The best pen

[tahiti_treat]

I am still looking for my holy grail of pens. I like to journal at burning man, and I am unsatisfied with the performance of the ballpoint pens I've brought in the past as they get clogged with playa and stop working a few days in. Sharpies and pencils work fine and those are my backups, but I prefer writing with a pen. I would love to hear what you folks use to write.

[Meat Hunter]

We are getting a bit technical here.

My pen of choice on the playa is a: Uni-ball (Vision) Fine. Which they say is "waterproof / fade-proof".

[Shoeshine]

My go-to for journaling is a Pigma micron drafting pen. They are super fine tip permanent ink. come in a huge array of colors and tip sizes. obviously great for drawing too. for general purpose writing I like the sepia tone .02 tip.

[GreyCoyote]

The Fisher Space Pen. Hands down my favorite. It will write anywhere, including underwater and upside down. Dust bothers it not. And its comfortable to hold. Add some HP Tough Paper and the result is indestructable and waterproof.

About $20 at the usual office supply places.

[Ratty]

Sharpie ultra fine retractable. Never fails.

[BBadger]

The best general (non-boutique) pen you can find is probably the Uniball Jetstream.

- Dries instantly (no smears)
- Very sharp
- Smooth writing
- Retractable.

Now whether this translates to on-playa goodness, I don't know. I bring a Jetstream, but usually stick with Sharpies or such if I need to write something down, usually on an object.

[TT120]

The Fisher Space Pen. Hands down my favorite. It will write anywhere, including underwater and upside down. Dust bothers it not. And its comfortable to hold. Add some HP Tough Paper and the result is indestructable and waterproof.

About $20 at the usual office supply places.

This^^^

Grey knows what he's talking about. He's upside down under water a LOT.

[some seeing eye]

Dust to dust, so fight dust with graphite.

Consider a mechanical pencil. Retractible architect pencils take different diameter and hard-soft lead. Art stores have them. Soft lead. They are not designed to take mechanical abuse like sitting wrong in a pocket.

[Admiral Fukkit]

Yo yo south side checkin in, word up for the spray can, its all u need! Me and my homies be diggin on the Krylon, it got the bomb coverage. It easy to steal you a case off the truck while they be loading it in the back of the Home Depot 'n shit.

[GreyCoyote]

The Fisher Space Pen. Hands down my favorite. It will write anywhere, including underwater and upside down. Dust bothers it not. And its comfortable to hold. Add some HP Tough Paper and the result is indestructable and waterproof.

About $20 at the usual office supply places.

This^^^

Grey knows what he's talking about. He's upside down under water a LOT.

Well... there is Flipside. (Pick any year. Hehe)

[trilobyte]

Sharpies and blood!

[Luigi]

Second on the Fisher Space Pen. Have been carrying one for years and they work great.

[tahiti_treat]

Thanks folks! Sounds like the Space Pen is the way to go.

[FlyingMonkey]

Yo yo south side checkin in, word up for the spray can, its all u need! Me and my homies be diggin on the Krylon, it got the bomb coverage. It easy to steal you a case off the truck while they be loading it in the back of the Home Depot 'n shit.

Admiral, have you been sniffing sharpies or has your account been hacked?

I vote ultra fine sharpies but what I really need is one that has spell check & can cut & paste.

-BTW Tahiti, I love your avatar. You look so fun & happy! I can't help but smile every time I see it

[tahiti_treat]

-BTW Tahiti, I love your avatar. You look so fun & happy! I can't help but smile every time I see it

Aww, thank you! That made ME smile

[Eric]

Yo yo south side checkin in, word up for the spray can, its all u need! Me and my homies be diggin on the Krylon, it got the bomb coverage. It easy to steal you a case off the truck while they be loading it in the back of the Home Depot 'n shit.

I'll take "Casually Racist Posts" for $1000 Alex...

[Admiral Fukkit]

Thats funny I can't find any mention of racial anything anywhere in it.
Must be at your end.

