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  1. After viewing some older posts about some of the products made by the U.S. company, Karas Kustoms, I was stimulated to check out the KK website, and I just received two of their fountain pens. I went with their "Signature Series," and within that series two of the "Decograph" models. Here are photos I took yesterday of the two pens. Each pen comes inside a very solid stainless steel ("SS") cylinder that twists off in the middle. The Karas symbol 'K' is on the upper part of the cylinder. After removing the upper part, the pen is revealed, sitting safely in a foam insert along with KK's "cheeky" instruction sheet (read it) rolled up inside. I've unrolled it for the second photo. Here are photos of the Signature Series "Black Pen Society Decograph" fountain pen for 2019. According to the KK page for this pen, Paul Erano of the Black Pen Society collaborated with KK for this particular pen (not the Decograph style itself). The clip is a one-piece milled aluminum machined at a slight angle to help keep the pen securely in a shirt pocket. The finials on the cap and barrel are aluminum and are securely screwed in, according to the site. The body and barrel are machined from solid thermoplastic. The Decograph is said to be KK's lightest pen, weighing .72 ounces (20.4 grams). The pen's length is about 5.25 inches (about 13.5 mm). The standard nib is a SS # 6 Bock with KK's own design on the nib face. For various premiums, one can order the Decograph (as well as all the KK FPs) with a titanium nib or a gold (14K or 18K) nib, and there are a decent variety of nib widths available. I chose the standard SS nib in a medium width, as right now KK is out-of-stock on some of the other widths (depending on nib material). If there were no stocking issues, I would have ordered a broad or stub. The pen comes with a Schmidt K5 cartridge converter and two Monteverde ink cartridges. For those who insist on posting their caps on barrels, one can post with the Decograph pens, but I wouldn't recommend pushing the cap on the barrel end too forcefully or too often. I don't think the designers intended for the cap to be posted. Posting would add weight that some pen uses desire, as this is a light-weight pen. I don't post my pens, unless they are very short without posting. Whatever green you see in these photos of the BPS Decograph is only a reflection from a green object. This pen is all black. Next are photos of the Deco Green FP. I've enhanced the coloration to compensate for my less than ideal photography conditions, so that what you see here color-wise is how the pen actually looks. This model has the same length and weight as the BPS Decograph above, so I need not repeat myself. I filled my Deco Green through the converter with Krishna Elegent Teal ink. It wrote immediately with its medium SS nib without any issues. The nib has some springiness to it, and writing with a light touch is easy and very pleasant. The line it puts down is on the wet side, which I like. Thus far, I am very pleased with this pen. The cost of each was $130 with just the standard nib.
  2. Ignore this partially duplicative post. I don't know how it appeared.
  3. Two years ago I have bought a Karas Kustoms Bolt pen in black form Cult Pens. I do have some other pens form Karas, but this pen is using a bolt action to forward and retract the refill. I like the pen very much because all parts are made in house and made from metal, hard to fail in my opinion. The pen is using ONLY Parker style refills, including Fisher-Space with their spacer. One characteristic of the pen is their own clip design, attached with two little hex screws, a very sturdy heavy-duty clip! Recently Karas Pens release a new version called V2 with some improvements. I have bought a green Karas Pen the Bolt V2 with Parker set-up. The initial Bolt and Bolt V2 looks the same, but there are some changes. First the guys form Karas pen redesigned the internal body to accommodate more refills, from Parker to Pilot G2. Also they have moved the bolt action mechanism on the far back of the pen to allow different style refills to fit into their pen; for that job now the pen is using a screwed spacer (to avoid any moving parts). Another major improvement is the O-ring between the upper and lower body parts to stay together when are screwed. At the last is the J-slot redesigned for easier movement. When I purchase the pen I should opt for the conversion kit for a fiver, but I didn't. Anyway because of the distance between Karas pens and me, it didn't worth to reorder just the conversion kit, so I have emailed the company and they replied that a mini hex/Allen key of 3/46" or 1.3mm will work. So far I have tried Schimdt EF9000, Pentel Energel, Uniball Jetstream and Fisher Space refills, all working fine. The Bolt V2 become my favorite pens form all Karas pens I have now.
  4. Karas Kustoms

    Holidays Savings Starts Now!

