A few days ago I found a refill again that I ordered in 2021 and forgot about after moving home. It’s OHTO’s needlepoint gel refill.
There was an air bubble right behind the tip, probably from evaporated ink, so the pen didn’t want to write. Luckily it was easy to pull the tip out without using any tools. You can then just let the gel ink flow down to the end of the cartridge and close it again. I wish I had figured this out earlier, it would have helped me in the past to get other refills going. So far, this is the most effective trick I have discovered to get old gel refills going again. After letting the ink run down to fill up the air gap, writing was dry at first, but a few days later the refill wrote like new.
Back to the actual refill: It puts down a very fine line. The tip looks similar to JetStream’s Edge tip, but writing is much more pleasant. For me the best news was that it fits directly into a Caran d’Ache 849. The not so good news is that I have only been able to find this refill in black so far.
Since we’re talking about Caran d’Ache: it’s probably clear to most, but I only recently spotted that the refills have the date of production stamped on them. New-ish refills seem to be marked in the DD MM YY format. Very old cartridges seem to be marked M YY, written top to bottom.
One last bit of information to share with you: Bleistift.blog was added to a list of the best 20 (English speaking) pencil blogs. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing these obversations! It’s great to hear that refills can be revived this way. – Where did you get the OHTO refill from?
Speaking of gel pens: Have you tried the uniball one and Zento pens?
Congratulations on this award!
And well deserved for your dedication…..
Are you referring to an 849 ballpoint or an 849 rollerball? Congrats on the award!
Thank you for your comments.
Gunther, I bought the OHTO refill from cultpens.
I have tried the uniball one. I think I bought it the same time as the Zebra Sarasa R and like both, but I think I like the uniball one a bit more. I haven’t tried the Zento yet. Do you have one and do you like it?
LJD, thanks for pointing this out. I didn’t even think of the 849 Rollerball when I wrote this and yesterday I happened to see one for the first time in real life. Not sure why they used the same number as the size is so different…
Pingback: Sunday Reading for March 30, 2025 – OtakO
Matthias, thank you for the details. I was lucky enough to get the uniball Zento Signature (black, with 0.5 refill) and I really like it. It’s not as dark as the uniball one, but much wetter, which is very pleasant (at least for me). The color saturation of the uniball one is fantastic (I have it in black as well as the other colors, all 0.38), and I don’t know of anything comparable. By the way, the refills of the Zento and the one have the same shape, so they are interchangeable. – Speaking of the 849 rollerball: It also takes the Parker G2 refill but I have the impression that the manufacturing tolerances can cause the retracted tip to protrude slightly one some specimens.
I asked because it’s difficult to find refills that will fit in the 849 ballpoint (without some kind of alteration), other than the Caran d’Ache Goliath ones. I’ve tried the OHTO flash dry Parker-style refill, and it doesn’t work for me, but I’m going to order this OHTO needlepoint and try it!
Thank you for your comments, Penelope, Gunther and LJD.
Gunther, thank you for these details. I recently bought a Parker G2 refill in a local stationery shop. I was quite disappointed, especially for the price (the price might be the stationery shop’s fault though) as it was not a good starter. Once going it was fairly pleasant though.
How is the line width of the Zento? I had a quick look and they seem expensive – or maybe I just didn’t find the right shops online.
If I have a problem with a protruding tip I just unscrew the button until the tip disappears, it is usually still firmly enough screwed it even if you unscrew it a bit.
LJD, good luck, I hope it will work out. I wish they would be more easily available – and also in blue…
Pingback: Sunday Reading for March 30, 2025 – Madcity Supplies
Matthias, I forgot to mention that I wasn’t referring to the Parker G2 but to the style of that refill (I use the uniball Jetstream SXR-600-05). – The line width of the Zento 0.5 is approximately the same as that of the Jetstream 0.5 (but of course on other kinds of paper it may vary). – The Zento Signature costs about 19 EUR, but I was told that it is very hard to find in stores, so you have to rely on resellers; if you’re lucky, you can get a new, boxed version for about 40 EUR (plus shipping and possibly customs).