Posts filed under Fountain Pens

Kaweco Frosted Sport Fountain Pen Review

The Kaweco Sport breaks the mold of what a pocket fountain pen should be. I'm a big fan of this product, and as a fan, I'm spoiled. So spoiled, that I almost take the Kaweco Sport for granted.

This is a great pen for me. I like small, pocketable, portable pens, and the bonus of it being a fountain pen is fantastic. It's lightweight, making it vanish into my pocket when I carry it, and durable, as it bangs up against other pocket accessories and keeps on trucking.

For as small as it is, the Kaweco Sport is a full-sized writer. The cap is designed to cover the majority of the pen barrel for a compact closure, but when writing, it adds length to the barrel when posted for a more comfortable experience. The standard section diameter helps with that too. This is not a skinny pocket pen.

My most recent pickup is the Frosted Sport in Light Blueberry, although it was a tough choice. Just look at all of the bright colors for 2019! Kaweco did a bang-up job with this series of Sport pens for sure. Anytime they bring bright colors to the table AND silver trim you can bet I'll pick one up - like the Sport Sunrise I bought from Fontoplumo last year.

I almost exclusively order steel EF nibs for my Kaweco pens, and this one was no different. It was fantastic right out of the box and continues to be. Nibs have always been a question mark around the brand, but they seem to have corrected most of the QC issues that have plagued them in the past. (Myke and I discuss this on the most recent Pen Addict Podcast.) It is firm, smooth, and leaves a clean, consistent line.

In a stroke of pure luck, I found the perfect ink match for this pen right out the gate. I bought a big batch of short international ink cartridges to play around with recently, and in there was this Waterman Radiant Pink. Any time I can get a cotton candy or 3-D look from my pen and ink combinations I am going to do it. This one turned out wonderfully.

For all of the praise I heap on the Kaweco Sport, it is not a pen I recommend very often. It rarely lands on any beginner pen list because it doesn't fit the traditional mold of pens like the Pilot Metropolitan or Lamy Safari. For a pocket pen, the plastic barrels are too light for some, and the metal barrels may not be at a price point consumers are comfortable with. But if this pen hits on the specifics you require, you won't find anything better. Heck, you may not find anything at all, which means that Kaweco is doing something right with this product.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on May 27, 2019 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Kaweco, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

PenBBS 350 Fountain Pen with Rollerball Adapter: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

The PenBBS 350 is an aluminum fountain pen that comes in silver or matte black finish. It is supplied with a fine steel nib and a rollerball adapter that allows you to use fountain pen ink.

Because it is made of aluminum, the pen is rather heavy, weighing in at 23.6 grams. Without the cap, it weighs 15.7 grams, so it still has quite a bit of heft. You can post the cap, if you dare, but it makes the pen very unbalanced.

This is a medium-sized pen in length, 5.12 inches/130mm capped, 4.84 inches/123mm uncapped, and 6.5 inches/166mm posted. The grip is a little over 10mm in diameter, which is rather small for my hand (see my discussion on how it writes below). But it does have a lip that keeps your fingers from slipping.

The clipless cap is octagonal with PenBBS engraved on one of the facets. The finial is also engraved with “PenBBS 350” and a tiny “F” or “P” (I’m not sure which) in the middle. The inside of the cap appears to be lined with plastic.

The body of the pen is smooth aluminum broken only by the cap threads. The threads are placed well away from where your fingers sit on the grip, so they do not interfere with writing at all.

You can fill the pen with the supplied converter or you can use cartridges.

The fine steel nib is adorned with scrollwork and “PenBBS Since 2005 China.”

PenBBS nibs come only in fine and medium (and this model may be limited to fine). They are interesting nibs because their tips flip up just a tiny bit, almost like a mini-fude nib.

The nib writes smoothly, but I noticed a good amount of skipping with KWZ Baltic Memories. I read other reviews of PenBBS pens that indicated these nibs can be a bit stingy with ink. So, I’ll try the pen with a wetter ink next time.

