(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)
Take the classic hexagonal design of a woodcase pencil, but make it aluminum and a gel ink pen, and you get the Mark's Tokyo Edge Days Metal Gel Pen. It's very sturdy but lightweight, and the shape keeps it from rolling off a desk.
The pen comes in a variety of colors: silver, black, red, yellow, green, blue, and this lovely purple. The six sides all have a lot of text on them, partly brand info, but mostly a clever list of the days of the week (Saturday and Sunday share a side) in several different languages. Hence, the "Days" in the pen's name.
The click button has a very satisfying clunk and it deploys the needlepoint tip of the Ohto 0.5 mm gel refill. The tip writes very smoothly with no skips and the ink is nicely saturated. Inkwise, it's very pleasant to write with.
Design wise, it wasn't the best writing experience. It's a fairly wide pen, and the hexagon shape is a bit tricky to grip. There is no grip section or texture to it, so my fingers often slipped, creeping closer to the paper as I wrote. The angles and weight of the pen also led to frequent readjustment of how I was holding it. It works great for quick notes, but I found myself setting it aside for other options when it came to longer writing sessions, like for meeting notes.
While my hands didn't care for the design, the pen does look great. It's interesting; modern but with a vintage vibe. It's gotten several comments from my coworkers, which delights me, as I slowly convert them all to being pen people. It's also not super expensive, so I don't have to worry about the price scaring new pen fans away from the hobby. It runs around $20 dollars, which is very fair for a metal pen with a great refill.
While it wasn't quite my cup of tea, one coworker of mine thought it was awesome and already plans to buy one--so it may very well delight you, too. Realistically, most people write short notes, and this pen is great for that. I'll enjoy admiring the design from across the table as my coworker takes their first leap down the Pen Addict rabbit hole.
(Brad purchased this pen at the London Graphic Centre.)
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