Leonardo Pens - Write Like You Mean It!

Words in papers, words in booksWords on TV, words for crooks
Words of comfort, words of peace
Words to make the fighting cease
Words to tell you what to do
Words are working hard for you
Eat your words but don't go hungry
Words have always nearly hung me

Wordy Rappinghood, Tom Tom Club, 1981

I am, admittedly, not a big fan of disposable pens. They're wasteful, they leak, they feel just like what they are - fairly flimsy pieces of plastic in your hand. So needless to say, I am a bit particular about what I write with.

In my day job, I have to write a fair bit. A lot of it is writing proposals for grants (funding) for our adult education program. And I have a confession to make - it is one of my least favorite things to do. It is stressful. If you can't write a compelling argument for the funding, you won't get it. Simply put - no money, no program, no jobs. So when my team and I are successful, I reward myself with a new fountain pen. 

Spoiler alert - we were successful with our latest application. So off I went to Broomfield Pen in Boston and discovered a brand I had never heard of before - Leonardo Officina Italiana (or for our purposes - Leonardo).

This, gentle reader, is the Leonardo Furore Bronze. Or the Leonardo Rootbeer as I like to call it ; )

This pen is what I would call a "tweener". Not as small as most, and not as large as some. It is wonderfully comfortable to write with, and I would put it's size as "Goldilocks" - just right.

The nib for this pen is a Stub. I am not going to try and explain it intelligently, so I will leave it to the folks at Goulet Pens -

What is a stub nib?

• A nib with tipping material that’s ground flat on the end
• Produces a narrow line on the cross stroke, broad on the down stroke
• Mimics calligraphy (without doing anything different!)
• Different than flex nibs, which require pressure to change the line width

And I have to be honest, I'm kinda' digging it!  

Regarding fountain pens, I am not really a fan of cartridges unless you are traveling, and really not a fan of ultra-expensive pens that are sold in elaborate packaging with swanky bottles of "artisanal" ink, only to be equipped with somewhat anemic adapters to use bottled ink (which let's face it, is what you should be using!). To my way of thinking, it's like ordering a handmade suit and not opting for functioning button holes on the sleeve.

And that is another interesting approach that Leonardo has taken - a removable cap over the INTERNAL converter.  In other words, it is a fairly impressive reservoir that holds an impressive amount of ink. I've stripped a fair number of Pelikan pen pistons (let's face it, they're plastic), so I have to say that this is a great choice.

And as I know that there is another grant proposal on the horizon, I have already identified my next Leonardo, the Moment zero Pietra marina 

(gold nib) -

Courtesy of Leonardo Officina Italiana

Just remember, nobody of any substance or longterm consequence ever tweeted a manifesto, so write like you mean it!