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Thread: King of pen (KOP) as daily writer and ink capacity

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    Default Re: King of pen (KOP) as daily writer and ink capacity

    Quote Originally Posted by Daniel K View Post
    OK, now, here are my final thoughts for my choice. I have a budget of about 500-600€ (600-700$).

    1. Perfect writing performance: smooth F/M nib, bit of flex and spring; slightly oversized grip section; long barrel or postable;
    2. Ink capacity: option to use cartridges during exams or large ink capacity; pineider compatible for the library
    3. Style: not too fancy, more understated, but high quality
    Have you considered a Visconti Homo Sapiens maxi? The Dreamtouch nibs are smooth. In an EF they don't do the "firehose" thing and use up all of your ink. The power filler system holds a reasonable amount of ink. I think it's comparable to the full size Pelikan and Montblanc pens. The Homo Sapiens model (at least to me) has a very comfortable section diameter, the barrel length is just right to fit the hand without needing the extra weight of a posted cap to be comfortable. I prefer the weight of the basalt rock models, but the translucent acrylics used in the other models are lighter weight and preferable for knowing exactly how much ink remains in the pen. Coupled with Visconti's traveling ink well I think you'd be good-to-go wherever you go. **The "midi" and "elegance" models do not have the power filler and larger volume.

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    Cool Re: King of pen (KOP) as daily writer and ink capacity

    Daniel, in terms of balancing all your considerations, you should definitely consider a Pelikan M1000 - maybe a special/limited edition.

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    Default Re: King of pen (KOP) as daily writer and ink capacity

    Quote Originally Posted by SIR View Post
    Daniel, in terms of balancing all your considerations, you should definitely consider a Pelikan M1000 - maybe a special/limited edition.
    Notorious for coming badly adjusted though. And if the OP has a taste for Japanese nibs, those Pelikan nibs might seem like a medium size sharpie. And they're so broad that they negate the 2ml ink capacity of the pen - a cheap Pilot Kakuno with a 1ml cartridge and an F nib is probably going to write further. They're also a little heavy and have a short grip section. As someone who often writes all day, I'd avoid them. But ymmv.

    Honestly, I'd just carry two Kakunos in a situation like this. They're full size pens, light, they can take the big con-70 filler, have good nibs in the size the OP probably wants, and it doesn't matter if they get lost. They don't have clips, but the Kaweco Sport one fits. Or I'd buy a pair of Pilot Lucinas if I wanted a more conventional look. But the simplest, most robust solution to one pen not having enough ink really is to carry two. It's not expensive, because lower priced and higher priced pens write almost identically.

    Or the Danitrio Raw would be a great choice as a single pen solution. But I think they're not made any more?
    Last edited by ilikenails; December 20th, 2018 at 04:47 AM.

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    Default Re: King of pen (KOP) as daily writer and ink capacity

    If budget is not an issue, I would highly recommend the Namiki Emperor Vermilion Urushi with a giant nib.

    I think this pen needs no introduction, as Namiki is probably at the pinnacle of fountain pen making in Japan, and its nibs, through not flexible (as most modern pen nibs are), are one of the best you can find in the market today.

    Since you have a big hand, and need to write a lot, I would say the Emperor is probably the perfect answer - it is an eyedropper, was finished beautifully with an understated, subtle beauty that few can mimic, and unique. The urushi application is truly impressive. A special, well balanced, big pen, but extremely good as a daily writer, especially for those with a big hand.

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    Last edited by fkclo; December 23rd, 2018 at 12:00 AM.

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    Default Re: King of pen (KOP) as daily writer and ink capacity

    I'm surprised no one suggested the opus 88 demonstrator. 4ml ink capacity makes it almost impossible to go trough the ink in one day.

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    Default Re: King of pen (KOP) as daily writer and ink capacity

    Its ink capacity is good as I have used this pen in my exams. As expensive you use as fine writing you will find.

