Ink Review: Noodler's Bad Belted Kingfisher

June 15, 2015 by Lori Beck in Ink Review

Noodler's Bad Belted Kingfisher
Pen: Lamy AL-Star 1.1 stub
Paper: Rhodia Dotpad 80gsm
Shading: low to moderate
Saturation: high
Flow: wet
Dry Time: 15 seconds

I recently tried another one of Noodler's warden series of inks - Bad Belted Kingfisher - when a family member visited who had it inked up in his pen. One of the more surprising things about this ink is how similar it looks to Bad Blue Heron, which is also part of the warden series. In fact when I used it I asked him, "Is this Bad Blue Heron?" That's one thing that's puzzled me about those two colors - why have a couple inks that are so similar to one another in the same line? They have black, green and blue covered, so I would have liked to see a red in the mix instead of a second blue - just my opinion though.

Nathan Tardiff created the Warden Series of inks to combat both currently existing forgery techniques, as well as ones that haven't actually been observed by law enforcement as of yet. The inks are what he calls "combination lock" inks, that have a set aging and component variable that are different on a per-bottle basis. Essentially they each have a unique fingerprint; this makes it impossible for a forger to have an ink exactly identical to your bottle, making the forgery process nearly impossible. In addition to the standard Bulletproof and washing-resistent properties that a lot of the Noodler's inks have, the Warden Series inks are also laser proof - pretty cool!

Bad Belted Kingfisher is a nice deep blue with a very high saturation level. It does a great job of not feathering on good paper, though if you lay it on thick like I did with my 1.1 stub, you'll get some ghosting on the back side of the page; no bleedthrough though. Compared to Bad Blue Heron, Kingfisher is a tad bit darker and more saturated, so there's less shading. Heron maintains a very similar color, but has more shading and overall variation depending on how your writing.

Bad Belted Kingfisher is a great forgery-resistant ink. If you already have Bad Blue Heron, I wouldn't bother picking up Kingfisher unless you're a completionist and want the whole warden set (trust me, I totally understand!). You can pick up a bottle from Goulet or a similar retailer for $12.50/3oz.

Thanks for reading!
Lori

Ink Review: Franklin-Christoph Midnight Emerald

June 14, 2015 by Lori Beck in Ink Review

Franklin-Christoph Midnight Emerald
Pen: Franklin-Christoph Model 40 Pocket - Masuyama Medium Cursive Italic
Paper: Rhodia Dotpad 80gsm
Shading: high
Saturation: medium
Flow: medium
Dry Time: 13 seconds

After seeing all of the amazing photos online of Franklin-Christoph's pens, especially the "ice" models, I knew I had to have one. Never has a company impressed me as much with their unique designs as Franklin-Christoph has. Of course this review isn't about the pen itself, (that will come soon!) but about the ink that I bought along with the pen.

Midnight Emerald is a fairly new ink to the Franklin-Christoph line, and is one that I'm convinced will be one of their best sellers in due time. I likely wouldn't have given an ink of this shade a second glance if it hadn't been for seeing Jeff Abbot's post on The Pen Addict. He'd bought the same pen I was interested in, and when I saw the way this ink looked in the barrel of an eyedropper-converted Model 40 Pocket, I knew I had to have it.

Arguably the best thing about Midnight Emerald is its incredible shading properties. With my medium cursive italic nib, it lays down enough ink to give quite a nice variation in color. Depending on the speed at which you write, the ink will go from a deep blueish-green to a lighter medium teal. It isn't overly saturated, and flows wet, but not so wet as to drown out the variations in color. It doesn't feather at all on your standard fountain pen friendly papers, and there's no ghosting or bleed to speak of.

Shortly after picking up a bottle of Midnight Emerald, I grabbed a sample of Noodler's Squeteague to see how it compared. It's actually very close in comparison, but leans more green than blue, unlike Midnight Emerald which exhibits more blue than green. A lot of folks also compare Midnight Emerald to Sailor Yama-dori, though I've not had the opportunity to do the comparison myself yet. From the pictures in Jeff's post, I'd say they're very close.

Chromatography shows the ink to be comprised of a royal blue, brown-ish red, and yellow tones. I was surprised to see very little green in the mix!