    http://i63.tinypic.com/258353a.jpg Wishing you a Happy Holidays from the desert...All of us at Karas Kustoms and Karas Pen Co want to wish you and yours a happy holidays. Whether you're up to your eyeballs in snow, or sitting on the back porch watching stunning sunsets in your board shorts, we're sending our best wishes your way. And if you're ready to start, or finish your holiday shopping, our annual HAPPYHOLIDAYS* coupon code starts Today. Use the coupon code from 12/1/17 thru 1/8/18 to receive 15% off your entire purchase. We've got gifts for everyone in your life, whether they're nine or ninety. On the off chance you are still recovering from all the food, beverages, and family; just click HERE to start shopping. *Coupon Excludes Gift Cards, Karas Pen Club Coins, Hix Design, and Barstock Pens. http://i66.tinypic.com/2zqager.jpg http://i68.tinypic.com/pq5gy.jpg Our Deco Black and Deco Green Decographs are on sale, $20 dollars off for the Holidays. Our newest fountain pen is a combination of styles and materials meant to pay homage to vintage Art Deco designs and pens but executed in a wholly modern way. It features CNC machined thermoplastics accented by CNC machined and milled aluminum furniture. It comes standard with a polished steel Bock nib of your size choice, with upgrades in Titanium and 14K Gold available. Standard international converter supplied, fully capable of being eyedroppered. If you're on the fence with this pen, don't take our word for it, check out some unbiased reviews of this pen below. Pen Habit Video Figboot on Pens Video The Clicky Post Review* Nib & Ink Review* Ed Jelley Review Well Appointed Desk Review* *Karas Kustoms and Karas Pen Co are Sponsors of these websites. We provide support and product without attaching demands knowing full well the site moderators conduct their reviews in an unbiased fashion. Our desire is for honest product reviews as well as honest feedback on our product designs. http://i63.tinypic.com/4hsbaf.jpg http://i66.tinypic.com/x3zh9i.jpg http://i67.tinypic.com/2mnf81c.jpg Karas Pen Co Signature Pens Decograph 1703 – Winter’s Tale “To unpathed waters, undreamed shores” – William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale Facing the unknown and uncharted causes a myriad of responses in humans. Some embrace it, charging headlong into adventure. Others shrink from it, preferring the safety of home and familiarity. At Karas Pen Co, we’ve always fallen into the first group—looking for ways to move forward, experimenting with random ideas, and taking risks. The Decograph is the culmination of a journey through unpathed waters. Our research and development for this pen required adapting our machines to a new type of material—one that is nowhere near as uniform in its behavior as the metals we are accustomed to. This latest adventure has proven quite successful. In the spirit of Camillo’s words to Perdita and Florizel, we’d like to invite you to our “unpathed waters, undreamed shores.” Our winter Decograph Special Edition 1703, is a brisk addition to the Decograph pen line. The pen is crafted from material that is a chilling shade of wintergreen, struck through with ribbons of black and streaks of glittery ice. Let us bring a bit of winter cheer to the holidays a little early this year. The 1703 – Winter’s Tale special edition is limited to 60 pieces, each elegantly laser marked on the barrel with sequential numbers. Each pen ships in our custom made and marked pen capsule with a polished steel nib in sizes EF-B, 1.1mm stub, or 1.5mm stub, a standard international converter, and five black standard international cartridges. 2-tone, black lacquer, titanium, and 14K gold nib upgrades are available for an additional charge when selecting the nib choice. The Decograph 1703 – Winter’s Tale will retail for $165.00 USD available at the Karas Pen Co website 12/04/17.
  5. I am currently hesitating between two pens: a Karas Kustoms Ink with a fine gold Buck nib, black anodised section and tumbled raw aluminium or polished aluminium barrel or Sheaffer Targa silver or black with a gold nib also. Both are metal c/c pens and both come in the same price range (unless you look at the really expensive Targas). One is more classic, the other is more modern. One is slimmer and lighter the other is chunky and heavy without being Jinhao 159-kind of heavy. What I am looking for is a pen that I will love to carry around without fear of dropping it and destroying the finish, that will be fun to write with for extended periods of time without getting cramps (I would say I have basketball-grabbing sized hands), that will be fun to look at, even in 5 years time, and that will, obviously be rugged. To give you an idea of the size of pens I like, I really enjoy writing with my MB 146. It feels just perfect in my hand in terms of weight and size, whereas my Sheaffer Balance (500), as much as I like it, sometimes feels a bit on the small side of things. Strangely enough, considering what I just said, my Estie J feels perfectly adequate in terms of size and weight. On the opposite hand of the spectrum, my Jinhao 159 is nice but just too heavy to be fun to use for any extended period of time. Given all of this, which pen would you guys choose? What is your take on this?
