Kaweco Special Brass ** Give Away! **

This is a Kaweco pen that you don't see very often in the USA. There appear to be only a couple of vendors here selling this interesting little pen. This one came to me Via Massdrop, and they'll be running a drop for this pen starting at the time this post goes live. Thanks, Massdrop! Also: They're giving one away over at Massdrop! Go here to sign up for that give-away! 

This pen comes in both the brass version pictured here, and in an aluminum version that is painted black. The black one seems more common. This 8-sided pen has a MSRP of around $130 (or $119, I'm not sure), which places it in the upper end of their fountain pen line. It appears to use the same Bock nibs as the Kaweco Sport and other pens in their line. My review pen writes really well, and I'm happy about that. I've not had a bad Kaweco nib, actually. Check out this pen (below), enter to win (above), and let me know what you think (in the comments section).

Packaging:

Very cool little tin which can hold a couple of pens, or just the one. It's a cool box!

The Pen!

This pen is raw brass, and it tarnishes pretty quickly. I've had this pen for about a week and a half, and it's tarnished up nicely. You can even see my fingerprints in a couple of places. Keep scrolling for details and some pictures of the pen after I polished it a bit.

There's an o-ring between the cap and barrel. It keeps the parts all tight.

Some of the sparse branding on this pen. Barely visible through the fingerprints.

The Nib and Some Close-Ups:

It's a good nib. It writes every time, and I have zero complaints.

There's nothing inside the cap. I just thought this looked cool.

Inside:

The Special can take a cartridge or a converter of the Standard International variety. That's a little unusual for a Kaweco pen, and it's great. Yay for converters!

Polished?

I broke out the jewler's cloth and the elbow grease, and I went to work on this pen for a while. It didn't work perfectly, but I did remove a bunch of tarnish and it's moderately shiny.

I didn't bother to polish the section, so it's a nice before/after shot.

Written Stuff!

Size Comparisons:

Video Review:

As I said in the written review and the video: I like this pen a lot. My only hang-up is the price. It's a bit expensive, I think. Look for it on sale (or on a Massdrop), and I think you'll like it.

Kaweco Perkeo

I have a pair of Kawecos coming up this week, and this is the first. Audrey bought this pen at the San Francisco show from Vanness, and she picked a version called "Bad Taste." I dunno about the name. It seems like a pretty tasteful combination of colors to me. The black and pink look is a little punk rock, and the black nib is a cool addition. I might get one of these Indian Summer pens with my next Jet Pens order.

I had wanted to get my hands on one of these new pens, and I'm glad she brought one home. (And that she let me use it for the last week to get a feel for the pen.)

Think of this as a larger version of the Kaweco Sport. I hope it sticks around. It's an excellent entry level pen that will give all of the others a run for their money.


Specs

Lengths: 

Capped: 5.5 inches
Uncapped: 5.1 inches
Posted:6.2 inches

Diameter at the section: 10.5mm - 11.8mm

Materials:
Body: plastic
Nib: steel

Filling System: Cartridge or converter

 

The added size makes this a pen you can use with a standard int'l converter. 

Unfortunately, you can't eyedropper this one. This ring at the end has a hole behind it. Odd design choice, really.


Appearance

I like the look. There are currently four different color combinations available, and they go from fairly staid to cotton candy and bright pink.

The grip section is triangular, and very comfortable. Audrey doesn't usually like the triangular thing, but I don't think she minds this one. It's not as drastic as the one on a Lamy Safari, and the plastic feels softer. 

The embossing on the cap and the finial are the branding on the pen, and both are subtle and cool.

Nib Performance

I think these are the same Bock nibs that Kaweco uses on the Sports, and they're pretty good nibs. I've heard stories from people who have gotten bad ones, but I have several Kaweco nibs, and they've all performed well. This one is a Fine, and it's a pretty broad fine. More like a medium, really. Anyway, it seems to have good flow and it's smooth. No complaints.

How's it Feel?

It's a light pen, but the length and width are very nice. The plastic of the pen seems like it's sort of "soft" somehow. It's not flimsy, and it doesn't bend, but it's an interesting feeling. It's plenty long enough to use without posting if you're not into that, but the cap is so light that you'll be able to post without any issues.

Comparisons

I've lined this up against a couple of other Kaweco pens as well as a couple of other starter pens that you might have experience with.

 Left to right: 

Platinum Plasir, Kaweco Special, Kaweco Perkeo, Pilot Kakuno, Pilot Petit1, and the Kaweco Sport

Wrap up!

I really like this new pen. It's available from several retailers, but you'll find it cheapest at JetPens where it's selling for $14.75. That puts it in at a price point that is cheaper than all of the other starter pens aside from the Pilot Varsity and the Platinum Preppy, and those are (more or less) disposable.

My advice? Buy a few and get your friends hooked on this quirky little workhorse pen. It's a great pen for the money.

The Winner Has Been Chosen!

The winner of the Diplomat Excellence has been chosen, and I've sent an email to the winner. I'll announce them here once I hear back from them.


It's official! The winner is NobleIgnitus!


Thanks for entering the giveaway, everyone!

I'll have another one soon, so keep those eyes peeled.

Word.
Mike

Platinum Classic Citrus Black

Thanks go out to Anderson Pens for the review sample!

These newest inks from Platinum are really interesting. The Classic series are iron gall inks, and they come in a variety of shades. All of them have "black" in the title, and that seems fine in the cases of the sepia or the khaki. It is weird that this one is called "citrus black", though. I wouldn't have come up with that name in a million years. I mean, if someone says "Picture citrus black in your head!" I have no idea what you'd think of (well, as long as you'd not seen this ink).

It turns out that Citrus Black is a light, bright yellow that darkens to a yellow-green-brown. It's a really cool effect, and it happens right as the words dry on the page. It's unique. It gets commented upon. It's a little hard to describe the process, so I really encourage you to watch the video for this one. Towards the beginning I've got a couple of stretches of live video that show just how quickly this ink changes colors.

One last thing: These are iron gall inks. They're made to dry quickly, behave well on bad paper, and to be water resistant. This one does all of that. It's also a little bit dry on the nib. It gives you a little bit of feedback on the nib, though there's plenty of flow. I don't find it unpleasant, but I can see how someone would. The other thing about these is that the iron gall is probably a little big acidic. They could, potentially, do some damage to a nib. I haven't seen that happen, but there's potential. For that reason, I've kept these in gold nibs. Gold doesn't react with much of anything.

This sample was provided by Anderson Pens for review. Find it on their site in a 60ml bottle for $25.


Written Review

Close Ups!

Above: a smear that has dried and darkened.
Below: A squiggle that is pretty fresh. At least, it's as fresh as I could make it. It starts to change as soon as you put the ink on the paper, so it's hard to catch that first, lightest color.

Copy Paper Test

Perfect. It doesn't get better than this on copy paper.

Chromatography

Color Comparisons

Video Review and Water Test