Kaweco Sport Stainless Steel and PenBBS Ink now at Vanness Pens (Sponsor)

Kaweco makes the best pocket fountain pens, and the newly released Kaweco Sport Stainless Steel may be the best of an incredible bunch. Vanness Pens has this, and all, models of Kaweco ready to ship, with free shipping on US orders over $40.

The Sport Stainless Steel features a fully stainless steel barrel, made to withstand all of your every day carry needs. When posted, it provides a full-sized writing experience, and when capped it is a compact, portable, and sleek pen that can slide into the smallest pockets. The Sport Stainless Steel comes in nib sizes ranging from EF to BB.

PenBBS inks are the newest ink brand to land at Vanness Pens, with over 35 shades currently available. This Chinese brand started over a decade ago as a project from a fountain pen message board, and has created over 100 inks during that time. Vanness now has the 60ml bottles and 4ml samples available, with a wide range of colors to choose from.

Vanness Pens makes it easy to shop for all of your pen, paper, and ink needs with a huge inventory and free US shipping on orders over $40. My thanks to them for sponsoring The Pen Addict this week.

Posted on September 11, 2017 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Featured Sponsor.

Franklin-Christoph S.I.G. Flex Nib Review

I’ve had my Franklin-Christoph S.I.G. Flex Nib in regular use for a couple of months now, and I find two statements to be true about it’s performance:

It is an awesome feeling nib.
There is little line variation.

When I have talked about this nib in other places I keep saying it is not a flex nib. That’s not exactly true. It does flex in the literal sense, as in the tines spread and the nib bends, but it does not provide what I consider to be flex nib output, meaning noticeable line variation when pushed. Not with light pressure, not with heavy pressure. But that doesn’t keep this nib from being great in my book.

What this nib provides is bounce, not flex. You can push the nib and watch the tines spread. It is a fantastic feel, and a great writing experience. Just don’t expect much line variation. My fine S.I.G. grind goes from a medium width line to a mediumer line. And I’m ok with that because my line looks great and the nib feels great.

S.I.G. stands for Stub Italic Gradient, which is a nib grind done by F-C’s in house nib meister Jim Rouse. It is perfect for someone like me who enjoys a cursive italic grind but without the sharp edges is often comes with. This grind smooths those edges out while keeping the horizontal and vertical line variation that I enjoy so much.

To achieve flex in this nib, Jowo (the nib manufacturer) added cutouts above the shoulders of the nib. In theory, this allows the tip to be pushed when writing for added flex. The output just isn’t as impressive as the look. Nib meisters have added cutouts and slits to nibs for years to provide added flex. Jowo, and other nib manufacturers, are now adding this feature as a stock offering, which is a good sign that they are listening to us consumers. Just don’t be confused about what you are actually purchasing.

If you are looking for line variation as found with a traditional flex nib, this is not the nib for you. If you are looking for a wonderful writing nib with a ton of character and fun, then check out the S.I.G. flex nib. I’m completely enamored with mine and enjoy using it. I may even add a second one to the lineup one day.

(This nib was purchased at full price with my own funds.)

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Posted on September 11, 2017 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Franklin-Christoph, Fountain Pens, Nibs, Pen Reviews.

Visconti Rembrandt Silver Shadow Fountain Pen: 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 Visconti Rembrandt Silver Shadow is a variegated resin pen in a silver/grey color. The resin is meant to evoke Rembrandt’s use of chiaroscuro (tonal contrasts that create a 3-D effect) in his paintings. You can see that effect in the photo of the resin below:

The pen comes in a large Visconti clamshell box in brown with a soft cream interior. A Visconti booklet is enclosed. My loaner pen came with two different converters, but I’m sure it normally arrives with just one.

The Rembrandt is one of the smaller Visconti pens. It is 140mm capped, 160mm posted, and 125mm unposted. It weighs 33 grams.

The cap is adorned with the Visconti finial (and you can replace this with Visconti’s “My Pen” system), the arched Visconti spring clip, and a beautiful cap ring engraved with Rembrandt’s name and etchings that are based on the artist’s work. The cap snaps on using a magnetic system that is rather unique.

Unfortunately, my Rembrandt came with a faulty finial. It fell off the moment I removed the pen from its cellophane wrapper. It looks as though the glue that holds the magnetic base for the finial came loose. This is one of those things that could be a fluke, or it could be an indication of quality control issues that seem to be common with Visconti pens

In addition to that issue, I noticed what might be a flaw in the resin. It’s tiny, but noticeable and looks like a crack in the resin. It feels smooth to the touch, however, so it may simply be a place where darker resin pooled.

One beautiful detail that I almost didn’t notice is a ruthenium (I think) bottom finial. It is barely noticeable from the side, but from the bottom, it shines like a mirror. It provides a nice balance to the cap finial.

The nib is a fine stainless steel coated in black with Visconti’s lovely scroll work. It is really quite beautiful and goes well with the grey color of the pen.

The grip is ruthenium-coated. As with most metal grips, it can become slippery if you have sweaty fingers. But, because this pen is light, I found it easy to write with in spite of the fact that I normally don’t like metal grips.

The pen fills with either short international cartridges or the enclosed converter.

I found the Rembrandt to be quite comfortable for writing. The pen is a little small, but not so much that I found my hand cramping. The stainless steel nib was smooth and exhibited no problems like hard starting or skipping. It is, however, a very stiff nib and offers absolutely no flex or give. Although the nib is labeled a fine, it wrote more like a medium with Iroshizuku Take-Sumi ink.

I wrote a portion of the first chapter of The Hobbit in my Clairefontaine French-ruled notebook to put the pen through its paces. It wrote flawlessly, and by the end of the page my hand was not fatigued.

You can purchase the Visconti Rembrandt fountain pen in Silver Shadow from Goldspot Pens for $175. I found the Rembrandt to be a sweet smaller pen that wrote well and looks quite classy, but I think $175 is rather expensive for this pen, considering that it is plastic, has a steel nib, and is not a piston filler. The Rembrandt comes in other colors as well: red, purple, blue, and black. Not all have the black nib, however.

Pros

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this little Visconti. I love the grey/silver color and the black nib.
The nib on this pen is unyielding but smooth. The fine wrote more like a medium, so if you like a finer line, you might see if you can get the nib in extra fine.
The pen is comfortable in the hand, and, despite the metal finial, I didn’t have trouble holding the pen even when my fingers got sweaty.

Cons

My pen arrived with two flaws: a faulty finial that fell off the pen upon removal from the cellophane and a possible small flaw in the resin (which could just be where a darker portion of resin pooled).
This is not a pen for people who have large hands or who like large, hefty pens.
Visconti pens can be hit or miss in terms of nib quality out of the box. I was pleased that this steel nib wrote smoothly. But if you can, have your retailer test the nib and tune it before shipping.
For a plastic pen with a steel nib and converter system, $175 seems too high pricewise.

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

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