Pilot Custom 74 <F> Nib Black Smoke - Impressions -

[CarlosCaligrafia]

I was really hesitant of invest on a $150++ Fountain pen, i inherited from my father some nice Sheaffer & Parker, and i invested on a Lamy Vista, all of them are nice, smooth writers.

 

But i wanted a Fine or EF, i enjoy fine lines so after reading a lot about how good and smooth Sailors Nibs are i decided to bought a Sailor Sapporo (instead of my initial plan of getting a Pelikan)... but then i watched some pictures of the Pilot Custom, and fall inlove of the Nib design.

 

 

The pen looks fantastic. It is the kind of pen silhouette i enjoy (curved ends). The clip is really classy, with a vintage look and solid construction.

 

 

The Resin of the pen is solid, the weight is ok, i prefer a little bit more of weight, but you cant say is a light pen.

 

The cap is a twist mechanism, another plus for me. It feels more secure that way. The size capped is about 14.5cm, the body alone is 12.6cm (about 5 inches) the posted length is 16.cm (6.25 inches). A good size pen.

 

I always prefer the "silver-color" trim to the gold one. This Custom has a Rhodium trim, that match perfectly the black smoke body.

 

 

The Nib

For me a Fountain Pen is all about the nib, i enjoy beautifully decorated nibs in white-silver color. The pilot nib doesn't disappointing me. It is a 14 karat gold Rhodium plated with a beautiful scroll pattern.

 

 

The size of the nib is 5. Technically small but it doesn't look that way to me.

The Nib has engraved: PILOT 5 <F> 14k-585.

 

I chose the F nib because i wanted a thin-wet line..

It was time to write something so i put the nib in the paper, and what a great feeling!, the ink was leaving the nib in a consistend, wet, smooth manner. The Gold nib has some spring, much, much different to a Steel Nib, i have read some where that there is not much difference in steel vs gold, well i disagree... this nib is fantastic, i love the spring feeling against the hard-nail feeling of most steel nibs i have tried. It is not a flexible nib however, but i prefer it that way, i can have some control on the writing.

 

 

But then i found something that disappointed me. When i was trying to put my signature on paper, i found that upwards strokes were non-existent. I tried again, and again, but nothing. Downward strokes where a fine-luscious-and juicy controlled leak of Pilot Blue ink, upwards was nothing.

 

Searching for help i logged on FPN and found that it was a common problem with customs... that can be fixed with some tine spreading, so y tried around 15 times, and suddenly, upstrokes came as it where down-strokes... beautifully. The initial disappointment were suddenly in the past, i started to really enjoy this beautiful crafted pen.

 

 

I was going to try and ink the pen for the first time with noodlers black. But since i read somewhere —FPN— that Pilot make their pens around their inks and not the other way around, i plugged a Pilot Blue cartridge in the pen, and have no regrets... the Pilot Blue work really really well... it has even some hints of shading.. shading in a wet fine nib.. glorious!.

 

The pen came with the CON70... now that i have some Namiki Black i will try the converter, and reported back.

 

 

I really, really enjoy this pen. Is a pleasure to write, and concentrate in every letter, every word you put in paper. While i officially exhausted my hobby-money for some time.. definitely i will look the the Custom big brother some time in the future. While this happens i think i should look for some Irozhisuku ink!

 

Happy writing.

 

[HDoug]

Love your pix!

 

I very recently got one too -- and in the same "black smoke" deep grey demonstrator finish.

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8302/7793173204_0597a4cfd7_c.jpg

 

Doug

[CarlosCaligrafia]

Love your pix!

 

I very recently got one too -- and in the same "black smoke" deep grey demonstrator finish.

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8302/7793173204_0597a4cfd7_c.jpg

 

Doug

 

Beautiful picture Doug!

What notebook is pictured? it seems it have a lovely fine texture.. also, is that ink Pilot Blue? —nice handwriting by the way—

[quinden]

It's a beautiful pen, and a great review. Thanks!

[HDoug]

 

Beautiful picture Doug!

What notebook is pictured? it seems it have a lovely fine texture.. also, is that ink Pilot Blue? —nice handwriting by the way—

 

It's a Kunst & Papier binderboard notebook (A4 size) of 144 pages. I draw text boxes on each page using a medieval page layout formula.

 

Ink is Noodler's Gulf Stream Blue named before the BP oil spill. The ink was an exclusive of Swisher Pens (now defunct). I have about an ounce remaining of this fine, deep, waterproof blue ink.

 

Doug

Edited September 8, 2012 by HDoug

[andsplat]

I have had the same ink flow issues with my Pilot Custom 74 Fine. I'm trying to find information on how to fix this. You mentioned that you found information on FPN, do you have links to those posts? I couldn't find them.

[4lex]

I was really hesitant of invest on a $150++ Fountain pen, i inherited from my father some nice Sheaffer & Parker, and i invested on a Lamy Vista, all of them are nice, smooth writers.

 

But i wanted a Fine or EF, i enjoy fine lines so after reading a lot about how good and smooth Sailors Nibs are i decided to bought a Sailor Sapporo (instead of my initial plan of getting a Pelikan)... but then i watched some pictures of the Pilot Custom, and fall inlove of the Nib design.

