dapprman
January 19th, 2019, 11:09 AM
There is actually another post/review of a John Twiss pen from about 4 years ago, but time and his experience has moved on so here's a fresh overview as well.
John is a regular attendee at many of the UK pen shows and has also recently helped restart the Newcastle one. He makes both stock and private commission pens, all by hand and eye, primarily using acrylics, but also ebonite, plus rods from OMAS and Conway Stewart. His nibs are steel Jowo with Twiss branding and he offers gold as well at an additional cost (not sure if these would be branded due to numbers requirements). Some of the specials he has done have included re-bodying in OMAS Brown ARCO a Pelikan M800, which went on eBay, a Pelikan M1000 (not sure if it was sold or a private commission) and a private commission Montblanc (can't remember which model).
Anyhow, quick couple of photos of my pens. The green one is made from a green 'water acrylic', came with a threaded Schmidt K6 converter (and threads to secure), which I then converted to an eye dropper. The purple one is using as OMAS acrylic (since writing the review I've been told it is Omas LaMagica) and came with a Schmidt K5 converter. Both have Twiss branded JoWo steel nibs, the former being medium, the latter being fine. I purchased both at London Writing Equipment Shows, the former in 2017, the latter in 2018. With the latter I was allowed to dip test the nib and swapped from a medium to as fine. With the former, a year earlier, I never asked.
The pens are comfortable to hold and write very well. I'm certain John does tune the nibs and I know he offers alternate grinds (not at shows as far as I'm aware). Price wise, some may consider them on the high side, but for a hand made pen they are not much more than a CDC machined Edison in the UK.
http://i.imgur.com/BDyUvGw.jpg (https://i.imgur.com/BDyUvGw.jpg)
http://i.imgur.com/T5XMoG1.jpg (https://i.imgur.com/T5XMoG1.jpg)
http://i.imgur.com/glF7Brj.jpg (https://i.imgur.com/glF7Brj.jpg)
My review:
https://dapprman.wordpress.com/2019/01/19/john-twiss-pens/
John Twiss's site:
http://www.handmadefountainpens.co.uk/
John is a regular attendee at many of the UK pen shows and has also recently helped restart the Newcastle one. He makes both stock and private commission pens, all by hand and eye, primarily using acrylics, but also ebonite, plus rods from OMAS and Conway Stewart. His nibs are steel Jowo with Twiss branding and he offers gold as well at an additional cost (not sure if these would be branded due to numbers requirements). Some of the specials he has done have included re-bodying in OMAS Brown ARCO a Pelikan M800, which went on eBay, a Pelikan M1000 (not sure if it was sold or a private commission) and a private commission Montblanc (can't remember which model).
Anyhow, quick couple of photos of my pens. The green one is made from a green 'water acrylic', came with a threaded Schmidt K6 converter (and threads to secure), which I then converted to an eye dropper. The purple one is using as OMAS acrylic (since writing the review I've been told it is Omas LaMagica) and came with a Schmidt K5 converter. Both have Twiss branded JoWo steel nibs, the former being medium, the latter being fine. I purchased both at London Writing Equipment Shows, the former in 2017, the latter in 2018. With the latter I was allowed to dip test the nib and swapped from a medium to as fine. With the former, a year earlier, I never asked.
The pens are comfortable to hold and write very well. I'm certain John does tune the nibs and I know he offers alternate grinds (not at shows as far as I'm aware). Price wise, some may consider them on the high side, but for a hand made pen they are not much more than a CDC machined Edison in the UK.
http://i.imgur.com/BDyUvGw.jpg (https://i.imgur.com/BDyUvGw.jpg)
http://i.imgur.com/T5XMoG1.jpg (https://i.imgur.com/T5XMoG1.jpg)
http://i.imgur.com/glF7Brj.jpg (https://i.imgur.com/glF7Brj.jpg)
My review:
https://dapprman.wordpress.com/2019/01/19/john-twiss-pens/
John Twiss's site:
http://www.handmadefountainpens.co.uk/