Washington D.C. Fountain Pen Supershow 2014

Yesterday I booked my hotel room and plane tickets for the 2014 Washington D.C. Fountain Pen Supershow, held August 7-10 at the Sheraton Premiere in Tyson's Corner.  The D.C. Show's traditional website can be found here, but lately most of the updates have been on the facebook page. 

So why should you take the plunge and go?  Because this year it looks as if an All-Star cast of pendom will be in attendance, including:

  • Brian and Lisa Anderson of Anderson Pens
  • Richard Binder
  • Bryant Greer of Chatterley Luxuries and Pentime
  • Brian Gray of Edison Pens
  • Vanness Pens with their bottles of Akkerman Ink, and they will be accompanied this year by penmaker and nibmeister Shawn Newton
  • Fountain Pen Hospital from NYC, which typically holds a huge vintage pen and parts blowout sale on Friday
  • Total Fine Writing from Atlanta
  • Pendemonium
  • Nibs.com (although John Mottishaw will not be in attendance--apparently they will be taking orders and Mr. Mottishaw will be adjusting nibs remotely and mailing pens home)
  • Write Notepads
  • Sarj Minhas, the One-Man Pen Show
  • Stipula

And many, many more that I've not included here, simply because I don't have space.  This will be the third DC Pen Show I've attended.  The first year I was there (2012), I was privileged to witness Eric Schneider (formerly of FPGeeks) and SBRE Brown storm the ballroom in full-on tuxedos.  I also picked up a Montblanc 146 and a Stipula Etruria at ridiculously steep discounts.  2013 was a good show, but I don't recall it being as well attended as 2012.  I bought mainly ink and some parts to restore some vintage pens I was working on. 

So why should you attend? Well, the full-on pen geek immersion factor is something you really can't get anywhere else, except for maybe the L.A. show, which I have not attended (yet).  The DC show is the largest, with two huge ballrooms and a third lobby area full of pens.  You can meet all sorts of interesting people who are eager to tell you about anything pen related.  Second, the opportunity to shop for pens, ink, and paper in person is unavailable anywhere else.  The option to "try before you buy" and to save on shipping is great, especially if you live within driving distance.  Finally, it offers you a chance to prioritize:  with the opportunity to try so many different pens/ink/paper, you can comparison shop and determine what you love and can't live without, as opposed to things you merely "like," end up not using and regret purchasing later.  Assuming you have (1) a budget, and (2) self-control (there are many people there with neither), you can make more informed purchases instead of internet impulse buys.  

And, finally, no trip is complete without a late-night run to Ben's Chili Bowl, which may even top the Pen Show.  See you in August!  Please get in touch if you will be there and want to meet up.   

Ink Review: Pilot Blue-Black

Pilot-Namiki Blue-Black is a good workhorse ink:  it's not flashy, but it's reliable in the sense that it works on most types of paper and has a nice, classic blue-black tone that's appropriate for school, business and most other daily uses.  I have this ink in cartridge form (I picked up a package of 10 carts at Kinokuniya during my last visit to New York City), and it finds itself in regular rotation through my Vanishing Point and my Custom 74.  For a blue-black ink, the Pilot ink leans more to the "blue" end of the spectrum, especially when wet, although I would still consider this a "classic" blue-black.  Highly recommended.

As you might notice, the cartridges are proprietary, so you will only be able to use them in Pilot Pens.

Sample Paper is Exacompta Index Card.

Pen Review: Kaweco Elite

The second of two Kaweco pens loaned to me for review purposes is this Kaweco Elite, with a broad nib.  This review will be brief because I can be short and to-the-point on this one:  there's nothing wrong with this pen, but it's not for me, and certainly not at the $150+ price point where Kaweco has it listed. 

This is a nice-looking pen, albeit a bit clunky when posted.  It's a multifaceted resin body, with a metal/chrome cap.

The broad nib is much larger than the nib on the more common "sport" line of pens.  In fact, it looks nearly identical to the nib on the TWSBI 580, and writes very similarly as well.  I believe the TWSBI nibs are made by Bock or Jowo, two of the major German nib manufacturers, so it very well could be the same nib.   

A nice, high quality, stainless steel German broad nib.

This pen is very heavy due to the metal cap, and as a result was difficult for me to use posted.  I found no major flaws on either the body or the cap--it's a very nicely made pen.  I don't understand, however, where Kaweco thinks this pen fits in today's market.  This is a cartridge-converter steel-nibbed plastic/metal pen priced at $150, while TWSBI is currently selling a piston-filler that uses the same (or similar) nib for $55.  No matter how good a writer this pen is, that's a considerable delta on the price, and I'm not sure what the consumer is getting for that additional $95. 

In fairness to Kaweco, I only used this pen for the morning before I had to return it, so it's possible it would have grown on me.  I suspect, though, that the Elite is simply not a pen for me, and I'll continue to hold out until I get to try my Dia2 or an Allrounder with a larger nib.

Handwritten review of Kaweco Elite fountain pen.  You may recognize the mini-review of the Kaweco Blue-Black Ink at the bottom.