Because the pen is so heavy and the grip so small in diameter, I found my wrist and fingers cramping up even after only short periods of writing. I normally like hefty pens, but they need to have larger diameter grips that help balance the weight more evenly. Then again . . . maybe it’s not the grip. Maybe I’m just old and a bit arthritic.

I’ve never tried a fountain pen with a rollerball adapter, so I was pretty excited about this little extra.

To my amazement, I actually enjoyed writing with the rollerball more than I did with the fountain pen nib. The rollerball was smooth and the ink flowed perfectly. You can see a writing comparison between the nib and rollerball below. I love the idea of using fountain pen ink with a rollerball. I will say, however, that trying to clean ink out of the rollerball unit was next to impossible.

This is my first PenBBS. I’m very impressed with the pen. It has a beautiful, simple design. All the components work well, especially the rollerball adapter. The nib seems a bit stingy with ink, but it’s usable, and I suspect it will write better with a wetter ink.

At only $22.00 I think this pen is a steal. You can purchase it from Vanness Pens in either silver or black. Other colors are available from the PenBBS Etsy site, but you have to wait quite awhile to receive your pen as it is shipped from China. I ordered two different models last week and plan to review them later this summer.

(This pen was purchased from Vanness Pens with a reviewer’s discount.)

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Posted on May 24, 2019 by Susan Pigott and filed under PenBBS, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Kaweco Student 70s Soul Fountain Pen: A Review

I saw the Kaweco Student 70s Soul Fountain Pen a few months ago on the Vanness Pens website. It was love at first sight--I mean who wouldn’t love a pen that looks like a creamsicle? Unfortunately, Vanness was out of stock, and I decided that it wasn’t meant to be. But, a couple of weeks ago there it was! The 70s Soul back in stock! So I ordered one immediately.

The pen comes in the usual Kaweco tin box with one blue cartridge.

Fortunately, I had a Kaweco converter in my stockpile, so I loaded it up with my favorite orange ink: Kyoto Kyo-Iro Higashiyama Moonlight (reviewed here).

The Student is a small pen, though it is not pocket-sized. It measures 5 and 1/8 inches/130mm capped; 4 and 3/4 inches/121mm uncapped, and 6 and 1/4 inches/159mm posted. Although the pen writes fairly well posted, I always feel like posting throws off the balance unless the cap posts deeply. This one does not.

I love the shade of orange used on the 70s Soul. It really does look like a creamsicle alongside the cream-colored barrel. The cap has a gold Kaweco finial, a gold clip engraved with the Kaweco name in cursive, and a gold band engraved with “Kaweco Germany.” The back of the cap also has “Kaweco Student Germany” printed in gold lettering.

The body has no branding at all, just a clean, uninterrupted line. I love how it tapers near the bottom. The grip is gold (presumably over steel). I normally don’t like metal grips, but this one isn’t heavy and my fingers don’t slide all over it. That said, it is a thin grip. I don’t own a caliper, so I can’t state the diameter of the grip, but it’s too thin to be comfortable for long writing sessions, at least for me.

I chose a steel, gold-plated fine nib for this pen. It’s a tiny nib, but, fortunately, it’s smooth and the tines are aligned. Kaweco nibs are often hit or miss, and I lucked out on this one.

Unfortunately, the converter is just okay. Ink tends to pool near the piston end, so I have to open the pen up and manually push the ink down toward the nib to keep things flowing. I’ve read that Kaweco pens work best with cartridges, but, dang it, I like using my matchy Japanese inks!

The Kaweco Student 70s Soul Fountain Pen is adorable. I love the colors, and it’s fun to write with (at least in short spurts). At $70 (converter not included) I think it’s way overpriced. I guess you’re paying for the Kaweco brand and . . . I’m not sure what else. It’s a plastic pen with a steel nib. I think $30 would be more reasonable for a pen of this size and quality. Vanness Pens has this pen in stock if you need some 70s soul in your life.

(I purchased this pen with my own funds with a reviewer’s discount from Vanness Pens.)

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