LAMY M16 Ballpoint Refill Adapter

Many people really enjoy the the modern look and feel of the various LAMY ballpoint models, but absolutely hate the M16 refill that comes with it. Now, I personally don't find it too offensive to use for everyday writing, but what if there was potentially a better way?

About a month or so ago I got a message through Instagram by Anson Chiu (@neotrooper) with a picture of something he had just bought that I had never heard of: an adapter for your LAMY ballpoints...

I was intrigued.

This seems highly enthusiastic!

What this adapter does is allow the user to insert the tiny D1 refills that we most commonly find in multipens into a LAMY ballpoint pen format. There are a lot of beloved gel, hybrid, or other ballpoint refills like the Zebra Sharbo X, Uniball Jetstream, or Fisher Space pen that are made with a D1 size so this opened a whole new world of opportunity.

These adapters only seem to be found in Japan, but I located a seller on eBay (from Japan) that had some listed. I can't seem to find that seller anymore, so these may be hard to get now.

Although, I did find it from a seller (maybe the same one) on Amazon for around the same price.

I wouldn't say it was at all inexpensive... I believe I paid around $15 total to get it, but I figured it would be worth a try. It took a month to get here, so I was hoping it was worth the wait.

The adapter is a small piece made of two parts: a black plastic sleeve section where you insert the D1 and a metal base which you insert into the pen. It is very well made.

I had a 0.5mm Zebra gel refill available in my stash to test with, which also happens to be a favorite.

My initial hopes would be that it would work in my vintage LAMY Unic ballpoints, but it unfortunately didn't seem to fit properly. I'd wager that it is due to the telescoping tip mechanism which may have some slightly different tolerances. Kind of a bummer, but I may try to do some "modifications" to the adapter to see if I can get it to fit.

Instead, I loaded the adapter and gel refill into my stainless steel LAMY 2000 ballpoint and it fit perfectly. The tip extended and retracted without issue and writing didn't yield any of the dreaded "wiggle" we often get with retractable pens.

My thoughts are that the adapter would fit well in most LAMY ballpoints like the Safari, AL-Star, Eco, and other less complicated ones. I've yet to try the Dialog 1 ballpoint by LAMY which I believe has a bit of a telescoping action, so this one may be out... we'll see.

All in all, this is a sweet little piece of equipment to help enhance your daily writing with the pens you love. Cheap? Not really, but may be worth it. I know I'll get a ton of use out of this thing.

Here again is that link to Amazon if you think this might be something you need...

KUM "The Masterpiece" Pencil Sharpener

Pencils are something I admittedly dabble in quite a bit less than pens (although I really enjoy pencils too), but occasionally people in the pencil fanatic communities like our friends Tim, Johnny, and Andy over at The Erasable Podcast talk about certain products enough that I can't help but buy them.

In comes the KUM "The Masterpiece" pencil sharpener. Sounds pretty impressive, right?

Apparently these particular sharpeners have traditionally not been sold by retailers in the United States, but that changed recently and the awesome ladies at CW Pencil Enterprise got them in and I quickly placed my order.

In addition to the sharpener I also bought a few pencils (because, it is impossible not to) and I'm using at the moment an older Eberhard Faber Mongol 482 (which may be gone now) that I got from their "vintage pencils" section. They have an older Mongol from around the turn of the 20th century that has an awesome ferrule which looks amazing, but is $30. A steal for the avid collector no doubt...

In a nutshell, this sharpener creates an incredibly sharp and long point. I mean, super long and super sharp. Like, wicked sharp. Like, don't let little kids or people who have difficulty with pointy things play with kind of sharp.

The Masterpiece comes in a little stretchy, spandex-like pouch with a snap closure and big KUM logo on the front, wherein lies a little plastic box that holds the actual sharpener. Full disclosure, this sharpener costs $17 which seems like a lot, but the results it produces are astounding. It'll be interesting to see how it holds up long term.

The sharpener is of the hand sharpening variety and has no moving parts. It also has no shaving collection process, so you'll need a place to put them as you go. I don't smoke, but on my desk I have a vintage brass ashtray from the 1939 New York World's Fair (like this one) which acts as my shavings collection bin, and it looks cool. I actually got the idea from Dan Bishop of Karas Kustoms to use a vintage ashtray. There are so many cool ashtrays that really are works of art or history that don't get used and this is a perfect repurposing application for them. 

In addition to being a hand sharpener, it is also a two step sharpening process. The solid magnesium block has two sections each with their own blade for each part of the process. The first hole marked with a "1" shaves away the wood and leaves a long cylinder of nearly unsharpened graphite sticking out of the end. Almost like it strips the graphite clean... amazing.

There is a blue piece of rubber that is attached (but optional) to the magnesium block which acts as a stopper. While sharpening during step 1, when the graphite touches the blue stopper you're done.

Hole "2" is for step 2 and is where we take that cylinder of graphite and gently sharpen it to a point. Slowly the blade shaves away bits of graphite dust until you are left with what equates to a writing spear. 

Seriously, the result is so fantastic. Although, I'm not entirely certain as to why a point like this is desirable over other sharpness angles, but it is sure to allow for a pretty decent writing session.

I did an initial test with two pencils of seemingly very different grades: the vintage Eberhard Faber Mongol 482 mentioned earlier and a much softer Palomino Blackwing 211. Also, paired up with the Doane Paper Idea Journal because I enjoy the slight "tooth" that Doane Paper has when using pencils.

The Mongol kept its point and sharpness pretty much throughout the whole test (without even breaking which was impressive for a 50 year old pencil), but as you can imagine the 211's tip snapped off a bit with the first few letters. Even still, it held an awesome writing point for several lines of writing which I generally don't get with a shorter sharpening.

Is this one of those need to have items? For the price, maybe not, but the results are amazing and worth getting if you are a pencil enthusiast. I'm super pleased with it.

New Site Sponsor - Appelboom

I'm very pleased to announce a new sponsor to The Clicky Post, Appelboom!

Appelboom is a pen retailer that has been serving the Netherlands for over 20 years and has a fantastic reputation for customer care and value. I've made several purchases from them myself and I always receive my pens promptly and well packaged (gift wrapped actually).

They carry an extensive variety of pens from our favorite brands like Sailor, LAMY, Kaweco, and others and are even a distributor for Montblanc. I've personally found several unique models that I've not seen carried by other retailers, so definitely take a look at their lineup.

For buyers outside of the EU, the pricing removes the included 21% VAT (value added tax) which can often translate into big savings for more expensive pens with Appelboom's competitive pricing.

Also, when placing an order use the promo code FRIEND for 10% off of your purchase for more savings.
(The promo code is not applicable for Montblanc pens due to their non-discount policies, but is available for all other brands.)

Thanks so much to Appelboom for sponsoring The Clicky Post!