If you've not tried Midnight Emerald yet, you definitely should! Unfortunately, Franklin-Christoph doesn't do ink sampling, but if you're a fan of Yama-dori or Squeteague and want an ink with incredible shading, then it's worth picking up a bottle. You can pick it up at franklin-christoph.com for $12.50/2oz.

Thanks for reading!
Lori

Pen Review: Kaweco Fantasie Pen

June 13, 2015 by Lori Beck in Pen Review

Kaweco Fantasie Pen
Length Capped: 141mm
Length Uncapped: 127.5mm
Length Posted: 175.5mm
Section at Thinnest Point: 8mm
Section at Widest Point: 9mm
Weight with Converter: This will vary a little (you'll see what I mean in a second!) - my pen is 56.4g
Fast Writing: Keeps up very well
Line Variation: You can squeeze out a little
Upside Down Writing: Scratchy on cross strokes, but gives a nice extra-fine line
Wetness: Medium
Pros: Neat concept, uniquely yours, great nib, makes a great gift
Cons: Thin section, can be challenging if you don't have the right tools, booklet templates aren't to scale

Most folks in the pen community are fairly familiar with the Kaweco Sport line of pens, the Student, the Liliput and the Allrounder - but I've seen very few, if any, references to the Kaweco Fantasie pen. The Fantasie (or Fantasy if you're in the US) pen is a very unique writing instrument in that it doesn't come to you in the completed state. Instead, it is designed to be individually decorated by the user with FIMO modeling clay. When I had decided to get the pen I didn't even realize that there was anything special about it until I checked out Kaweco's website - I really love this idea! It's a great way for people to get a great writing fountain pen in a design that's all their own. The mastermind behind this awesome concept is Kaweco's CEO Michael Gutberlet, who is also the chief designer at the company. The Fantasie some in both a fountain pen and ballpoint versions, for those of you who've not come to realize the amazing world of fountain pens just yet.

The pen is designed to be completely disassembled so that the clay can be applied to the cap and barrel, and then hardened in the oven. It comes with a handy booklet that explains the process in great detail with a lot of pictures. After going through the booklet and seeing what all I needed, I headed to Hobby Lobby to grab some clay. Of course, my local Hobby Lobby didn't carry the colors that I wanted in the FIMO brand, so I grabbed some Sculpey instead. Either will work, just be mindful that the baking temperatures can vary by brand. I chose red and black for my Louisville Cardinals (I should mention that I'm also a Hoosiers fan since I am originally from the other side of the river). A single block of clay will cover the pen with plenty left over, so if you're going for multiple colors you'll have more than enough to go around if you happen to mess up your design.

I had my clay, an X-acto knife, an old cutting board and a rolling pin and was ready to get to work. You'll note that the first bit of instructions in the booklet mention that if you work the clay for too long that the colors will mix together and a new color will be formed - this definitely happened to me, so be sure to make note of that when you're working colors together. After I'd sufficiently swirled my clay and had a fairly decent little design, it was time to roll it out and cut it. The booklet has a page with a couple of boxes on it that seem to indicate that they can be cut out and used to measure when you cut your clay - this unfortunately turned out to be completely false, as they were nowhere near close to scale. That was frustrating, because then I had to track down a ruler with millimeters which I didn't end up having in my house. Ultimately I used my calipers which were a little painful, but got the job done.

If you're not a regular user of clay, as I am not, then you'll find that it's very difficult to get the exact thickness of the clay without a clay rolling machine. This proved to be the most challenging part of the process for me, and I ultimately ended up just guessing. In an effort to avoid completely deforming my cutouts, I decided I'd put them on and sand away anything that was too thick after it baked. One they were wrapped around each part of the pen, I used the flat surface of my cutting board to roll out any creases and imperfections. I used my X-acto knife to cut away any jagged edges on the ends, and then it was time to bake!

Before you throw anything into the oven - make SURE that you've completely disassembled the pen, and have removed everything but the completely empty barrels. The pen will have a Standard International cartridge on the inside as well as a plastic o-ring for the cap - all of those must be removed before baking. The clip, nib section and finial should be removed as well. Once your oven is preheated, place the pieces standing upright on a baking sheet. I actually recommend you use a glass pan if you have it, because metal ones can tend to pop when heated and can cause the pieces to fall on their sides and flatten out the clay. If you're using FIMO clay, bake at 230 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 mins.