[Eric]

Thats funny I can't find any mention of racial anything anywhere in it.
Must be at your end.

'
And that's what would make it "Casual Racism": I know how you speak normally - why the need for a specific dialect in a post about stealing & spray painting? Why the mention of the "south side"? Think about it. You wrote as a specific character, and it isn't a generic one.

[Admiral Fukkit]

It was common urban dialect, satirical and funny... until you went hyper-sensitive politically correct whitey cracker about it.

[Eric]

It was common urban dialect, satirical and funny... until you went hyper-sensitive politically correct whitey cracker about it.

It's a common urban dialect - amongst African-American's. Which you used to talk about stealing. That isn't "hyper-sensitive", that's awareness that what you might find "funny" is an absolute insult to anyone of color. The days of nice white folks just letting casual racism roll on through under the guise of a "joke" are long past. And this "politically correct whitey cracker" has no problems calling other whites out on it, since they don't seem to listen to people of color.

[Token]

[gaminwench]

I just stocked up on sharpies (the neon kind, we're a UV3D camp!).

Tried and true.

I also have traveling sharpies, to leave behind ...

[FlyingMonkey]

It was common urban dialect, satirical and funny... until you went hyper-sensitive politically correct whitey cracker about it.

It's a common urban dialect - amongst African-American's. Which you used to talk about stealing. That isn't "hyper-sensitive", that's awareness that what you might find "funny" is an absolute insult to anyone of color. The days of nice white folks just letting casual racism roll on through under the guise of a "joke" are long past. And this "politically correct whitey cracker" has no problems calling other whites out on it, since they don't seem to listen to people of color.

I'm not a racist, not a homophobe, and I think Women should be treated equal to men in all respects (I also think we we are pretty myopic thinking there are only 2 sexes). Having said that I rarely find anything "correct" about political correctness.

But on this Eric, I agree with you 100%. Sorry Admiral, just not funny. But I still value your opinion.

Back to the OP.........Do sharpies dry out really fast on Playa & has anyone tried grease pencils for writing on wood & other surfaces that don't require a fine tip?

[trilobyte]

Well said, FM, I agree.

Sharpies dry out fast if you leave them in the sun, or with the caps off. If you can avoid those two things, they work well for most surfaces - I use them for most needs. I bring a small pile of black, red, and silver sharpies (aside from looking cool, they mark well on dark surfaces).

Gaminwech, I like the idea of neon sharpies for stuff, we do a fair amount of UV in our public space.

[Eric]

I've had problems out there with the metallic sharpies, unless I'm writing on paper. Never had a problem with any of the regular ones.

[Sham]

Maybe 6 years ago, I brought a large bag of black Sharpies to distribute around the Temple for people to write notes on the structure. I walked around slowly and placed them every 6 feet or so. As I worked my way around and continued to put more out, I noticed that virtually every one of them was taken and walked off with. I don't do that anymore.

[Ratty]

Sharpie ultra fine retractable.

trilo, the important word here is retractible. Don't buy the ones with removable caps.

[trilobyte]

Ratty - fuck that noise, I can't stand the retractable sharpies. They're a nuisance, and either just have less ink than the regular ones or dry out in the desert faster than a good sharpie with a cap. I'm perfectly happy to use the ones with caps (which are also usually cheaper), I don't think I've ever had a problem with either lost cap or one left sitting without a cap on it.

Eric - I got a fancy package of different colored metallics once and they didn't work that well. I get the silver sharpies in a package of all silver, and I think I get them in hardware stores (though I may have done my last order online).

[Ratty]

Hmmmmm. Interesting. Thanks for setting me straight. I never recognized their faults. (I secretly still think they are from heaven.) Anybody want one just stop by Tiger Man Camp early in the week. 5:15 and E I'll have an extra dozen. My camp backs up to Trilobyte's so you can visit us both at once.

[trilobyte]

Though please ask before walking through people's camps. It's very jarring for campmates to discover strangers wandering through their camp's private space