 

 

The pen looks fantastic. It is the kind of pen silhouette i enjoy (curved ends). The clip is really classy, with a vintage look and solid construction.

 

 

The Resin of the pen is solid, the weight is ok, i prefer a little bit more of weight, but you cant say is a light pen.

 

The cap is a twist mechanism, another plus for me. It feels more secure that way. The size capped is about 14.5cm, the body alone is 12.6cm (about 5 inches) the posted length is 16.cm (6.25 inches). A good size pen.

 

I always prefer the "silver-color" trim to the gold one. This Custom has a Rhodium trim, that match perfectly the black smoke body.

 

 

The Nib

For me a Fountain Pen is all about the nib, i enjoy beautifully decorated nibs in white-silver color. The pilot nib doesn't disappointing me. It is a 14 karat gold Rhodium plated with a beautiful scroll pattern.

 

 

The size of the nib is 5. Technically small but it doesn't look that way to me.

The Nib has engraved: PILOT 5 <F> 14k-585.

 

I chose the F nib because i wanted a thin-wet line..

It was time to write something so i put the nib in the paper, and what a great feeling!, the ink was leaving the nib in a consistend, wet, smooth manner. The Gold nib has some spring, much, much different to a Steel Nib, i have read some where that there is not much difference in steel vs gold, well i disagree... this nib is fantastic, i love the spring feeling against the hard-nail feeling of most steel nibs i have tried. It is not a flexible nib however, but i prefer it that way, i can have some control on the writing.

 

 

But then i found something that disappointed me. When i was trying to put my signature on paper, i found that upwards strokes were non-existent. I tried again, and again, but nothing. Downward strokes where a fine-luscious-and juicy controlled leak of Pilot Blue ink, upwards was nothing.

 

Searching for help i logged on FPN and found that it was a common problem with customs... that can be fixed with some tine spreading, so y tried around 15 times, and suddenly, upstrokes came as it where down-strokes... beautifully. The initial disappointment were suddenly in the past, i started to really enjoy this beautiful crafted pen.

 

 

I was going to try and ink the pen for the first time with noodlers black. But since i read somewhere —FPN— that Pilot make their pens around their inks and not the other way around, i plugged a Pilot Blue cartridge in the pen, and have no regrets... the Pilot Blue work really really well... it has even some hints of shading.. shading in a wet fine nib.. glorious!.

 

The pen came with the CON70... now that i have some Namiki Black i will try the converter, and reported back.

 

 

I really, really enjoy this pen. Is a pleasure to write, and concentrate in every letter, every word you put in paper. While i officially exhausted my hobby-money for some time.. definitely i will look the the Custom big brother some time in the future. While this happens i think i should look for some Irozhisuku ink!

 

Happy writing.

 

If you would have basic physics knowledge you would know that GOLD has LESS flex then STEEL. What we call flex is in physics called plasticity and gold as a soft metal has very low plasticity. Pure gold would not flex at all, it would just stay in the position that you would bent it.

Steel, especially high carbon steel has a tendency if bent to return to original form. That is called plasticity or flex.

Guess what most springs are made of?!!

Ever heard of spring steel?!

It may very well be that most gold springs you will try in life will have more flex then the steel nibs, BUT NOT BECAUSE OF GOLD CONTENT.

 

Correlation does not imply causation. If your logic would work then this would be true:

 

Sleeping with one's shoes on is strongly correlated with waking up with a headache.

Therefore, sleeping with one's shoes on causes headache.

[pedrosette]

Have you found an answer? I managed to spread the tines and fix the flow, but the pen is still scratchy.

 

I have had the same ink flow issues with my Pilot Custom 74 Fine. I'm trying to find information on how to fix this. You mentioned that you found information on FPN, do you have links to those posts? I couldn't find them.

[Legal Eagle]

Nice pictures. I've also been eyeing the exact same pen for quite some time now.

[davidtaylorjr]

Ok that settles it, I'm ordering one.

[mke]

It would be nice not quoting large mails in their entirety - only the part you want to discus.

Thank you.

[mke]

> flow issues

Switch inks - first test using Pilot ink.

My vanishing point doesn't like Pelikan Royal Blue but works well with Pilot ink.

[davidtaylorjr]

> flow issues

Switch inks - first test using Pilot ink.

My vanishing point doesn't like Pelikan Royal Blue but works well with Pilot ink.

 

That's good to know.

[JunkyardSam]

The ink you use can make a big difference. Nathan Tardiff (maker of Noodlers inks) has said repeatedly that he calibrates his inks to pens which have a super thin sliver of light between the tines when the dry nib is held to a light.

 

Probably MOST of my Sailor, Pilot, and Platinum pens have arrived with tines touching to some degree. (Some wouldn't write at all, but wrote beautifully after adjustment.)

 

Pilot & Iroshizuku inks may still flow in a pen if the tines aren't TOO tight, but I personally prefer a nib to be tuned like this:

 

https://imgur.com/fpngallery/owGN5mZ

 

Resources for how to do this are linked below. The procedure is relatively easy, and Pilot gold nibs are easier to adjust than any other IMO, but... that's an expensive nib to learn on.