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Sailor Ink Pen - Handwritten review.


Neill78

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Here is my long-overdue Sailor Ink Pen review. I would like to extend a thank-you to Jared for providing this pen for me to review.

 

The pen:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_LXOG_uBp1o4/Svs21piPMII/AAAAAAAAFAQ/HEom9eh5iuQ/s800/AB112271.JPG

 

I will write everything out here (with slightly more detail) and provide the pictures in between.

 

Page 1:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_LXOG_uBp1o4/Svs2zsplAxI/AAAAAAAAFAI/aAN2bg8L8Ws/s800/AB112268.JPG

 

Page 2:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_LXOG_uBp1o4/Svs206LGKHI/AAAAAAAAFAM/MRcTnNQGZnA/s800/AB112269.JPG

 

The Sailor Ink Pen is a bargain-basement model available from DAISO, Japan's most popular 100-yen shop. It comes in a cellophane sleeve with one Sailor black ink cartridge (a very nice black).

 

This is actually my second Ink Pen. I bought my first one in Japan last year and send it directly to the trash bin because it had a tendency to tear through paper. This one is better behaved, but it seems to have an uneven flow and tends to pick up paper fibres in the nib very easily. Clarification: I now believe the uneven flow is mostly caused by fibres getting stuck in the nib. Upon taking the macro photos for this review I noticed tiny bits of fuzz that were not visible to the naked eye and managed to remove them.

 

Nib: The nib appears to have no tipping unless examined under magnification. It looks, acts and feels like a very fine stub. It's very toothy but entirely functional, and puts down a decent medium wet line.

 

Top of nib:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_LXOG_uBp1o4/Svs22BlG2ZI/AAAAAAAAFAU/SxerHuMhzCg/s800/AB112274.JPG

 

Underside of nib:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_LXOG_uBp1o4/Svs2pPuzMwI/AAAAAAAAE_4/S2jYs-qN7kE/s800/AB112276.JPG

 

Body: Made of very lightweight plastic, the Ink Pen is actually a deep navy blue. The cap and end cap are made of transparent but cloudy plastic. The name "Ink Pen" is stamped in silver on the side of the barrel. Not much thought was given to the stamping as it does not line up with the nib's orientation, and appears upside down when in use. There is a small but sharp step from the barrel to the section where the cap slides on which I find irritating. The clear plastic end cap suggests potential for eyedropper conversion.

 

The whole thing:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_LXOG_uBp1o4/Svs2whGFEFI/AAAAAAAAE_8/eYK1YZ9HS04/s400/AB112257.JPG

 

Value: It's a dollar. And it works. That's already better value than a lot of pens out there (I'm specifically thinking of a couple of Italian makers and my Parker Sonnet). Personally I would rather pay 200 or 300 yen and get a slightly smoother nib.

 

Performance: This pen has a lot of potential. With some nib-smoothing it would make a great carry-around pen. It can sit for months without drying up -- it starts instantly. It is by far the best quality 100 yen pen I have tried so far (The Platinum Preppy runs circles around it, but it's about 250 yen, if memory serves). Out of the box it works OK, but the nib picks up so much paper fibre that I don't think it would be useful as a daily writer. With a bit of tweaking I can see it being something to keep in a purse or pencil case, especially since it never dries out.

 

Edited and edited and edited to make the pictures work. GRRR!

Edited by Neill78
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Excellent review! I'm always on the lookout for inexpensive pens that perform to a high standard. Regarding the nib, I've found that it is possible to smooth Pilot V-Pen nibs with a good, old-fashioned emory board. Naturally, there are other, more sophisticated methods of achieving the desired objective, but these implements are cheap and highly effective!

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Interesting. It seems to have a better nib than the Sailor Ink-Bar, which simply has a folded metal tip.

 

As well, the Ink-Bar is re-fillable. You take off the end cap and tap out the central reservoir. This is a tube filled with capillary fibres. You can rinse it out under the tap, and then use an eye dropper or equivalent to fill it with ink.

 

It may be that the Ink Pen refills the same way.

fpn_1412827311__pg_d_104def64.gif




“Them as can do has to do for them as can’t.


And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.”


Granny Aching

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Interesting. It seems to have a better nib than the Sailor Ink-Bar, which simply has a folded metal tip.

 

As well, the Ink-Bar is re-fillable. You take off the end cap and tap out the central reservoir. This is a tube filled with capillary fibres. You can rinse it out under the tap, and then use an eye dropper or equivalent to fill it with ink.

 

It may be that the Ink Pen refills the same way.

 

The Ink Pen is a cartridge pen (Sailor carts). It looks like it would make a good eye-dropper as it's made entirely of plastic and the whole thing is pretty airtight. But I think I'll leave that to someone else to try.

 

I did see the Ink Bar in Japan but one look at the nib and I decided not to buy it (it was more than 100 yen, too). In retrospect I should have tried it out. The Tachikawa Manga Pen has some kind of sponge material between the nib and feed that presumably uses capillary action to bring the ink down (I believe it's some kind of permanent india ink). There are some reviews here and on other sites but I don't think anyone has mentioned the feed. I tossed mine out after a quick test because it shredded paper and was hard to start. Wildly inconsistent nib widths between pens.

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I have several of these and find the nibs to be VERY good. It's probably the most cost effective pen you can buy. No fountain pen owner should be without one of these as a go-anywhere give-to-anyone fountain pen. ;)

[MYU's Pen Review Corner] | "The Common Ground" -- Jeffrey Small

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  • 3 months later...

My greatest mistake was to live in Japan for two years, use these all the time and then not bring back 50 of them because the Daisos in my area were out of stock...

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Great review, thanks.

And how can this be, because he is the Kwisatz Haderach.

 

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I like these pen a lot. When you guys buy a pen from me, I normally throw an Ink Pen in the package. I give them to my co-workers and my students.

 

It's the best give away pen ever and the new version is a demonstrator!!! And I use them when I go on bike ride or when I travel.

 

Great review, thanks!

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When I bought mine it felt scratchy too, but it was the tine alignment and not the nib problem. I removed the nib, adjusted the tines, and it writes wonderfully smooth.

 

Andrew

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While I am new, I have been reading up on Fountain Pens. I ran across a suggestion elsewhere on this board (I believe), that if you notice your pen tearing your paper or being "scratchy", you may find it works way nicer on 25-100% cotton fiber paper. The higher quality paper sold at stores like Office Depot (usually used for Resume paper or in that section). You might try making higher quality paper your Fountain Pen standard.

 

Scott

Edited by swright007
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Thanks for the review. I love it when anyone includes a handwritten sample.

 

I've got the same pen and while the nib is a bit fine for me, it's still a good writer and an unbeatable bargain.

My latest ebook.   And not just for Halloween!
 

My other pen is a Montblanc.

 

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