Posts filed under Pen Reviews

Faber Castell Loom 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.)

One of my favorite pens growing up was a non-branded rollerball with a twist mechanism and rubber grip section. I don't remember what kind of refill it took, but it was smooth and dark. The internals were brass, which gave the pen a nice weight. It's one of the pens that led me down this journey so many years ago. One of my favorite things about that pen was the color: gunmetal. I was delighted to pull out this Faber Castell Loom and take in the gunmetal goodness that makes up the entire body.

The Faber Castell Loom is a premium fountain pen with a steel nib and snap cap. The particular color/finish I have is a matte gunmetal, which I absolutely love. It's not as hefty as my old pen from my childhood, but it's also not made of brass.

The pen looks a bit chunky when sitting on my desk, mostly due to the thick body and large cap. But when you pick this pen up, you're surprised by the lack of weight. It's much lighter than it looks, and that translates to comfortable writing.

The EF nib is stainless steel and has a surprising amount of flex. While this isn't a flex nib by design, it offers a pleasant amount of give which produces some nice line variation with gentle pressure. The nib writes reliably and with great flow, but it is a tad scratchy. This is something that can easily be corrected with some minor tuning, however.

The nib is also lightly decorated with the Faber Castell logo, the nib size, and some small dots that remind me of filigree.

The grip section is slightly tapered toward the end and also has a few embossed grip rings that provide a surprising amount of comfort and stability. I've used this pen for some longer writing sessions, and it's incredibly comfortable.

The cap is a snap design that feels very secure when in place. It takes moderate pressure to uncap, but not so much that I worry about losing my grip or sloshing ink. Capping the pen produces a nice click/clunk sound. You can also post the cap on the back of the pen, but I feel that the unposted length/balance is perfect for writing.

The cap also has a debossed Faber Castell name and logo. While the name/logo is fairly large, I think it's still pleasing and classy due to the lack of paint. The plain deboss doesn't draw too much attention. The top of the cap also features the Faber Castell logo in a shiny finial that is also part of the clip.

The clip is spring-loaded, but nothing like that of the Lamy 2000. It's strong, but doesn't match up to the perfection of the 2000. Even so, it does a great job of attaching the pen to other objects, and it looks great while doing it. There's a nice arch at the tip of the clip that makes it easy to guide onto a pocket or pouch.

One of my favorite parts of this pen is the end of the body. Instead of a flat surface, the butt of this pen features a beautiful concave design that adds a bit of visual interest to an otherwise boring piece of the pen.

The color of the pen body is a matte gunmetal, and I absolutely love it. It does have a bit of shine, but it's very subdued. The cap is a matte black that compliments the gunmetal perfectly.

Overall, I've really enjoyed using the Loom. I wasn't sure I would like it due to the thick body, but I was proven wrong. The cap also threw me off at first because it's so long and chunky compared to the rest of the pen. At this point, I see it as a design element that I wouldn't change. At just shy of $60, this pen falls into an awkward price point. It has to compete with the likes of Lamy Al-Stars, Kaweco AL-Sports, and TWSBIs without offering any clear advantages to justify the minor bump in price. To me, this is an affordable luxury pen, and if you like the aesthetic, the pen won't let you down.

(Vanness Pens loaned this product to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on September 12, 2018 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Faber-Castell, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Schneider Pen Review, and the Story of Stride Inc.

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter.)

For any given product, there is a lot more to it than just the piece that ends up in our hands. There are people's dreams, designs, ideas, lives, and hard work behind every one of them. I enjoy learning about the people behind the products I use and review, but every now and then there's a story that is really exceptional.

That's the case with Schneider products. What makes Schneider awesome isn't just the products--though those are great, too--but their partnership with an American distributor called Stride.

Stride is a small, woman-owned business (WBE) that is devoted to employing and enriching the lives of adults with intellectual delays. The company was founded by Barbara Brennan and is now run by her daughter Kerry Brennan Bertram. They provide a workplace that emphasizes their employees' strengths and gives them opportunities for advancement within the company.

Stride has partnered with a number of companies, including Schneider, and now all Schneider pens sold in the US are packaged, labeled, shipped, and sometimes assembled by Stride employees. So, when you purchase a Schneider pen, you're also supporting a company that's doing a great deal of good in the world.

If that's not reason enough (it is), those pens you're getting are also awesome products.

The ballpoint pens are called the Slider Rave XB. They're retractable, with a solid, satisfying click. The body is ergonomic and rubberized and the clip is one of the best ever. It's strong, well-anchored, flexible, and wide enough to clip to a thick book cover. The ink is waterproof, fast-drying, and available in black, blue, red, and green. The pen is refillable with the long Slider 755 XB refill. The 1.4 mm stainless steel tip uses Viscoglide Technology, so the pen writes very smoothly, almost like a gel pen. It's a fantastic workhorse pen and should write for a whopping 2.5 miles. I wish I could stash these in every office supply closet in the world.

