Kaco Edge - Video And Modification Review

[Honeybadgers]

 

I sanded in a slot to the clip to make it easier to nip with your fingernail. I did this by wrapping the cap with painter's tape and using another small piece folded up, wedged the clip open so I could freely slide a piece of 220 grit sandpaper under the clip. About 3-5 minutes of sanding did the trick. It's now much easier to use.

 

Pen itself is really, really great. Writes amazingly well. Wet, fine, smooth, and consistent. Cap seal is great. Cap posts great. slightly forward heavy section (aluminum section, makrolon barrel and cap feel nearly identical to the lamy 2000) I haven't noticed any of the rust that a few other people have, the interior of the cap still looks shiny and pristine.

 

The pen doesn't come with a converter. Only two long cartridges. But it will accept any standard international converter, and some sellers, like Bobby on eBay, toss in a converter with your purchase (he asks about a buck more but his shipping times blow everyone else's away)

 

I think the clip, while a lovely looking little thing, needs just a few minor tweaks to be perfect. first, the tiny arch is necessary to use the clip comfortably. as-is, you can either pinch it, which works great as long as your fingers are dry, or press down on the back since it is hinged like the lamy 2000, but the narrow edge makes it kind of uncomfortable to do so. Second, maybe sanding a lip slightly near the tip would make pinching irrelevant, a slightly upswept tip would make it just slide right over clothing. A redesign of the clip with those two tweaks are genuinely my only issues with the pen and neither is a deal breaker.

 

The pen is more than long enough to use unposted, but the cap posts deeply enough that it isn't inconvenient or uncomfortable at all.

 

The cap has a snap ring like the lamy 2000. At first I felt it was kind of annoyingly stiff, but within a week of use, it's broken in nicely and feels just right.

 

For $10, we might have a contender for "best beginner fountain pen." I find it more comfortable than the pilot metro, but just in case mine is a fluke, I spent the money and bought four more of them to make sure the nibs are all up to snuff. But Kaco really seems to be a rising star in the chinese pen world, and IIRC these nibs are Bock, so I don't imagine there will be any horror stories.

 

I really can't speak highly enough of the nib. it's a nail, but the feedback is perfect. And the feed is good looking and different from the typical chinese #5 feeds. Every piece on this pen is just handsome as hell and fits together wonderfully. I would prefer the section not bulge ever so slightly from the barrel, but it's not a design flaw, it just seems like they wanted to give it a wee bit more girth on the section and as a result it isn't the flawless taper down that I would prefer the look of. But again, this is the pickiest of nits and shouldn't deter you buying one.

[Tasmith]

Excellent! Thanks for sharing!

[taike]

your clip mod makes all the difference. Nice!

[Honeybadgers]

I decided to add a front lip to the clip. this actually is the most mandatory modification. You could get away without the hump but the lip really makes it a perfectly usable clip.

 

Also showed some pictures of how I set it up. about a two inch by 1/2 inch piece of 220 grit sandpaper, some blue tape and about five minutes total is all this takes.

 

 

 

 

[taike]

That's super helpful. Thank you!

[SoulSamurai]

Mine just arrived in the post. My first impressions are that the balance is good but the locking nubs are poorly positioned for my grip and they annoy my fingers (which is an issue since I specifically bought it for it's smooth stepless body). I'm wondering if it's possible to reinstall the nib at 90 degrees to the original orientation. I don't have time to try it right now though. Has anyone tried this, or pulled the nib and feed and noticed anything about whether the housing expects them to be installed in a specific orientation?

[penzel_washinkton]

Mine just arrived in the post. My first impressions are that the balance is good but the locking nubs are poorly positioned for my grip and they annoy my fingers (which is an issue since I specifically bought it for it's smooth stepless body). I'm wondering if it's possible to reinstall the nib at 90 degrees to the original orientation. I don't have time to try it right now though. Has anyone tried this, or pulled the nib and feed and noticed anything about whether the housing expects them to be installed in a specific orientation?

 

The housing don't have a specific nib orientation, you can modify the angle.

I have done this inadvertently, installing the nib about 90 degree off the initial orientation.

[SoulSamurai]

Great, thank you. I shall try that today then.

[FGMath]

I got my Edge in the mail today. I love everything of it, except mine doesn't seem to accept international cartridges! The supplied cartridges look very much like it, but none of my converters or other cartridges fit. I use to refill Pilot cartridges too, and the Kaco ones look sturdy enough to last for a bit, but I'm a bit disappointed.

Any idea if this pen could be converted to a eyedropper?

[Honeybadgers]

I don't see why not. it's aluminum in the section which can't corrode.

 

But it should take a standard international converter or cartridge. Bear in mind that not all standard international converters/cartridges are actually interchangable. Some really aren't.

 

Just checked, pelikan and nemosine international cartridges and a nemosine converter fit it perfectly.

Edited November 10, 2018 by Honeybadgers

[Honeybadgers]

I managed to break my first one's nib - it came uncapped in my pocket (I was running with it in my pocket and climbed a fence chasing a patient with a traumatic brain injury) and the nib got jammed up under the cap lip and bent the tines. Straightening them resulted in the tipping snapping off. Thankfully, today I got my box from bobby with four more so out of curiosity, my modified cap fits the new one just fine. So the new pen's unmodified cap goes on the old pen, which now has a chinese 1.9 italic, and the new pen has the old cap with the modified clip. I can't see any noticeable difference in the makrolon, so after several weeks, the pen's finish is holding up great.

