Wingback Fountain Pen Capped sitting on Galen Leather Pen Rest

Expanding the Pocket Fountain Pen Lineup: A First Look at the Wingback Fountain Pen

September 16, 2023

Pocket fountain pens are hard to get right. For starters, it’s extremely difficult to design a pocket fountain pen that works for for a broad swath of the market, because once you start reducing the size and weight of the pen to so-called “pocket-sized” you limit the number of people who can use it. On the other hand, if you make a “pocket” fountain pen too big, it may no longer be truly “pocketable.”

Wingback is a UK-based designer/manufacturer of writing instruments and personal accessories, and I’ve previously reviewed their Mechanical Pencil that won a 2023 Red Dot design award. A hallmark of Wingback’s design is their ability to avoid the pitfalls of so many manufacturers who attempt to work with heavier materials such as brass and stainless steel, by striking a near-perfect balance of width, length, and weight. I now have a full set of the Wingback writing instruments - Mechanical Pencil, Mechanical Pen, and Fountain Pen - and all of them are exceptionally useable in addition to being beautiful design pieces.

Wingback Fountain Pen and Mechanical Pen — The Wingback Fountain Pen in stainless steel, shown next to the Wingback Mechanical Pen in black stainless steel. Both come with a nice cotton sleeve that you can use for pocket carry. I plan to review the Mechanical Pen in the near future.

The Wingback Fountain Pen, which recently launched on Kickstarter, adopts the cylindrical profile that’s probably familiar to many pocket pen enthusiasts, but in a size that’s somewhat uncommon and, in my opinion, fills a need in the market. For example, I loved the idea of the Kaweco Liliput, but that particular pen ultimately ended up being too small for anything more than quick notes. I’d place the Wingback Fountain Pen between the Liliput and the larger Kaweco Supra size-wise, which could be a sweet spot for those who love this type of design but have had a hard time finding a pocket pen that balances well in their hand.

Wingback Pocket Fountain Pen Showing O-Rings

The Wingback Fountain Pen adopts a minimal, streamlined design with no branding other than the subtle “Wingback” engraved on the cap. Diamond knurling is perfectly centered on the barrel when the pen is capped, and well-executed in the sense that it’s comfortable to hold this pen for long periods of time. (More on that below.) Finally, both ends of the section feature an o-ring on the threads, which protects the user from any ink leakage and prevents the nib from drying out. Interestingly, Wingback implies that this pen can be eyedroppered, stating that with the o-ring, “you can convert the pen’s chamber within its body into a reservoir for your ink of choice,” and that “we have tested and approved the stainless steel for corrosion resistance to inks, and are currently testing brass and titanium in longer long term trials.” I don’t personally eyedropper metal pens, but I do know people who have done so without incident, and as long as the metal resists corrosion long-term you should be fine. I lump this one under the header of “proceed at your own risk.”

Wingback Fountain Pen, Mechanical Pen, and Brass Showing three finishes — Three of the four finishes. Sorry, I don’t have an example of the titanium (yet).

The Wingback Fountain Pen is available in four materials/finishes to start: stainless steel (pictured here), brass, tungsten-carbide coated black stainless steel, and titanium. Custom laser engraving of up to 50 characters is also available, if you would like to personalize your pen.

Wingback Fountain Pen Bock Nib Knurled Section

Nib and Overall Writing Experience

The Wingback Fountain Pen uses a standard Bock 076 stainless steel nib, and the one I received (a fine?) arrived perfectly tuned. According to the Wingback Kickstarter page, five standard nib options will be available, including extra-fine, fine, medium, broad, or double/extra-broad. I would consider the Wingback a pure cartridge pen - while one of the mini converters from Kaweco or Monteverde might fit, those don’t hold much ink and you’re likely better off refilling a standard short international cartridge via syringe if ink choice is important to you.

