. It hasn’t skipped a beat from first inking.

So, who is the Keyno Stay.tionery No. 001 Serenity for? You have to love the aesthetic that Dominant Industry is going for here to even consider it. It’s $115, which seems fair, especially given the performance I’m getting from the nib. The more I use it, the more I like it. Will I need the entire series of Keyno Stay.tionery fountain pens? No, but I do have a hotel room key that needs investigating, so who knows where this will lead.

(This product was purchased from Dromgoole’s at a discounted price.)

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Pilot Custom 74 - Ranking the Nibs

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

After testing 14 of Pilot’s #15-sized 14K gold fountain pen nibs on the Pilot Custom 743 two years ago, and then 15 of the #10 sized nibs last year, I asked, no, I begged Jaclynn Burleigh (now Carpenter, congrats!) of Pilot USA if I could test their #5-sized 14k gold nibs in their Pilot Custom 74 pens and she said yes!

All of the currently available Custom 74 colors and nib options are represented here. Left to right: Merlot, Grenadine, Clear, Forest Green, Teal, Blue, Blue Stone, Smoke, and the US exclusive Lavender Fog.

Jaclynn was kind enough to include all of the colors as well as the various nib sizes. Unlike the 912/742 and 743/823, which have 14-16 nib options (the Signature nib isn’t available on the 743), the Custom 74 has 8 nib options, which makes it a little easier for me to pick my favorites. The Soft Fine, Soft Fine Medium, Soft Medium, and Double Broad (BB) are currently only available in the Lavender Fog colorway in the Custom 74 line, so keep that in mind when making your wishlist.

I have several pens with size 5 nibs, but I don’t have them all (nor do I need to) so I wanted to see if my favorites from the 743 and 912 nib rankings would translate to the 74 nibs. I didn’t re-read my past ranking articles, so I wouldn’t be too biased. I do happen to have a 74 M, 912 SFM, 823 FM, and 743 SM in my currently inked rotation so those nibs are top of mind. I am using a similar “methodology” as the past two rankings, which were based off of the one the Bossman did in his Custom Heritage 912 writeup.

A few things to keep in mind:

• I am right-handed but have a “stupid steep” writing angle - 75 degrees isn’t uncommon for me, while most people have a 45-50 degree angle.
• I tend to write primarily in cursive, and occasionally in print (but not like the Bossman’s block print), typewriter font and calligraphy-esque styles like Copperplate and Italic. My go-to nib size from any maker/country/region is Medium. I also prefer broader nibs as well as stubs/italics. I rarely reach for Extra Fine, especially since I own very few of them.
• Pilot asked that I dip these pens instead of inking them up, which I don’t think is the best way to test the flow in the nibs, but it’s enough for short writing samples. I dipped, then dragged the tip across the ink vial so there wouldn’t be blobs of ink on the page.
• The writing sample with all the nibs was done in an Odyssey A5 Notebook with 68 gsm Tomoe River paper. I used Iroshizuku Asa-gao ink.
• My Chinese teachers from high school would be shuddering, but hey, it’s accurate, just not beautiful. The character means “always” or “forever”.
• Thank you Pilot USA for sending these 74s so I could do a nib showdown!
• Last but not least, I mostly followed Brad’s formatting but I did not read his ranking (nor mine from the past two rankings) so I wouldn’t be biased.

As with the other pens, the biggest difference is the size of the nib (not the tipping, but the actual length and width of the nib and feed). The 743 & 823 are equipped with the size #15 nib, the 912 & 742 takes size #10, and the 74 (and 92 and 91) have size #5 nibs.

Pilot size #3 (Pilot Stargazer/Stella), #5 (74/91/92), #10 (742/912), #15 (743/823).

The pens came to me directly from the Chicago Pen Show, so they were inked up with various Iroshizuku ink cartridges. I decided to use them all for writing samples since it shows that (1) the same nib sizes can vary slightly from pen to pen and (2) inks matter. The darker Iroshizuku Asa-gao can make writing look broader than a lighter/brighter ink like Ama-iro.

All the pens on Tomoe River 68 gsm.

After writing the above, I cleaned out the non-Asa-gao pens and dipped them with Asa-gao for the remaining writing samples.

This time, I removed the duplicates and only used Asa-gao so you can better compare the nib sizes.

