Favourite pens and pen loops - by Anita

After reading Steve's post called Pens and Pen Loops, I decided that it was time for me to have a look at my pens and write about the subject too. 

When I purchased my first Filofax back in 2009, I just used any old pen that was laying around, but over time I've become a bit more picky and have decided to treat myself to something that I really enjoy using. 

Here are my favourite pens to use with my organiser (including two recently acquired vintage ones on the right):

 

Ballpoint - Parker Jotter
I don't remember a time when there wasn't a Parker Jotter knocking around in the house when I was a kid, but I hadn't used one for quite some time until I started getting into vintage Filofaxes with their teeny-tiny pen loops. I think I'd been using a freebie biro in my first Winchester which kept drying out, so I searched around and found my faithful burgundy Jotter. From a pen loop point of view, I don't think that you can go wrong with a Jotter as they're slim enough for most organisers.

Gel pens - Pilot G2 Limited
I love a G2, so I decided to upgrade and buy a gold Limited version, which has a nicer grip. However, rubber pen grips are not a Filofax's best friend, so this is a pen that will either just have the clip attached to the pen loop or I'll use an Oli Clip to keep it inside the rings. 

For highlighting and for a bit of colour - Staedtler Triplus Fineliner
Before I started using gel or fountain pens more in my organiser, I'd use a normal highlighter, but moved over to Triplus fineliners as otherwise there would just be smeared ink. Instead of highlighting, I will just add an asterisk or shade around something to make it stand out. I also like using a different colour when using my Hobonichi stencil to draw lines or checkboxes.

Most of my organisers haven't had two pen loops (apart from the Dundee and Van der Spek), so my small Oli clip is attached to the flyleaf and the second pen sits within the rings.

Fountain pens - Kaweco Sport, TWSBI Eco and vintage Parker 51
For a long time, my favourite fountain pens to use with my organiser were my Kaweco Sport and TWSBI Eco. I've found that the Kaweco is small enough for many pen loops, but it also works with a Muji metal pen loop like this with a Kensington:

 

My TWSBI Eco is too large for most of my organiser pen loops, but it'll happily sit within the rings and is large enough that it doesn't tend to fall out, so I don't need to use an Oli clip.

However, I've been busy this weekend with giving some vintage pens a bit of TLC, so I'm all about the vintage ones right now. My late Mum gifted me her beautiful Parker 51 some years ago, but I admit that I put it away in such a 'safe' place that I couldn't find it! Thankfully I finally found it recently and am absolutely delighted that it's working well as it hasn't been used for such a long time. I've never used a Parker 51 before, and it's an amazing pen that thankfully fits in the Kensington pen loop too.

I also have a couple of other vintage pens (the two that are placed vertically in the photo above) that I'd promised to get working for a family member, so I may be able to keep one of those and instead donate some of my others instead. The black vintage pen is a Parker Slimfold, but I'm not 100% sure about the blue one yet, as it doesn't have a model name on it, but it might be a Parker 17 Lady. 

In general, I think that the best organiser pen loop that I've come across is on organisers made by Cordwain Higgler (sadly no longer trading) as they are adjustable. The leather has a slot cut out of it and then it feeds through itself to loop round to allow a pen to be inserted.

 What are your current favourite pens for using with your organisers and do they fit in the pen loops?

Pens and Pen Loops

Finding a pen that you like using, because it writes perfectly and it is comfortable to hold, it doesn't leak or the ink doesn't smudge etc can be quite a task. 

Then will that pen fit your pen loop? Do you therefore compromise on the pen for one that fits the pen loop, or do you find an alternative to the pen loop of your favourite organiser, which might be dictated by the page size, ring size, layout etc. 

Matching the organiser to the pen can be quite a chore. 

Most Filofax organisers that have two pen loops tend to have two sizes of pen loop, the left hand (front cover) one is bigger than the right hand (back cover) one. 

Being right handed I find it more natural to have the pen in the back cover loop and my mechanical pencil in the front cover pen loop. 

As you can see in the photo the pen is a fairly bigger than average diameter, but it fits the left hand pen loop quite nicely. Tight enough to not slip out, and then get lost, but not too tight that it's a struggle to put in and out each time. 

If you need to carry more than one pen, or a pen/pencil and compromising on multi-pen (pen and pencil together) isn't the best solution even if they fit your single pen loop. You can get accessories that give you another pen loop that slot on to the clasp or on the rings. 

Do you take the pen loop size in to account when selecting a pen to use with your organiser? 

Guest post series - 'Filohax' No.7 - Paul

Thanks again to Paul for this seventh instalment of his wonderful guest post series. You can find all of the 'Filofhax' posts here. 

To pen loop or not to pen loop  

If, like me, you fell in love back in the 80's and are still in the same relationship, chances are you intimately know your loved one's short comings, and have had to learn to live with them. Yes, I'm talking about my Winchester's poor pen holding capacity! However, recently I decided to do something about it (after seeing an elastic pen loop for sale for £1!). 

I've often thought that planner designers have missed a trick in not utilising the void created between the rings of binders, so decided to do a little experiment, and instead of positioning the pen loops outside of the inserts have put it to hold the pen on the inside of the rings instead. 

What's wrong with outward facing pen loops? Well, the downsides of positioning loop/s on the outside of our binders, to me, are obvious - sooner or later the pen is going to interfere with tabbed dividers. There is also the aesthetic effect that adding loops has in 'cluttering' the look of binders - Winchesters with their one loop attached to the back cover consequently have very clean lines, whereas the Cavendish looks cluttered by comparison.

