Kaweco Al Sport Night Edition (Special Edition) And The Small Converters

[Fluegelfeder]

Dear fountain pen community,

 

it‘s been a while since I posted a review here. I’ve recently finished my PhD thesis and haven’t had a life beside this for quite some time. But now that it’s finished: back to life, i.e. back to fountain pens!

And which better way to go for a suiting PhD present than a completely black pen, since black in martial arts is the color of mastery.

Some weeks ago I stumbled over the announcement of a Kaweco AL Sport special edition for mostwanted-pens: the ‘Night Edition’.

The dimensions and figures are well known and therefore I will only write about what’s special with this special edition: The ‘Night Edition’ is a completely black fountain pen with black nib, black cap top and black ‘Kaweco’ logo – whereas the normal black AL Sport has a silver steel nib, silver steel cap top and the logo is whitened.

I do like the stealthy Night Edition a lot. It’s modern yet elegant, but most of all it’s a very understated design and engineered top notch. The all black appearance is most striking in the absence of a legible logo. There is the typical ‘Kaweco AL Sport Germany’ Logo engraved on the cap, but it’s not highlighted in any way – and it must be pretty hard for a company to abstain from visually highlighting their logo on their product... This, in my eyes, is the highest form of understatement. True, on the other hand, the distinctive octagonal shape of a Kaweco Sport by now is recognizable without any imprint. Nevertheless, it’s a very welcomed deviation from most pens. A Lamy CP1 appears that modest, too – but they differ pretty much with regard to engineering: The Kaweco Night Edition is marvelously well made. This especially shows in small details as for example the polished surface of the section’s link into the stem. Due to it being polished it glides absolutely smoothly into the stem and the remaining clearance is amazing. The cap posts securely and due to the inner sealing ring without any contact of the cap’s and the stem’s metal – so no scratches on the surface.

The surface itself has a matte finish which makes it really comfortable especially for longer writing periods or with slightly sweaty fingers.

The black nib performs very well and – typical for Kaweco – rather on the dry side. You probably either like or hate it, but keeping in mind, that the Kaweco Sport was issued as a traveling pen (the slogan in the 30ies said ‘small in the pocket, big in the hand’) a rather moderate inkflow means less consumption of ink, so faster drying time and longer life period of the ink cartridge. Insofar it’s quite fitting. More so the Kaweco M nib seems to me like a true medium: more like a japanese M than like a Pelikan M. And with regard to ink supply Kaweco has two converters that fit the Sport fountain pens: the mini converter (reminding a little of the old Parker push-converters, but looking and feeling a lot better) and the squeeze converter which is an ink sac converter (btw: the only fitting converter for the Liliput series). I prefer the mini converter, which works flawlessly, looks and feels really nice and has quite some appeal to it, because it’s not the boring piston converter like most of the converters out there. The squeeze converter is good, too, but fills only half of it's capacity. For filling it completely up to it’s rim you have to pull the the nib out after filling it, hold the nib upwards, squeeze the remaining air out and then submerge again for filling it a second time. - And since Kaweco has an interesting color palette: Simply using cartridges isn’t all too bad, either

 

In the end I really like the Night Edition and since Kaweco’s stonewashed edition I’m pretty sure, that the Night Edition will stand tall to the tests of time and even after years of use and abuse will look pretty well in a completely rugged condition.

The only thing I miss is one of their leather pouches included in this special edition. But on the bright side the Night Edition comes with a full package of cartridges and one additional included in the barrel. Aaaand: the included cartridges are black and not blue – perfectly matching the Night Edition. I like these small details!

Thumbs up, Kaweco is a very interesting company in the world of fountain pens and a very creative one, too!

 

And here are some impressions of the Night Edition and the two fitting converters:

 

P.S. No affiliation, just a happy customer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lugworm]

Love it. Where can I get one in the UK?

[mike.jane]

Interesting. And more importantly, interesting review. Thank you.

 

Now....I will think about this.

Really...no money and all....oh,

might just. oh

[Lugworm]

If I had to design my own pen it would be this.

I've been researching pens for months and haven't really fancied anything. But when you see "the one" you know its "the one".