Wingback Fountain Pen Shown Unposted — *The Wingback Fountain Pen measures 95mm unposted / 135mm posted.*

Though I personally find them well-balanced, some have remarked that the Wingback Mechanical Pencil and Mechanical Pen are a touch short. The Wingback Fountain Pen is indeed quite short unposted, but offers a workaround since the cap posts, much like the Schon DSGN Pocket Six or the aforementioned Liliput. While the Wingback Fountain Pen might be just long enough to jot quick notes unposted, longer writing sessions will probably require posting the cap unless you have very small hands.

Wingback Fountain Pen Posted Shown In-Hand

I’ve been using the Wingback Fountain Pen for the past two weeks, and haven’t experienced any of the hand fatigue that sometimes comes with machined metal pens of this weight. The knurled grip eliminates any slippage, while remaining subtle enough not to hurt your fingers. This pen will stay in my pocket pen rotation, and I’m considering whether to back the Kickstarter for a Black Steel or Titanium version.

Details on How to Get the Wingback Fountain Pen

As of the date of publication of this post (September 16, 2023), you have 19 days remaining to back the Wingback Fountain Pen on Kickstarter. While pledges are listed in £, they start at around $120 (which may fluctuate a bit due to the exchange rate). Wingback estimates that this will represent a 25% discount off the eventual retail price, which seems about right since both the standard versions of the Mechanical Pencil and the Mechanical Pen currently retail for around $158 USD.

Wingback Fountain Pen in the Plotter Pen Holder — Yes, for those of you who will ask, the Wingback Fountain Pen does fit in the Plotter Pen Holder!

Wingback is a company with a long track record of successful Kickstarters, so I have no concern about backing this one, but anyone considering backing a crowdfunded a project should of course be aware that Kickstarter offers no guarantee of timely delivery (or of any delivery, for that matter). Projects do hit delays, and by funding a project you are supporting the project itself, as opposed to “purchasing” a unit. That said, this project already has raised nearly $78,000 of its $2,500 funding goal, so I wouldn’t anticipate any issues here.

Disclaimer: Wingback sent me the Wingback Fountain Pen pictured here for review purposes, free of charge. T.G.S. has not otherwise been compensated for this review and is not being paid for referrals or advertising. T.G.S. is supported financially via purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program.

My Experience with the Drillog Metal Dip Pen: Hype vs. Reality

February 12, 2022

For those unfamiliar with Drillog, it’s a Japanese CNC-machined dip pen designed to look like a drill (hence the name) and advertised as being machined with “aircraft grade precision” (hence a hefty price tag). The pen launched last year on Kickstarter, and with as much hype as this product received, I couldn’t NOT back it. I’ve had my Drillog machined dip pen in hand for a few weeks now, and wanted to provide my initial impressions of this niche product that, while certainly interesting, I unfortunately can’t recommend until the manufacturer either works out the quality control issues or provides additional clarity on what ink and/or techniques need to be used to get the advertised performance.

As a preliminary note, I backed this product on Kickstarter and paid full price for it with my own money. I was not asked to review it or promote the Kickstarter in any way. You’re reading this as an unvarnished review from someone whose information comes from personal experience and the Kickstarter page, with no communications with the manufacturer.

My experience with dip pens and calligraphy is rudimentary at best, so I came to the Drillog as a true novice, and mainly saw this as a tool that could help me sample inks and experience writing with more “high-maintenance” formulations without having to worry about cleaning them out of a fountain pen. I was especially intrigued by Drillog’s claim that a single dip can “fill a sheet of A4 paper with writing lines”, even though I could never really see myself actually using it for that long of a session. So does Drillog live up to the hype and promise? In short, no.

Drillog Dip Pen Writing Sample — The top two writing samples were done with Ink Institute’s “Cat at Dawn,” a shading ink that’s on the watery side. The top paragraph was written with the Drillog, and I circled in red the two points at which the nib ran dry and I had to re-dip the pen. The middle paragraph was written with a glass pen, using the same ink. The last paragraph was written with Noodler’s Blue, a slightly thicker, more saturated in that performed better, but I still didn't get close more than a quarter page.

