Osmia 661/faber-Castell

[tandaina]

Edit: Ink for this review is Diamine Magic Unicorn.

 

I stumbled on this little pen looking for a BIG fat flexi nib. It fits my preferred type of pen: German, piston filler, flexi nib. 50s or older. And it was well under $100 even with shipping from Europe. So I jumped.

 

It is a beautiful, understated little pen:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8228/8492614531_a0dc1133a1_b.jpg

Untitled by JoAndRoses, on Flickr

 

Next to my MB 244 (similar age) you can see the same principles at work. But the Osmia is essentially anonymous in our culture. Where my vintage MBs have gotten raised eyebrows from those who know how much NEW MBs cost, the Osmia, whatever its original value, means nothing to anyone now. I'm a priest and sometimes carrying a pen that screams MONEY to people (even though my old MBs are actually all purchased for < $200) can be detrimental. The Osmia works well when I don't want to draw attention.

 

It is a standard piston filler, unscrew the blind cap, twist the piston knob, not much to it. What makes this pen worth the hunt is the nib. Oh that NIB. It gives my 244 OBB nib a run for its excellent money. The Osmia OBB is smooth as glass on good paper, and it is VERY flexi. In fact just the weight of the pen will cause it to flex, no pressure is required. Which makes for wet expressive writing. But with a light touch it will glide lightly over the paper and give nice variation with no flex either.

 

One caveat: On clairefontaine (super shiny) paper, it squeaks just a little bit. Not bothersome, but it does.

 

A quick writing sample:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8251/8493713460_14aeddd3ab_b.jpg

Untitled by JoAndRoses, on Flickr

 

I don't see these pens often, but if one pops up, I'd say grab it. Lovely pen. It may need a little tweaking as I AM getting blobs of ink if I shake the pen a little. So long as you don't jostle the pen it's fine, no issue when writing. But if you DO jostle it, well it can get messy. It blobs from the feed and I suspect something isn't seated as it should be.

 

The cap reads Faber-Castell. The body reads Osmia 661, so this pen is after Faber-Castell bought Osmia.

Edited February 21, 2013 by tandaina

[Uncle Red]

That's a cute little pen Tandiana. I love the nib. Could we see a picture of the feed?

[tandaina]

Sure, will have to wait until I get home, the iPhone just won't focus close enough to show anything interesting. I'll pull out my macro lens this evening!

[markiv]

Nice catch! Osmia give you solid value for money - one of my favorites. The blobs probably indicate that it needs fresh seals.

About the singing, it is an oblique nib so may need to work on angle of attack but I wouldn't be alarmed by it.

[tandaina]

Oh the squeak doesn't bother me. I sort of like it, and like calling it singing. I have a few nibs that "sing" but not many and this one does it pretty consistently, but only on nice shiny paper, on cheaper paper it is silent.

 

Is replacing the seals something I could do myself? I'm a comfortable rehabber of lever fillers, can replace j-bars, sacs, etc. Haven't worked on a piston filler but it seems pretty straight forward. Yeah the seals makes sense for the problem now that I think about it.

[whych]

The pen shouldn't leak unless the piston seal is starting to leak or the nib isn't screwed in properly. There is a thread in the repair section for replacing the seal if it needs it and is cork.

The old Faber Castell/Osmia pens are great value for a very nice pen. The first German piston fill I bought was a Faber Castell with an Osmia nib. Took me ages to clean the India ink that some guy had used in it. That's when I discovered how well the ink flows in those pens when the seal is bad - it can just run out on it's own.