However I suspect things will conspire that I won't be able to get it. Namely availability, the cost and the wife. Not necessarily in that order.

[FOUR X FOUR]

I'm glad Kaweco finally introduced the mini converter. I wasn't very fond of the aqueeze converter. Thank you for the review. I also like all black pens

[fly_us]

The pen is beautiful. But the nib is too dry for my taste. I'm not sure about saving ink is a good excuse here, as the ink flow of 2 Kawerco Sport v16 i have in hand here is wetter. Not flooding wet, but a bit less than Pelikan wetness.

 

And congrats on the PhD and of course, the new pen.

[Georges_S]

It is beautiful ! Thanks for sharing it with us. You never go wrong with matte black.

[Croma]

Hello:

Good review, thank for share. Curious converters.

Regards.

[antichresis]

That's a beautiful pen. It might be the one to push me into buying an Al-Sport despite the premium over a regular Sport. I wish Kaweco would make a medium-length cartridge (long than a short but shorter than a long so that it fills the length of the barrel). I have not heard a good thing said about their converters—squeeze or push.

[Astronymus]

I like black things. I like this pen.

[Arcadian]

Wow, that's awesome! Can I ask - what does the nib feel like compared to the regular gold nibs? That is, if you have one to compare?

[OakIris]

Congratualtions on getting your PhD and the lovely AL Sport Night Edition. The pen does look very nice indeed.

 

I am awaiting the arrival of some bright and shiny Kawecos, myself - the Brass Sport and a Brass Wave Liliput. I will also be trying out both of Kaweco's mini-converters, the original squeeze version and the new piston version. I figure if the ink capacity is just too low to make the pens useable - they will be my EDC pens for a while - I can try to increase the capacity by making my own squeeze converter - gluing on a sac to the nipple of a cartridge so I can at least use the full length of the barrel for ink.

 

Kaweco's are notorious for being dry writers and I don't like dry writers, but the crow in me couldn't resist the shiny brass pens any more, lol. I am hoping I can adjust the nibs to increase the flow so that I can enjoy writing with them. (Getting a spare gold nib, too - very expensive but worth it from the reviews I have read.)

 

Enjoy your new pen and your reentry back into life, Fluegelfeder!

 

Holly

Edited February 24, 2017 by OakIris

[Fluegelfeder]

Dear all, thanks for the nice comments!

 

@ Arcadian: Do you mean the regular gold plated steel nibs or do you mean the massive 14ct gold nibs?

To me the steel nibs (steel, black and gold plated) all write quite equal (equally? - please excuse my bad English): rather dry, very consistant and without skipping or starting problems, but they are hard as a nail. No line variation whatsoever. Only difference is that the plastic Sports don't seal as good as the metal ones and can dry out after a few weeks without being used.

The massive gold nibs on the other side are wetter and a little broader than the steel nibs (same goes for Pelikan: Gold M nib is a little broader than steel M nib).

 

@ OakIris: Thanks for your congrats and kind words! I appreciate it very much!

[Lugworm]

Bad English... I think your English is better than that of a lot of people who can only speak English.

[bdoddemajr]

I love the look of this pen. Too bad they didn't make a matte black pen clip to match it.

[OakIris]

The pen is beautiful. But the nib is too dry for my taste. I'm not sure about saving ink is a good excuse here, as the ink flow of 2 Kawerco Sport v16 i have in hand here is wetter. Not flooding wet, but a bit less than Pelikan wetness.

 

<snip>

 

I now know exactly what you mean, having received a couple of Kaweco's at the end of February. Very disappointed with the way my Kaweco Brass Sport and Liliput Brass Wave write - dry as dust no matter what size Kaweco nib I install in them. I have tried different, wetter, inks in them, still no joy, still hard starters, still skip. Fluegelfeder, you warned us that the Kaweco's were deliberately dry writers, but give me good flow, Kaweco, don't try to help me conserve my ink - I would gladly bring extra ink with me!