 

New pen's nib is every bit as perfect as the old one was. Seems like this pen's quality control is superb. I ordered them from bobby and got them with the Kaco K1 converter included (the pen costs a buck more but he throws in the converter for free) and the kaco k1 converter seems to be very high quality, nice and smooth and high capacity.

 

Maybe I'll run an experiment and eyedropper my old one.

 

I planned on giving them away but I think I'm only going to give one away (with the clip modification) and keep the other two as spares in case I destroy any more in the line of duty.

[FGMath]

 

Just checked, pelikan and nemosine international cartridges and a nemosine converter fit it perfectly.

 

I watched closely the cartridges, and they don't look like standard one. I don't know what happened here, I don't think I got a fake pen, it came with Kaco box.

From left to right: Kaco, Pelikan, Montblanc

 

 

Sorry for the first img, can't rotate..

Edited November 10, 2018 by FGMath

[Honeybadgers]

That's enough of a margin that it should fit.

 

If the pelikan doesn't fit, something went wrong, I just checked on three different edges (yeah I bought a bunch of them ) and the pelikan 4001 cartridge fits them all no problem.

[Victoria]

Nice work with the clip! I dont have this pen yet, but for what its worth, Ive read that a lamy converter fits.

Edited November 20, 2018 by Victoria

[Honeybadgers]

It shouldn't fit very well - a lamy converter is a hair wider than a standard international.

[medicalcpa]

I got mine in the mail last week, and the nib on my pen is scratchy. Otherwise it writes consistently, but there's scratchiness evident especially on downstrokes.

[Honeybadgers]

Every pen will have a few duds. You can replace the nib with any standard #5 nib without issue. I really like the moonman EF nibs that only cost a couple bucks each on ebay - they're quite soft and a little flexible for steel nibs.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1pc-original-moonman-M2-and-mini-wancai-pen-nib/232983714839?hash=item363ee95c17:g:qJsAAOSw1Exb1fE9:rk:26:pf:0&LH_BIN=1

 

I ordered about ten of these and every one of them was perfect. The link I gave is from bobby, who is a well known and respected vendor.

 

He also sells a bunch of #5 nibs with custom architect grinds and stubs, I can attest that his custom nibs are phenomenal.

 

Or you could smooth it a bit yourself. make sure the tines are aligned and correct first.

Edited November 23, 2018 by Honeybadgers

[Martolod]

I managed to break my first one's nib - it came uncapped in my pocket (I was running with it in my pocket and climbed a fence chasing a patient with a traumatic brain injury) and the nib got jammed up under the cap lip and bent the tines. Straightening them resulted in the tipping snapping off. Thankfully, today I got my box from bobby with four more so out of curiosity, my modified cap fits the new one just fine. So the new pen's unmodified cap goes on the old pen, which now has a chinese 1.9 italic, and the new pen has the old cap with the modified clip. I can't see any noticeable difference in the makrolon, so after several weeks, the pen's finish is holding up great.

 

New pen's nib is every bit as perfect as the old one was. Seems like this pen's quality control is superb. I ordered them from bobby and got them with the Kaco K1 converter included (the pen costs a buck more but he throws in the converter for free) and the kaco k1 converter seems to be very high quality, nice and smooth and high capacity.

 

Maybe I'll run an experiment and eyedropper my old one.

 

I planned on giving them away but I think I'm only going to give one away (with the clip modification) and keep the other two as spares in case I destroy any more in the line of duty.

I know this is an old thread, but I was just thinking of it and noticed that the Kaco has a metal plug at the bottom! And it shines there at the bottom inside, so I won't eyedropper it~

[s4044743]

I decided to add a front lip to the clip. this actually is the most mandatory modification. You could get away without the hump but the lip really makes it a perfectly usable clip.

 

Also showed some pictures of how I set it up. about a two inch by 1/2 inch piece of 220 grit sandpaper, some blue tape and about five minutes total is all this takes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also want to share the result of my modification to my Kaco Edge pen last week. I do not like the shape of the clip, and It does not function as a pen clip, so I did a modify to the cap and here is the result. I really enjoy the new look of the pen, minimalist!

 

 

 

And here is what I did to it:

 

 

NOTE THAT, WHEN YOU SAND OFF PART OF THE CLIP, THE INNER MATERIAL IS BRONZE, SO THE CLIP WILL NOT LOOK SILVER ANYMORE. IT SHOW A CHAMPAGNE YELLOW LINE ON THE TOP OF THE CLIP. FOR ME, THIS MAKE THE PEN LOOKS INTERESTING, BUT YOU MAY NOT LIKE IT!

Edited May 5, 2019 by s4044743

[Honeybadgers]

huh, that's interesting that the clip is brass.

 

I dig your mod! Might be a bit weaker, but as long as it doesn't break, great work!

 

It's such a damn shame this pen's cap is so prone to cracking. One of mine has developed a few hairlines in the middle of the body but they've been stable for months, and my other is still fine. If it weren't for that, I'd say the edge is one of the very best beginner fountain pens ever.

Edited May 5, 2019 by Honeybadgers