Using some sticky tabs from Daiso, I wrote out the different nib sizes so I could sort them according to my preferences.

8 - Extra Fine

Is anyone surprised by this? This should come as no surprise since I don’t really prefer EF nibs from any brand. But if I had to pick an EF to use, this would definitely be a contender!

7 - Fine

Pilot’s Fine nibs are fine for me. It writes well and I do enjoy it because it’s still a smooth writing experience, BUT I’d rather lay down some more ink, so sorry, Fine, you’re second to last for me.

6 - BB / Double Broad

And on the complete opposite of the spectrum, I picked the Double Broad. I know I said I love laying down more ink but it’s too thick for the size of my everyday writing. The letters look more bunched up than I’d like and this is already writing larger than I normally do. That said, if I wanted to get a nib ground to something like an Architect or Naginata Togi/Kodachi, this would be a great starting point. As with other BB’s in the Pilot lineup, this one is just not practical for me, but I still ranked it higher because I could get a fun grind for it. BUT, if I couldn’t get it ground, I’d probably pick the Fine over the BB.

I like big nibs and I cannot lie, but this might be too big. 🙂

5 - Broad

Ok, this one was a tough choice. Like the BB, I wouldn’t normally pick this one for an everyday writer but I would love to get an Architect if I had a B nib. I am shocked that I still don’t have any Broad nibs in either the 10 or 15 size, though I do have it in a VP nib and I love it. This would be a great ink layer-downer nib without having an overly broad line and as such would be a great addition.

Maybe I don’t like big nibs and I cannot lie? I do like the Broad, it’s still a touch too broad for me.

Look at the tipping on the Broad (top) vs the Double Broad (BB) on the bottom. Lots of potential for a nib grind!

Now it really gets tough - now we’re at the top half of the list…

4 - Medium

Once again, Medium, my go-to nib size barely made the top half of this list! It is such a nice and smooth writer that it’s one of my favorites, but I have enough Mediums so it barely made the top half of this list.

Medium, I still love you, you’re still a fave, but I’d rather get one of the top 3 because I already have lots of M nibs in your size!

3 - Soft Fine

My steep angle makes it a little difficult to really appreciate the slight bounce from the softer nib, which also gives it a slightly wider line and a touch of line variation (no way is this a flex nib). The ever-so-slight increase in line width is what made it top 3 instead of near 7th place. It’s also a nib I don’t have (I’m sensing a theme here).

Soft Fine, you’re finally number nine! (it was #10 last year)

2 - Soft Medium

Believe it or not, Soft Medium and Medium could’ve easily swapped places. I think the reason it’s 2nd for me is because I don’t have this nib in this size and I kinda want to, lol. I love the slight bounce that this gives over the Medium, but it also makes the line a touch wider too.

1 - Soft Fine Medium

I ranked the Size 15 SFM as #1, and the Size 10 SFM as #2, so it’s no surprise that this one would be at or near the top. It combines the perfect FM nib size for me with the soft bounce and slightly wider line width without approaching the Medium’s line.

Soft Fine Medium, atop the leaderboards again!

How did the size 5 nibs do compared to the size 15 nibs?

Ranking:

It’s hard to compare across the other two sizes because there are only 8 nib options versus 14-16 with the others. What still holds true is that I don’t love the Extra Fine or Fine nearly as much as the other nibs. It’s not because they’re bad or write poorly, but because I prefer wider nibs. I think the broader nibs felt too blobby to write with, maybe because it’s coming from a physically smaller nib, so I didn’t like them as much as in the larger sizes. My top 3 nib sizes are only available with the Lavender Fog, which isn’t quite my jam, so I’m hoping I’ll see them in other colorways someday! Fingers crossed!

And there you have it, my ranking of the size 10 nibs from the Pilot Custom 74 line! We already know that the Bossman and I don’t agree on most nibs and that’s ok (though why he loves EFs is beyond me, lol)! The beauty of this rabbit hole is that we all like different things and there’s plenty of pens and nibs to enjoy for all of us!

It’s the circle of life, I mean, nibs!

PS: August sees the two of the largest US pen shows (DC and San Francisco), so you should take advantage of the opportunity to try all the nibs for yourself at the Pilot USA tables and let me know which ones are your favorites!

PPS: This is my first time using the Girologio Pen Suite and It was so convenient to keep the pens in order during testing and photography without sliding them in/out of my binder. I plan on using it for multi-pen projects (like Hamilton or currently inked spreads).

