💾 Archived View for sdf.org › stug › phlog › 20230218.txt captured on 2023-03-20 at 18:52:47.
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18th February 2023 - More Fountain Pens ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well fountain pen madness continues. I have acquired another teeny tiny pen - a Kaweco Liliput. This is a similar size to the Ohto Tasche but in a more attractive package. There is some 3 to 5 mm difference. I ended up getting a black aluminium version of the Liliput, mostly down to cost and worry about how well it writes. There are lots of warnings about bad nibs. It cost around �45. The steel and brass versions are closer to �100. The design of theLiliput is essentially a tube with rounded edges. The cap is attached through being screwed on and off. Without the cap, the pen is 87 mm and so many will struggle to use the pen without screwing the cap to the end or posting the pen. I can write fairly well without the cap posted and so this is not an issue for me. For some people, the need to post the cap to write will remove the pleasure of using the pen. I got the fine nib and found it writes well. There is sufficient wetness to give a smooth writing experience. I sort of find the fine a bit too thick for use in my notebook so I am awaiting delivery of an extra fine nib. The fact I can easily swap nibs is appealing. A key downside is the fact you can only fit small international standard cartridges. Sadly, I cannot seem to find short versions of the cartridges for Waterman mysterious blue ink. There are long versions but not short. It is very frustrating and I hope it related to a branding swap over. The plan is to fill an empty cartridge up with it. Comparisons to the Ohto Tasche are hard to avoid. I have found the Ohto Tasche a frustrating pen which promises a lot but dries up too quickly. This might be due to the cap being a push fit. The Liliput on the other hand writes first time regardless of having lived in my pocket for a few hours before hand. The Tasche needs time to prime after just lying sideways. This need for priming removes any time advantage from having a push fit cap. Of course this could all be due to a nib which is not quite right and requires tuning. Hmmm. I might need to find some videos and have a play. In the end , the liliput is just a fun pen and makes me want to write and doodle. We shall see whether that continues past the new pen excitement stage. I have discovered the next pen I want.... Another Kaweco which likes an awful lot like the Liliput... It is the Supra, essentially a wider Liliput with an optional mid section in the body of the pen. This gives the option between a longer pen which can accept convertors or a Liliput sized pen with the same cartidge restriction. For this one, I am very tempted to go for the flame blue steel version. It is a whopping �150 but looks very pretty. The steel pen is subjected to flames until you get a bluey, orangey hue. It looks amazing. On the ink side of life, I have ended up trying Diamine Prussian Blue and have some Kaweco Midnight Blues and Royal Blue cartidges to try. The Prussian Blue writes well and looks pretty good. However, it does not spark joy in the same way that the Waterman Mysterious Blue does. I have not yet tried the Kaweco inks. All of the cartridges are cheap enough to tempt me to try even if I have plenty of ink already.