Kaweco Liliput Fountain Pen Brass Wave Body Review

If you are looking for the best portable fountain pens you need to look no further than Kaweco. They have perfected the format in my mind, combining design, materials, and performance into one beautiful package. Their latest release, the Kaweco Liliput Brass Body Fountain Pen, may be the best of them all.

I've long been a fan of the aluminum AL Sport model. The short barrel with the wide diameter fits my hand well and the metal barrel gives it the heft that is lacking in the plastic barrel Classic Sport. The original aluminum Liliput took portable to a whole new level with its size and weight. It was a feat of engineering but it was so light it was easy to lose track of. The Liliput Brass is an excellent mash up of the AL Sport and original Liliput.

Kaweco offers a smooth brass barrel in the Liliput but also branched out with a new Wave barrel design. I wasn't sure about it from the pictures but now that I have had it in hand for a week or so I am in love with it. The pattern is visually stunning while feeling awesome at the same time. I have a hard time putting it down because it feels so great. The brass construction is a huge improvement on weight from the aluminum model, making it superior in my book. It is an all around great pen.

I chose the EF nib (reviewed here) with my Liliput, but I have a #ProTip for all of you hardcore Kaweco fans. Since their nibs are so easily swappable I sent one of my brood to Shawn Newton for an 0.5 mm cursive italic grind that I stick in whatever Kaweco I have inked up. That is what you will see in the review below, inked up with the newly released Sailor Jentle Four Seasons Miruai. I love being able to have this much flexibility in nib choices.

The Kaweco Liliput Brass Wave has barely left my pocket since its arrival. The section is already getting that great brass patina from frequent use and I imagine it is only going to get better with age. Kind of like me.

(JetPens is an advertiser on The Pen Addict and I received this product at no charge.)

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Guest Review: Cult Pens Mini Fountain Pen

(This is a guest post by Ron Gilmour, one of the lucky winners of the Pen Addict 100 giveaway. Thanks for doing this Ron!)

Several weeks ago (in April 2014), the Pen Addict Podcast celebrated its one-hundredth episode with some excellent giveaways. I was lucky enough to win one of the prize packages. The centerpiece of my package was a Cult Pens Mini fountain pen, made for the UK retailer Cult Pens by Kaweco.

Appearance & Design

This is a very attractive pen, at least if you’re into the German industrial look. Worshipers of the Lamy 2000 will love this. The body is made of anodized aluminum (or should I say “aluminium”?) with a brushed finish. This is not only attractive, but has a nice satiny feel in the hand. The center band, finial, blind-end, and grip section are all shiny, nickel/chromium-plated brass. The contrast between the brushed body and the shiny trim gives the pen a lot of visual interest.

The clip is flat and plain with a nice curved-under end to prevent snags when being pushed over the edge of a pocket.

The center band flares out from the body width (9.5 mm) to the width of the cap (10.5 mm). Seeing the pen closed, you might think that the band was part of the cap. The grip section is smooth, with four latitudinal grooves, presumably to make the section easier to grip. Smooth metal sections are among my least favorite pen features, so I was glad to see Kaweco think of this. As it turns out, I find it more comfortable to hold this pen above the grip section, with my fingers resting on the raised center band, so the section grooves are a moot point.

Fun design fact: the length of the brushed aluminum part of the cap is exactly equal to that of the brushed aluminum part of the body. This makes for a pleasant symmetry. Also, when you post the pen, a bit of the shiny blind-cap is still visible, forming a shiny boundary between the two brushed sections, so this symmetry is still there to entertain you when the pen is posted.

The pen is branded “Cult Pens / by Kaweco” at the top of the cap, opposite the clip, in an appropriate sans-serif typeface.

Construction and Quality

The pen feels every bit as solid as the Bauhaus aesthetic makes it look. Everything fits together perfectly. Perfectly machined threads and solid posting.

Weight & Dimensions

This is a true mini pen: seriously teensy weensy. Capped, it’s 105 mm (4.1 inches). Posted (and you will want to post it), it’s 123 mm (4.8 inches). Posted, the pen is shorter and slimmer than a Kaweco Sport. Since this is by far the smallest pen in my collection, I can’t really point to any similar-sized pens. This size range, I think, was more common among the “purse pens” of the 30s and 40s than it is among current market offerings.

Nib & Performance

The pen came with a fine steel nib. I’d say it’s on the finer side of fine for a western nib, certainly finer than a Pelikan fine. (Which is just about perfect for my taste!)

The pen wrote beautifully out of the box, with a consistent line of medium wetness. No tweaking required.

Filling System

This pen takes short international cartridges. Kaweco makes a converter that is available separately (the same converter used for the Sport and associated models). I don’t have one of these, so can’t comment on how it works. I do have a syringe, so I’ll probably just keep re-filling cartridges.

(Aside: The prize package also included a pack of Diamine Deep Dark Red cartridges. This is a gorgeous, dark-red-going-on-brown ink that is exclusive to Cult Pens. If you find yourself ordering the pen, you may as well get some uniquely English ink while you’re at it.)

Cost & Value

At £29.95 (about $50 US), I’d say this pen is a very good deal. It’s a solid, easy-to-carry mini pen that feel like it will last forever. The bad news for those of you not in the UK is that you’ll pay another £10 for delivery, but that’s per order, so you can treat that as a shopportunity and stock up on other stuff.

Many thanks to the Pen Addict and Cult Pens for gifting me this great pen!

Kaweco Dia2 Fountain Pen Review

You do know Kaweco makes full-size fountain pens alongside thier already awesome pocket-size fountain pens, right? The Kaweco Dia2 is another of the big batch of products Kaweco sent me for review and it might be my favorite.

The Kaweco Allrounder is a decent enough looking pen, but not really my style. The Kaweco Elite is my style, but is a big, chunky pen that may be too much for others. The Kaweco Dia2 is just right in all the right places.

Simple. Classic. Understated. These are the words that describe the Dia2. Sounds boring, right? It is far from that in my mind. There are so many things that makes this a great pen. From a design standpoint, little touches like the knurling on the cap and end of the pen harken back to the original Dia2 which was released in the 1930's. The clip and Kaweco badge on the top of the cap are not unique to the Dia2 but the style of each fits this pen perfectly.

What I enjoy the most about the Dia2 is the grip section. Kaweco has done an excellent job unifying the barrel between the section and the body. The transition is smooth outside of the threading, which you hardly notice because there is no step to speak of. Sometimes a deep step in that area causes grip uncomfort but that isn't a problem here.

This nib, of course, is excellent. The Dia2 uses the same nibs found in the Kaweco AL Sport line and are easily swapable with a quick twist. I used an F nib with Kaweco Ruby Red bottled ink that Kaweco also provided. My lines were tight and clean and I liked the red ink better than I imagined.

While I find no downside to the Dia2, if I were King of Kaweco I would love to have this pen as a piston filler. It is cartridge/converter fill which doesn't bother me one bit, but this pen is screaming for a piston mechanism. At around $100 it is competing with the Pelikan M205 and the piston filler is the lone, and large, differentiator. Regardless, I'm happy with the Dia2 as-is and it works its way into my daily carry frequently.

Huge thanks to Kaweco for sending me this pen and ink to review. I think I have a few more goodies in the box to get to so stay tuned!