  6. Greetings, I recently purchased an Ink, in red with a brass section - which I am really loving using. But after only a few weeks of use the finish is starting to fail on the threads where the cap screws on to the body. I contacted the retailer where I purchased it, who in turn contacted Kara's. According to the retailer Kara's response was: This will occur on every one of our capped pens where the threads meet. Especially pens that have a dark anodize. There is nothing we can do to prevent this from happening on a threaded pen as the wear of uncapping and capping the threads will abrade the surface of the threads and strip off the anodize. Red, Blue, Green, and Brown are the worst offenders. But it will occur on all colors except silver. Personally I think this pretty poor, I was under the impression anodising provides a hard wearing finish? I don't recall seeing this mentioned in any review I saw of the Ink either, I'd be interested to know if anyone else had this issue? Cheers
  7. I just got my new Karas Kustoms Fountain K EF Friday. I haven't had it that long, but in the time I've had it I've made an observation on the issue of the pen spitting out ink on the page after refilling. I made sure to read every review on the Fountain K, on this forum and every other review I could find, before making my purchase. Many of the reviews on this forum mentioned a "burping" issue whenever they first start writing again after just refilling the pen. Some of these reviews were older and I couldn't find any other reviews off-forum that mentioned the issue, so I hoped that it was just a quality control issue that had been fixed. I found out when I first filled my new Fountain K that I was wrong. First of all, the insert that comes with the Fountain K suggests keeping the converter attached to the nib unit while filling. This may be standard practice, but I wouldn't know. In my time with the Lamy brand I've always taken the converter out before filling. It just seems logical and way less messy. Since I've never had a problem, I never watched or read in-depth on how to properly fill a converter pen. So, I decide to try it their way. They are the pen manufacturers and they must know what is what. When I did this with the K5 converter that came with the pen, there was not enough suction. There was a sizable air bubble at the top, no matter how slow or fast I filled the pen, or how much of the channel I covered. When I started writing, there came the ink burps. Three good splotches on my paper. I un-filled and re-filled. Same issue. I dabbed and cleaned the channel and wiped the pen of excess ink, and it happened every time. So I took the converter out and filled it directly. Not only did it fill to the top, but after a little blotting of the end, it wrote without issue. No burps, no mess. And I've done it this way several times. Now it writes like a dream. I guess the discussion I'd like to have with other Fountain K owners is this: did you all have this issue? Do you think this is a quality control issue? Did you fill the pen like the insert says or strictly from the converter? Since a lot of the reviews were older, where are you guys now with your Fountain K? Did you resolve your issues? Are you happy with your pens? Since the Fountain K uses the same nib unit as the Kaweco, do any Kaweco owners have any issues with burping pens? If so, how did you overcome them? I guess I'm just hoping this is a permanent fix. The Fountain K is definitely the best pen I have used. I love everything about it, from the smoothness to the durability. I don't want this to be a flaw that continues to bug me years down the road. ETA: Fixed messed up tags
  8. Hi people, now you can get your KK Render Ks and refills at Jet Pens! Their blog (really a news feed) is good to keep up with. http://static1.jetpens.com/images/a/000/078/78635.jpg http://www.jetpens.com/blog http://www.jetpens.com/Karas-Kustoms-Render-K-Pen-Copper/pd/14680 Also, they are now carrying the quality Kokuyo-Bizrack-Bag-in-Bag organizers which are a great way of carrying notebooks, etc in your backpack, etc. http://static1.jetpens.com/images/a/000/078/78103.jpg http://www.jetpens.com/Kokuyo-Bizrack-Bag-in-Bag/ct/2642
