Kaweco 14k Gold Two-Tone Medium Nib Review

I like new fountain pen nibs almost as much as I like new fountain pens. Many companies offer replacement nibs for their pens, and for those that do, I find myself owning at least two different nibs. Why? Swapping an EF nib out for a 1.1 mm stub, or something similar, gives a completely different writing experience and makes for a more useful pen.

Kaweco, on the whole, makes this very easy to do. When I was just a novice fountain pen user it was eye-opening when I first found out how to change a Kaweco nib. This amazed me, because something that I thought was too advanced for me at the time was so simple. I had no idea at the time how it would open up an entirely new world to me.

I have several Kaweco pens on my desk, but I use a total of two nibs between all of them. A stock steel EF nib, and a modified B nib that Shawn Newton turned into a cursive italic, as seen in action here. This way, I always have my favorite nib handy for use in whichever compatible Kaweco I want to break out.

I've been anxious to try out one of the new Kaweco 14k nibs since I heard of their existence, so I appreciate Kaweco loaning me this one for review. It is a real stunner to look at, with the two-tone gold making a great visual impression. Performance wise, it is just as you might expect. It is smooth, soft, and consistent, with a feel similar to its German counterparts such as Pelikan or Lamy. The medium nib is not fine enough for my taste, so I would be looking to modify it, but those who like a wide Western line should enjoy it.

The price is as you would expect for a 14k gold nib these days, if not a touch high. Fontoplumo is the only place I see it available right now and it will run you €120, or approximately $140. I'd be more comfortable paying closer to $100, but with the versatility it brings in fitting a huge range of Kaweco models (Liliput, AL Sport, AC Sport, Luxe Sport, Special, Allrounder, Dia chrome, Dia gold, Elegance, Student) it may be worth a splurge.

Check out more reviews of the 14k solid colored BB nib at Gourmet Pens and The Well-Appointed Desk. My thanks to Kaweco for letting me test out this excellent nib.

Pilot FriXion Ball Knock Design Series Review

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

To be honest, I haven't used an erasable pen since 5th grade, and at that time they were horrible.

Apparently, a lot has changed. Erasable pens don't have to be incredibly difficult to use and marginally useless when it comes to writing and erasing. The Pilot FriXion is a gel ink pen that uses friction to remove the ink. I don't even pretend to understand how it all works, but I do know that the experience is much more pleasant than the previous generations of erasable pens. If I had these as a student when erasable pens were mandatory, I wouldn't have grown to hate the phrase "erasable pen" so much. Even now, I'm trying to use that phrase frequently in an attempt to rid it of the awful taste it leaves in my mouth.

The FriXion ink is surprisingly smooth when writing – very similar to other Pilot gel ink pens (but not quite) like the G2. The particular model I'm using is called the Ball Knock Design series, and it features a 0.5 mm point. When you first write with the pen, you can detect a slight drag from the point, but if you can remember to press very lightly then that issue almost disappears.

Writing with the pen is effortless. It doesn't take much pressure at all to put ink on the page, and I haven't seen any skipping or gunking that was extremely common with the old erasable pens. This part still blows my mind. I'm impressed by how well it writes for an erasable pen. It doesn't beat a Pilot Juice or an Acroball or any other permanent gel or hybrid ink, but this is an erasable ink and it's done pretty great so far.

So, it writes fairly well, but how does it erase? Well, I would sum it up as, "Meh." Erasing is easy – one or two strokes across the ink usually does the job, but it never completely disappears. You can always see the trace of what was written before, and that makes me a little perturbed. If it's supposed to be erasable, then I expect it to be erasable like a pencil. Sure, you sometimes can see the writing from an erased pencil mark, but it's much harder to detect than the FriXion ink. This is obviously a personal problem that I need to deal with; if you're in the market for an erasable ink pen, then the FriXion gets the job done with no hassle or frustration. It's a great erasable pen.

The top of the pen contains the rubber tip used for erasing, which is convenient and works well. I was stumped when I first used the pen as to how to operate the retract mechanism. Pressing on the rubber tip (where a knock normally is) doesn't do anything. After a few seconds of looking around the pen, I realized it's the clip that acts as the knock. Takes a bit of retraining to use the clip instead of the top of the pen, but it works well when I remember to use it properly the first time.

There is a tip on JetPens about the temperature-sensative nature of this ink. Apparently, erased ink will reappear if it gets cold enough (lower than 14 degress Fahrenheit), which could be fun to play with but unfortunate if you didn't want that to happen. Just something to keep in mind. I didn't test it out – I take their word for it.

Overall, this is a great pen and I'm really impressed by how far along erasable ink has come in a few years. If you're looking for an erasable pen, this is a great place to start.

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

Pelikan Twist Fountain Pen Review

There is something about fountain pens for beginners that I love. Generally, they come in cool colors, or funky designs. All have some type of molded grip to help you with the proper finger placement. And, almost without fail, the nibs prove to be excellent writers.

It makes me wonder sometimes why I spend hundreds of dollars on fountain pens given how well some of these entry level pens write.

The Pelikan Twist is clearly marketed towards children for their first fountain pen. The colors are bright, the grip is very well definied, it is a simple cartridge filler, and the plastic barrel is going to be able to handle getting beat up. Plus, it just flat-out looks cool. I can see kids enjoying learning the proper way to write with this pen.

Being a big kid myself, I found I enjoyed using it. The medium nib is dead smooth, and the output is clean with the provided Pelikan Royal Blue ink cartridge (it takes short and standard international.)

The one consideration for those who want to add this pen to their arsenal is how extreme the grip section really is. I have a traditional grip so I never mind molded grips, but there is no play with this one. The edges between each side of the section are sharp, locking you in to the preferred grip at all times. The Pilot Kakuno is much more subtle, and even the Lamy Safari feels tame in comparison.

Don't let that scare you away though. Learn how to grip a pen the right way! If nothing else, kids will appreciate how cool and fun this pen is to use, and they won't even know that you are creating muscle memory that will last them a lifetime.

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