To Rollerball or Not to Rollerball
I was recently gifted a Ferris Wheel Press Roundabout rollerball that takes fountain pen ink. It’s joining two other fountain pen ink using rollerballs in my stash. I thought it was a great time to examine these pens, what makes them useful, what makes them finicky, and whether they are worth a try.
First, an introduction to the three rollerballs.
The three options in my collection. L to R: J. Herbin, Ferris Wheel Press, Kaweco.
The J. Herbin Rollerball
This was the first rollerball I purchased that could take fountain pen ink. It was three or four years ago that I became really intrigued by the idea of being able to recreate one of my favorite pens from my pre-fountain pen days - the Pilot Precise. In particular I loved the orange one. I just had a craving for that pen and knew I had a fountain pen ink that invoked the same vibes… Diamine Pumpkin, but an EF fountain pen nib just wasn’t giving the same feeling, so I went searching for something refillable and found this pen. The J. Herbin rollerball is a demonstrator with a silver cap and ring around the body (which is really hard not to lose when you are cleaning this pen!). It has a snap cap which makes it really easy to open quickly and round grip. It takes short international cartridges and is pretty widely available. It usually goes for $13 to $23 depending on where you buy it. I can’t remember where I bought mine originally, but I did find them for $13.50 on JetPens.
I have used this pen extensively, mostly at work and as a loaner pen to have around in my bag. It’s held up incredibly well, it’s not too hard to clean out and switch ink, and it does scratch that itch when I think about buying a Pilot Precise that I don’t need.
The Kaweco Ice Sport “Inkball”
When I first became a Kaweco nerd, these pens felt like a white whale. They had been discontinued right before I got into the hobby and I really, really wanted to try one. I was looking through a vendor’s table at the San Francisco Pen Show in 2023 and finally found one! It takes short international cartridges just like its fountain pen counterparts and looks identical to the Sports in every way except having a rollerball tip instead of a fountain pen nib. It has a screw cap like the rest of the Sport line. Occasionally they pop up as new old stock at pen shows and very rarely on eBay.
Of the three, this one writes the worst. I think it might be due to the rollerball tip being finer, which leads to it being scratchy if my writing angle dips. I have to use very wet inks in this guy otherwise ink barely squeaks out. I also had it completely fail to write during a meeting once. I love it for the novelty though.
The Ferris Wheel Press Roundabout Rollerball
I’d been eyeing these for quite a while, mostly because these are the only fountain pen ink rollerballs that are less than $20 that I’ve found with color options. Unlike the previous two pens this one comes with a converter. It’s longer than the previous two rollerballs and has the same body, grip, and cap shape as the FWP Carousel fountain pens. It has a pop cap and a ridged grip (which I didn’t like when I first got a hold of these pens, but it doesn’t bother me anymore). While some colorways are limited editions, you can usually find them wherever FWP products are sold (affiliate link - Code JA-DIME gets 15% off at ferriswheelpress.com). They are usually priced at $15.
I’m pleasantly surprised how well this rollerball works. It’s very similar to the J. Herbin in writing experience which gives me hope that it will hold up over time. Having a converter come with it is a nice feature and makes it easy to get writing with it right away. I filled the converter up from the bottle and didn’t stick the rollerball tip in to fill. It’s much more efficient to do it that way because the ink doesn’t have to come through such a small space.
There are several other brands that have rollerball units that can take fountain pen ink on the market. Traveler’s Company and Schon Dsgn come to mind when I think of options, but they are much pricier than the three that I own. One of those factors is that they are made out of metal, whereas mine are all plastic.
Upon close inspection each rollerball tip is a little bit different. Many are only offered in one size, but sometimes you can find the rollerball "nibs" in 0.5 and 0.7 sizes.
A big question: Are rollerballs that take fountain pen ink worth it?
I think that depends entirely on what you are wanting to get out of the experience. I think they are absolutely wonderful as a novelty pen, and for gifting to someone who loves the range of fountain pen inks, but isn’t ready to commit to a fountain pen. That being said, I recommend using wet inks in these pens (or utilizing an ink additive to adjust flow), because one thing all of my rollerballs have in common is that they write dry. It also needs to be said that shimmer inks will NOT work in these. Due to the way ink is delivered to the paper, shimmer just would get clogged up behind the ball. They are definitely not as easy to clean as a fountain pen and often require soaking to get ink out to switch it. Shimmer would probably clog them to ruin.
To me, the fountain pen rollerballs don’t really fill a niche that my fountain pens can’t, but sometimes the novelty has me pulling them out to play with for a little while.
Another useful aspect of them is that they are far less distracting to others at meetings and other places where it might not be the right time to pique other’s curiosity with a fountain pen. Another thing to keep in mind is that they function very similar to fountain pens when it comes to paper… so they will work just as well on cheap copy paper (read: not very well at all).
I think if you are curious they are definitely worth a shot. Considering that both the J. Herbin and FWP Roundabout Rollerball are under $20, they aren’t a huge investment to experiment with for a while. I personally lean a little bit more to the Roundabout now that I’ve spent some time with it, simply because it has color options. The one that I’ve been playing with is the Little Miss Jubilee colorway which is a magenta tone and is only available from the FWP website at this time.
Have you used a rollerball that takes fountain pen ink? What did you think?
Currently Inked
Bungukan Kobayashi Hirai Bridge - Kaweco x Galen Leather Sport Carmine 14K BB ‘journaler’ - This ink is fascinating me on how different it is on different papers. It has some chromashading properties which are much more visible on coated papers like tomoe river than others. It’s a medium brown with a pink undertone and really makes me think of stones. It did write a little dry so I added some white lightning ink additive and now the flow is perfect (plus it kept the shading!).
Pennonia x Amarillo Stationery Azul Frida - Kaweco liliput fireblue 14K M ‘journaler’ - I love this ink. It’s just a great standard blue with some personality. One some papers it sheens and on most papers it shades. I have a bit of a soft spot for this ink because of the memory it invokes of my first Chicago Pen Show in 2022 (thanks to Erick for carrying this awesome color!).
Sailor Ink Studio 280 - Kaweco liliput copper M stub - This ink is as fun as always, despite being a color that’s really difficult to describe and behaves very differently on different papers. I would say at its core it is a brown-green, but shades to pink. Just very earthy.
Sailor x Mitzutama Seitzuru - Kaweco Art Sport Tiger’s Eye 14K BB CSI - This ink is gorgeous. It’s a deep teal with a red sheen. It behaved really well and had a little bit of shading since I was using such a broad nib with it. I’m really looking forward to trying the rest of the inks in this set.
Diamine Bliss - Kaweco Art Sport Terrazzo B ‘imperial’ - This one was not a winner… I actually ended up giving up at the half fill point. It’s not a bad color, but just did not invoke any joy the way many other inks in this color range do. I don’t know what it was about it, but it just didn’t hit right. Might have to try it again at a later date to decide if it stays in the collection or goes.