Another Schneider offering is the Xpress Fineliner. These have the same rubberized ergonomic shape and awesome clip as the Slider Rave, but have a cap closure and the familiar felt tip. The tip is .8 mm and protected by a metal casing. The ink is waterproof and available in red, black, blue, green, purple, and pink. The ink's claim to fame is that it will not dry up even if left uncapped for a few days. These tips really glide over the page and give you a smooth, crisp line. My only gripe is that I wish there were more colors, and then I would want all of them.

Fortunately, when I need a pop of color, Schneider has the Link-it markers. These are a total marvel. It looks like a set of mini-markers--half 1 mm felt tip and half .4 mm fineliner. And it is--but then they transform into a mech supermarker. The back ends have a clever and unique snap system that securely links them together. I've seen markers that link together before, but not like this. They look like normal pen ends, but if you press down the spring-loaded green sleeve, you can see a yellow locking mechanism. This is some really cool engineering and they are way fun to play with. And, as with other Schneider products, the writing experience is fantastic. Both tips write wonderfully and there's a great variety of color. They come in a handy easel stand. The rubberized triangle profile is comfortable to hold so you can color to your heart's content.

Schneider products are also extremely environmentally friendly. They are made almost entirely from bio-based materials, Co2 neutral, and carry the prestigious Environmental Management System (EMAS) verification.

If you want to do good by your fellow humans, your planet, and your pen cup, I'm not sure you could do better that this. I am totally and happily won over.

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

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Posted on September 6, 2018 by Sarah Read and filed under Schneider, Pen Reviews.

Platinum 3776 Kumpoo Fountain Pen: A Review

*The Platinum Kumpoo pictured with a replica of the Tyndale New Testament*

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

Lately I have been on a turquoise fountain-pen-buying binge. One of my purchases was the Platinum 3776 Kumpoo fountain pen with a soft medium nib.

The pen comes in a turquoise outer cardboard box and white, clamshell inner box. Included are a Platinum pamphlet, a warranty card, a blotting card with a description of the pen, and one cartridge.

“Kumpoo” is a Japanese word that means “balmy breeze.” The Platinum 3776 Kumpoo fountain pen is designed to evoke the breezes that blow around Mt. Fuji in Japan. Thus, the pen’s surface is carved with waves that represent those balmy breezes and the color of the pen reflects the beautiful skies surrounding Mt. Fuji.

Even the metal piece in the finial is a tribute to Mt. Fuji.

Each pen cap is engraved with a limited edition number. Mine is 1551 out of 2500.

The cap has a smooth silver clip and a ring engraved with “Platinum 3776 Century Made in Japan.”

The pen is medium-sized at 5.5 inches/139.7mm capped, 4.7 inches/119.8mm uncapped, and 6 inches/152.4 posted. It weighs only 24.3 grams.

The pen fills via cartridge or the included converter. Platinum converters only hold 0.5ml of ink, so expect to refill it often if you write lengthy tomes. One thing I like about Platinum converters is, if the converter gets sticky over time, you can disassemble it and use silicone grease to get it working properly again.

I chose a medium-soft 14k nib. Platinum nibs are much more narrow than Western nibs, so a medium is really like a Western fine. I have several Platinum 3776 pens, and my favorite size nib is the medium. The soft-medium is especially nice. It gives the nib some spring while you write, but it is not meant to be a flex nib, so there’s little line variation.

Writing with the Kumpoo is a pleasure. The nib is smooth and bouncy, and the pen itself is comfortable in the hand. Since Platinum nibs and Nakaya nibs are made by the same manufacturer, you can enjoy the experience of a Nakaya in a much less expensive pen.

I really love my Platinum Kumpoo. It’s a beautiful pen, especially with the added texture, which picks up light and makes it stand out from standard Platinum fountain pens. I owned an Omas Ogiva in turquoise with an extra flessibile nib. I wanted to love that pen because I paid an awful lot for it; plus it was a piston filler. But, the Omas was frustrating from the beginning--ink kept leaking into the grip section and the pen would dry out quickly. The Kumpoo is just as beautiful as the Omas, and even though it isn’t a piston-filler, the Platinum “slip and seal” mechanism in the cap means that the pen does not dry out. The soft-medium nib might not have flex, but it offers one of the best writing experiences.

Unfortunately, finding a Platinum Kumpoo may be pretty difficult now. All the dealers I checked (Goldspot, Goulet, JetPens, nibs.com, Pen Chalet, and Vanness) were out of stock. That said, Platinum is apparently producing several pens in the Fuji Shunkei series (the first was the Shungyo and the second is the Kumpoo). So, even if you can’t get this particular limited edition, hopefully new editions will be added to the series.

Pros

In my opinion this is one of the most beautiful iterations of the Platinum 3776 series because of the textured surface and the color.
I love all the symbolism the creators included in the pen.
The pen is a good size for most users and is very light.
The soft-medium nib is my favorite nib. It is smooth and bouncy and writes perfectly.

Cons

Writers who prefer pens with heft will probably think the Platinum is too light and plasticky.
The converter only holds 0.5ml of ink (though cartridges hold 1.5ml).
Unfortunately, the Kumpoo seems to be sold out or nearly sold out, so if you want one, you’ll need to keep your eye on sales at pen forums or eBay.

(I purchased my Platinum Kumpoo from Vanness Pens at a discount.)

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