My First Cs Pen

[Vlad Soare]

Today I received my first Conway Stewart fountain pen. It's a Wellington in classic green, supposedly with a fine italic nib. The Wellington was discontinued at the time I posted my order, but the factory was kind enough to accept the order and to make a new fountain pen for me. Which I really appreciate.

 

The pen itself looks absolutely gorgeous. It looks and feels as if it were made of marble. The finish is fantastic, it's unlike anything I've seen before. Also, the weight and balance are perfect. It's definitely the most beautiful fountain pen I've ever laid my hands on.

 

But I'm disappointed in the nib.

Firstly, it's a new design, which doesn't resemble any Wellington pictures I've seen. In the pictures the Wellington is depicted either with a monotone golden nib, or with a rhodium-plated nib with just a tiny golden CS logo. I would be fine with any of those two designs. However, mine has a seemingly new design, which resembles that of a Montblanc 146 - rhodium plated center with golden tip and edges. It's not that I don't like it. It's quite nice in itself, and I actually own a MB 146 which I love, so I have nothing against this layout per se. But it came as a surprise, and I don't like surprises. Besides, I would have preferred a traditional Conway Stewart design, rather than a Montblanc lookalike.

 

But what really bothers me is not so much the design, but the fact that the nib was supposed to be a fine italic. And it's not. There's nothing italic whatsoever about it. It's just a regular fine nib.

The nib writes as smoothly as any other high quality fine nib I've written with. But it's not an italic at all. It feels and writes like a round fine.

There's no grade indication on the nib or feed. It reads just Conway Stewart 18 ct, nothing more.

 

I've waited quite some time to get it. The production took more than initially estimated, then it arrived at the dealer with some issues, so they had to send it back to the factory, and when it finally arrived in my hands it arrived with an incorrect nib. I'll probably send it back to have its nib replaced. In the end everything is probably going to turn out fine, but until then I feel quite annoyed.

Edited May 29, 2014 by Vlad Soare

[Mary Burke]

Hi Vlad,

 

I am pleased to hear that you have received the Wellington Classic Green, it is a lovely design.

 

The nib grade identification for the new nib design is stamped on the side of the nib, fairly close the gripping section. Can you take an image of the side of the nib to show the nib grade please?

 

http://www.mvburke.com/images/newproducts/wellgreen.jpg

[Vlad Soare]

Indeed, I must have missed that. It's very small.

It reads indeed IF. So the nib must be the correct grade. But I'll be damned if I can see anything italic about it. There's no line variation whatsoever, no matter if on Rhodia or on cheap paper. It just isn't there. I've seen writing samples from Conway Stewart fine italics, and mine is really far from that.

It writes very nicely, very smoothly, but the line width looks equal in all directions.

 

What am I missing?

Edited May 29, 2014 by Vlad Soare

[FriendAmos]

A couple of weeks ago, I tried a CS Churchill in various nib-sizes. Two things that surprised me were that the "italic" was actually more of a "stub", the level of "stubbishness" was actually quite low at anything below IB.

 

That aside, I was very impressed with the CS Churchill (lever version) and would have bought one had I not read the unhappy reviews that have been posted on FPN. I truly hope that CS can work on its QC; it certainly makes some very beautiful and well-balanced pens. But a pen has to write!

[warblerick]

Vlad,

I have a CS Fine Italic on my Belliver Poinsettia ( I switched it from my Belliver Borealis), and it is pretty much as you described. Not much line variation but a fine writer none-the-less. It is not what I would call a crisp italic (as I have on my Aurora Prima Vera), but it does write a nice line on Rhodia. My next CS purchase will be something with a Medium Italic I think, just for a change.

 

Sorry to hear you were disappointed; I was also a bit let down in the fine italic.

 

Regarding the new style nib on your pen; perhaps you could have that switched to the old style? I think customers should be given the option before/during the ordering as to which nib they want until the old style runs out. Also, the web-site for CS badly needs to be updated with the new nibs, colors, etc.

[RMN]

I have an "old" IF, which does give some line variation. But ofcourse, the narrower the nib, the less variation you will get. And especially if you have a wet ink it gives just a ghost of variation. If you would take a drier ink on Clairefontaine 90 gms veloute you would see some variation.

 

 

D.ick

[dms525]

 

On my 27" monitor, the handwritten text displays larger than life. The x-height of the writing is actually 3.5 mm. I provided a sample of a CS nib, because this is the CS forum. But I could have shown similar results with Pelikan or OMAS nibs. Or Onoto or some others as well.

 

Happy writing!

David

[Mary Burke]

 

On my 27" monitor, the handwritten text displays larger than life. The x-height of the writing is actually 3.5 mm. I provided a sample of a CS nib, because this is the CS forum. But I could have shown similar results with Pelikan or OMAS nibs. Or Onoto or some others as well.

 

Happy writing!

David

Beautiful handwriting David!

[Mary Burke]

Indeed, I must have missed that. It's very small.

