Pens are dead. Well, not really, but they sure sell way less, compared to twenty years ago.   If people buy pens now, they have to be either really cheap or really awesome. And there are probably few pens more awesome than one that doesn’t even need ink: the Inkless Metal Pen.
Yes, it’s a pen. With no ink. But isn’t a pencil. So what is it? As always, my money’s on voodoo magic, but the people selling it have a…sigh… more logical explanation.
The Inkless Metal Pen is actually neither pen nor pencil. Instead, it’s a 6.25 x 0.375 (l x d) writing instrument, clad in a stainless steel barrel and armed with a special alloy metal tip. As you put it to a page, that tip deposits tiny amounts of metal onto the paper, creating matte silvery markings.
While you’re restricted to a single color (that grayish shade of steel), it’s as permanent as regular ink and is completely smudge-proof (there’s no drying time needed). You can even write upside down, since it doesn’t rely on a downward flow of ink. Given how little people write on paper nowadays, it’s the kind of pen that can literally last you a lifetime, since it uses very little of the metal every time you use it. In case you need a finer tip, you can sharpen it like a pencil, too — except you need to use sandpaper, instead of a blade.
One warning: markings from the Inkless Metal Pen contain some amount of lead, so this is best used by adults and kept clear off children’s hands.  It’s available for $27.95.
[Vat 19]