In this corner:

Waterman Kultur Demonstrator
Waterman Blue-Black Ink (Thanks JimCouch!)


In the opposing corner:

Sheaffer School Pen Demonstrator
Sheaffer Blue-Black Ink

Round 1: Nibs:
Decision: Split

The waterman is a juicy wet fine that writes like most mediums. The sheaffer is a drier medium that writes finer than the WM fine nib. I find the phileas / kultur nibs to run almost a full size wider than expected, or maybe I'm just used to sheaffers that run narrow. Anyway as a lefty with small handwriting, the Waterman Fine is just at my upper bound for every-day broadness. A medium would be useful to me for signatures only, and a broad I would use for painting the house, or putting out fires...

Round 2: Design
Decision: Waterman

The waterman pen is a true demo pen with a clear section. The blue section on the sheaffer is funky but waterman takes it. The overall fit and finish level on the Kultur is a step above the School Pen...

Round 3: Price / Value
Decision: Sheaffer

The street price on the crystal clear waterman is around $20-25. The Sheaffer can be yours for less than half that, and less than 1/4 if you shop around. Alternatively, there are Kultur demonstrators that are translucent colors as opposed to transparent clear, these typically go for $10-15

Overall: Waterman
In the bargain basement, ya gets what ya pays fer...
A nifty pen at a nice price...


enjoy!
Tom

Neat idea! Thanks for the comparison!

While I'm a Sheaffer fan, this was like putting a flyweight in the ring against a middleweight.

The Kultur is a Phileas without the trimmings. The Sheaffer School Pen is a pen that was sold on blister cards for $5 or so.

Sheaffer School Pens have always been steady and reliable, although the one in this review, the last version of this venerable pen, is the most plasticky of the family. The chrome cap ones made in the 1960s, 70s and 80s are much better pens.

The Kultur is a better overall pen and it is still in production, as opposed to the Sheaffer.

The Sheaffer School Pen, along with the original design of the No-Nonsense (pre-rubberized nib section) were the great "$5 ambassadors" of the Sheaffer line. Now, all there is on the low end are the Javelin and the Award, which new, both cost upwards of $10.

Alas, the good cheap Sheaffer has gone the way of the good 5-cent cigar.

Yea, it wasnt really a fair fight... I had the two pens inked this morning and it just struck me as curious; two demonstrator pens w/ their respective manufacturers' blue-black ink...

Nice head-to-head comparison. Well done - thanks!

Hi,

Nice pens with a nice girth for a normal hand. I had similar models, but my hands were too small...

I am still looking for a small demonstrator pen...I have a few transparent Sheaffer cartridge pens.

Dillon

Thanks for the review. You need to try a Lamy Vista.

Hmmm, I thought the Kultur looked familiar after checking out a Phileas on the same website I was perusing!

A vista I've got, all i need is a Lamy blue-black cartridge... anyone?

ive got some inks on page 1 of the ink sample trade thread any takers?

Do it for science!

Tom

Ok, here it is..




a worthy opponent for the Waterman. The F nib on this pen runs narrow, tho this is the lamy b/b ink causing this I think...

Is it true that Lamy b/b = Mont Blanc b/b? Who manufactures the ink for whom?


Cheers!
Tom

The head to head review of 2 great pens, 3 with the Lamy, was truly enjoyable.

I need to get me one of these Kultur!!! I already have 2 Phileas.


As a righty with big handwriting and a taste for smooth nibs, my medium is your fine and let say I would need a quatruple bold to start to put out fire.

I discovered Bold nibs quite recently and I enjoy them tremendously.


Please keep those great reviews coming!!!!!!!

Can the Waterman Kultur/Phileas be converted to an ED? Any recomendations on that? I really want a Recife Crystal, but I have a spouse who does not understand why I don't just use a bic and therefore has an issue with the $ of any fp. (Might have to trade him for a cat. )

The barrels of the translucent and transparent Kulturs are a single piece of plastic. The solid color Kulturs and Phileas-es-s(?) have trim rings held in place by (faux) "blind caps" So an eyedropper conversion is easiest on the transparent/translucent Kulturs. It seems to me that all you'd need to do is seal the threads w/ grease or tape or whatever, and you should be good to go!*

Happy tinkering!
Tom

*your mileage may vary / do not taunt happy fun ball...

Hi, I have a kultur and love it ...... am just curious about the eyedropper conversion. What does this mean ? Can someone please explain.

Thanks
Dawn

Ok so I am totally curious about the eyedropper conversion so have done a bit of reading .... can some one tell me if I am thinking the right way here ....

So if I filled up the barrel of my kultur with ink and then put some grease or similar on the thread and screwed the nib section back on I would then have a pen that i could be using without a cartridge or convertor??

This appeals to me so much because it would be so cool to have the demonstrator pen with coloured ink showing through instead of a cartridge.

Dawn

Hi,

You got it!

Just fill the barrel and put silicone grease on the threads of the section.

Dillon

Hi Dillon

Thanks!

I tried this last night and my demonstrator is now filled up with purple ink and looks really cool. I put vaseline round the thread and left it lying on its side over night and this morning I was pleased to see that there were no leaks.

The pen looks way more interesting this way that with a convertor/cartridge.

Dawn

My reasearch says that painting the inside of the barrel with shellac would also be a good idea - it prevents ink stains.