Sailor 1911M

[chemgeek]

Sailor 1911M

 

First Impressions—I sought out this pen because I wanted a colorful, small, lightweight pen with a high-quality nib that would cater to my rather small handwriting. It came in a nice box with a converter and two ink cartridges.

 

Appearance and Finish—The Sailor 1911M comes in a variety of rich colors. My original pen was the dark blue; I later bought another in red, which is really a red-orange color. This pen has a very simple design, with gold trim, cap ring, and pocket clip, and plain black, bullet-shaped end caps. Except for the very stout cap ring embossed with "Sailor 1911" the trim is flush to the pen body and cap lines. The barrel screws onto a metal threaded nib section, not plastic. The grip is black resin.

 

Design/Size/Weight—This is a very lightweight (3/4 oz fully loaded) plastic resin pen that comes in solid colors. It is a mere 4 5/8” unposted and just a shade under 6” posted. Very large hands may find it awkward to use unposted. The cap requires extra effort to post securely. The pen is a featherweight when used unposted, and will not fatigue even the most tireless grader. The grip flows smoothly from the barrel and the cap threads with no step. Ink residue can accumulate under the gold ring at the nib/barrel section, so this area should be thoroughly cleaned every time the nib section is flushed to prevent annoying, apparently mysterious inky fingers. When the cap is tightened, the nib section securely seals against the inner cap gasket with a satisfying rubbery resistance. The cap does not have to be screwed down with a torque wrench to get it to stay put and keep the nib from drying out: a gentle twist will do. The cap requires two full turns to remove.

 

Nib Design and Performance—I selected a medium nib. Nib construction is 14K gold, and has the Sailor logo embossed on it. The medium nib writes narrow, comparable to a typical fine nib. (The Sailor 1911M medium and Lamy Safari fine write lines that are almost indistinguishable in width.) The medium nib is incredibly smooth, and has a little flex to it. It will lay down a very wet, yet not too wide a line. The feed has been very reliable, once both the feed and converter were thoroughly washed out with soapy water. With Private Reserve inks, I get a lot of shading with less saturated inks, but some shading is detectable even with blue-black inks. The nib starts reliably even after long idle times. Sample variation between my two pens is minimal: one pen likes to be held at a slightly different angle to be the smoothest, but otherwise the fit, finish, and writing qualities of my two samples are identical.

 

Filling System—The Sailor 1911M has a cartridge/converter fill. I use the supplied converter, which can be completely disassembled for cleaning, a handy feature especially when changing ink colors. Filling the converter does not require the entire nib to be submerged (dipping past the breather hole will suffice) and the nib and grip are very easy to clean after filling.

 

Cost/Value—This pen costs about $120-160 new depending on the source so shop around. The fit, finish, and writing quality are certainly what you would expect in this price range.

 

Overall Opinion/Conclusion—The Sailor 1911M is a simply styled, well-made pen that should appeal to anyone looking for a small, lightweight writing workhorse. One or two are at home in a shirt pocket, and will not feel like a roll of coins. I use mine for writing and grading papers; the Sailor 1911M makes the former fun, and the latter bearable. Writers with large claws may not find this pen as attractive as those with small- or medium-sized hands.

Edited May 21, 2006 by chemgeek

[Phthalo]

Great review! Very detailed and covering all the areas of interest. I was planning to buy a 1911M with an EF nib, and now I am definitely sold!

 

The inky fingers tip is great to know also... hate it when that happens and you have no idea why.

 

Thanks.

[DrPJM1]

Good review!

 

I like Sailor nibs, they are a quality product. Have had fine, medium and broad, but the only one I have kept is a Sailor Magellan with a music nib.

[theking]

Sailor 1911 for some reason kinda look like MB.

 

I somehow thought the look of the pen, specially the 1911M, is kind of cheap.

 

However, as with all sailor pens, the 1911M are so smooth. I have yet to find a sailor 1911 that doesn't write well out of the box.

[burmeseboyz]

Excellent review. I love my 1911M with a fine nib. It's a rather wet writer when not left uncapped for a long time. Even then, it starts up pretty quickly like after two quick down strokes. I read some other review saying that the make of the pen looks cheap, and I think some might think this because it's very light and the plastic is rather thin. It's translucent on some parts of the cap when held against strong light. However, the nib! My god, it's so smooth even for a fine nib on rather corase paper. Butter should be ashamed! I only wish that they come with piston fillers.

The converter is okay but my Noodler's Black gets stuck. It's always been too cohesive or adhesive and you see it pooling at the bottom of the converter and won't come down unless you shake it hard. However that can always be solved by adding the little plastic ball that comes with international cartridges.

Apart from the Noodler's being a little tricky with the converter, I would say that the flow is smooth, the make (although some might say it looks cheap) is really good in reality, and the price is well worth it. Especially if you get it as a graduation present! :-)

[EvadtheSlayer]

Nice review. I have had issues with cheap ink converters that lacked enough suction to get ink into the converter. Often times I have tried every method possible to fill the converter only to find it 1/2 full. UGH. How did the converter on the Sailor perform? I also agree with another post that FP's are better using piston fill. The Pelikan and MB's I have all fill flawlessly.

[barleycorn]

Great review! Very detailed and covering all the areas of interest. I was planning to buy a 1911M with an EF nib, and now I am definitely sold!

 

The inky fingers tip is great to know also... hate it when that happens and you have no idea why.

 

Thanks.

The Sailor nibs are typically one size smaller than European pens. I have a Pro Gear HF that writes like an EF. So you may want to consider the F rather than the XF - which would be more like a XXF nib.