The Penora 02 comes in a white box with a little spec card on the lid: a 24K gold-coated nib, a lightweight resin body, 31.2 g, and three nib sizes, EF, F and M. It's a beginner's kit from Korea, and the nib size is the one choice you have to make before it arrives.
What EF, F and M mean
The letters are line widths, from thinnest to thickest. On this pen:
- EF (extra fine), 0.3 to 0.5 mm. Small handwriting, planners, the tiny boxes in a weekly layout.
- F (fine), 0.5 to 0.7 mm. Everyday notes and full sentences.
- M (medium), 0.8 to 1.2 mm. Signatures, big lettering and sketching.
The Korean chart that comes with it puts the three as 가는 선 (thin line), 기본 선 (the basic line) and 굵은 선 (thick line). We like that F is simply called the basic one, because it's the right pick for most people. If you write small, or you're filling a Hobonichi or a pocket planner, go EF. A finer line puts less ink on the page, which also helps on thin paper.
Putting the first cartridge in
The kit comes with a pack of 10 short cartridges of water-based dye ink. Unscrew the barrel, push a cartridge firmly into the grip section until it pops through its seal, and screw the barrel back on.
Then give it a minute. The feed (the dark piece under the nib) starts out dry, so ink has to travel down to the tip. Hold the pen nib down for a bit, or draw slow loops on scrap paper until the line comes in solid. Only the first cartridge takes this long.
Holding it
Hold it lighter than you'd hold a ballpoint. The ink flows on its own, so the nib only needs to touch the paper, and pressing hard can spread the tip and make the line scratchy.
Keep the printed side of the nib facing up and tilt the pen back to about 45 degrees. If the line skips, turn the pen a little in your fingers. Skipping usually means the tip isn't sitting flat on the page.
Put the cap back on whenever you stop, even for a few minutes. Ink at the tip dries in the air, and a capped pen starts writing again straight away.
Paper makes a difference
Fountain pen ink is wetter than ballpoint ink. On copy paper or a cheap notebook it can spread into fuzzy edges (pen people call this feathering) and soak through to the other side. Smoother, denser paper keeps the line sharp. The Tomoe River paper in a Hobonichi Techo and Midori's MD paper are both favourites with fountain pen people, and either is a good first notebook to pair with a new pen.
Which colour
The Penora 02 comes in two marbled colours, both with an ivory cap and gold trim. Forest Green is a soft sage, and Pastel Blue is a pale sky blue.
If you want our pick, it's Forest Green with an F nib. Both colours come with all three nib sizes in the Penora 02 Beginner's Kit, so choose the line you want first and the colour second.
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