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Preferred Stationary
Some people have strong opinions on stationary, I am among those. Some people, have no real opinion on their writing instruments because they have not had the opportunity to try better built stationary. If that is you, then I highly encourage you look into good stationary; perhaps some of these products may be a good start. There are a ton of different brands and products of good stationary, but I find that having a relatively small and standard set of stationary is helpful for a couple reasons.
- Small collection. Having a small set of writing instruments that cover the vast majority of use cases means that they take up less space. This is especially pertinent for traveling and on-the-go carry, but is may also be relevant for some who living space is a premium.
- Replaceable Parts. Keeping to a single product family makes buying replacement parts as less needs to be stocked. I find it generally a bit wasteful to buy whole new pens and pencils after they have been used. Refills of ink and lead graphite are relatively cheap and are much cheaper and cost less (especially if bought in bulk, which having one family helps with).
A few considerations went into finding the writing stationary which I found to be my preferred set.
Availability: Being able to obtain the stationary instrument (and replacement parts such as refills) is pretty important in my opinion. For my collection, it is important that buying it should not be an expensive hassle, and it is much preferred if I could just buy it easily online or from my local office or big-box store.
Price: General use stationary should be affordable, it really would not make it “general use” if it were expensive. Both the instrument itself and the refills should be affordable for everyone. This also helps make it less of an issue if I lose it, and it also makes it easy to recommend products to people to get them to try good stationary.
Usage: There are many usages for writing stationary, and there really is no “one size fits all” deal that I have found with stationary. There are some usages which require an additional model of stationary. Of course, we try to minimize this to retain a relatively small collection.
Type: In a similar vein of the different usages of writing stationary, there are different types. anything from pens, pencils, highlighters, markers, you name it. For myself, I often do not use many different types of writing utensils; I primarily use pens. But, nevertheless, having a standard set demands that the more rare cases be considered.
Quality: This should really go without saying. However, it is important to mention that quality is rather subjective in the stationary world. If you have “good” stationary, further advancements in the quality of a product are mostly matters of opinion than of craftmanship. No one’s opinions on stationary are any more important than anyone else’s, so I just share mine.
Brand: I am generally irrationally biased with brands, typically I focus on Japanese and American companies. The more common and well-known the brand, the more likely the writing instrument and the company as a whole will be there in the future. Needing to rapidly update the standard set of stationary because businesses and product lines expire is unhelpful.
Without further ado, my preferred stationary for the different unique use cases and types which I have come across or generally foresee.
General Use Pen
Pilot FriXion Extra Fine 0.5 mm Black
There are a lot of pens for general use which are available, but I find the Pilot FriXion line to be the best for me for every day use. It is common, affordable, and easily obtainable for me. The ability to erase is a big bonus for me, and it allows me to use the Pilot FriXion in places where others may use a pencil. I typically prefer smaller pen nib sizes, and 0.5 mm is the right balance for me. Black ink is most common and helps distinguish it as general use.
Legal Pen
Pilot G2 Ultra Fine 0.38 mm Blue
Pens are a staple when dealing with legal or otherwise official documents. The FriXion, my general use pen, is erasable and that is a bad idea for anything official where permanency is needed. As such, for these cases, I find the Pilot G2 to work the best. It is readily available and very common in the US market. The small nib is useful when filling out forms which do not provide ample space for a response, or when writing individual letters in boxes on the form. It is common for legal documents to require blue or black ink for professionalism, and blue ink helps differentiate from scanned copies; however, rarely, black is needed instead so it is a good idea to have at least one black pen.
Colorized Pens
Pilot FriXion Extra Fine 0.5 mm Colors
Sometimes you need colors, though I find it rare. The Pilot FriXion comes in multiple colors, and all of the benefits already mentioned still apply even when using colored pens.
