Product Review: Pilot Metropolitan

The "White Tiger" Pilot Metropolitan pen.

Lamy Safari and Lamy Al-Star fountain pens have been my basic, go-to sketching pens for the past couple years. They appeared on my Top 10 lists for both 2012 and 2013 for their general reliability and comfortable design. But one thing I’ve been annoyed by is the inconsistent quality of the nibs. Some will perform beautifully day after day, and others will be scratchy from the first stroke and will not improve over time. I’ve tried various sizes from extra fine to medium, and the inconsistency prevails. Fortunately, the interchangeable nibs can be replaced, which I’ve done a couple times. But I’ve lately become so disgruntled that I’ve been prompted to look elsewhere.

Fortunately, I discovered the Sailor “calligraphy” pen (see my review of this pen) along the way, which is rapidly becoming a favorite for its variable-width line, as well as its smooth, easy performance. But another pen I’ve recently been trying out is the Pilot Metropolitan. Like the Lamys, the Metropolitan is billed as a “starter” fountain pen for its ease of use and maintenance, as well as its cost – at 15 bucks, it’s even cheaper than the Safari.

Note the subtle tiger-stripe trim and satin finish.

When I first started using the Metropolitan, I was immediately struck by how heavy its brass body is – 26 grams – compared to the resin Lamy Safari at 17 grams. Those 9 grams of difference in weight might not seem like a lot (roughly the weight of two nickels), but when sketching, it really seemed to weigh heavily on my line. It was almost a deal-breaker. . .

. . . until I got used to it, which only took a short time. And I was willing to get used to it because of its prevailing best quality: the reliably smooth performance of the nib. I love the way it skates so effortlessly over the Canson XL cold press, Canson Montval cold press and Fabriano Studio hot press papers that I’ve been using lately.

A deal-breaker for some may be the M-size nib, which is apparently the only size it is available in (at least in the U.S.). As a Japanese pen, that M is almost as fine as a Lamy F, but it may seem too broad if you’re used to an extra-fine nib. I don’t care for super-fine nibs myself, so I’m happy with the Metropolitan’s M.

Sketched with Diamine Onyx Black ink on Fabriano Studio hot press
140 lb. paper. No, this bottle of Iroshizuku Momiji ink is not as asymmetrical
as I've made it look here. The bottle is actually gorgeous -- like a fine
perfume. I received this one as a Christmas gift. I'll tell you some other time
about my fetish for this line of over-priced Japanese inks.

I’ve been using the Metropolitan with waterproof Platinum Carbon ink for several weeks, and its performance has been flawless – it never clogs, it starts up immediately, and its smooth line prevails continuously. I just started using it with a sample of water-soluble Diamine Onyx Black (a new ink to me, but since it’s Diamine, I expect it to behave the same way as other Diamines I’ve used and loved), and its performance is just as flawless as it is with the Platinum.

A word about converters: When I saw that the Metropolitan comes with a “squeeze” converter, I was happy that I wouldn’t have to buy a separate converter, since I always use bottled inks instead of cartridges. I’m used to the Lamy’s hard plastic twist piston, so the squeeze converter surprised me. I made a huge mess with Platinum Carbon – twice! – first, when I inadvertently squeezed the converter while inserting it, and then again when I inadvertently squeezed it while removing it, even though by then I had figured out that I need to avoid squeezing it. After those two messes, I immediately switched to a Pilot CON-50 twist piston converter that I happened to have from another Pilot pen. The converter adds $5.50 to the cost of the pen, but given the (non-washable) mess I made, it’s worth it. (I may purchase some inexpensive Pilot cartridges and try refilling them with a syringe, which would be a cheap, easy option.)**

Although I’d like to say that esthetic qualities don’t matter to me as long as a pen performs well (after all, the Sailor I’ve come to love so much has a somewhat cheap and cheesy plastic body that belies its nib’s quality), I’d be lying if I did. The Metropolitan has a gorgeous satin finish that feels beautiful in the hand, and it comes in interesting subtle patterns like the White Tiger I chose.