“Ink Retention Structure for Uninterrupted Writing”: I’ll start here because this is what drew me to the Drillog in the first place. I write very small and like to take notes and make annotations in tiny handwriting, so there was something attractive about the (theoretical) ability to quickly switch inks and play around with different colors in my journals and notebooks without having to flush and refill multiple fountain pens. And to be honest, the Drillog does allow you to do that, to a point. My issue is that despite testing a half-dozen inks with this thing, I’ve never been able to get more than a quarter page of writing out of the .5mm Drillog, much less the full “A4 page” touted by Shion, the manufacturer. That’s similar to what I get out of a $25 glass dip pen, which writes a much wetter line and lays down more ink. I’ve also experienced consistent hard starts and other problems with getting my Drillog to write, often having to dip the pen multiple times to get it started. Upon close inspection, the tip of my pen appears ever-so-slightly bent or curved, and one side of the pen won’t write at all because ink doesn’t flow through the grooves. While I plan to reach out to Shion to request a replacement (or an explanation), I’m disappointed something like this made it through QC at this price point.

Drillog Nib with Ink — The drill-bit-like grooves in the nib are designed to hold a large volume of ink and, theoretically, allow you to write for a full A4 page before having to re-dip the nib. I’ve been unable to duplicate that in real life.

Ability to Use All Sorts of Inks and Easily Change Them. Drillog doesn’t expressly represent that the pen is intended to be used with fountain pen inks, but let’s be honest, that’s why many people ordered this pen and there needs to be more transparency around what users can reasonably expect. Jacob (writing at Fudefan) has done more extensive testing with the Drillog, and remarked that the nib appears to be sensitive to surface tension/ink viscosity, with certain inks performing better than others. Drillog also has a proviso on the Kickstarter page stating that “the area that can be written on may change due to the ink drying up.” I don’t know what they’re specifically referring to here, since there’s no context for the statement, but I suspect that because many fountain pen inks are water-based, with varying degrees of viscosity, surface tension, and saturation, thinner ink formulations may dry out on the nib before you have the chance to write the nib dry. This could be the source of the issues I’ve had with my pen, though I suspect that it has more to do with a manufacturing issue given the hard starts and scratchiness. Given the massive discrepancy between what I’ve experienced and what was advertised, I can’t get past that, especially where I can get similar performance in a less expensive product.

Performance aside, the Drillog is visually stunning, and a gorgeous piece of machining.

Comfortable and Convenient Nib Holder. I give credit where credit is due, and one area where Drillog did a nice job was the design of the nib holder. I opted for the longer round barrel, as opposed to the spiral or grooved designs, and I love the cap, which means that I can transport this dip pen easily to pen shows. Honestly, this is why I’ll probably hang on to the Drillog - so that I can sample different inks after hours in my pen show notebook. That said, you can find inexpensive capped glass dip pens by Moonman and other brands for much less money, and even if you have to buy a few to find one that works reliably, you’ll have spent much less money than on the Drillog.

Takeaway and Final Thoughts

I hate to say it, but I consider the performance of my Drillog dip pen to be unacceptable for the price. At ¥25,692, which equates to roughly $225 at today’s exchange rate, that’s a huge premium for a dip pen that promises performance based on precision engineering - the source of the astronomic price tag - but fails to deliver a writing experience consistently better than much less expensive options. If I paid $50 for this pen, I might say it was “ok” and recommend that people pick it up if they’re interested in using it for testing inks or are looking for a machined dip nib with a very small tip that might be advantageous for certain types of lettering and other artwork requiring a great degree of precision. That said, I’m not sure what this offers the typical writing and ink enthusiast over a glass pen or inexpensive traditional XXF calligraphy nibs, other than the Drillog will last much longer and comes with a capped holder (which is quite cool).

