Nakaya Dorsal Fin V.1 Aka-Tame Nuri

[elderberry]

Hi there,

 

About time I post another review! This one is about one of my most prized pens (well, over time I intend to sell any pen that's not among the most prized ones, so.. )

 

This pen is one of Nakaya's larger and fatter models but still rather lightweight. It's done in vibrant red Urushi. In fact it's probably the "reddest" Urushi pen I own.

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9YB8IDN1mic/UHBKfcWUK5I/AAAAAAAAAFE/depMSL9Zq5A/s1600/DFUncappedWM.JPG

 

The pen's name is referring to the "fin" in the cap, a rather sharp edge that prevents the pen from rolling off your desk and gives it a rather unique appearance. The nature of the lacquer technique draws even more attention to the fin since the colour will appear brighter around edges. Nakaya pens are hand turned from ebonite before covered with lacquer and from what I hear the fin is not part of the ebonite shell but made by heaping up the lacquer.

I can't really imagine how this is achieved, but it must be one hell of an effort.

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RP0DrfzOLR0/UHBM2yQr9rI/AAAAAAAAAFM/1-c4J1mYIeo/s1600/DFdetail.JPG

 

The barrel is decorated with Kanji saying "writer", the grip section sports a gold Zogan. Due to the nicely balanced and light weight and the larger and fatter section it is extraordinarily nice to hold. The Zogan is perfectly flush, you can't feel where it starts and the lacquer surface begins.

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JUwpL9TmOwo/UHBdh3hWulI/AAAAAAAAAGM/WGkDLrZFHIs/s1600/DFKanjiWMmirror.JPG

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jYAws_92tiE/UHBTYcZH2bI/AAAAAAAAAFs/i8GRuMNabcE/s1600/DFdetail2WM.JPG

 

I am fascinated by music nibs, and the two-tone plating of the nib makes their beauty shine even more.

 

I ordered this pen directly from Nakaya in Japan and unfortunately the nib was somewhat dry out of the box. Oxonian adjusted it and now it writes beautifully - there are few things more annoying than a beautiful pen that makes you want to throw it out the window because it won't write like it should. If I ordered it via John Mottishaw that probably wouldn't have happened.

 

Still I won't complain because during the 3 months of waiting for the pen to be made I changed my mind a bit about the nibs, asked for a music nib, then made up my mind to go back to a "simple" nib because I couldn't afford the extra for the music nib at that time. Nakaya responded to all of this very politely and in the end the pen arrived with the music nib.

 

There are plenty of writing samples for the Nakaya/Platinum music nibs around and mine is a little ugly, so I'll skip that part until I have a better one. :-D

 

Some more pictures and musings about the pen can be found at my blog.

Edited October 27, 2012 by elderberry

[FrankvK]

what a gorgeous pen!

[geoduc]

Wow! The pen's beauty is enhanced by your wonderful photography.

 

I have a Nakaya in aka-tamenuri with a music nib on its way to me, and your photos have increased my anticipation. Now I wish I had asked for a two-tone nib, though.

[quinden]

That's a beautiful pen! I love the look of the version 1 Dorsal fins.

 

Your photos are great, especially the last close-up shot of the nib

[ethernautrix]

Gorgeous photos! You're making me late for Pen Posse Karaoke! Your blog, too. Wow! Have to run! I'm bringing the Karaoke to the Posse, so I'll have to look at your blog more closely later. The glimpse I had, though -- WOW!

[ImQuagmire]

What a beauty! Congratulations and thanks for the nice review.

[jde]

Gorgeous pen. Congratulations on expanding your beautiful collection!

[dannyboy]

Love those photos--and Wow, what a nice pen!

[i.like.whiskey]

What a beautiful pen.

[Classics]

Congrats on the pen and thank you for the great photos.

 

I have the same pen with finish. I love it!

 

My Dorsal Fin ver1 is one of my daily writers.

 

Enjoy!

[Inked]

Miss Elderberry, you have great taste.

 

A beautiful pen, a lovely handful. Your photograghy really amplifies it's sensual lines.

 

That nib looks like hours of entertainment.

 

Thank you for sharing.

 

Inked

[KarloT]

 

I am fascinated by music nibs, and the two-tone plating of the nib makes their beauty shine even more.

 

I ordered this pen directly from Nakaya in Japan and unfortunately the nib was somewhat dry out of the box.

 

The nib looks gorgeous!!!

 

I think Nakaya prefers to set their Music nib a little dry compared to Platinums. A friend is a regular client of Mike It Work and he told me Mike suggests a drier flow on italics to better showcase line variation. It might be Japanese nib wrights' philosophy vs the Western nibmesiters' thinking.

 

I know this is one of the bigger Nakayas in the catalog. How do you like the girth of this model? Am used to a Peli M1xxx size but I wonder if the barrel is a touch bigger than the Pelikan.

[elderberry]

A quick comparison shot for the Pelikan M1000 and Nakaya Dorsal Fin's sections. The Nakaya might be a little smaller at the narrowest spot as it tapers toward the nib and a bit fatter close to the barrel but it's not a huge difference.

 

 

As for the dry music nibs, this is my third Nakaya music nib and it was definitely a lot drier than the other two, so I guess it was faulty. Now, however, it's dried out because I ran out of battery while making the picture and forgot to recap it while the battery was loading. A good excuse to clean it and fill it with another beautiful ink.

Edited October 29, 2012 by elderberry

[Earthdawn]

Wow thats is absolutly beautiful !!!

 

Big congrats on that. Love the music nib and gold Zogan is a nice touch.

[Chris Chalmers]

What a fantastic looking pen! I had Nakaya make me an extra nib/feed sects when I ordered my long cigar shaped Aka-Tamenuri years ago, so I have the choice of fine soft and music when my moods change.

 

I am really impressed by the Dorsal Fin, and will now have to do some research!!!

Edited October 30, 2012 by Chris Chalmers

[IWantThat]

Now, that's just cruel...posting such photos... but I forgive you! Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.

[Regulateur]

What a great looking pen! Congrats. If it writes as good as it looks, this pen is going straight to the pens hall of fame

[WOBentley]

Fantastic pen! Thanks for posting these pictures!

Is the pen the color I see in the photos or is it redder?

Edited October 31, 2012 by WOBentley

[Redbarchettayyz]

Very nice pen! I handled one of these in a different finish at our last local pen get-together, and they are really something!

[larsbj]

Beatiful! Wish I could affort one right now, but I've just landed a new Naka-ai so it will have to wait. But, christmas soon

 

LBj

Edited October 31, 2012 by larsbj