KenCrooker.com

Fingers Were Meant to be Inky

/ / Fountain Pens, Reviews / 12 Comments

Pilot Falcon Review

The Pilot Falcon Fountain Pen, capped and laying down

Right out of my “I always wanted one of these” file, please give a warm welcome to the…

Pilot Falcon Fountain Pen (a.k.a. Namiki Falcon)

Price: $150.00
Nib: Soft Fine
Filling System: Cartridge/Converter (Pilot Proprietary)

Disclaimer & Giveaway

This pen was provided for review by Pen Chalet. Because I don’t want you clowns thinking I’m handing out artificially inflated reviews in exchange for free products, I decided to give this pen away to one lucky reader (details at bottom of post).

About the Pen:

I’ve been using fountain pens for…oh, just over two and a half years. My first was a total impulse buy. I was wandering through Staples, noticed a $7 Sheaffer Viewpoint calligraphy fountain pen hiding on the bottom peg, and decided I couldn’t live without it. Two hours later, I had blown through half a cartridge and was completely engrossed in YouTube, watching video after video from Brian Goulet, Stephen Brown, and a few others. Pen reviews, how-to videos, disassembly/repair instructions, and Q&As. I was hooked. I began researching different pens and started a list of those I “had to own.”

One of the more interesting pens often mentioned was the bold & mysterious Pilot Falcon, with its strange and unique-shaped nib, its soft springiness that allows you to get some line variation with just a little pressure (don’t you dare call it a “flex” nib, though!), and its $150 price tag. At $7, my still-freshly-inked Sheaffer was probably the most expensive pen I had in the house, so the thought of spending $150 on a pen seemed ludicrous. I put the Falcon on my “When I’m Rich” list and went on binge-watching videos.

Over the course of the last couple years, I heard many things about the Falcon, both flattering and not-so-flattering. The most common argument against the Falcon was… Read More

/ / Fountain Pens, Reviews / 13 Comments

Sailor 1911 Standard Fountain Pen Review

The Sailor 1911 Standard Fountain Pen in its box

Dippin’ my toes into the higher-end waters to bring you the…

Sailor 1911 Standard (Profit) Fountain Pen

Price: $156.00
Nib: Extra Fine
Filling System: Converter / Cartridges (Sailor Proprietary)

About the Pen:

I’m starting to get obsessed with Sailor — and I’m not sure why. I only have one Sailor pen (this one). It’s the entry-level pen for their high-end line and I’ve only had it for a few weeks. I’m sure part of my obsession stems from the fact that Sailor’s EF nibs are extremely fine, but I don’t know what else could be fueling my obsession. Maybe it’s because… Read More

/ / Fountain Pens, Reviews / 12 Comments

Pilot Vanishing Point Fountain Pen Review

Pilot Vanishing Point Fountain Pen, retracted

The short version of this review: Oh my God! For a slightly longer version, keep reading…

Pilot Vanishing Point Fountain Pen

Price: $140.00
Nib: Extra Fine (Oh my, yes!)
Filling System: Pilot converters & cartridges

About the Pen:

Around 1964, Pilot introduced a high-tech and remarkable writing instrument: a fully retractable fountain pen they called the Capless. Over the next 60 years, they’ve made a number of refinements and design changes, such as changing the original twist-to-retract mechanism to the pushbutton style we see today.

A note about the “Vanishing Point” and “Capless” names: The official name of this pen has gone back and forth a number of times (as has the brand name between Pilot and Namiki). I believe it is still called the Capless in many parts of the world, but it’s marketed as the Vanishing Point in the US.

The current incarnation of the Vanishing Point is as technologically advanced as it is elegant.

Pilot Vanishing Point Fountain Pen, close-up image of the pen's Nose & Clip
… Read More

/ / Fountain Pens, Reviews / 13 Comments

Lamy 2000 Fountain Pen Review

Lamy 2000 Fountain Pen in black Makrolon with an EF nib

In my first review of a gold-nibbed pen, I present the beautiful yet slightly frustrating…

Lamy 2000 Fountain Pen

Price: $160.00
Nib: Extra Fine
Filling System: Piston Filler

About the Pen:

So after the saga of the Grail Pen that Wasn’t, I decided to tone it down just a bit and take a stroll down Entry Level of High End Boulevard. Up to now, the majority of my pens have been in the sub-$20 range, with a handful of mid-range pens (about $40-$80) peppered in for an extra dose of shiny bits. Buying a Visconti Homo Sapiens was a thrilling, disappointing, and eye-opening event for me. It was a beautiful pen…oh yes, it was (Lava! It was made from freaking Lava!). But it didn’t work out for me as a useful writer and it was WAAAAY too expensive to be just a showpiece. So I traded it in for three (count ’em THREE) pens that are considered among the first tier of the high-end fountain pens. The first one I’m going to review is this luscious little polycarbonate wonder: the Lamy 2000 (look for reviews for the Pilot Custom 74 and Vanishing Point in the near future).

I was kind of surprised. I had every intention of tearing into the Vanishing Point first, but once I picked up the Lamy, I just couldn’t put it down. So sit down, strap in, grab yourself (insert Beavis joke here) a mug of tea, and read on to find out how good it really is…. Read More