Fountain Pen Review: Kaweco Classic Sport Red

Kaweco welcomed 2016 with the launch of a selection of new pens, ink colors, and accessories. Four Sport pens — one for each of the following lines: Classic, Skyline, ICE, and AL — were released during the year. A bright, shiny red pen with gold trims was added to the Classic line, and my friends at the magical shop in Nürnberg sent me one to review here. I do not have many red fountain pens, and the red Classic Sport pen is the perfect addition to the small group of red pens in my collection.

The red Classic Sport fountain pen is from Kaweco's Sport Series that includes the Aluminum, Stonewashed, AC, Art, Brass, ICE, and Skyline. It is available in black, chess, guilloche, white, green, burgundy, transparent, and red. It is called the Classic because it follows the same design from the early 1940 Kaweco Sport pens. Sport pens are clipless, but clips are available from retailers in chrome, gold, or bronze finishes.

The Sport is a lightweight fountain pen, is easy to carry in one's jeans' pocket, or tuck in a bag. This small pen, however, has a unique design and becomes a full-sized pen when the cap is posted on the barrel. The pen is designed well, and Kaweco built it using high quality plastic.

Without a clip or an ink cartridge, the Classic Sport fountain pen weighs 10g (body - 6g; cap - 4g) only. Did you know that a posted Kaweco Sport fountain weighs exactly the same as the body of a Lamy Safari?

The Classic Sport fountain is ~4.10 inches with its cap on, and a short 4 inches without the cap. When the cap is posted, the pen measures 5.3 inches long — a full-sized fountain pen!

Some fountain pen users say that Kaweco Sport pens are difficult to use without posting the cap. But this pen's faceted cap is designed to be an extension of its barrel to make it a full-sized pen. The cap is also a built in roll stopper, so that even without a clip, the pen will not easily roll off a surface.

The Classic Sport fountain pen's parts — barrel, section (grip + feed + nib), and cap are in the same bright red color. The nib and feed are friction-fitted into the section, and they can be easily pulled out for a thorough cleaning. The cap is threaded and screws securely to the barrel — not typical of small pens in this price range — which is a very practical feature.

The Classic Sport fountain pen is filled with ink using cartridges or converters. Kaweco has their Premium ink cartridges for Sport fountain pens, but international standard short cartridges also fit in these fountain pens. Kaweco also offers two types of converters for Sport fountain pens: mini-converter and the squeeze converter (in my pen, pictured above) which can fill up with the same amount of ink as an international standard short cartridge (0.5–0.6 ml). However, filling it up was awkward, and squeezing it repeatedly did not fill it with ink to its full capacity. I inked this pen instead with a cartridge of Kaweco's Sunrise Orange.

The bottom of the Classic Sport fountain pen barrel is knurled, and says 'Made in Germany.' 

The Sport's oversized cap with octagonal shape is iconic and distinguishes it from other Kaweco pens.

Classic Sport pens have gold trims, including their finial (top cap), which bears the Kaweco logo.

My red Classic Sport has a medium (M) nib, but Kaweco Sport pens have nibs ranging from extra fine (XF) to double broad (BB). Other Sport pens have chrome/silver nibs, but those in the Classic line have gold plated nibs. The imprint includes the nib width (M), Kaweco logo, and the words Germany and 1883 under a filigree-like pattern.

The feed and nib of Kaweco Classic fountain pen. The nib's gold plating has discoloration in the part where it is inserted in the section, but this does not affect writing at all.

My red fountain pens: Lamy LE China, Pelikan Souveran M400, Unic, and Kaweco Classic Red.

Kaweco Sport fountain pens (from top): Calligraphy, AL (aluminum), ICE, Skyline, and Classic.

The medium nib wrote well out of the box. It's still a little narrow for my writing, but very useful when the occasion calls for small handwriting. Sunrise Orange was launched in 2016, together with Smokey Grey.

The Kaweco Classic Sport is a well-made, compact fountain pen that is portable and easy to use. The gold-plated steel nib writes well, and can easily be swapped with other Sport nibs. It's a great pen in the US$30 price range, a perfect companion for small notebooks. If you are looking for a happy fountain pen, I suggest you get this red Kaweco Classic Sport for yourself.

The Classic Sport and other Kaweco pens are widely available in many reputable sellers worldwide. For a list of sellers, visit Kaweco's Store Locator.

I received the Classic Sport fountain pen in this review free of charge from Kaweco Germany for review purposes. For more details, visit the Kaweco website.

In the Philippines, Kaweco pens are available at Scribe Writing Essentials stores in Eastwood Mall, Shangrila Plaza Mall, Glorietta 5, SM Aura, SM Megamall, and in their Cebu branches. For their complete location/address, contact numbers, and store hours, visit the Scribe website. Kaweco pens are also available at Stationer Extraordinaire.