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    Default Re: King of pen (KOP) as daily writer and ink capacity

    Quote Originally Posted by cegadede View Post
    I'm surprised no one suggested the opus 88 demonstrator. 4ml ink capacity makes it almost impossible to go trough the ink in one day.

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    The OP wants a Japanese fine. The Opus is going to be about twice as wide (which also halves its effective writing length - a true Japanese fine running at reasonable wetness gets about 500m from an ml of ink - call it 5000 words.) As someone who writes with a Japanese fine myself, I'd rather use a gel pen with the same line width for sustained writing than the Opus. (It's a shame the Opus can't take Pilot nibs - it's a great looking pen.)
    Last edited by ilikenails; January 16th, 2019 at 04:47 AM.

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    Default Re: King of pen (KOP) as daily writer and ink capacity

    Scooby921 - I own several 823s and a 1911 style KOP so I can advise on several matters:

    1) I think you would like the size of the KOP. I find it very comfortable as long as I don't try to grip it firmly. A great way to use it is to rest your hand comfortably and let the nib do the work using comfortable, gentle hand motions. It's a very gentle writing experience that is, for me, completely without fatigue.

    2) Japanese M is the most narrow nib offered in a KOP. Yes, it's a little finer than your 823 M, but probably wider than you are hoping for. I go through Mark Bacas at nibgrinder.com for my nib work, but you have several options to have it ground to a finer nib.

    3) I have a solution for KOP ink capacity! I pulled the sac out of a Pilot Con-20 squeeze converter (the one that comes with a Pilot MR Metropolitan, actually) ... Then I cut the end off of a Sailor cartridge and worked the sac onto the cartridge until there was about a half inch overlap. Very secure - there will be no leak.

    The result? 1.6 ml of ink in my hacked cartridge PLUS whatever is already in that giant feed.

    Alternatively you could try refilling your own cartridges and sealing them with hot glue...

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    Default Re: King of pen (KOP) as daily writer and ink capacity

    A couple thoughts since there are already so many good suggestions from many others.

    If you get hand cramps after 1/2 hour, it's the way you grasp the pen and not the pen itself. I usually write all weekend and never get any cramps after I changed my grip. Before I changed my grip I could hardly write a page before I would get cramps. While I know your question is about writing during your exams, you're unlikely to want to do something like changing your grip. Consider it after the examines.

    The Sailor KOP nib and section is huge. Be careful because it might not fit in the Pineider ink filler.

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    Default Re: King of pen (KOP) as daily writer and ink capacity

    I've been through it. I started writing with a fountain pen my first year of high school and used one all the way through law school, a couple of states' bar exams, and beyond. My approach was to use fountain pens for class notes, homework, etc. They were great for everyday use. When it came to writing any kind of length exam (the ones where you start filling the blue books up in quantity), I went to a ball point. The first issue - the paper in the blue exam books is really cheap. Maybe an EF nib would be OK, but I wrote with mostly medium tips (a couple were a little finer, but nothing close to an EF). On the shorter exams where I did use a fountain pen, the ink really wanted to bleed into those cheap pages badly. I used Waterman Florida Blue or Waterman Blue-Black for everything in those times. Beyond that, I did not want any sort of distraction - running out of ink, changing cartridges, having the empties rolling around the exam table, etc. Finally, some exams actually limit what you can bring in to just a few, specifically listed items. The bar exams tend to be this way. The various committees on admission to the bar usually provide a list of what you can and cannot bring. Sometimes the list says just "pens" sometimes, the lists actually specify a ballpoint pen with blue or black ink only. Comply with those rules to the letter and research the allowable items before going to the bar exam. Law school exams are usually a little laxer as to what you can bring in, but the earlier mentioned concerns still apply.

