New Fountain pen

 

Property of Stormberry

After such a long time, I finally have a Kaweco Sport Brass fountain pen. This is one of those pens I have had in my hand before, in a store, but didn't buy it because at that moment I couldn't justify the price to myself. I actually received it last week, and though I haven't used it quite a lot, I'm slowly adding it to my pen line up.

Many years ago there use to be a Kaweco store here, and that's where I bought my two Kaweco Sports in plastic (a black one with golden nib and finial, and after that one went missing, a taupe one with silver nib and finial), and my Kaweco Student (yellow). I didn't like much my first Kaweco because of the golden elements, as I don't really like gold. However, after it got lost (eventually appeared in my dad's car, as it had escaped my bag and fell under the seat) I started missing it dearly, regretting not liking it just because it had gold, and so I bought the taupe one. That was, I believe, three weeks after the black one got lost, and it was an impulse buy. The day after I bought the taupe one, the black one reappeared. The Prodigal Kaweco.

In that store I had also seen the much coveted Brass and Steel pens, as well as the aluminium one and the Liliput. The aluminium one I didn't like because of how light it is, and the Liliput one I wanted to like, but it's so thin it feels wrong in my hand. And it's not like it's much thinner than a pencil or mechanical pencils I have used and used comfortably in the past, but there is something about the Liliput that no matter how I tried, I just couldn't hold it comfortably in my hands. I thought I would like the Steel pen better than the Brass because of the silvery color, but the texture given to the Steel pens again felt wrong in my hands. But not the Brass. The Brass felt perfect. It was just the price that was way too steep for me.

I pondered and pondered on that pen until the store was gone and the the pandemic hit and all was closed down. That's when I started to really, really want the pen. I watched videos of people unboxing it, using it and so on, and my desire for the pen grew. I put it in and out of my carts in JetPens.com and Amazon.com, waiting for the moment and the way to buy it.

And then, a friend of mine made a trip to Canada, and that was my opening. I asked her if it would be too much of me to purchase the pen and send it to her address in Canada and she said not at all. And actually, since she was staying with family, she offered me to use their account there, to get Prime rates, and I could repay her. And so I did that. I searched for the perfect option in Amazon Canada, sent her the link and was ready to pay her as soon as she gave me the go. The purchase was made, arrived, unboxed in a video message, paid and then she returned, we met, and I had to be so composed not to scream like crazy when I've got the pen.

I bought it with converters because I'm a converter kind of fountain pen user, not a cartridge kind, but the pen came - as usual - with one cartridge, so I popped it in at once to try it out. Or I tried to. The cartridge was a Kaweco blue cartridge, and it didn't want to pop in. It actually bent and deformed a little, so it was difficult to set. I managed to plop it in somewhat and get the pen writing, but by the the next day the cartridge was loose, so I used a needle to suck the ink out, pour it in a converter and use it that way. So far, it has been working well.

Property of Stormberry

I like having the pen in my hand, and it writes smoothly. I'm not using it currently to journal, as I decided that I want to journal only in green ink in this book - except for accent colors or notes that are better noted in a different color (for instance, when I'm "backlogging") - and the pen is still inked with blue. However, today I decided to use it in my planner as a tryout, and to my delight the F nib is as thin as a 0.3 mm pen, or at least a 0.3 Staedler pen. The blue color is light and agreeable, so I think I'll be able to use it for planning, giving it all the use I want, exposing it to my hand so that it ages well, with me, getting fair use.

I can say, I am happy with this pen, and it came to my life not a moment too soon.

My First Kaweco

Source: property of Stormberry

On Sunday, while my folks were washing my dad's car, they found a fountain pen I thought I've lost - or worse yet, someone had snitched. This was my first ever Kaweco fountain pen.

To be perfectly honest, when I bought it in... was it july? Earlier? I bought it on a whim because my best friend Prue told me about this Kaweco Shop in our country and I HAD TO have one. You know the feeling, right? Right? ... No? Oh... me neither.

Anyway, when I entered the store I knew what I wanted - in broad lines: I wanted the classic Kaweco style pen. Originally I had my eyes set on something like the demonstrator (though I don't really like it, because the material is cloudy, not crystal clear) or a brass one. Up close the demonstrator definitively wasn't what I wanted, and the brass one was too expensive for what I would pay for a pen... like that. Now, don't get me wrong, the pen isn't all that expensive, when you consider the normal range of prices for fountain pens available for the middle range collector, BUT I measure the price of pens based on what can I pay, and how much am I willing to pay depending on the aesthetics and feel of the pen.

Checking the whole selection available, I decided in the end to get a black Kaweco Sport. The one thing I didn't like was the golden nib and the golden inscription, since I like silver much better than gold. When I tried this pen, I also found issues with the glide of the nid, which for me was too toothy.

Given the experience I had with it, I was displeased but I took it like a pen-test. I tried it and I didn't like it. Then it got lost within the week I bought it. :-(

I was sad but also not so sad, because I didn't really liked the pen... but I kinda missed it. This is how the next weekend I went back and bought my second Kaweco Sport in a skin-like color, with silver nib and silver inscription. And with this one I was very pleased! From time to time I missed my scratchy black, but then I bought also by beloved ... I have no idea what it's called... Student, I believe. Anyway, I have a new, yellow Kaweco fountain pen that doesn't have the shape of the Sport. It came in a tin box, which I love, and has many chrome details, which I don't like, BUT the pen is fabulous to write with, so I forgive the chrome.

My life was all nice and happy, and then my mom comes into the house and asks me:

"Is this yours?" holding up a scratched black stick.

My eyes just bulged out, because Sweet Gods! It was my first Kaweco Sport! I was so, so, so happy! I quickly took the pen, checked it, and noted that I love it all the more now that it's all scratched and scarred. I washed it out and filled it up with ink from a bottle my adorable friend Arjen sent my way - Sailor 731. I tried it in my journal... and it's still scratchy like a scared, wet cat. But it's back to me!

Isn't life something so interesting?