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9 Years in the Rabbit Hole

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

I noticed this week that my penversary was coming up this weekend! What’s a penversary you ask? Basically, it’s like an anniversary but for when you got into pens. I used to agonize over what I would pick for this occasion but with all the shops and shows that I get to attend as well as all the ongoing sales and deals, I’m practically shopping year-round anyway. So rather than figuring out the 9th penversary pen, I wanted go back to where it started.

So, what were those first fountain pens? Yes, plural, because I couldn’t decide which ones to get, so I ordered a Lamy Safari and Pilot Metropolitan from one vendor and a 7-pack of Platinum Preppies from Amazon ‘cuz I couldn’t pick a color, lol. They all arrived on the same day, May 31, 2017! Oof, that sounds like a long time ago! I did my last triathlon earlier that month and haven’t done one since – coincidence? I think not! 😃

The OG pens that started all this madness: Lamy Safari (top), Pilot Metropolitan and (one of seven) Platinum Preppies.

I will always think fondly of these 3 pens, even if I don’t use them as much as others. I keep saying I should ink these pens up again, so no time like the present!

Even though I really like the Lamy Blue cartridges that come with my Lamy pens, I opted to go for something with a bit more pop for this Blue Safari. One of my favorite bright royal blues is Diamine 150th Anniversary Blue Velvet. I can’t think of a more perfect ink for a penversary inking! (It’s not as bright as usual since the Safari tends to run a bit on the dry side.) Paper is Ayush.

Lamy Safari, Blue, Medium, inked with Diamine 150th Anniversary Blue Velvet.

While I was at it, I decided to ink up a nicer Lamy, the Studio in Palladium, with a fine 14kt gold nib. While this wasn’t my first Studio (which was the Imperial Blue with a steel nib), the 14kt gold nib is such a great upgrade from the steel nibs and feels nothing like the L2K’s gold nib. This nib is a smooth, wet, and buttery writer with just a hint of bounce and will lay down a broader line than the steel nibs.

Lamy Studio, Palladium, 14kt gold Fine, inked with Colorverse Chesapeake Bay.

I’ve mentioned that I use my Black Pilot Metropolitan almost daily in my bullet journal but it’s been a really long time since I inked up the Turquoise Metro, so I had fun picking an ink for it. I opted for Montegrappa Turquoise, which sounds very bougie but it wasn’t very expensive (I think it was $20/bottle).

Pilot Metropolitan, Retro Pop Turquoise, Medium, inked with Montegrappa Turquoise.

While I was getting the Metro out of the pen binder, I realized I also hadn’t inked up my first Prera in ages, so I swapped in a ==CM== nib (Calligraphy Medium, more of an italic than a stub) and found a great ink match with Inkdepence Mike’s Don’t Trust a Bivalve!

Pilot Prera, Slate Gray, Calligraphy Medium, inked with Inkdependence Don’t Trust a Bivalve (a great match, if I do say so myself!)

I have sold most of the Preppies from the original 7-pen set, but I did keep this one cuz it’s purple (one of my favorite colors)! Apparently, it’s been sitting in my drawer, with the Platinum Violet ink cartridge in it for YEARS because I totally forgot about it. Oops! I added a drop of water to the tip of the nib and it wrote right up! Guess I don’t have to ink it up since there’s already a cartridge in it!

Platinum Preppy, Violet, 03 (EF), inked with Platinum Violet cartridge.

I was in the mood to ink up another Platinum so I picked the Kanazawa Maki-e Goldfish. I was/am unlikely to ever own a real maki-e pen, this is the closest I would ever get. The artwork is screen-printed (instead of hand-painted) onto the pen, which is why it’s much more affordable. The 18kt gold nib is lovely to write with, slightly springy compared to its 3776 sibling.

Platinum Kanazawa Maki-e Goldfish, 18kt gold Medium, inked with Iroshizuku Kosumosu.

Inking up these pens that got me into this rabbit hole has given me a renewed sense of discovery. It’s a great reminder that pens don’t have to be expensive to be enjoyable. Of course, this doesn’t mean I’m done buying pens, but I’m so glad that I still get so much out of these pens. What a great way to celebrate my 9th penversary! Can’t wait to see what the next 9 years will bring! Happy writing!

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!