The only quality I haven’t tested is how long I can leave a filled Metropolitan idle before it stops flowing well. Although all fountain pens have to be used regularly to keep them flowing well, I’ve discovered that some can be left idle longer than others. (In general, my Lamys have a relatively short idle time, although other pens I’ve tried have an even shorter idle time. My Sailors and even the ridiculously cheap Platinum Preppys seem to be able to go much longer.) If I can bear to stop using it for a few weeks, I’ll test the Metropolitan’s idle time and report back later. *

Will the Pilot Metropolitan replace the Lamy on my top 10 list in one year? Time will tell. But so far I love it.

* Updated 1/20/14: To test how the Metropolitan idles, I filled it with water-soluble Diamine Denim ink on Jan. 3, and I stopped using it on Jan. 5. Stored upright (nib pointing up), it sat in a cup on my desk untouched for 14 days. Yesterday I pulled the cap off and put the nib to paper – and it worked immediately from the first stroke as smoothly as ever. I kept writing for a page in my journal, and it never missed a beat. By comparison, I’ve had some Lamys filled with water-soluble Diamine inks sit idle for far less than two weeks – probably no more than a week – and they sometimes take a while to get flowing again. An additional test with waterproof Platinum Carbon ink had good results, too. See the complete Metropolitan idleness update. 

** Updated 2/7/14: Although I had messy problems with the squeeze converter, I found that it and the disposable Pilot cartridge both hold twice as much ink as the Pilot CON-50 twist piston converter. Except when I travel, the volume of ink my pen can contain usually isn’t an issue, but it’s an interesting reference point for a geek like me. Syringe-filling an emptied cartridge seems like the cheapest, easiest and highest-ink-volume solution.

A Different View of Trees

1/6/14 Diamine Black Onyx ink, Kuretake Bimoji brush pen, Zig marker, Canson
Montval 140 lb. paper

With only 15 minutes before I had to get to my yoga class, I didn’t have time for coffee. Instead, I stayed in my parked car and considered sketching some bare trees across the street. But right in front of me was a Jeep with an interesting pattern of reflected trees in its windshield.

Fifth Sketchbook Bound

I just finished binding my fifth sketchbook, and I think this time I finally got the thread tension just right – not too tight, not too loose, and consistent. Coptic stitch is not difficult to do (especially if you’re adept at hand sewing), but getting the tension right required more practice than I expected.

If you’re interested in learning the Coptic stitch, which is the binding method I use for all of my sketchbooks, you might want to look at some of the many instructions and tutorials available online in photos and videos. I use the instructions found in a book called Handmade Books and Cards, by Jean Kropper. The book seems to be out of print, but I found it in my public library. Some of the written instructions are a little confusing, but it is well-illustrated, and following the diagrams is probably the easiest way to understand the construction of the stitch.

It turns out that the Coptic stitch is considered to be one of the most difficult and advanced hand-stitched binding techniques. I didn’t know this when I decided to use it for my sketchbooks (I might have avoided it if I did); I chose it because I wanted to use a technique that involved only stitching and no adhesives, and I also wanted the pages to open completely flat. As an added benefit, I do like the way the exposed stitching looks on the spine. If you know of another binding method that meets those two criteria, I’d be open to trying something simpler. But so far, this is the only one I know of.

Now that I’ve settled on using 140-pound paper, I think the format I used in this last sketchbook is the one I’ll stick with for a while: three folded sheets per signature, six signatures bound together into a volume, yielding a 72-page sketchbook. Since there’s no show-through at all with 140-pound paper, I sketch on both sides of the page (I always have, even with 100-pound Stillman & Birn paper, though I sometimes regretted it when scanning a page revealed darker lines or paint on the opposite side).  