It reads indeed IF. So the nib must be the correct grade. But I'll be damned if I can see anything italic about it. There's no line variation whatsoever, no matter if on Rhodia or on cheap paper. It just isn't there. I've seen writing samples from Conway Stewart fine italics, and mine is really far from that.

It writes very nicely, very smoothly, but the line width looks equal in all directions.

 

What am I missing?

 

Vlad, if you are still unhappy, it might be worth calling the factory directly. Kayleigh Care is normally available and she might be able to arrange for another Italic nib to sent to Martin at the Writing Desk for test-writing.

 

Tel: 01752 776776

Email; kayleighcare@conwaystewart.co.uk

[Vlad Soare]

Thank you, Mary. I've sent Kayleigh an e-mail.

I really hope I can get a different nib. The pen is otherwise simply gorgeous. And despite the recent reports regarding quality issues, mine has none of those. It looks perfect and works perfectly.

[Vlad Soare]

I know that fine italic nibs do not yield as much line variation as their broader counterparts. But I would expect to see at least something.

The attached picture is a cutout from the one posted in the nib sizes thread. Take a look especially at the points marked with red arrows. Notice the clearly defined difference between the two parts of the k, between the two lines of the x, between the ascending and descending sides of the m's loops... I can't get that. I can't even get close to that.

 

And the more I look at it, the more I dislike the new design of the nib. If I send the pen back for a nib exchange, I really hope the factory will be able to provide an old-style nib.

[Vlad Soare]

And another sample:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ibm8x7374BI#t=664

That's a Wellington with a fine italic nib. The line variation is really obvious, right from the very first words he puts down on paper.

 

So what am I missing? Why can't I get anything like that?

Edited May 30, 2014 by Vlad Soare

[dms525]

Beautiful handwriting David!

 

Thank you, Mary!

 

David

[dms525]

And another sample:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ibm8x7374BI#t=664

That's a Wellington with a fine italic nib. The line variation is really obvious, right from the very first words he puts down on paper.

 

So what am I missing? Why can't I get anything like that?

 

I watched the video. Note that his IF nib has also been customized. In my experience, the CS IF nibs are not so crisp out of the box, which is fine, I suppose, for most writers of American-taught cursive.

 

David

[dneal]

I have an "old" monotone IF. It's not a crisp italic (but I haven't seen a production italic that is, regardless of maker), and more of a stub that leans a little toward a cursive italic.

 

You have to hold it at the correct angle to get proper "italic" line variation.

[Mary Burke]

I know that fine italic nibs do not yield as much line variation as their broader counterparts. But I would expect to see at least something.

The attached picture is a cutout from the one posted in the nib sizes thread. Take a look especially at the points marked with red arrows. Notice the clearly defined difference between the two parts of the k, between the two lines of the x, between the ascending and descending sides of the m's loops... I can't get that. I can't even get close to that.

 

And the more I look at it, the more I dislike the new design of the nib. If I send the pen back for a nib exchange, I really hope the factory will be able to provide an old-style nib.

 

The handwriting samples were written by Ward Dunham from Atelier Gargoyl

[Vlad Soare]

I watched the video. Note that his IF nib has also been customized.

 

I understand it was just adjusted because it used to skip and to have trouble when starting. He doesn't say that the nib was reground into a crisper italic.

 

 

You have to hold it at the correct angle to get proper "italic" line variation.

 

Sure, I understand that. But it's not just about writing. If I draw straight lines in all directions, be they horizontal, vertical, diagonal, or whatever, they are all the same width.

Edited May 30, 2014 by Vlad Soare

[dms525]

 

Sure, I understand that. But it's not just about writing. If I draw straight lines in all directions, be they horizontal, vertical, diagonal, or whatever, they are all the same width.

 

Vlad,

 

If that's true, you don't have an italic nib, regardless of how it's labeled. If you do a nib swap, as Mary suggested, let us know how the new nib writes.

 

I write predominantly in italic script. I have 5 customized CS italic nibs, and they are among my favorite writers. They all started as stock IF or IM nibs that I wanted to have greater thick/thin line variation. I also have a Wellington with a IB stock nib that had sufficient line variation out of the box and still writes very smoothly.

 

Good luck!

 

David

[dneal]

If I draw straight lines in all directions, be they horizontal, vertical, diagonal, or whatever, they are all the same width.

 

 

What dms525 said... If you're not getting variation with perpendicular lines (nib in the same position), then it's not ground correctly.

[FriendAmos]

I know that fine italic nibs do not yield as much line variation as their broader counterparts. But I would expect to see at least something.

Vlad, I should clarify my earlier comment. It is indeed the case that as one progresses from F to B and beyond, the line variation with an I or S nib should be more noticeable. What surprised me about the CS Churchill I tried is that I hardly saw any variation below B although these were being sold as I nibs. To my mind, that is not necessarily a problem, as it depends on what one is after. I actually liked the nibs, as I prefer something between normal rounded and real italic or stub, but I would not buy it if I wanted the latter.