This purchase was intended as an experiment, and I went into it suspecting the Drillog would likely not live up to the lofty promises, having read a handful of online reviews and comments similar to my own. Still, I expected more than this. I’ve also had the opportunity to test a handful of early-release “tester” Drillogs sent to other bloggers and reviewers, all of which worked much better than the one I received. That leads me to suspect that these review units were subjected to a higher level of QC testing than the ones that ultimately went out the door to paying customers, which is disappointing. A quick scan of the comments on the Kickstarter page confirms that I’m not the only one who’s had problems. I’ll be keeping on eye on Shion and Drillog to see if there are manufacturing tweaks made to a “version 2.0”, and whether they offer to take back any malfunctioning pens. So far, I’ve not seen any outreach in the Kickstarter comments.

UPDATE: Following this review, Drillog reached out, confirmed that it looks like something is wrong with my pen from the writing sample, and offered to send a replacement. I plan to take them up on it and will report back on how the new nib functions.

Disclaimer: As noted, I purchased the product featured in this review with my own funds, for my own personal use. All opinions expressed here are my own. This post does not contain affiliate links, and I was not compensated in any way for this review.

First Impressions: KOSMOS Ink Fountain Pen

June 30, 2018

Confession: I had stopped backing pens on Kickstarter a while ago, and honestly had lost interest in the platform, because I felt that a lot of the Kickstarter pens out there weren't doing enough to innovate and distinguish themselves from one another. So, I unfortunately missed the launch of the KOSMOS ink, the newest offering from German design house Stilform. When they reached out and asked whether I'd be willing to review their pen, I was pleased to see something truly different, in terms of both design and functionality. The original KOSMOS pen won a Red Dot design award back in 2016, and Stilform recently learned that the KOSMOS ink has won the 2018 Red Dot award!

Most of the attention this pen has received focuses on the KOSMOS ink's magnetic cap, and for good reason. The cap not only closes securely, but it realigns itself so that the facets on the cap line up with the facets on the body. To uncap the pen, all you need to do is twist the cap slightly and it pops off - magnetic force once again!

The manufacturing quality on this pen appears excellent. The facets line up, and the magnetic cap is shockingly accurate in terms of how well it orients the cap/body facets without having to be adjusted.

But my favorite aspect of this pen isn't the magnetic cap - it's the double-faceted body. I enjoy the streamlined design of clipless pens, but the "roll off the table factor" prevents them from being something I use regularly at work. The KOSMOS fixes this issue by adding facets on two sides. (Note, KOSMOS also offers the opportunity to add a clip to your pen, which also looks cool though I haven't seen it in person.)

I'll also add that the anodization on this pen is high quality. There are no visible flaws on my prototype and the texture feels great in the hand.

Since the cap and the body are the same diameter with no taper, the KOSMOS isn't going to post. I didn't find that to be an issue, since this pen has near-perfect balance. The section provides a lot of gripping area, without any cap threads to dig into your fingers. It's a very comfortable writing experience.

KOSMOS ink uses Bock nibs, which is a perfectly appropriate choice. I had no issues with the fine nib that shipped with my pen. The filling system is cartridge/converter, and the prototype I received included a Pelikan "long" cartridge.

Takeaways and Where to Buy (Updated)

The KOSMOS ink has now closed on Kickstarter, and with the project raising more than €260,000 with more than 2600 backers. That's an incredible performance for a fountain pen Kickstarter, and after having the opportunity to test this pen out for myself, I think the backers are going to be happy. The pricing seems fair as well, with aluminum pens starting at around $69 USD, and a titanium version also available for about $127 USD. While the Kickstarter project has closed, Stilform has opened up an Indiegogo page, and if this pen interests you, you can still back the project here. There are also several potential add-ons, including pen cases, stands, a converter, and a clip (as mentioned above).

Disclaimer: Many thanks to the team at Stilform for providing me with a review unit, free of charge.

Nib and Overall Writing Experience

Read More on Pocket Writing at T.G.S.

Details on How to Get the Wingback Fountain Pen

Takeaway and Final Thoughts

Takeaways and Where to Buy (Updated)

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