Pilot Vanishing Point with Special Alloy Nib Review

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

As a self-professed Pilot Vanishing Point (or Capless) fan, I was a little surprised at myself for not owning one with the “Special Alloy” nib, which I will be referring to as “steel” even though I don’t know for certain what alloy they used. I think “old me” had fallen into the trap of gold must be better than steel, especially since all the VP/Decimo/Fermo/etc pens had gold nibs, so I never really gave it much thought. At one point, I wanted to have Hiroko Makino of Bokumondoh do some urushi & raden work on a VP for me, so I went and ordered this steel VP because it’s significantly cheaper than a gold one, and I didn’t have the time to wait for a deal on the secondary market. I figured I could always swap in one of the other gold VP nib units later. I opted to send her different pens, so I decided to ink up this VP anyway to see how it wrote.

Pilot Vanishing Point, Deep Yellow with steel Fine nib (left), Blue Carbonesque with 18kt gold Fine nib (right.)

I originally put Jacques Herbin Brun Eiffel in the Deep Yellow VP cuz you know me and matchy matchy inks. I inked up the Blue Carbonesque VP with De Atramentis Sherlock Holmes (aka “Night Blue”). Paper is Kokuyo Perpanep Tsuru Tsuru.

Blue Carbonesque VP (top) and Deep Yellow VP (bottom.)

Despite both nibs being Fine, the gold nib felt just a wee bit softer and also gave a slightly wider line. The steel VP nib definitely felt more nail-like by comparison, not that the gold nib was bouncy or flexy by any stretch. But I could definitely feel the difference between the two.

So then I thought, well, maybe it’s the ink, so I put Brun Eiffel in the 18kt gold VP nib, and both nibs felt a bit more similar.

Both had similar line widths in print but it was more obvious with cursive, that the steel nib had a finer line.

Zooming in on some lines and squiggles, you can see that the top lines (18kt gold) are slightly wider than the bottom ones (steel.)

While I wouldn’t say the Jacques Herbin Brun Eiffel was a dry ink, it certainly isn’t as wet as De Atramentis, so I went and cleaned out the Deep Yellow VP and inked that up with DA Sherlock Holmes. I was surprised that the wetter ink didn’t produce a wider line, if anything, it almost looks like it is finer than it was with the Brun Eiffel, especially in print. I did a bit of writing after cleaning and inking to make sure it wasn’t due to a wet feed, etc., so it doesn’t make any sense.

Both pens inked up with De Atramentis Sherlock Holmes, the steel nib gave a thinner line, especially with print. The difference is less obvious with cursive.

Once again the 18kt gold nib (top) produced wider lines than the steel nib.

Before you jump to any conclusions about steel vs gold, I would also like to add that the steel writing experience was quite nice. I definitely prefer Medium nibs (in general) to Fine nibs, but the Deep Yellow VP with the steel nib wrote well and I didn’t have any problems with it in the 3 months that it’s been inked up. I’ve used it on 10 different occasions (thank you, FPC, for that handy data) and never had any hard starts, despite Brun Eiffel not being a super wet ink. I don’t love the EF VP nibs (or most EF nibs, for that matter), so this steel Fine is about as fine as I would want to write with on a regular basis. I was very pleasantly surprised at the experience and am glad I bought it.

The “special alloy” nib Pilot Vanishing Points are also available in Medium (I didn’t see any when I was originally shopping for it) as well as Fine, and seem to only be available in Black, Dark Blue, and Deep Yellow. I would assume that the Medium steel nib would feel similar, e.g. finer than the gold Medium, with a stiffer/firmer writing experience. To my knowledge, these steel nib Vanishing Points aren’t sold by US retailers besides Amazon, which was where I ordered mine. Prices range from $75-95 before sales tax. Considering a VP nib unit alone costs about $90-110, this is a pretty good way to try a real Pilot VP (not clone, homage, etc) to make sure you really like it.

(Disclaimer: I purchased mine on Amazon last year and it seems to be currently unavailable in Fine in the Deep Yellow. Here is a non-affiliate link to the Dark Blue VP, Fine, Special Alloy.)

