Papermate Ink Rollers

[John the Monkey]

UK geeks! If you have a branch of "The Works" nearby, you may be interested to know that they're currently offering pairs of Papermate ink rollers for 99p.

The pens are pocket size (the snap cap posts (not terribly securely) to the rear of the pen for writing) and come in packs of blue and black barrel (section and cap are clear), or some kind of peach coloured pattern and (I think) pink pattern. You also get a short international cartridge of Papermate's blue ink in each pen, and a pack of five cartridges.

The ink is an ok, if slightly pale blue, and the pens are rather fun - not super smooth, but the feedback from writing isn't harsh, and doesn't make the experience unpleasant. At 99p, they're cheap enough for permanent ink experiments &c too, and I think they'd stand up to the sort of tasks usually delegated to ballpoints (filling out self duplicating forms, for example) fairly well (they seem to withstand a fair amount of writing pressure with no ill effect). Not as nice as using a fountain pen, of course, but at least you can still use FP ink. The clips feel flimsy, and I'd be wary of using them too heavily.

The barrels are solid (at least on the blue and black examples) and the threads fairly long, so they might stand up to an eyedropper conversion - I do caution that I have not attempted this though!

Capped Length: 10.2cm
Uncapped & Unposted Length: 9.1cm
Posted Length: 13cm
Grip Section Diameter: 1.1cm

[Bogon07]

Is 'the works' the UK name for Officeworks ?

Sounds like they may be worth a look.

[John the Monkey]

Hi Bogon, I've been trying to find out - as far as I can tell, "The Works" is a UK company only.