So, the Parker Vector has been around for a long time. A long-lived pen. But did they remain the same throughout the years? We shall see: We compare vectors made from the USA, UK and France. Presumably, the American Vector is likely the first and oldest batch, the UK version the intermediate batch and the French one the last and newest batch. First the overall look from bottom to top: USA, UK and France, in this order. Nothing seems much different. Differences starts to appear. Other than the country of origin being different, obviously, we can see the one made in USA does not have such a deep imprint as compared to UK, which is less than the one made in France. Likewise, the same is happening in the front. The depth of the imprints is the least for USA, and the deepest for the French version. Also, the words changed too. The word “Parker” on the French build has a bigger P than the rest of the word. The symbols changes as well. This is the French version, looks like the USA version but much coarser. The logo on the UK version looks like a P. In the USA version, the arrow in the logo is […]
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By the generous sponsorship of Frank from Fontoplumo, I received this cute little Kaweco Skyline Sport fountain pen! One can never have too many Kaweco Sport fountain pens, I think, and I had been trying to decide between the original Classic Sport in Bordeaux or in white… In case you haven’t heard, I’ve already reviewed the Kaweco Classic Sport some time ago, and although my picture shows many Sports together, I effectively only owned one of them – the clear version. The Bordeaux would have been a rich addition to my Kaweco collection, and the white a very elegant looking one. But who would have expected that I would have a chance to get a MINT coloured Kaweco?! 😀 Mint is not a common colour for fountain pens, and this is definitely my very first mint-coloured pen. Nice idea, Kaweco! Besides the colour, there are a couple of differences between this Kaweco Skyline and the good old Kaweco Classic range. With the Skyline, Kaweco has brought to its range a new version of the Classic Sport, in which the golden coloured parts have all been changed to silver! For those who dislike gold, this can be a very welcoming change indeed and […]
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Danitrio is not a brand that I am familiar with, but after trying out couple of pens owned by a visiting fountain pen enthusiast, and attending the inaugural Southeast Asia Danitrio Maki-e event held in Singapore last year, I must say I’m very impressed with their range of pens. So you can imagine my delight when I received this pen in the mail… as a GIFT! Thank you so much, generous friend (you know who you are). I’ve always been hoarding pens, but now that I have this pen, it simply fuels my desire to start collecting beautiful Japanese pens. <Checking into reality, checking my pockets… uh-oh! Budget is still a constraint…> If you haven’t heard before of Danitrio, it is an American fountain pen brand that specialises in urushi and maki-e pens. Urushi, derived from the sap of certain trees, is a special type of lacquer originating from Japan and was frequently used in fountain pens of old. Today, pen brands like Danitrio, Edison Pen Co., Manupropria — just to name a few — and the bigger Japanese pen brands such as Pilot-Namiki, Nakaya and Sailor, still employ the urushi lacquering technique in some of their pens, although it […]
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I know I’ve reviewed this pen before, but since I have grown very fond of it, I felt that my anecdotal previous post hadn’t given it enough justice. Those had been the days when I did not even have a proper camera (not that I have one now – my photos are all taken using my smartphone with a nice quality camera). I was just starting out in the realm of fountain pens and hadn’t known very much what to take note of in a fountain pen. So this time, I would like to bring this pen up to the surface again and appraise it once more. These pens have got to be one of the best affordable fountain pens I ever owned, but although I had mentioned in the initial review that it is dirt cheap, I realised after a new search today that it costs a bomb in Amazon, and more expensive than I imagined from other places. Nevertheless, the price point remains low for a hardy pen like itself, and while it is not as cheap as a Platinum Preppy, I do consider it very affordable (perhaps in the range of the Pilot Kakuno?). To be honest, even […]
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On the topic of beginners’ fountain pens, I realised I haven’t really done up a single post about fountain pens for beginners! I shall look into this very very soon, but meanwhile, I have created a new category of posts for my blog to cater to this need. The category is called “For beginners”, and this new fountain pen that I got recently is the first to go in! I shall also review my older posts and fish out those pens that I thought would be nice for a beginning fountain pen user. Anyway, today’s fountain pen on review is the Pilot Kakuno fountain pen, and this is one of the pens I felt would be really suitable for beginners! I got this Pilot Kakuno from NBC Raffles City (basement level) while shopping around waiting for my mum to join me for an event. I had thought I wouldn’t get any fountain pens lately since I had been spending so much on other things, but seeing how affordable this pen was, I just had to grab it. It’s only below 20 SGD! You can choose between fine and medium sized nibs, and of course I chose the fine. I wanted […]