Notebook Review: Papernotes Classic Notebooks

Imagine stumbling upon an Inbox that has not been opened or checked in the last three years. Imagine a thousand of unread email messages. Imagine rushing to reply to each of those thousand email messages. That happened to me when I mistakenly and unknowingly cancelled the forwarding feature for my blog's email address three years ago. I completely forgot about it for a long time, and when I remembered to check the email account, I had more than a thousand email messages!

I was unaware that people were sending me comments and questions, and also offering to send new products to review here. One of those who offered to send products for review is Papernotes, a startup company in Manila, Philippines that makes quality notebooks at affordable prices. 

When I learned that I could get two incredible notebooks, I chose orange and blue.

Papernotes makes the Classic Notebook Series, available in six different colors of black, white, grey, red, blue, and orange. A Classic notebook has 160 lined pages, and measures ~5.25 in × 8.25 in, shorter than a large Moleskine, but just as wide.

Papernotes uses soft, textured polyurethane (PU) as cover for their Classic notebooks. PU is described as 'synthetic leather,' and while it is soft and can be folded, it is sturdy enough like real leather.

The Classic notebook has a pen loop attached to the back cover. A nice feature, the loop can hold a slim to medium sized pen. People who tuck their pens in their notebooks can now easily slide them into their notebooks' loops. I tried putting a Lamy Al Star in the pen loop, but stopped because the elastic is a little tight and I thought it might scratch my pen.

The notebook's elastic closure is firm, but not too tight that it will cramp the soft cover. It's just right to hold the pages together, and notches on the covers keep the elastic closure in place.

The Papernotes team's thoughtful touch: notches to keep the elastic closure in place.

The Classic notebook's elastic closure is just as wide and thick as that of a Rhodia Webbie (orange notebook at the bottom) or a Moleskine (top of the Webbie). The other notebook in this pile is a TWSBI.

Each Classic notebook has a single color theme for its cover, pen loop, elastic band, and page marker. The long page marker is silk ribbon and has a width of 0.25 in.

I'm happy that these notebooks have round page corners. Notebooks with pointed corners are sharp and fray easily.

The pages of the Classic notebooks are smyth sewn, to ensure page security and flexibility. Sewn pages open completely flat, and they also look tidier. 

The inside cover page of the Classic notebook.

Papernotes also included a back pocket to their notebooks. Back pockets are useful to some, but I rarely use them because their contents create bulges and make it uncomfortable to write on the notebook's pages.

The Classic notebooks have 100gsm wood-free paper. Wood-free paper went through a chemical process where most of the wood pulp is removed. It is not an environmentally sound process, but wood-free paper lasts longer and is not susceptible to yellowing and discoloration.

Classic notebooks are all ruled, and use the college (medium) ruling of 0.7mm. 

I was really excited to try this notebook's 100gsm paper and filled a page with different fountain pen and ink combinations. I also included some of my gel pens. After the inks have dried, I was surprised to see that ink from most of my broad-nibbed pens did not bleed on the Papernotes Classic notebook. Some pens and ink bled, though, but they are only minimal. I am happy to see that most of my daily carry pens are drying well in this notebook.

I was not able to do a proper test for inks' drying times, but I did not have any problems with drying when I did the pen and ink tests.

I tested 11 fountain pens + inks combinations in this 100gsm paper.

Three out of the 11 combinations showed minimal bleed, but that's alright. 

The Classic notebook is a beautiful notebook. Thank you, Papernotes!

Overall, the Classic Notebooks by Papernotes are of good quality and suitable for fountain pen use. They are simple, attractive, and elegant. They have soft flexible covers, an elastic closure to keep the pages together, the pages have round corners, and the paper is suitable for many pen types. These notebooks are perfect for note taking and journaling, and they are very affordable at only PhP225 each! (That's roughly US$4.80.)

To get these notebooks you place your orders through the Papernotes Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/papernotesbrand. They ship to anywhere in the Philippines and outside the country.

For Winter, Let's Have Cold Horizon

(Courtesy of Bryan Bedell / fieldnotesbrand.com)

And Field Notes has done it again. Wow me with their notebooks, that is. 2013's Winter FIELD NOTES COLORS limited edition release has been revealed! Cold Horizon, the sibling to my 2011 Winter FIELD NOTES COLORS pack, Northerly is here! 

Field Notes' 21st COLORS edition features three seasonally-inspired colors, a blend of three blues across all three notebooks, invoking the deeply saturated winter twilight sky, fluorescent glacial water, and the shiny metallic glimmer of the Aurora Borealis. These notebooks are BLUE!!! Did they make these for me?

The notebook covers are printed on glossy UV-coated 120lb (178gsm) Appleton Utopia One stock. Arranged side by side, or back to back, the blues fade evenly from notebook to notebook, evoking a single, wintery gradient.

(Courtesy of Bryan Bedell / fieldnotesbrand.com)

Each of the three notebooks from the Cold Horizon limited edition pack uses Finch Opaque 50lb (74gsm) paper with a 3/16" gray graph grid. The grid pages of the three notebooks correspond to the colors of their covers: light green, light blue, and cool gray. How cool is that? It's like getting three different notebooks when you buy a pack of Cold Horizon.

