Kaweco Skyline Sport Fox Fountain Pen Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

If you've been a stationery fan for very long, you've likely already tried your hand at a Kaweco or two. The Classic Sport is a fantastic beginners pen for carrying around or using at your desk thanks to the small closed length and normal open length. Kaweco also keeps the line fresh by introducing new colors every year. The latest Kaweco to cross my desk is the Skyline Sport Fountain Pen in the Fox color way.

The Skyline is an interesting vein of the Sport line because it includes more trendy colors paired with silver metal accents. On this Fox version, the silver finial and Kaweco branding on the cap pop nicely against the burnt orange plastic. The silver nib also pairs nicely with the orange in this model. And, just like any other Classic Sport, the size is just right. When capped, it's just over four inches. This makes it easy to store in a bag or even a pocket. With the cap posted on the back of the pen, it's over five inches long, which is perfectly comfortable to write with.

The nib also adds to the writing comfort when the cap is posted. The steel nib included with the pen is more than adequate for a pen of this size and price range, but you can easily swap it out for a different Kaweco nib unit. This makes it endlessly customizable so you can easily swap out a nib unit with your favorite pen body.

The EF nib in the model I received wasn't perfect out of the box. It required some tine straightening and suffered from baby's bottom. After straightening the tines and buffing the nib a few times, it writes like a dream. The EF nib produces a fine, crisp line with plenty of ink flow and a smooth feel. I've really enjoyed writing with it, and the adjustments didn't take long at all. I've long wished that Kaweco's quality control would improve, but at least the nib was usable and easy to correct in this case!

If you want to make the pen more secure in storage or transit, you can opt for a small pocket clip attachment. This makes the pen a lot more secure when stowed in your pocket or bag. And for the price, it's hard to pass it up.

The included Kaweco Royal Blue cartridge is passable, but you can also use any short international cartridge you want with this pen. Cartridge converters aren't really available (at least the type that work well), so I'd recommend only using cartridges.

At $25, the Kaweco Skyline is a great deal for a great pen. There are some fantastic colors available and a wide range of nib sizes, which are also easy to switch out. If you've never tried a Kaweco before, there isn't a better place to start that the Sport model!

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

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ystudio Resin Fountain Pen Review

As a ystudio fanboy, I was a little concerned about the Resin Fountain Pen when I first saw pictures of it. How would it stack up to my favorite Brassing models? Would the plastic barrel take a way some of the magic of the brand? My fears have proven to be unfounded, as this is a pen I want to use all of the time.

I will admit that it took me a couple of days to warm up to it. While it shares some of its design DNA with the Brassing Fountain Pen, it really is a different beast altogether. It sat on my desk. I stared at it. It stared back at me. I picked it up. I uncapped it, posted it, and capped it back again. And then I decided ok, time to ink it up. That’s where I ran into trouble.

As much as I am going to rave about this pen in a moment, there is a flaw in its design that must be mentioned: For a cartridge/converter pen, it doesn’t fit standard international converters. Or I should say, it doesn’t fit most of them.

I should have known something was up when it didn’t ship with one, but that’s neither the first - nor last - time a c/c pen won’t ship with one. I thought well fine, the ystudio Resin Fountain Pen uses Schmidt hardware for the nib unit, so I’ll just grab one of the dozens of Schmidt converters I have laying around. I attached it to the feed post, dipped it in the ink bottle, and drew up the ink just fine. Then I tried to screw the barrel back on.

If it doesn’t fit …

When standard international converters fail to fit into barrels it is usually a length problem. Not here, as the barrel is more than long enough. With this pen, it is a diameter problem. The metal ring around the barrel is too wide to fit inside the barrel.

My first thought was oh, there is something wrong with my converter - let me try another. And another. Until I realized it wasn’t the converter that was the problem. How could this be, seeing that other ystudio pens use the same Schmidt hardware and Schmidt converters fit those pens just fine? I’m guessing that the microscopic measurement that the barrel needed to be expanded by would have altered the entire design? I don’t see how, but I find it hard to believe that this was an oversight. Manufacturing tolerance maybe?

The workaround I found is either to use cartridges - short or long international sized - or a narrower converter, like the one in the picture. Mine is from Kaweco, which looks like this one from Monteverde. Is there a name for this style of converter that we can pass on to ystudio so they can package them with future pens to avoid this unnecessary angst?

