Needless to say I was excited for this pen to get here. Around 3pm the pen arrived in my mailbox. I ripped into the packaging, which seemed a bit smaller than I expected it to be. I pulled a tiny box, a little bigger than a lipstick container, out of the mail bag. I slid the pen out of the box, and was disappointed again. The pen was about 4 inches long all closed up. I posted the cap on the end and it grew to about 5 inches long. Still very small but more manageable at least.
Although I was disappointed with the size of the pen, I couldn't wait to have my handwriting instantly transformed into a flowing script by this fountain pen. Once again I was initially disappointed. It was similar to using a scratchy liquid ink pen. It wasn't an instant transformation into a beautiful italic script. My limited knowledge of fountain pens had me expecting something totally unrealistic. So I was upset with my purchase. To add to the negative attitudes of the day, I lost the pen the very night I received it in the mail. Luckily I found it the next day. It had been run over by a car in my parking lot (you can see the battle scars in the pictures). Despite being run over by a car the body was still in perfect working order, except for a few scratches which I like. I cleaned out the exploded cartridge inside and threw in an aubergine purple ink cartridge. I put the pen in my pencil case and didn't think about it for a couple weeks.
In those couple of weeks I bought a couple disposable fountain pens with italic tips and medium nibs and realized that I had totally unrealistic expectations for the Kaweco Sport fountain pen. I decided to give it another try. Without the lofty expectations the pen blew me away.
The Kaweco Sport Fine nib lays down a smooth crisp line. The previous scratchiness I had experienced disappeared and it moved smoothly across all my different papers. There was no white space in the lines, and the purple color was a pale version of the hue that wasn't distracting. I went from hating this pen because of my unrealistic expectations to really enjoying it. I still prefer fountain pens with wider nibs or italic/calligraphy nibs but I find myself reaching for the Kaweco Sport more often than not.
8 out of 10 mummies
I am glad you are open for a second chance. Kaweco is one of my all-time favorite. The price of it might be economical but the writing quality at time trumps more expensive competitors.
ReplyDeleteMy problem was lack of knowledge about fountain pens. I was expecting something that was unrealistic, fancy flairs when I wrote etc. Once I learned a bit more about different nibs I quickly learned how great a pen this is.
ReplyDelete-coffee
I believe every fountain pen needs to be "broken in," kind of like new shoes. It just that each pen's broken-in period varied. Kaweco is friendly in that way. Have fun with it. I believe this pen will help you venture out to other wonderful fountain pens.
DeleteThanks...nice review with some good personal insight. I've been looking at these for a while and this review was really helpful.
ReplyDeleteGlad you gave the pen a second try. I've never used a Kaweco, but it's on my list to try!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your commenter above, also. My Mum, when I was younger, always told me never to share my fountain pens at school, because the pen nibs get broken in to the hand that uses them. I don't know how true that is, but it's stuck with me through to adulthood, and I always give new pens a period of adjustment before reviewing them.