  9. For the past 3 or 4 months, I’ve been wanting to get my hands on a Karas Kustoms INK – I’d heard so much buzz about this pen, but (cheapskate that I am) was waiting till I could jump on a good deal. The opportunity presented itself a few weeks ago, when Massdrop listed the pen for a second time – having passed upon the first offering, I wasn’t going to miss out again! The pen arrived yesterday, and I’ve been giving it a bit of a workout over the past 24 hours. So this isn’t a systematic review, so much as my initial impressions and a few photos. (For a more comprehensive review, not to mention more creative one, check out https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/276799-the-ink-karas-kustoms/). ______________________________________________________________________ 1. Appearance & Design A word on the packaging, first of all. Anyone who’s bought a Karas Kustoms pen will probably be familiar with the brown and red cardboard box it ships in – about as ‘workmanlike’ as you can get. With the Karas Kustoms logo on the front, silhouettes of a few of their pen designs, and the words “Fully Machined in the USA”, you know exactly what you’re getting. I had to smile, though, at the writing on the underside. “Dozens of satisfied customers” – I hope they’re not over-stating their popularity... http://i.imgur.com/Xws7agb.jpg http://i.imgur.com/zjXeGm6.jpg I like the instruction sheet, too – especially the last line or two of text! http://i.imgur.com/cV6dNXa.jpg After some to-ing and fro-ing (and having read the following review: https://thepassionatepenman.wordpress.com/2015/02/26/karas-kustoms-ink-fountain-pen-review/) I opted to pay an extra $10 for the brass grip section – which I think was a good move. It helps to move the balance of the pen a little more towards the front end. http://i.imgur.com/qi24Xkv.jpg http://i.imgur.com/pSHzztC.jpg The two words that immediately come to mind when I look at this pen are ‘industrial’ and ‘robust’ – it’s a solid, substantial pen to look at, and a fair bit of heft in the hand. The pen looks pretty cylindrical – though it does taper a little from top to bottom. It’s a shame that there’s such a large gap (2-3mm?) between the cap of the pen and the clip – it means the pen will be a little less secure in my shirt pocket. But that’s a minor quibble for me. This pen looks and feels like it could survive being run over a tank – which hopefully means it can withstand whatever abuse it might experience riding in my pocket as an EDC pen. … 2. Construction & Quality The build quality on this pen is just phenomenal – expertly machined from aluminium, with a semi-glossy anodised black finish on the pen cap and body. It takes about two full rotations of the cap to secure or unsecure – which is quite acceptable in my book. More importantly the cap screws smoothly and securely onto the pen body – likewise with the grip section. The clip stands out a long way from the cap of the pen (~5mm), which would be a liability if it were any less robust – but again, we’re dealing with solid metal materials here. http://i.imgur.com/U1NsIwo.jpg Here's a comparison with two of my other understated black pens - a Pilot Vanishing Point (top), and a Lamy 2000 (bottom): http://i.imgur.com/tqo3FZV.jpg … 3. Weight & Dimensions Capped, the INK is about 137mm long; uncapped it’s 127mm, which is a pretty good fit for my hand. Just as well – the pen is not designed for posting, and you’d probably scratch up the finish if you tried to ram it on! It weighs in at a hefty 50g – though roughly 1/3 of that weight resides in the cap. That’s pretty comparable to some of my Jinhao pens (the x450 and 159), but for some reason this pen feels a lot heavier in the hand! The exterior of the cap is about 14mm in diameter – this tapers down to around 11mm at the bottom end of the barrel. There’s a big step-down from the pen body to the grip section – but the way I hold the pen, that doesn’t matter. The grip section diameter is around 11mm at either end, tapering inward slightly to ~9.8mm in between. … 4. Nib & Performance The nib on the INK is a little smaller than I’d expect for a pen of this size – to my mind a #6 would look a little more natural than the #5 the manufacturers opted for. I’d also say that it lays down a broader line than I’d expect for a Fine nib – but I knew that would be the case when I bought it. The ink flow is generous, and the nib glides smoothly across the page. I’ve experienced a little bit of skipping – but I expect that will resolve itself as I “break the nib in”, and maybe give it a thorough rinse.. http://i.imgur.com/Fo9HTyE.jpg http://i.imgur.com/kCrXElz.jpg It’s worth noting that these pens utilise a Schmidt nib assembly that can be easily screwed out and replaced with another, compatible unit. The nib and feed are friction fit within the assembly, and can be pulled out with a bit of effort, if you want to experiment with #5 nibs from other manufacturers. http://i.imgur.com/LZLYRdj.jpg … 5. Filling System & Maintenance The INK is designed to take standard international cartridges, and a good quality cartridge converter is included in the price. … 6. Cost & Value I was able to get a good discount on this pen via Massdrop – especially considering the shipping costs from the USA to Australia. $70 for the pen, plus $10 for a brass grip section, plus $5 postage – that came to a total of US$85. That’s still not a cheap pen – but for the quality of the design, materials and workmanship, I’d say it’s worth it!





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