After the pieces have cooled, you'll likely notice that the clay has bubbled up in places like mine did. They weren't terribly noticeable but they definitely required some sanding. I had planned on sanding mine down anyways, so that wasn't a huge issue for me. When you do start sanding, make sure to use some masking tape to cover the chrome trim so you don't scratch it. I used 400 grit sandpaper, and it still took me FOREVER to sand the clay down flush with the metal trim - so it would have been really nice to have had a clay rolling machine handy. The ones at Hobby Lobby were priced at more than half the retail cost of the pen itself, so it just wasn't worth it to me.

Once you have everything sanded down, you'll notice that the clay has a dusty white residue from the sanding. I recommend that you apply some gloss to finish off the pen, which will remove the dusty white look and seal in the clay from outside damage. FIMO has both glossy and silky matte varnish to choose from; of course my Hobby Lobby didn't have them, so I picked up some Sculpey gloss. Unlike the FIMO brand, the Sculpey didn't have a brush in the bottle to apply the gloss, so if you can't find the FIMO you may want to pick up a cheap tiny paintbrush to apply the gloss if you don't have one laying around. I would also recommend that you keep the tape on the metal pieces during the glossing process, so that you don't have to worry about having to scrape it off later. It makes the painting process a lot easier, and helps you get a more even coating. After the gloss completely dries in 24 hours, your pen is ready to use!

One downside to the Fantasie Pen is that it is only available in a Medium nib size. Since it's more of a novelty item, I assume Kaweco wanted to make it an easy "one size fits all" purchase. The nib on the Fantasie is not the standard small Kaweco nib size, but a large size steel nib (roughly #6 I'd say, or maybe even a tad larger). I was very pleased with how this nib performed - it's one of the smoothest steel nibs I've used. There were no skips, hard starts, and hardly any feedback at all. If you're getting this for someone that's new to fountain pens, they'll never go back to using a ballpoint or rollerball again.

Depending on how thick you put on your clay, the pen will vary somewhat in weight. I can't imagine it'll vary too much though, because there's only so much or so little clay you can put on here. Regardless, the clay does add some heft to it. Mine weighed in at 56.4 grams with the cap, and 30.3g without the cap. I do find that it's a tad back-heavy, but not so much as to throw it off balance. One thing that I really do not care for is how thin the grip section is. It's also a slick chrome which, when coupled with the thinness, can really start to fatigue your hand after a while.

The design of the pen itself is quite unique. It's a fairly long pen, right around the size of a Lamy AL-Star. The cap tapers up from where it meets the body to an overall girth that's slightly wider than the body of the pen itself. Unscrewing the cap takes a full 360-degree turn, so you'll have to reposition your hands at least one time to complete it. The clip is designed in such a way that it will give way to the extra thickness of the newly applied modeling clay. Once the pen is finished the clip is perfectly flush with the body, and is neither loose nor too tight. Posting with this pen is possible, though quite uncomfortable in my experience. It adds quite a bit of length, and makes an already slightly back-weighted pen VERY backweighted.

The pen takes a Standard International short cartridge, or standard international converter. I purchased Kaweco's SI converter from JetPens and it works quite nicely.

I had really fun time creating this pen, and now have a really nice-writing fountain pen that is uniquely mine. Some of the designs in the booklet are awesome, and makes me wish I were a little better at this stuff. I can't complain too much about how my design turned out - even if my black clay turned out to be a maroon color instead. I applaud Kaweco for once again stepping outside the norm and giving fountain pen users something inventive and fun to create on their own. This pen would be a great gift for the creative person in your life, and would be a great gateway into the fountain pen world.

If you're interested in purchasing one of your own, check out JetPens. They are the only US site I've found so far that sells the pen, and they also carry some colors of the FIMO clay for your convenience. I will mention that the price on their FIMO is about double that of a local hobby store, so you may be better off grabbing that locally. The fountain pen version costs $54.50, and the ballpoint is $40.50.

(Kaweco has provided this product at no charge to The Desk for the purpose of review. My opinions are honest and without bias - visit the About Me page for more details).