Ink Review: Kaweco Blue-Black

My apologies in advance for not having a photograph of the bottle, but this ink was given to me in single-cartridge form by a friend kind enough to loan me a couple pens for review.  Kaweco's expanded line of inks are fairly new (at least in their current bottle form), so there's not many reviews out there of the various colors.  In the brief time I spent with this ink, I really enjoyed it.  It's a blue-black ink that leans more towards the "steel blue" or "blue-grey" end of the spectrum, at least in a drier nib.  As you can see from my photographs, the more ink you lay on the paper, the more pure "blue" color you get in the writing sample. The ink shades nicely and is well- behaved.  The next time I'm in the market for a blue-black ink in this specific shade, Kaweco presents a very valid option!    

I tried this in two pens:  a Kaweco Elite with a broad nib, and a Jinhao x450 with a 1.1mm Goulet Stub.  The ink flowed well in both pens, although it tended to run a little dry in the stub after an extended period.  There was never any skipping or railroading, however.

Here you can see a close up of the shading, and compare the Kaweco ink with the Pilot Blue Black ink Cartridge and the Pilot Hi-Tec-C in Blue-Black, two of my favorite daily writers.

Here's the stub writing sample in close-up, using the previously reviewed Jinhao X-450. 

Pen Review: Kaweco Allrounder

I mentioned to a friend of mine that I was considering purchasing one of the full size Kawecos, and he offered to loan me two from his collection to test out for a day or so:  the Kaweco Allrounder and the Kaweco Elite.  I popped in a couple of Kaweco ink cartridges I had been meaning to try, and spent a long morning trying to decide whether these two pens were the pens for me.  After spending the morning with the Allrounder, I'm not 100% sold on Kaweco's full size pens as opposed to the Sport line.  That said, I'm sufficiently intrigued by the looks of the Kaweco Dia2 that I'm going to wait until I have a chance to try that pen before making a final decision whether or not to take the plunge.

The Kaweco Allrounder is a gorgeous pen.  It's also solidly constructed from machined aluminum, with stainless trim.  I'm a sucker for red pens, so this one had me from the get-go.

Build Quality

The Allrounder is an aluminum pen, much like the AL Sport, though this pen has a round barrel (as the name reflects).  The pen is very well machined and constructed.  Like the AL Sport, I imagine that it will collect some dings and scrapes with use and age, but as with the Sport that will add to the pen's character.  Despite being a metal pen, it's light (one of the virtues of aluminum as a material).  The cap screws on firmly, with no jiggling or rattling, and the clip is secure.  Typical high quality German construction from Kaweco!

You can get a sense of how nice looking and well constructed this pen is.  Note the nib, which I would venture is disproportionately small to the size of the pen.

The Nib

The nib is where this pen may have lost me.  Much has been made of the size of the nib:  it arguably looks too small for the pen.  Kaweco has used the same great nib from the Sport line, but on this larger pen, it seems a bit undersized.  Also, this particular nib was a double broad.  I'm not one to use a double broad for general day-to-day writing, unless it's a stub.  However, I can still appreciate a smooth, generously flowing B or BB nib when I use one.  This nib gave me some trouble because the ink flow was inconsistent and required me to use heavy pressure in order for the pen not to skip.  If I do end up purchasing this pen (or the Dia2, which also uses this nib), I think I will opt for the fine or the medium.

A Note on the Ink

This review was written with a cartridge of Kaweco's "Palm Green" Ink.  I have to say, I've been extremely impressed with the quality of Kaweco's ink offerings.  The Green is a vibrant green color that is well-behaved and exhibits great shading.  It flushed right out of the Allrounder with one squirt of a bulb syringe when it was time to clean the pen up and return it to my friend.  Once I've worked my way through some of my ink horde over the summer, I may pick up a bottle or two of Kaweco's colors at a pen show, to save on shipping and maybe secure a discount off the relatively steep price of the ink ($14 for 30ml!?). 

I did a quick comparison with two other green inks I have loaded up:  Franklin Christoph's Olde Emerald and Montblanc's Irish Green.  The Kaweco ink is pretty close to the Montblanc; I would venture to say slightly brighter. 

A close-up shot of Kaweco's vibrant Palm Green ink exhibiting gorgeous shading in a double broad nib.

My Verdict

I'm undecided right now.  I LOVE the way this pen looks.  It has everything I typically look for in a good mid-range fountain pen:  good materials, tight tolerances and excellent quality control on the pen's body.  Plus it's red!  Kaweco's double broad nib, however, left me wanting more.  I'm sure with a little tweaking, it could be turned into a fairly good writer, but as I get deeper into this hobby, and at this price point, I'm not so eager to spend time doing nib work or sending it off to be tweaked.  From reviews I have read elsewhere, I suspect the problem may lie with the small feeds used in these pens, which seem to have a hard time keeping up with the ink flow on a broader nib if you write fairly quickly, like I do.  That said, I'd love to try this pen again with Kaweco's medium nib, which I think hits the sweet spot for me in terms of line width and ink flow. 

Handwritten review.  As you can see at the bottom, I loaded the remainder of the Palm Green cartridge into my Kaweco Sport with a medium nib.  The flow was much more consistent than the BB. 

Handwritten review.  As you can see at the bottom, I loaded the remainder of the Palm Green cartridge into my Kaweco Sport with a medium nib.  The flow was much more consistent than the BB.