Jump to content

An Ode To A Great Workhorse Pen: The Kaweco Dia2


TheDutchGuy

Recommended Posts

 

This is a Dia2 with what I believe is a 250 nib, which is a #6. It writes beautifully.

 

I’ve ordered a Bock #076 unit for my Dia2. When I received it about a year ago, I had many other pens in rotation and did not really put the pen into service. Recently, I put Herbin Ambre de Birmanie in it and today Pelikan 4001 BlueBlack. The pen is now a joy to use, far superior to the smallish stock Kaweco nibs. In the writing sample below, I deliberately varied the writing pressure from featherlight to heavy. This leads to dramatic changes in ink flow and line width, totally controllable. I totally love that, but I usually find it only in vintage pens. Only one other modern pen I own has this incredible pressure sensitivity (the Pilot Justus 95).

 

fpn_1578846738__779b7404-bed1-4eb0-882a-

^—taken with articifial light, apologies, but tit still shows the variation with Pelikan 4001 BB.

 

As has been noted before by myself and others, if a Dia2 is fitted with a good nib then it becomes a superb ben. It is extremely well-made and simply melts into the hand.

 

This is going into steady rotation now and is likely to stay in rotation for a long, long time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 29
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • TheDutchGuy

    7

  • sansenri

    3

  • Ron Z

    2

  • Karmachanic

    2

 

Ive ordered a Bock #076 unit for my Dia2. When I received it about a year ago, I had many other pens in rotation and did not really put the pen into service. Recently, I put Herbin Ambre de Birmanie in it and today Pelikan 4001 BlueBlack. The pen is now a joy to use, far superior to the smallish stock Kaweco nibs. In the writing sample below, I deliberately varied the writing pressure from featherlight to heavy. This leads to dramatic changes in ink flow and line width, totally controllable. I totally love that, but I usually find it only in vintage pens. Only one other modern pen I own has this incredible pressure sensitivity (the Pilot Justus 95).

 

fpn_1578846738__779b7404-bed1-4eb0-882a-

^taken with articifial light, apologies, but tit still shows the variation with Pelikan 4001 BB.

 

As has been noted before by myself and others, if a Dia2 is fitted with a good nib then it becomes a superb ben. It is extremely well-made and simply melts into the hand.

 

This is going into steady rotation now and is likely to stay in rotation for a long, long time.

Thanks for posting this. Any chance the kaweco is too dry with little pressure? I do like wet pens that leave shiny lines even without pressure.

 

In any case, I am looking for a dia2 for a vintage nib. Looks comfortable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any chance the kaweco is too dry with little pressure? I do like wet pens that leave shiny lines even without pressure.

 

 

Mine gets exponentially wetter with pressure, which is how I like it. Whether or not it is too dry with light pressure is very personal. I love mine just the way it is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a nice pen, it's real strength is that it's built like a tank.

I love the retro look, the only thing that could be just slightly better is the nib.

The Kaweco II mounts the same nib as the Sport, and it's slightly small for this pen and stiff.

Here next to two other Kaweco (The Elite and the Sport Luxe)

 

fpn_1541370541__p1080916-3_kaweco_dia_2.

I wish that this was a piston filler like the limited edition Dia2s...

 

Also they should've used the Bock 076 wide shoulder nib, at least, on this pen... this nib looks too small imho.

I get the feeling that Kaweco in general is a brand that could do so much but deliberately chooses to limit itself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

I swapped the nib with a Bock 076 some time ago, I've never remembered to add a photo, so here it is now (as we were talking of the Dia2 on another thread just now)

fpn_1591382139__img_4223-3_kaweco_dia_ii

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ohhh... pray tell how is this possible? Are the grip sections of both the Elite and the Dia2 interchangeable?

 

I swapped the nib with a Bock 076 some time ago, I've never remembered to add a photo, so here it is now (as we were talking of the Dia2 on another thread just now)

fpn_1591382139__img_4223-3_kaweco_dia_ii

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yes, that is correct, the original Kaweco nib (which is a 060 Bock) on the Dia2 and on all the Kaweco Sport and others) is interchangeable with the Bock 076, because the size of the screw in collar is the same.

The swap on the Dia2 is perfectly feasible because the space in the cap is plenty enough.

The pen now looks much more proportionate, check vs my previous pic above. The 076 is also a slightly better nib in my opinion, the 060 nibs often come with the times too tight (not difficult to tune them though).

I like this pen and my only gripe was that the nib looked too small on it, now it's much nicer, wonder why Kaweco does not offer it with a 076 by default...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bean counters.... and they had a good supply of the 060 because of the Sport.

 

Glad to see the thread. That dinky nib is my only real complaint about the pen.

spacer.png
Visit Main Street Pens
A full service pen shop providing professional, thoughtful vintage pen repair...

Please use email, not a PM for repair and pen purchase inquiries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33494
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26624
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...