A Recipe for Hot Cereal

1/5/14 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, water-soluble colored pencil,
Canson Montval 140 lb. paper

Our favorite hot cereal is Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal. Since I don’t like most gluten-free products, and Greg can’t eat gluten, Mighty Tasty is one of the few cereals we both eat. This hearty, high-fiber, multi-grain cereal is especially good on cold winter mornings. We usually eat it with low-fat soy milk, but during the holiday season, we indulge by pouring lots of eggnog on it. Today we used up the last of the eggnog.

If you read my blog regularly, you know that I don’t ever fall back on using recipes as a “filler” for blog posts. Today is an exception because this sketch was made for this week’s Urban Sketchers Flickr group theme, “Recipes,” which I almost forgot about. I sketched the line work during the 10 minutes it took to cook the cereal (including stopping to stir several times), and I painted after breakfast. (The dark vertical line in the center of the pot is my reflection. Does this count as a self-portrait?) Here’s the recipe (serves two):

2 cups water

2/3 cup cereal

½ teaspoon salt

Boil water with salt. Pour in cereal, reduce heat to low, and cook for 10 minutes (stirring occasionally). Eat with raisins and eggnog. (By the way, using this recipe is about the extent of my cooking skills. That’s why you will never see another recipe published on my blog.)

Black Locust Redux

1/4/14 Platinum Carbon ink, Kuretake Bimoji brush pen, watercolor, Canson Montval 140 lb. paper

I’m the first to admit that I don’t know a thing about trees. So after sketching this black locust in my neighborhood that I had sketched once before in September, I did a quick Wikipedia search to learn a little about Robinia pseudoacacia. What made me curious is that although it’s obviously deciduous, it still has a bunch of brownish “stuff” all over it – not leaves, exactly, since those have all fallen off, but the limbs are definitely not completely bare. I’m guessing that the stuff is “winter buds,” as described by Wikipedia: “Minute, naked, three or four together, protected in a depression by a scale-like covering lined on the inner surface with a thick coat of tomentum and opening in early spring; when forming are covered by the swollen base of the petiole.”

Ummm, OK. Anyway, I misjudged the tree’s proportions and had to chop off the beautifully rounded top. I’ll sketch it again soon and make sure I get the full tree this time.

(Yes, that is a blue sky behind that tree! It’s chilly out there, but it’s great to see the sun after days of sullen grayness.)

Opening Reception at MOHAI

 

1/3/14 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, Canson Montval 140 lb. paper

The Museum of History and Industry and Gabi invited all Seattle Urban Sketchers to attend the members-only reception for the opening of “Drawn to Seattle” last night. Unlike Christmas Eve morning when Greg and I first viewed the show, the exhibit was packed, which made for an interesting sketching experience.

After Gabi finished leading a group through the show, there was a lull, so I found a wall to stand next to and began sketching one corner of the exhibit. A short time later, the next wave of visitors came through, so I added people to the sketch. Eventually so many people were there that I could no longer see much of the corner. But at the same time, many curious people stopped to chat and asked me about Urban Sketchers or about my clipped-on watercolor kit. “How long have you been sketching?” “Do you always stand while sketching?” “Where did you get that interesting brush?” I’m so used to everyone ignoring me when I sketch in public that it was a fun novelty to engage in so many conversations. It’s so exciting that Gabi’s exhibit is raising awareness of urban sketching!

Many thanks to MOHAI and Gabi for inviting us last night! 

Recycle Day

1/2/14 Platinum Carbon ink, Kuretake Bimoji brush pen, watercolor, Canson Montval 140 lb. paper

As far as I’m concerned, this is the very worst time of year in Seattle. The holidays are over, and spring is a long way off. Although we’re on the upside of the solstice, by 3 p.m. on an overcast day (which is most of them), it already looks like twilight. The brightest spot of color I could find was someone’s recycle bin.

As I sketched in my car, the radio reported that another huge snowstorm is on its way to the East Coast and Midwest, where 90 million people are bracing for “bone-chilling cold.” On my way home, it started to rain again, and I decided I was good with that.

(Take care, friends in the East and Midwest!)