Multi-surface Ballpoint Paper Pen
Pilot Acroball Extra Fine 0.5 mm Black
Gel pens are my usual type of pens to use, as opposed to ballpoint pens. However, gel pens do not write well on some types of papers, such as glossy papers like receipts. They have [some other advantages](Ballpoint and Gel Pens: Best Practices | JetPens) compared to the typical gel pens that I use. In these cases, it is helpful to have a ballpoint pen. The smoother hybrid ink of the Pilot Acroball makes it feel like a gel pen and is thus my preferred pen for applications where a ballpoint pen is preferred.
Mechanical Pencil
Pentel Graph Gear 1000 0.5 mm
Mechanical pencils are my preferred method of pencils for most paper writing. Drafting pencils I find are worth the extra cost compared to more standard school-based mechanical pencils. The heavier weight of metal drafting pencils are easier for me to control, and the lead guard is a nice feature for more precision writes. Coincidently, when I use pencils, I am typically doing something similar to drafting anyways as opposed to more normal writing. Lead sizes commonly come in 0.5 mm and 0.7 mm; in my opinion, the other sizes are considered too niche. Personal experience has taught me how annoying it is to have different lead sizes, so I stick to just the thinner 0.5 mm. However, I find myself quite adaptable to mechanical pencils so alternative drafting pencils often suffice.
Wooden Pencil
Musgrave 1101 Yellow Special
I am far from a wooden pencil enthusiast, so I do not have strong opinions on wooden pencils. Typically, I look for something hexagonal (so they do not roll as much), cheap, and decent in quality. Most pencil manufactures fit this description, but the Musgrave pencil company, among others, are made in the United States which is nice. I find wooden pencils to be better in applications like wood working, general marking, or outdoor applications. Wooden pencils being cheap also helps to not care too much if they get lost or stolen. There are many brands and types of wooden pencils, and more often than not I would probably just use whatever is closest to me; but buying future pencils, the Musgrave brand is something I keep an eye out for.
Permanent Marker
Sharpie Permanent Marker Extra Fine Point Black
In the permanent marker space, it seems that Sharpie has it figured out (based on a Hank Green test). I have not found any issue with Sharpie and they are so iconic and eponymous with the permanent marker for a reason. I am not a fan of thick Sharpie lines, preferring thinner lines. The extra fine point is the right size for me, where I see the ultra fine point as a whole different kind of Sharpie. I often use the ultra fine point as well, but the extra fine point covers pretty much all use cases that I would use a permanent marker for. Though Sharpie does come in multiple colors, black is classic and I would likely only use colors if needed.
Highlighter
Pilot FriXion Light US Erasable Highlighter Orange
Highlighters are something I almost never use, as I do not find that their use case is something that I would do. Sometimes I highlight electronically, but highlighting on paper is scarce. Nevertheless, I have found some pleasure in the FriXion, and having it erase is a nice touch as well. The default yellow of many highlighters are too light for me, while other colors offered like blue or green start to make black or blue text hard to read. Orange is a nice balance that I find complements the text in a way a highlighter should.
Other Interesting Stationary
Stationary is just a wide market, there are other interesting products that I find quite neat, but that they do not really fit into the aforementioned system or have extreme niche uses. But, they are interesting enough to me to warrant a small mention.
Uni-ball Signo UM-151 This pen apparently is [resistant to check washing](The Best Pens for Writing Checks | JetPens). This may make it the better pen to use when writing checks and may be a good pen to keep in your check book. Blue, of course, is my standard for legal documents, including checks. Though, I only occasionally write checks, so the Pilot G2 is still my preferred instrument.
Using Old Supply
Despite this sort of standard system which I have, it is nevertheless important to ensure that perfectly usable writing instruments are not thrown away. Use them, it is kind of the whole purpose of them. Of course, you could always loan them, give them away as gifts or donations; anything so that they get their use and not trashed prematurely. Every once in a while I get stationary gifts and they almost always are not those which I prefer (though are perfectly usable and considered “good” stationary), I use them. The products and guide which I have here is mostly for the purchase of new stationary after all.
Created: 2025-12-28
Last Updated: 2025-12-28