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I don’t use Parker pens very often, and I guess the pen that I’m going to talk about today is one of the rare Parker pens that I have. It was a gift! An ex-colleague was quite a little into fountain pens and Aurora inks, and this is one the prized fountain pens that he owned. One day, he thought that he was absolutely too busy to play around with fountain pens and to keep them well-maintained, that when he discovered that I liked fountain pens, he gave this to me. Gifts are gems. Introducing the Parker Sonnet Ciselé Sterling Silver fountain pen! Alright, so… my ex-colleague is a guy, and this pen is a very manly pen no matter how I look at it. I don’t usually carry this pen around with me as I feel it doesn’t suit me so well (and also because it’s expensive), but from a more “genderless” point of view, it’s really a beautiful pen! It has a grid pattern all throughout the body, which some prefer to call “cross-hatch” – they are pretty much the same thing – and the black lines of the grid are actually chiseled into the body. That means […]
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Alright, I actually bought this pen for myself for my birthday in 2012, but I’ve been keeping it under wraps for almost 2 years now! Nope, it’s not a hideous pen that is unable to see the world. In fact, it’s a pretty pen, and a good one at that! Introducing… the Pilot Custom 742 with a soft fine-medium nib! This elegant, classic-looking pen is black with gold trims, not very much unlike the Mont Blanc classic pens, or my Platinum Music pen which I reviewed here. I remember debating with myself for a long time, whether I should get the Pilot/Namiki Falcon, or this pen. I finally decided on this pen just because it’s a little bigger (and you know I love huge and tiny pens), newer, and pretty sturdy (sturdier than the Falcon or not, I’m not sure). The Falcon nib has a nice shape, and is able to flex just like this soft fine-medium (SFM) nib, but all I wanted was a flex pen, so either way was fine for me. The golden trim around the pen cap says “Custom 742”. 742 is a nice number, I can’t really explain why. It’s just one of those nice […]
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When I saw this pen on eBay, I knew I had to get it! This is a Peter Pan fountain pen made in the old days by a company called Salz Bros. Inc. (New York). I don’t really know why they call it a Peter Pan fountain pen – with its mega-petite size, I would more likely call it a Tinkerbell fountain pen instead! Let’s not wait anymore, I want to present the pen’s vital stats to you now, so you know how small it is! Vital stats: Length of pen when capped: 6.6cm (including the ringtop) Length of pen uncapped: 5.5cm Length of pen posted: 8.8cm (including the ringtop) Have you ever seen a pen so tiny before? This is my first time! Salz Bros. Inc. was a company that made nice little pens and this Peter Pan is probably the world’s smallest fountain pen, if I may dare to attempt this statement. The best part is, despite its size, it is supposed to be fully functional, although I cannot imagine how much ink can actually be contained within it – 2 drops? You may guess that the Salz Bros. Inc. is no longer in existence, as they went […]
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Hey, ho! I think I am on a roll lately blogging about fountain pens and reviewing them at top speed. Today’s review is going to be about a really cool music pen – the Platinum Music Nib Pen. What is a music pen used for, you may ask? Is it only for writing music? Clearly not, even though the nib is supposed to be optimized for writing on sheet music when placed upright on a music stand. You can use the music pen for everyday writing, that is, if you like the line variation that it offers. There are 3 brands that I know of which are carrying the music pen. Platinum music nib on a Platinum 3776 pen (which is the one I have) Pilot/Namiki has a music nib that you can install on the Custom 74 or Custom 742 pens Sailor also places their music nib by default on the Sailor 1911 fountain pen. The Platinum and Pilot music nibs have double slits and triple tines, a feature which is supposed to improve the ink flow via the feed to the tip of the nib. This enables a consistent ink delivery to the sheet music even when you write vertically. […]
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If you’re like me, you probably love online shopping on places like Amazon.com. Have you ever wondered which fountain pens are the bestselling fountain pens on Amazon? Here I put together a list of the top 10, and I’m happy to know that I have already got reviews of some of them! Top 10 bestselling fountain pens on Amazon 10. Lamy AL-Star I have the review of the AL-Star right here, and it’s being compared with the Lamy Vista fountain pen, which is in a similar family as the Lamy Safari and the Lamy Vista. Often a little more expensive than the Lamy Safari, I suppose it’s why it ranks 10th this time. Personally, I like how the aluminium body feels, but probably due to the price, it seems that this is a less preferred option than the Safari. 9. Jinhao X450 I haven’t seen this pen before, but it looks just like a classic cigar-type fountain pen. I am guessing that people like this pen because it looks a little bit like a Mont Blanc or a Sailor pen (but I could be wrong). It seems to be a nice pen, and Jinhaos are rather popular for being well-built […]
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