    I'm a hardcore fountain pen person for the past 23 years, but when it's crunch time in the long-hand final or the bar exam, it's ballpoints for me. In a more civilized circumstance, fountain pens would be great. But exams aren't civilized things, and the bar exam is particularly not a place to mess around. Bring it to class and use it on the homework whenever you want - they're great when you have the time and are not under the pressure of having to churn out an essay every 15-20 minutes for 6 hours.
    Last edited by Ray-VIgo; June 4th, 2019 at 02:56 PM.

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    Default Re: King of pen (KOP) as daily writer and ink capacity

    I'm not surprised the 823 gives your hand pain, the metal rod makes the pen quite back weighted. It's hard to achieve balance with the pen without holding it very far back. You probably made your decision months ago, but any pen that is a bit more balanced or weighted toward the front will be easier to write for a long time with. It's the one thing apart from ease of cleaning that makes built in filling systems a trade-off rather than a straight upgrade.

    I find with any Japanese fine or extra fine nib, I get 12-15 A5 pages of writing on the pilot con-50 con-40 or sailor converters. The PO nib especially is very gentle on ink usage. It depends how large your write and how much you press down on the nib, how absorbent is the paper, or how large is the sheet, but I have tended to find the claims that people can only write a page or two with converters confusing. Maybe they fill the converter with a syringe and lose out on the capacity in the feed, maybe the midori paper I favour just doesn't draw ink out very much.

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    Default Re: King of pen (KOP) as daily writer and ink capacity

    I would go with a vintage MB 149 as a reasonable compromise of size and weight & ink capacity. The fine nibs are pretty nice, too.

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    Default Re: King of pen (KOP) as daily writer and ink capacity

    I would have suggested a Parker 51 aerometric, which was designed to be the world's best fountain pen in a time when people wrote all day. Most US-made P-51's had a fine nib; Parker England made more 51's with a medium nib. Years ago, I found I had better luck finding a 51 with nice juicy medium+ tipping on Ebay UK...more pens from Parker's Newhaven factory.

    The 51 holds a lot of ink, whether the original vacumatic or the aero. The 51 Vac uses part of the barrel to hold ink and the aero has a sizable ink sac hidden inside its metal sac-guard. Both store ink at the ready in the collector, which is under that beautiful ultra-modern hood.

    A 51 in black or blue goes for around $100, give or take about $25. Higher for the rare colors, such as Forest Green or purple (called "Plum") or Cocoa; rare because Parker offered them only for a few years. Otherwise, Parker sold millions of P-51's ("the world's most-wanted pen"), and they seem to last forever.

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    Default Re: King of pen (KOP) as daily writer and ink capacity

    I agree on the Parker 51. I love mine. And true to the original meaning of the aerometric name mine does fine during air travel, and everywhere else I use it. It's always been extremely reliable and a great writer with a firm nib offering subtle line variation and exquisite control.

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    Default Re: King of pen (KOP) as daily writer and ink capacity

    I get 1.6 ml of ink in my King of Pen using a modified Sailor cartridge. The process is easy, requires no special tools, and took about 5 minutes:

    1. Obtain a Pilot Squeeze Converter which comes with a Metropolitan. (CON-20?) Pull the sac out. It is friction fit.
    2. Obtain a Sailor cartridge. Empty & clean it.
    3. Cut off the end of the Sailor cartridge.
    4. Work the CON-20 sac onto the Sailor cartridge with about a half inch overlap or so.

    The result is a refillable cartridge you can use over and over again and it holds 1.6ml of ink which is a nice capacity. It's probably four times that amount of fill I get in my regular Sailor converters... No leaks. No issues. It "just works" and if you ever need to prime the feed you just squeeze the sac.

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    Default Re: King of pen (KOP) as daily writer and ink capacity

    I'd second or third or whatever the Conid recommendation. They'll do a custom grind for you via the order form to an XXF or whatever you want. The ink capacity is massive (I have a minimalistica and it holds a boatload of ink when completely full) and they are very understated pens if you go for black or demonstrator (not one of the flashier models with titanium and what not).
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