(Courtesy of Bryan Bedell / fieldnotesbrand.com)

My small tiny Field Notes collection includes (left to right): Northerly, Winter 2011; Red Blooded; Traveling Salesman, Fall 2012; and Day Game, Summer 2012. I'm waiting for my local source of Field Notes notebooks, Avalon.ph, to stock up on Cold Horizon so I can add it to the lot.

For more information about the FIELD NOTES Brand notebooks, visit their website at http://fieldnotesbrand.com/. 

To read more about their limited edition COLORS notebook packs, and how to buy them, go to: http://fieldnotesbrand.com/colors./.

Fountain Pen Review: Sheaffer Taranis

Sheaffer celebrates their Centennial Year - 2013 - with a fleet of writing instruments including super limited edition pens and two new series, Taranis and Sagaris. Here in the Philippines, both pens are sold at National Bookstore, the official seller of Sheaffer products (pens, inks, pen cases, notebooks) in the country.

Robby da Silva, Sheaffer's Brand Manager at National Bookstore has kindly let me borrow a Taranis fountain pen to review and this pen has really caught my interest. Robby sent me the Stormy Night finish with chrome plate trim, and despite my initial impression of the Taranis based on what I have read about it, this is one elegant-looking pen. 

Sheaffer named this pen after Taranis, the Celtic thunder god, to emulate the titan's rule of the heavens, and have a pen that will stand out among other pens. American architect Charles Debbas (inventor of the Ergopen) designed the Taranis, and he successfully combined the classic look and modern details into this pen. The barrel of the Taranis has medium width, with both ends of tapering off neatly to a square. The Sheaffer White Dot® is on the controversial long clip that is similar to the clip design of another Sheaffer pen, the Intensity.

The Taranis is available in two plate trims, chrome and gold, and five different finishes including Stormy Night with Chrome Plate Trim (reviewed here), Icy Gunmetal with Chrome Plate Trim, Sleek Chrome with Chrome Plate Trim, White Lightning with Gold Plate Trim, and Stormy Wine with Gold Plate Trim. It is offered as fountain pen (nibs in fine, medium, or broad), rollerball, and ballpoint.

The Taranis fountain pen is 5.5 inches when capped, and 4.75 inches without the cap. Posted, it is almost 5.8 inches long. Despite the square barrel end, this pen can be posted. It has medium weight at around 35 grams with its cap, and only 26 grams when uncapped, which means that this pen can be used for extended periods of writing.

The section of the Taranis has chrome embedded into it, with SHEAFFER pressed on to the chrome. A lot of fountain pen users do not like this feature of the Taranis, including myself because I find it a little too much, but I realized that the chrome does not make writing uncomfortable at all. It does not get in the way of how my fingers hold on to the section while I write.

Sheaffer offers the Taranis with a semi-hooded stainless steel nib available in fine, medium, or broad. The pen on this review has a medium nib, but I find it too narrow, and I assume that is due to the small and thin nib of the pen. It writes smoothly, but it's not as wet as I want it to be. If I get one for myself in the future, I will definitely have it tweaked to the wetness I am used to with my other modern Sheaffer fountain pens.

The Taranis can be filled with ink using a Sheaffer converter, or cartridges. I filled this pen with Sheaffer Skrip Black, and I like the narrow lines that this medium nib produced. Again, it writes smoothly, but not as wet as my taste demands.

The Sheaffer Taranis is a well-balanced, elegant fountain pen for anyone. It's an eye catcher on any shirt pocket or pen wrap because of its clip, and a conversation starter when uncapped because of its unique grip section. I like the Taranis, but I wish the nib would be a bit wider, bigger, and wetter.

The Taranis pens (fountain pens, rollerball, ballpoint) are available in the Philippines at National Bookstore branches with the following prices:

• Stormy Night (chrome plate trim): FP PhP 2,700 / RB PhP 2,520 / BP PhP 2,520
• Icy Gunmetal (chrome plate trim): FP PhP 3,060 / RB PhP 2,700 / BP PhP 2,700
• Sleek Chrome (chrome plate trim): FP PhP 2,700 / RB PhP 2,520 / BP PhP 2,520
• White Lightning (gold plate trim): FP/RB/BP PhP 10,800 each
• Stormy Wine (gold plate trim): FP/RB/BP PhP 11,500 each

Sheaffer Skrip ink in bottles and cartridges are also available at National Bookstore branches.

Size comparison: The Taranis (middle pen) with my other modern Sheaffer fountain pens.
On top: Sheaffer 300 Straight Line Chased Chrome. Bottom: Sheaffer Prelude® Black Laqué.

I found that the Taranis fits perfectly into the single leather pen case that my friend Rhona Carantes made for me. For more of her lovely leather creations, check her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/rhonacarantes?fref=ts.