 

They are beautiful to look at, just like the AL Night Edition, but if you can't stand to write with them, there is little point in having them. I am not ready to give up on the pens. I will try to make more adjustments to improve the flow on the Kaweco steel nibs and the 14K gold nib (BB) will be going to a nibmeister, when I can afford it, so it can be adjusted and stubbed - then I might be happy with this over-priced gold nib.

 

Two pens and five different Kaweco nibs to try = disappointment. I enjoy the excellent steel nibs on my inexpensive Jinhao's 100% more than any of the Kaweco nibs I have tried thus far.

 

Holly

 

Saturday edit - that was a bit of a rant. Today I finally had time to work on my nibs. I put the gold nib away for adjustment by that as-yet-imaginary nibmeister. Then I removed the broad gold-coloured steel nib and feed from its feed holder and took a look at it with loupe/Optivisor and light - tines much too close together. After using a brass shim to gently and slightly increase the space between the tines, (as per sbrebrown's instructions,) I installed the nib in my Brass Sport and....lovely! Excellent flow now. I then installed the medium nib on my Liliput. I was pleasantly surprised at first, but after writing a sentence or two, it stopped writing altogether and re-priming the feed didn't help a lot. I did the same tine adjustment as I had done with the broad nib, reinstalled it, and now it writes very nicely indeed.

 

The fix is relatively easy, but it is a shame that the pens don't come with good flow from the start. I understand the logic that Kaweco used, but I have never felt the need to starve my pocket pens of ink. I carry them every day, use them every day for notes, end up refilling them once or so a month, no big deal so far.

Edited March 11, 2017 by OakIris

[sanjinp]

Excellent review, thank you!

 

One of the most appealing Sports. And finally the cartridge. Would be nice if Kaweco would reintroduce the piston filling to Sports... at least as a special edition...

[Fluegelfeder]

Dear all,

 

thanks for your kind words.

One edit: The nib writes way wetter now. I didn't do anything to it - but appreciate Holly's suggestion of spreading the tines a little - it just got wetter and wetter and now is on a solid 6,5 of 10. A little wetter than most of my normal Kaweco steel nibs, still not as wet as a Pelikan gold nib. Love it!

So if you chose a black Kaweco nib, wait two weeks for the flow to increase. I know this phenomenon only from ebonite feeds, where flow increases, too.

 

Regards,

 

Armin

[OakIris]

Excellent review, thank you!

 

One of the most appealing Sports. And finally the cartridge. Would be nice if Kaweco would reintroduce the piston filling to Sports... at least as a special edition...

+1 - I have always wanted to have one of the vintage piston-filling Kaweco Sports; reintroducing that filling system would be very well-received, I think.

 

Dear all,

 

thanks for your kind words.

One edit: The nib writes way wetter now. I didn't do anything to it - but appreciate Holly's suggestion of spreading the tines a little - it just got wetter and wetter and now is on a solid 6,5 of 10. A little wetter than most of my normal Kaweco steel nibs, still not as wet as a Pelikan gold nib. Love it!

So if you chose a black Kaweco nib, wait two weeks for the flow to increase. I know this phenomenon only from ebonite feeds, where flow increases, too.

 

Regards,

 

Armin

 

I am surprised that your pen suddenly started to write wetter. With the way the tines were on my nibs, I don't see how the flow could have improved on its own, unless I wrote with them so heavy-handedly that I managed to splay the tines on them, lol. Glad your pen is now writing properly without you having to intervene, Armin.

 

Holly

[aeba]

Offtopic:

+1 - I have always wanted to have one of the vintage piston-filling Kaweco Sports; reintroducing that filling system would be very well-received, I think.

 

*Snip*

 

Holly

I have been looking at vintage Sports on EvilBay, partially because they are piston fillers and partially because they are vintage. But I don't know. I like how easy it is to maintain cartridge pens. Then there's the fact that I dislike the feeling of the plastic Kaweco used on the clear demonstrator Sports. I would prefer aluminium or brass, but obviously that's a no go, unless there would be some kind of plastic sleeve.

 

Maybe you remember this JetPens blog entry about new piston Kaweco's. Kaweco contemplated on trying to push something out in 3 years. That was 5 years ago.