Fiber Pentel replacement?

June 18, 2007 3:23 PM

Pentel no longer makes the porous-tip pen that my boss loves--the Fiber Pentel. They've discontinued the Tradio, too. Any recommendations?

My boss likes to use Fiber Pentel style porous-tip pens. (I much prefer steel-tip fountain pens, myself). The key features, as I understand it, are:

• Extra-fine nib
• Ease of altering stroke width (I believe the pens were originally designed for calligraphic work. She doesn't do anything quite so fancy, but it's important for her that she can create a variety of line widths)
• No mess (I tend to think that ink-smeared fingers and small spills are quite romantic. Her, not so much.)
• Must ship to the US.

So I called Pentel, and the person I spoke to said that the Tradio line (which didn't seem to have fine-enough nibs, but was the closest thing we could find) has been discontinued in the US. she couldn't recommend any comparable Pentel product, either. The office in London used to ship us pens, but have apparently stopped doing that (or returning my emails).

She didn't like my favorite fountain pen (the Pilot Petit) and she thought that the nib of the disposable pen by Varsity was too large.

I really love pens, and I know that there is a huge pen-geek crowd out there, so I'd love any advice you'd care to give.

posted by Squid Voltaire to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

jetpens.com has a great selection of pens & she may find something she likes there. for extra-fine, the hi-tec-c is pretty great.
posted by judith at 4:17 PM on June 18, 2007

they also carry the tradio there, apparently.
posted by judith at 4:18 PM on June 18, 2007

I am not familiar with the Tradio, and the two pen options you link to are very different, so I don't know if this is along the lines of what you are looking for, but: the Pilot Fineliner is a great pen -- like an extra-fine felt tip almost, so the line widths is easy to modulate. great feel.

the Y+C Stylist great too, but no real line width control.
posted by misterbrandt at 4:56 PM on June 18, 2007

I think the general name for what you're describing is "brush pen". Our local art supply store (smallish store) has a fair selection of such, so I bet your's does, too.
posted by anaelith at 4:20 AM on June 19, 2007

Found this on ebay, is this what she likes?
posted by bystander at 11:21 PM on June 19, 2007