Conklin Nozac With Cursive Italic Nib

[JonB55198]

Hi Group,

 

If you haven't my original post, please see here: One Red Fountain Pen Post. The premise is that I will be making a series of up-trades starting with a Red Wing Sung 322. My plan is to get to my current Grail Pen: the Pelikan M1000 Green Striated with Triple-Broad, Double-Broad or Cursive Italic Broad nib.

 

Well, I made my 7th trade and Powerbroker was kind enough to trade me two pens. I traded my Pelikan 140 EF for a Conklin Nozac with cursive italic nib and an Edison Beaumont with broad nib. So, as promised in my original "deal" with the FPN, I'm going to review each pen that I receive in trade along the way. This review will be for the Conklin.

 

Conklin Nozac with Cursive Italic:

Appearance & Design (9/10) – This is one of the most beautiful resins I've seen. It is a pearl-like teal with reflective flakes in it. I liked it so much that I'm trying to find one of these to buy after I'm done with my trade up game. But, it is discontinued and very hard to find. Also, I like very much that the section matches the barrel and cap. I just wish the nib had the characteristic moon-shaped breather hole that Conklins usually have. Another neat feature is that the clip has the fulcrum in the center, so that when you clip this in a shirt pocket more of the pen sticks out and shows off. Furthermore, this feature allows you to quickly squeeze the clip and get it to open so that it can be clipped to thick fabric like a sweater neck.

 

Construction & Quality (9/10) – This pen seems very solid in construction. One of the best features is that the threads in the barrel where the section screws in are actually metal. One minor problem I had was that the cap doesn't seem to post super-securely. If you are not careful, it sort of wobbles and posts crooked. So, I docked it 1 point to make the total a 9.

 

Weight & Dimensions (9/10) – This is a large pen. I love large pens. Furthermore, it is really lightweight and easy to use for long periods of time. I really think it is a comfortable pen to use. It would get a 10 if it were a bit bigger.

 

Nib & Performance (9/10) – I'm not sure how the original nib performed. This nib was ground from a medium into a cursive italic. I can say that once I found the sweet spot and got used to using it, the scratchiness virtually disappeared and it never skipped. I was really impressed and the line width variation that it gives is truely impressive. If it weren't for that tiny bit of scratchiness, I would have given it a 10.

 

Filling System & Maintenance (8/10) - Nothing super exciting here. It is a converter. Boring but practical. I tend to like pistons better because I only use ink from a bottle. But, this make it very easy to flush. Just pull out the converter and flush using a bulb. The converter is a nice one with a double gasket and operates smoothly.

 

Cost & Value (7/10) – You can still pick up some of these NOS for ~$180 on the web, although not in this beautiful color. For this price, I think the pen delivers a fair bit of value. But I would say this pen would be worth about $125 new tops. It seems a bit overpriced for the value, but maybe its just me.

 

Conclusion (51/60 = 85%) - I love the size of this pen and the weight. Moreover, I love the color. If I could find this pen in this color, I would snap it up in a second. To sweeten the deal this pen has some work done to the nib to make an awesome CI. It's a real winner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 13, 2012 by JonB55198

[jandrese]

Thanks for sharing. I too have a Conklin Nozac that is a very attractive, but not particularly well-made pen. After some work it became a pretty good writer, but it was obvious Conklin barely had it together when these came out. I think newer Conklin's are better quality, if not as good looking.

[JonB55198]

I agree. I have a mark twain with factory 1.1 stub. i LOVE it!

[Glenn-SC]

I tried several new production Conklins and none of them worked right and I gave up and sent them back while still under warranty.

 

Glad yours works though.

[rroossinck]

Good to hear that these Conklins are still out there and that people are still enjoying them! I've had some of the same problems that Glenn had in the past, but I've done some tinkering with the ones that I've had and seem to have ironed out most of the bugs with mine. I still have my big blue Duragraph, and despite the fact that it dries out really quickly (no inner cap to prevent it, sadly), I still love the pen and the way that it writes once it's primed.

 

Any idea who ground the nib on yours, Jon?

[JonB55198]

Any idea who ground the nib on yours, Jon?

 

I'm not sure. But I can ask the previous owner.

 

I'm really hoping to trade this pen and my edison beaumont soon. I'm hungering for a new pen to review Maybe even complete my journey with a Pelikan M1000

[georges zaslavsky]

You should have bought a vintage nozac, you would have had a better experience.

[JonB55198]

You should have bought a vintage nozac, you would have had a better experience.

 

Georges, I didn't buy this one. I traded up for it. Did you happen to see my "one red fountain pen" forum? I started with a Red Wing Sun 322 and made a series of trade ups to get here. I'm trying to make it to a Pelikan M1000... that's my dream pen