The Pen Addict Podcast: Episode 669 - Two Grand Budapest

Cult Pens x Diamine Pride Colours Ink Set.

It never felt like vaporware, but I did start to wonder what was happening with Wes Anderson’s Schreiberling. Now we know … or do we? Myke and I also dig in to what we are using, discuss the latest TWSBI ECO, and revisit our journaling conversation from the previous week.

Show Notes & Download Links

This episode of The Pen Addict is sponsored by:

St. Louis Pen Show: Join us June 26-29. Tickets on sale now!

Enigma Stationery: Unique items, top brands and hard-to-find imports. Get a free gift and free US shipping on orders of $50 or more.

Factor: Healthy, fully-prepared food delivered to your door.

Galen Leather Magnetic Flap Five Pen Case Review

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

There's always room in my collection for new bags and cases, even if I seem to run out of space to store these things every so often. It's difficult to decline new cases and bags that fit a single purpose because of course we want to be prepared for that single eventuality. In practice, you can never be sure if a bag or case will truly fit the purpose you have in mind until you've had some time to try it for yourself. Sometimes, you discover that the bag or case just doesn't work like you had hoped, and you have to rotate it out of your collection. But for the times where the new bag or case fits that need perfectly, it's all worth it.

The Galen Leather Magnetic Flap Case is a well-crafted addition to any pen storage collection. What caught my eye most is the fact that this case has an individual pen slot for each pen inside the larger case. This means you get a little more protection for each pen since they stay nice and cozy in their little area.

The next thing that caught my attention is the magnetic closure design. I'm a big sucker for magnets, and I'm always interested in something includes magnets as part of the open/closing mechanism. For this case, there's a strong magnet that holds the flap against the front of the case. It's strong enough to keep the flap in place when other objects come in contact or move across the case, but it still only requires a little effort to actually open. Closing is a snap, since the magnets are obliged to follow the laws of physics.

The materials used with this case are the same level of quality you'll find in other Galen Leather products, which is to say the quality is excellent. I'm a big fan of the Crazy Horse Green colorway that they offer, but there are plenty of other great colors to pick from for this case.

This colorway uses a leather with a dark green hue, and then it's also been distressed a bit to look more worn in. Even with this effect, you can expect even more character to develop as you use the case. All of the seams and joints are strong and neat. When you handle this case, it feels like an object that was made by hand (because it was) with a high level of care and attention to detail.

Being a leather product, you can expect a bit of "breaking in" as you start using it. For me, this mostly meant that the individual pen slots were a little tight on some pens at the beginning, but they loosened up a bit with use. The cool thing about magnets is that they won't wear out any time soon, so the closing mechanism on this case should hold up much longer than the case.

For me, this case is for carrying fountain pens. For that purpose, I think it works great. There's enough room for five full-size fountain pens to fit snugly while still being easy to remove them or stow them back in their pockets. I have found that this case works much better if you position the pens so that the clip (if the pen has a clip) isn't attached to the leather sleeve. I just store the pen with the clip facing the open space of the sleeve where it connects to the larger case assembly — the clip is just tucked into the corner.

While you can use any case in the way that makes sense for you, I don't think this case will work well for gel pens, pencils, or other small diameter pens. Wood case pencils won't fit unless they're about a third used, and other small diameter pens won't stay put, diminishing the value of a case that keeps pens separated while stored. Sure, you can use the pen clip to ensure it won't move, but that adds effort to the process of stowing or removing the pen from the case. In my use, this case fits the purpose of carrying several fountain pens in a stylish, protective fashion.

The Galen Leather Magnetic Flap Five Pen Case is a great case for carrying around a few fountain pens, and it will keep them nice and secure in the process. I love the strong magnetic closure mechanism and the distressed look of the leather material. It's something that I'm sure will last longer than me, and I love the warm hand-made feel that elevates it something more than just an inanimate object. For $74, you can pick up your own case in Crazy Horse Green or any of the other excellent colors that Galen Leather offer.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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