Namisu Nova Titanium+Titanium

[Pendel]

Not long ago, while perusing my usual pensive sanctuaries I stumbled upon an old posting announcing a Kickstarter campaign for the next project from Namisu, a recent British (?) outfit specializing in minimalist metal pens. I took a quick trip to Namisu site and was quite pleased to see that the pens were available to even those laggards, like myself, who completely missed the original campaign. What caught my attention was the Nakaya-esque shape (I am a big fan), availability of both a titanium body and a titanium nib, and a price of $110 for the whole T+T rig.

I remember my shock and disbelief when I first saw that Nakaya was offering a titanium Piccolo for about $1K. Here is what I said in one of my other posts on the subject: "Kudos to Namisu for responding to the demand. When Nakaya or Hakumin or Danitrio charge high prices for urushi pens which are very labor and skill intensive to produce, I get it (and I get the pens whenever I can find them used!). When Sailor and Namiki go well north of 1K for basic urushi colors on KOP and Yukari, I cringe and ignore these. Yet when Nakaya prices a machined titanium Piccolo at 1K, I say that it is an open invitation for companies like Namisu to show them up for price gauging. Especially so since Nakaya's nibs are equivalent to Platinum President nibs which can be had on moderately priced pens. My capitalist self does believe that Nakaya is free to price their pens any way they want, and if they can sell them at that price, then this is their market value. Namisu is a voice of the market, and while I do agree that the shape and the size of the pen is an amalgam of the Piccolo, Long Piccolo and Naka-ai, it is not exactly a copy of any one of these, and so "homage" to Nakaya is probably a good term to describe the Nova. I don't know if I can still pick one of these up at this late date, but I will certainly try."

Try, I did. Having read a number of posts over the years about various titanium nibs, I chose an EF titanium nib, and I am very happy with the choice, but more about that later. It is also worth mentioning, that curiously enough the pen was shipped to me not from GB, but from "James and James", in Columbus, Ohio! I would love to know how that came about!

Lo and behold, within about a week of being ordered the pen was sitting on my desk, having been liberated from its tastefully basic, but solid-feeling case with a wedge shaped "velvet"-lined bed inside. The box did give me a good feeling. It was simple but not "cheap-looking"; it conveyed the "minimalist in shape but not in quality" message; some good care was clearly taken to design and to manufacture these well.

As a first step of the inspection I checked all of the threading, both by feel and under high magnification. Next -- the edges. Everything looked very clean, even, beveled and done properly. I could not find any imperfections. The threading functions perfectly and all of the edges at the joints are tight. Definitely a product of precise machining.

Next I unscrewed the nib assembly from the section (with no effort), pulled out the nib and the feed from the "cuff", and did a quick ammonia/water solution rinse, followed by a more aggressive water pic cleaning of the channels. There did seem to be some oils and a tiny amount of debris, but I am not 100% sure. I flossed the nib with very thin brass shims, and reassembled the nib/feed unit, making sure everything was aligned well. Originally the tines of the nib were mis-aligned and pressing on each other more than necessary, but once the nib was liberated and flossed, the tines aligned themselves properly, and with a bit of careful positioning the alignment was maintained as the feed and the nib were slid into the cuff.

I inserted one of the converters I have in my stash (the pen comes with none), and filled the pen with Pilot Iroshizuku Syo Ro. I am pleased to say that the pen started right up and presented no issues since that first run. The flow is great (about 8 out of 10, just as I like it), and the nib puts down a line that I would characterize as a common Western Fine-Medium (my favorite width!). The titanium nib does have a rather unique feel to it. It is unlike any gold or steel nib I have ever tried. It is not stiff, but not too soft either. Definitely not a flex nib in the olden days sense. It does remind me a bit of the Sailor KOP nibs, but with more feedback. BTW, I am very curious if these titanium nibs have titanium as the tipping too. If not, then Bock did a very good job finishing both the nib and the tipping in exactly the same way, as I could not tell the difference.

The pen is perfectly balanced for my taste: it is nether top nor bottom heavy, and it sits very comfortably in the hand. As you can see from the pictures below, the pen incorporates some of the basic elements of the Nakaya shape overall, but in size fits somewhere in-between Piccolo and Long Piccolo in size (as I do not own the latter, I can only show a portable cigar). The titanium surface offers enough friction for me not to have to struggle with the grip; everything seemed comfortable and easy.

Overall, I am very pleased to have bought the pen, and I enjoy using it very much. I think it is a real winner, and I recommend it without reservations to anyone interested.

For the convenience of the reader I am including the basic measurements and info provided by Namisu on their site.

The pen "comes with a choice of either #6 Stainless Steel nib (sizes EF, M, B), #6 Titanium nib ( sizes EF, M) or #5 14K Solid Gold (Stub 1.1mm only).

Length (Length uncapped) – 139mm (128mm)
Aluminium Weight (Weight uncapped) – 29g (20g)
Titanium Weight (Weight uncapped) – 45g (32g)
Maximum diameter: 15.5mm
Grip diameter: 12mm
Please note that the pen is designed to be used without posting the cap.
Converter sold separately here: http://www.namisu.com/products/standard-converter
Can be used with any standard international cartridge, long or short format."

