Jump to content

Noodlers #10 Dixie Rebellion Red Ripple Konrad


tony1000

Recommended Posts

Full review with pics here:

 

http://thefrugalfountainpen.blogspot.com/2016/03/noodlers-10-dixie-rebellion-red-ripple.html

 

I am a fan of Noodler's pens. They are affordable, well made, and a tinkerer's dream. They have their origins in India and I love Indian pens. They are easy to break down and clean and can be easily customized by just adding a new nib. I know that some people think they are finicky and temperamental, but I have found them to be very reliable once they are set up correctly.

 

The object of this review is the #10 Dixie Rebellion Red Ripple Konrad. I would like to thank Luxury Brands (Noodler's distributor) for making this pen available for review.

 

The #10 is a piston filler with a very simple mechanism. It is very easy to fill and it stores a fair amount of ink. This pen has an ebonite body with an acrylic ink window and is a very attractive medium-sized pen. The pen cap is solid-black, there is a silver colored band at the bottom of the cap and the body is figured reddish brown and black ebonite with a solid-black blind cap. The clip is also silver-colored and is quite stiff. The pen is about 5.5" long, the cap width is about 9/16" and the body is about 7/16" at its widest point. The grip section is about 3/8". It weighs only .6 oz. when filled with ink.As the pen is made of ebonite, it has a faint rubber smell.

 

I found it warm and comfortable to hold and the cap posts securely and deeply. Out of the box, it was fitted with the #6 Noodler's fine medium-flex nib. In my writing tests, I found it to be a smooth writer with good ink flow. As with other Noodler's flex pens I have used, it requires quite a bit of pressure to get any line variation. If you write with normal pressure, you will get a uniform fine/medium line. I pulled the nib out slightly to make it flex a bit easier. However, if you want to flex a lot, you have to take it slow otherwise you will experience some railroading.

 

The #10 Konrad has a lot of things I like in a pen:

 

Nibs can be easily replaced with any #6 nib.
Easy to disassemble for cleaning and maintenance.
Piston filler mechanism.
Holds plenty of ink.
Machined ebonite feed.
Great pen for the pen tinkerer.

 

All in all, it is a wonderful value for an ebonite piston-filler.

Tony Thomas

Author of "The Fountain Pen Book" on Amazon.com.

Editor of the Frugal Fountain Pen Blog:

http://thefrugalfountainpen.blogspot.com/

Twitter: @FrugalFP

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 6
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • inkstainedruth

    3

  • French

    1

  • tony1000

    1

  • akustyk

    1

Thanks for the review.

I keep looking at the Dixie pens. I have a Methuselah's Pine Cone Ripple ebonite Konrad, and like it a whole lot (except the finial doesn't *quite* match the rest of the pen). But there's just something a bit off-putting about the Dixie pens. I don't know what it is, but they always seem that it was a case of "hey, we don't have enough of the barrel color stock to do a full pen so we'll improvise." As opposed to Pelikan pens, where (because the barrel color is a binde and not the actual material) it seems like a deliberate design plan. Maybe it's because of the issues I have with the final on mine (and why I didn't buy the green one at the last minute).

I know, it's completely irrational. But that's how I feel and can't quite pull the plunger and get one of the Dixies.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

inkstainedruth may have a point about the reason behind the Dixie pens...but, I would imagine no one aside from Nathan and his manufacturer in India will ever know for sure. I will say, when I read Ruth's post, my first thought was 'she may be on to something', which was quickly followed by "this is what is great about this hobby, different people have different opinions and we all (usually) get along". I like the Dixie look, a benefit of the all black cap is the finial *should* match the rest. For me, the Dixie has a classic look, it looks like something my grandfather could have used. The aesthetics work for me. They won't work for everyone, that is all good. I'm happy having a Dixie alongside my Methuselah's Pine Cone Ripple ebonite Konrad (and alongside a few Ahabs and a clear Konrad). I like to tinker, I respect that Nathan has tried to make fountain pens tools that people can customize to their liking. It was a decision that I don't know I would have been bold enough to make and then to live by.

 

Tony, thank you for your review, I'm glad you are enjoying the pen. I know I enjoy mine!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I happen to like the look of the Dixie. In fact, if I ever order a custom pen, I will want this kind of color scheme.

 

All that aside, I recently bought a Konrad and I am very, very happy with it. The piston is smooth, the nib and feed work great, and it feels like an improvement on the earlier generation of Konrad. Still, I already have an ebonite Konrad and I converted it to be used with Zebra G nibs. If I were to buy the Dixie, it would be to put a third-party nib in it, perhaps even a gold nib. Then again, there are some really awesome Indian ebonite pens out there for about the same price.

---

Please, visit my website at http://www.acousticpens.com/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll admit that I keep hoping Nathan puts out ebonite Konrads in some of the really color colors that were previously only available in the Neponsets. Teal, for instance. I would TOTALLY get another Konrad if it came in the teal ebonite....

(Nathan, are you listening?) :rolleyes:

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A teal pen would be on my wishlist for sure, Ruth. (From your lips to Nathan's ears...) Currently, the Dixie #10 Methuselah and the 1820 Essex Konrad are my favorite Noodler's pens. I haven't tinkered with them though this thread makes it tempting if only to make the flex a little more accessible.

A certified Inkophile

inkophile on tumblr,theinkophile on instagram,inkophile on twitter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, admittedly I'm waffling on whether to get the Dixie Red Rebellion (or the Dixie Jade, or try one of the acrylic ones -- or save a few bucks and get one of the regular resin Konrads) to replace the Red Mesa Tortoise Konrad I lost a couple of weeks ago. I've spent the past coupe of days trying to decide where to order from when the new Dark Lilac Safaris come out, based on what else the particular vendor has for inks and such (and that "what else" definitely includes some version of Konrad). Although I'm definitely not enamored of the new acrylic colors that got released initially for the Commonwealth Pen Show last fall....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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
      33501
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26627
    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...