Clairefontaine Triomphe with Standard Bindery Stargaze

Ok, I’ve prattled on long enough about an issue that in the end is a minor annoyance on a pen that gets everything else right. Here is what you really need to know: I cannot put this pen down. I’m not sure if it is the shape, the feel, the weight, the nib, or the tactile-ness of it, but I love using it. I have to set it out of reach sometimes just so other pens get a fair shake.

To try and describe it I’d say it feels close to a large marker in the hand, but it allows for the fine control of a technical pen. These aren’t words I normally use to describe a fountain pen, but they work for this one. It’s different, in a good way.

The way the resin hexagonal barrel smoothly transitions into the the brass grip section is a joy. Brass discs also adorn the top of the cap and end of the pen as an added touch of flair. The cap posts, although not with the same snap as when capping the pen. It could come loose if you set the pen down, for example, or fidget with it.

I’ve said it before - earlier in this review even - that the best compliment that I can give any product is that I want to use it, and that I miss it when I’m not. The ystudio Resin Fountain Pen is a perfect example of that. And at $72, I feel very comfortable recommending it, converter weirdness and all.

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

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Montegrappa Mia Limited Edition Sea at Dusk Fountain Pen with 1.1mm Stub: 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.)

Montegrappa is one fountain pen brand I’ve never tried. I was poking around on the Casa della Stilografica website one day and came across a striking blue pen. It was a deep blue with turquoise swirls. I was entranced.

Anyone who knows me understands that I have a crazy thing for blue pens. So, despite the rather steep price (€ 569) and the fact that I had no prior experience with Montegrappa, the Mia Sea at Dusk fountain pen stole my heart.

The pen arrived from Italy in a sage green outer box and an engraved wooden inner box with a hinged lid. I must say, Montegrappa did a great job packaging this limited edition pen.

In person, the pen is, simply put, spectacular. The resin looks like brush strokes in rich oil paint.

With solid silver furnishings, this pen has substance and class. The top finial is engraved with the Montegrappa logo. The clip tapers to a roller-ball tip for easy attachment to pockets or papers.

The cap band is engraved with “Montegrappa” on the front and “2020 Italy” on the back.

The barrel threads are also made of silver, which is a special touch, and there are silver rings at the end of the grip and around the piston knob.

You’ll find the limited edition number engraved on the bottom finial.

The Mia is a large pen (but not over-sized). It measures 137mm capped, 125mm uncapped, and 157mm posted. It is heavy, however, because of all the metal furnishings. It weighs 31.6g uncapped and 43g posted. The grip tapers. At its narrowest, it is 10.1mm and at its widest it is 12mm.

The 18k rhodium-plated nib is engraved with the Montegrappa logo, the name Montegrappa, and the gold content. There’s no scroll work to complicate the simplicity of the nib design.

I purchased my Mia with a 1.1mm stub nib. When it arrived, I noticed that the pen was writing poorly--hard starts, scratchy, skipping. I took macro photos of the nib and discovered the tines were misaligned.

But Casa della Stilografica and Montegrappa took care of the problem gracefully. I had to ship the pen back to Italy, but the nib was repaired and returned speedily. Now those tines are perfect.

The 1.1mm stub writes beautifully. It offers a thick line with enough sharpness that it could be called a semi-italic nib. The ebonite feed provides plenty of ink for a smooth, wet writing experience.

I will say this pen blows through ink very quickly, but it’s easy to refill with the piston system. This is one aspect of Montegrappa that is different from my experience with other piston fillers. The Mia piston makes a ratcheting sound the entire time you turn it. That freaked me out a tiny bit the first time I rinsed out the pen. But now it just sounds kind of cool. One thing to note: the piston knob is a little loose and jiggles if you shake the pen (don’t shake the pen!). That said, I haven’t noticed any sound coming from the knob during normal use.

I am quite impressed with my first Montegrappa. This is one solidly built pen. I love its heft, the feel of the pen in my hand, the silver accoutrements, and the (now) fantastic stub nib. I find myself gazing at the beautiful resin and enjoying its depth and painterly qualities.

The Montegrappa Mia Limited Edition comes in two colors: Sea at Dusk and Chrysocolla (turquoise). 120 pieces were made in each color. I bought mine from Casa della Stilografica, but I’m not sure if they have any more in stock.

(I purchased the Montegrappa Mia Sea at Dusk from Casa della Stilografica with my own funds.)

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