 

But the main problem with pen loops for me is the pen snagging.

 

For work I use a Cavendish - with it's ample double external pen loops' capacity - and carry it in my shoulder bag. However, the pens are constantly snagging the insides of the bag as I pull the Cavendish out (it's a testament to the rugged construction that the snagged pens haven't pulled the stitching apart!). So I decided to experiment by using the new elasticated loop on my Winchester 

 

and have made a breakthrough - initiated, counter-intuitively by a major design flaw in the new elasticated pen loop... The problem being that if you dare try to push a stubby tipped pen into the elasticated loop...it catches and stops you from being able to use the loop. 

 

That is until I remembered one of Neil's Flatability videos demonstrating how to wedge only the pen's 'cap' into overly tight pen loops, and simply pulling the pen out of the trapped pen cap to use and then clicking it back into the cap. 

 

 

It's working like a dream, so I now have adopted it for my work Cavendish. 

 

Come on Filofax, isn't it time for a radical reimagining of how we accommodate our writing implements into our binders?! 

Guest Post - Pen Loops - Graham

Thank you Graham for this post on the design and placement of pen loops on organisers. 

Pens and organisers belong together. However gorgeous and tactile a binder looks and feels, it has a practical purpose, which usually invoices writing. So why are so many binders designed giving second billing to the pen? How can such expensive and (seemingly) carefully designed binders end up with pen loops of the wrong size, made of the wrong material and in the wrong place? Why are they so often added as an afterthought?

This is an age-old problem which is still around, even in the newest binder releases. The new Filofax Heritage range, for example, has a pen loop stitched in a way that means that the edge of the flyleaf juts into the loop so that the pen has to sit above or behind the leaf rather than next to it. The universally acclaimed William Hannah range introduced an optional pen loop that sticks out of the middle of the side so that the pen is outside the binder, unprotected. OK for some, far from ideal for others.

Then there’s the number of pen loops. Most binders incorporate one. I use two pens so prefer two loops, but even if you only use one, two loops allow a binder to be equally useful to left-handed or right-handed users, who can choose which loop to utilise.

A look at my collection of binders illustrates this problem well.  In size the pen loops range from a diameter of just 6 mm to one of 13 mm, and in material from leather to leather with elastic to all elastic.  Whilst it is hard to design a pen loop that would hold any pen of any size and shape, some thought would have prevented some of the common issues.

For example, the more elasticated a loop is, the larger the range of pens that will fit into it.  My mini Finchley has an all-leather loop with a diameter of 10 mm. It is nicely positioned in the middle of the side and it is protected by the closure which loops around it.

Given the Finchley’s small size, however, this means that only a specific tiny range of small, fat pens will fit into it. Relying on a pen’s clip to keep it in place in the loop fails because this means that even the smallest of pens hang out of the bottom of the organiser. Either the loop should be smaller and be elasticated, or it should be leather and positioned higher up the side of the organiser. Clearly this is aesthetically less pleasing, but pen loops need to be practical. I love the design of the Finchley, so why wasn’t some thought given to the pen loop?  Isn’t there any user testing?

Don’t the designers actually try using what they have designed? They should do. I have never been able to find a usable pen to fit the Finchley – a pencil and other small pens just fall right through - and I finally had to add a Leuchtturm elasticated loop to keep ordinary-size pens and pencils in place instead.

My Finchley needs a second pen loop to make up for the inadequacies of the first

Should we be expected to buy accessories to make up for design flaws?

My personal Cuban Zip has two pen loops, but each have been placed in the middle of the side of the binder. This means that I can’t remove the pens by sliding them out of the loop. I have to push the zip down whilst yanking the pen up! Positioning the loops lower would have prevented this problem.

Oops. 

The Staples ARC that I use has a very roomy loop – with a diameter of 13 mm only the fattest pens will fit and stay. The loop has also been sewn so that it sits inside the binder. This is fine when the binder only contains A5 paper. When it contains dividers, which are slightly wider than the paper, one needs to hold the loop out of the way to turn the dividers.

Another design flaw.

In my Filofax Calipso personal compact the pen loop has been placed higher, so that it can hold a pen with its clip and the pen would not hang below the edge of the organiser. Great! Two things, though. The loop is on the left, so good for left-handers, less so for right-handers who need to reach across the organiser to get it. The other is that the compact, when closed, has very little room between the paper and the edge of the organiser. This means that the pen either squashes against the paper or one needs to pull the pen and loop out to hold it outside the closed organiser. With the compact personal Finsbury the problem is similar thought the pen loop has been placed a few mm further into the organiser.

The Calipso compact. Great until one needs to close the binder …

Designers of bound notebooks have much more freedom when designing a place for a pen. They can cut out the pen shape in the paper, mould a holder from the binder or even use magnetic fastenings.

They are often designed to fit a single pen shape and size.

There are external providers of pen holders (Leuchturm, Terry, Quiver, Sloop), but we shouldn’t be relying on them, should we? I know binder designers could do better. The X47 puts the pen along the top of the paper instead of down the side – that may not suit everybody but does stop the loop and pen getting entangled with the paper and dividers.

How about a pocket instead of a loop? What about that space within the rings? Would that hold a pen? I’m sure a good designer could think something up.

I’m no designer, but as a user I know that it’s time that pens were given their rightful place in binder design.

What do you think?

I too have had various issues about the placement of pen loops in a variety of organiser brands.