Finally, here are my pictures. Enjoy!













For those who have not yet recognized all of the pens in the group photo, here is the list, left-to-right: Nakaya Piccolo Writer (in Kuro-Tamenuri), Namisu Nova, Pelikan M800, Nakaya Portable Cigar (in Heki-Tamenuri), and Waterman Edson.



A QUICK UPDATE (MARCH 7, 2016): Still love the pen, but not the titanium nib. If one writes very lightly, the nib performs well, but the moment I speed up or press a tad harder to get more flare, there is a 25% chance that the ink flow will momentarily cut out. I can even see it happen (when I use the optivisor): with a bit of flex the capillary action breaks and the ink gets sucked up back into the feed. I will have to examine in more detail what accounts for this (the shape of the nib as it flexes, the material itself, the feed, all of the above?), but in the mean time I have retrofitted the pen with an old Omas Milord nib over the OE feed, and it writes like magic, but alas with a bit less flare. Still, a highly recommended pen, but stick to the steel nibs at purchase time. If you want a beautiful gold nib, I am personally lusting after the ones pictured here, or here.

[Haga888]

Thanks for the review. Looks like an interesting pen. I might pick one up.

[fqgouvea]

Indeed, nice review. I'll probable get one too!


Fernando Gouvêa -- fqgouvea@roadrunner.com

[da vinci]

Very helpful review, thanks
I am tempted too!

[torriejeremyterldc]

First pic is very sleek.

[Flounder]

Thanks for the review, enjoyable read.

In re: the flow problems at speed - this is one of the reasons I prefer not to disassemble a pen on first receipt. If you refrain for even just a few days, it makes it much easier to identify & diagnose any issues that may crop up later on. In the case of your Namisu, there'd be no doubt about disturbance of the nib-feed set, or the depth the nib was inserted, and so on. Letting a new pen canter along for a while is the best way to see if it's thrown a shoe.

Is that Ryokan looking on btw?

Oh lonely pine!
I'd gladly give you
My straw hat and
Thatched coat
To ward off the rain.

[Pendel]

Thanks for the review, enjoyable read.

In re: the flow problems at speed - this is one of the reasons I prefer not to disassemble a pen on first receipt. If you refrain for even just a few days, it makes it much easier to identify & diagnose any issues that may crop up later on. In the case of your Namisu, there'd be no doubt about disturbance of the nib-feed set, or the depth the nib was inserted, and so on. Letting a new pen canter along for a while is the best way to see if it's thrown a shoe.

Is that Ryokan looking on btw?

Oh lonely pine!
I'd gladly give you
My straw hat and
Thatched coat
To ward off the rain.

You have a good eye! Yes, I believe it is Ryokan. Seemed to go along with the simplicity and the modesty of form of this pen.

As far as disassembling the nib unit goes, you give sound advice, of course. Since this nib unit is a standard Bock job, and I have experience with these, and with nib/feed adjustments in general (enough to help myself and some friends in need), I do not hesitate with the disassembly. This is a very simple operation, and given the iffy quality control these days, one has to do this sort of thing often to fix misaligned tines, adjust feed/nib fit, wash out production oils/debris from the channels, and even reshape the tipping.

I do not believe the issue with my pen to be an adjustment issue. I have played with it enough now to convince myself that a lot has to do with the way this titanium nib flexes (which it does very differently from the flexing of the olden day nibs) and the way the feed supplies the ink. Seems to me that the issue is quite systemic. (Do keep in mind that it is actually very easy to get the pen to write consistently and well with the titanium nib when the nib is not flexed much, and I have it running nice and wet with an Omas nib, which is softish, but does not flex nearly as much as the titanium one.) One other thought I had, but have not pursued yet, is that the thinness of the material at the tip and the coating that is being used on the nib do not allow enough ink to stick to the insides of the slit of the nib to continue the downward flow. Many (most?) older flex nibs I have seen have a thicker cross-section near the tip which probably allows for better flow under flex.

Last year I had an e-mail conversation with someone in the know at a pen company that is a respected player in the upscale pen world, and this person had openly lamented the issues that plastic/abs Bock feeds are having with the flexible/soft nibs. Basically, these average feeds often cannot keep up the same way that ebonite feeds could, and as far as I know Bock does not produce special high flow feeds for the more flexy nibs; the feeds are standard, one size fits all (within each unit category). Sometimes one gets lucky with these units, but not all the time.

As you know, hacking these molded plastic feeds is not easy because of the coating on the plastic that is there to aid the flow. On the other hand these units are cheap, and so one does not need to be scared to play with them. I will probably retrofit the NOVA with a modified hard rubber feed; since these can be easily adjusted and tuned to keep up with flex nibs. I know that some other plastic feeds have also been known to give more flow and good results. May try that route too. Whatever I do, this pen is a keeper. Has not left my side since the day I received it.

:-)