Pen Review: Kaweco AL Sport - Anthracite

June 09, 2015 by Lori Beck in Pen Review

Kaweco AL Sport - Anthracite (F)
Length Capped: 106mm
Length Posted: 131mm
Length Uncapped: 100mm
Section at Thinnest Point: 9mm
Section at Widest Point: 9.5mm
Weight with Cartridge: 21.4g
Fast Writing: Keeps up well.
Line Variation: Not much at all; not practical.
Upside Down Writing: Very scratchy, but doable.
Wetness: Fairly dry, but partly due to the ink.
Pros: Nib writes well, aluminum body, color options
Cons: Converter options

If you're a regular reader of the blog, you know that grey is one of my favorite colors. When I saw that Kaweco carried a grey AL Sport in their line, I knew that would be the color for me. If you've read my Kaweco BRASS Sport review, or the Kaweco Skyline Sport review, then you're familiar with the looks of the Sports, but I'll go over that quickly here for those new to the site or these pens. Then we'll get into the review itself!

Parts of the Pen

Like all Kaweco Sport models, the pen features a fairly long cap with an octagonal facets. The body is cylindrical with a step down at the end leading to an end cap with a rounded top and a dimple in the middle. The section is tapered and flared, and has a small grouping of threads at the top where the cap screws on - the threads can sometimes squeak when you screw the cap on, which to some people may seem like nails on a chalkboard. Most of the time it's not an issue for me, but it does happen here and there. I'm assuming with age that issue will get better. Finally, the finial is very slightly conical and features the 3-syllable Kaweco logo.

Review

The Anthracite grey AL Sport is a spiffy looking pen. The aluminum barrel has a nice satin/matte looking finish and feels great in the hands. It has a decent weight to it, not too heavy and not too light, at 21.4g with a nearly full cartridge installed. Due to the pen's length, most people tend to post it, and I've found the weight is balanced enough to be able to write both posted and unposted comfortably.

Fortunately I got a really great nib in this pen. It's a fine nib and was aligned perfectly when I got it and has not seemed to skip or hard start so far. I always make sure to flush a new pen out and clean the feed before using it to get all the machine oils and manufacturing debris out of there. Once I inked it up for the first time, it wrote like a dream and still does.

One thing that will always be an issue with the Kaweco Sport pens is the converter options. Since the pen is aluminum, eyedropper conversion isn't an option sadly. The pen takes Standard International short cartridges, and most full sized converters will not fit in the body of the pen. That leaves you with a few options: use only prefilled Standard International Cartridges, refill a used cartridge with a bottled ink and a syringe, or pick up one of the few converter options. The Monteverde Mini Converter, which is a plunger style, will fit in the sport pen but I believe that the plunger cannot be pulled out all the way. I've also heard that people have had issues with it not fitting the back of the feed properly, so there is the potential for leakage. Your second option is the Kaweco squeeze converter which is made specifically for the Kaweco Sport pens. It was recently redesigned to fit better in the new Sports, but a lot of people have issues getting a full fill with the squeeze mechanism. Another option is to fill the Squeeze Converter with a syringe, saving you the hassle of buying cartridges to refill, and avoiding the issue of getting a full fill. Finally, there is the Templar Mini Converter. Stephen Brown used one in his review of the Kaweco Sport RAW, and mentioned that it holds a bit more ink than the squeeze converter. I was going to wait for the Kaweco Squeeze converter to be restocked at JetPens, but I'm thinking the Templar converter will be my next purchase. I'll be sure to let you guys know how that works out!

I really love this pen - it's portable, lightweight, and seems very sturdy. I've always loved aluminum pens, so if you're into that too you'll really like the Kaweco AL Sport. The only real downside is the converter issue, but at least there are more options out there than there used to be. I'm excited at the prospect of this pen weathering over time, similar to the Kaweco AL Sport Stonewashed. I know it won't be as uniform, but I kind of like that idea. So if you have one of these pens, don't be afraid to let it get dinged, dented and scratched - it just adds character!

The Kaweco AL Sport sells for $80. As far as I can tell, the Anthracite color isn't sold by any of the US retailers (please correct me if I'm wrong on that!), but they do carry the Black, Blue, RAW, BRASS and Silver at most places. Keep an eye out for my Kaweco AL Sport Stonewashed version on the blog in the next week or so!

Thanks for reading!
Lori

(Kaweco has provided this product at no charge to The Desk for the purpose of review - I have since chosen to purchase the pen from them. My opinions are honest and without bias - visit the About Me page for more details).