My first gold nib pen was made by Sailor. It was my introduction into the Japanese mid-range pen segment. My wife had introduced me to the brand a while earlier, and we were shopping for pens together. We both got ourselves a Pro Gear Slim Mini, she got a modern model, I got an older model in rose taupe. Soon I realized that Sailor’s speciality were special editions, seasonal designs and shop exclusives. For me – a girl with a…
I can’t help myself. I did try putting a Z50-M nib on the Wing-Fari. It fits, it writes, but there are problems with the nib, as soon as it is on the pen. It writes very much like a B nib, scratches heavily on the upstroke when I hold it normally and there is a visible misalignment between the tines, when I look at the nib from the side. The nib is fine when pulling it off the feed, fine…
When I purchased four cheap pens a while ago, each of them had triggered an urge to try it for different reasons. I talked about the fake Prera, and the extremely cheap and usable Jinhao 992 already – the former being a near perfect but shitty facsimile of the PILOT Prera – a pen I adore – the latter seeming cheap and useful. The pen I am going to talk about today landed in my shopping cart because it combined…
As I mentioned in my post about the fake that looked like a PILOT Prera, I recently got several cheap fountain pens. Each of them seemed interesting to me in some way, so I will take a few moments and see if this still applies after I tried using them for a while. Today’s example is the Jinhao 992. I am uncertain if this is the real deal or a fake of a cheap pen – because it cost me…
Why would they even… There is something about certain pens that seems to attract the eye. Be it the iconic simplicity of the LAMY Safari or the distinct black knob and grip of the Pelikan Souverän M series. And where there is attraction, there almost certainly is someone trying to get a share of the money by imitating the key features. Sometimes I browse Chinese wholesale sites for fountain pens because there are some pretty great deals to be had….
I want to tell you about a brilliant pen that I used in school, that looks quite nice and is an overall affordable choice for a mostly metal, near vintage, upgradeable pen. And this one has taken quite a journey. Key Facts This pen (now) is a “Parker Series 45 Flighter Deluxe No Tassie”. It came with a broad gold plated hooded steel nib and was upgraded to a 14k gold fine nib. The Parker 45 uses the proprietary Parker…
I want to start this whole thing with talking about the fountain pen that is in my possession the longest, but is – probably – not the oldest pen in my collection. My trusty LAMY AL-Star Aluminium – a classic that is no longer sold. When I got it, it was equipped with a Z50 B (broad) in black, that looked a lot better on the pen. Key Facts The AL-Star is LAMY’s aluminum version of their work horse and…