Delike Smurfs - Another Factory Architect Nib!

[Honeybadgers]

I don't know where Delike is coming up with these pens, but they are killing it.

 

Writing sample first.

 

 

Price as of this writing is $14 shipped. The pen is eyedropper convert-able (the threads are quite coarse, so some silicon grease is required) it doesn't dry out, it even came with two converters in a nice simple gift box. Mine is the opaque cracked turquoise, which is smooth and has no visible machine marks or blemishes. The acrylic is light, feels good and durable, and looks excellent, very unique colors too. Even the pink looks cool, like it's made from pink himalayan salt.

 

Design is a little odd, but unique. no clip on this one, no roll stop, though I suspect you could spend about $0.69 on ebay for a cheap ring and adjust it to fit as a roll stop. I'd like a clip, but it works fine. It also has a flat top and torpedo bottom, which is also very unique. uncapping the pen takes about 1.5 rotations and it's a little tighter on the last 1/8th of a turn, which also feels a little odd but results in a nice and secure cap that isn't going to come undone on its own. No inner cap liner, but the air gap is small and over a week of use, it's never hard started once.

 

 

 

 

 

cap posts, and posts securely, but not satisfyingly. It doesn't go deep, it just finds the friction spot on the tail it wants and stops, so it can be posted at a slightly cocked angle. The design is fairly slim, so big pen lovers, stick with penbbs, but it's an excellent everyday size, and long enough to use posted or not. I don't find it awkward at all to post, it just doesn't seat in a very satisfying way.

 

Converter on this pen is not the same as the one on the alpha, it's a standard interational twist type with a spring type agitator, feels good, and hasn't leaked. It also came with a spare!

 

The real star of this pen is the writing experience though. Delike just NAILED this nib design. I have four of these "bent" nibs. They're absolutely not fude nibs, they're pseudo-architects. Think stub vs crisp italic. The delike nib gives you a softer, more forgiving to angle medium/broad stub like cross stroke and an extra fine downstroke. I've had none of them be scratchy or inconsistent, they're all nice flowing. This one feels a little "sharper" than the other 3 I have, but not in a defective way, rather, it actually feels like a true custom ground architect, and lays down sharp, crisp down and cross strokes, with no catch whatsoever.

 

 

Look at that polish.

 

 

 

 

These nibs are just spectacular for everyday printing. The architect nib is only so-so for cursive, as it kind of makes your writing look mushy as the cross strokes make your letters look less defined, but for printing, the sharp, clear line variation on the cross and super thin downstrokes lets you write smaller in print than you could with a comparable stub/italic. It's also fun to do calculus with, as you can see. Wetness is medium to juicy, wetter when printing and medium when cursive, so there's definitely some shading to be gotten.

 

 

If you haven't gotten yourself a delike with a bent nib yet, you really, really need to. This pen is definitely odd, but nothing about it is necessarily bad, just different. And I love that.

 

[zdeveric]

Thank you for nice review. Do you have dimensions of the this fountain pen?

[Honeybadgers]

5 inches capped, 4.75 uncapped, 6.25 posted, about 0.5 inches in diameter.

 

overall very similar in length to a pilot metro, with a slightly thicker grip section.

[Fishkabob]

doesnt really look like much of an architect nib

[Honeybadgers]

And my writing sample doesn't show it behaving like one?

 

I have two custom crisp medium architect nibs. This writes the same, just a little softer edges (my "true" architect nibs are crisp italic and needlepoint.)

 

It's not a fude at all, and it's not a waverly.

Edited February 5, 2018 by Honeybadgers

[minddance]

Are they mimicking Sailor Naginata Togi? They are designed to aid writing Asian characters and would certainly have line variations.

[Honeybadgers]

a Togi nib, as far as I understand, is pretty much a softer architect as well. or does the togi broaden the downstrokes as the writing angle decreases? Because this doesn't do that, the downstrokes are absolutely consistent and the cross strokes are a solid M-B across most writing angles.

 

Seriously, if you're familiar with an architect nib, this feels very, very similar. It's a little softer, but as I described, it's like a stub versus a crisp italic. I have examples on both ends of the spectrum, an architect with a needlepoint downstroke and crisp italic M cross. This is an EF-F down and an M or B cross, and the point is ground with softer edges so it's more forgiving, whereas a "true" architect has to be ground precisely to your writing angle. so the edges of the line are a little softer. Yes, the "look" is different because instead of the tipping being ground into the wedge shape, the nib itself is slightly upswept in a manner more similar to a waverly, but the waverly doesn't write anything close to this.

Edited February 8, 2018 by Honeybadgers

[dcwaites]

It's a mild waverley nib, same design as in the PenBBS pens. The nib isn't turned up, as in the Pilot WA Waverly, but the blob of tipping is.

It's a design that lowers the effective angle on the paper, resulting in smoother writing.

[DasKaltblut]

It's a mild waverley nib, same design as in the PenBBS pens. The nib isn't turned up, as in the Pilot WA Waverly, but the blob of tipping is.

It's a design that lowers the effective angle on the paper, resulting in smoother writing.

 

Interesting. I was just wondering if it might be the same nib appearing in PenBBS pens...maybe Delike makes them?

[Honeybadgers]

It's a mild waverley nib, same design as in the PenBBS pens. The nib isn't turned up, as in the Pilot WA Waverly, but the blob of tipping is.

It's a design that lowers the effective angle on the paper, resulting in smoother writing.

 

 

It's got a lot more line variation than the penbbs #6 version (which I agree is more of a waverly, since the line variation depends on angle, not a defined down/cross stroke)

 

I really can't stress enough how incorrect people calling this a waverly are. there's a very, very clearly defined line variation from down and across. Do I need to make another writing sample comparing it to a "true" architect to convince you?

[Fishkabob]

 

 

It's got a lot more line variation than the penbbs #6 version (which I agree is more of a waverly, since the line variation depends on angle, not a defined down/cross stroke)

 

I really can't stress enough how incorrect people calling this a waverly are. there's a very, very clearly defined line variation from down and across. Do I need to make another writing sample comparing it to a "true" architect to convince you?

I would love to see a comparison!

[MingLau]

I've got another pen which uses the same nib, and was deeply impressed.

 

According to some official sellers/traders in China, the manufacturer intended to create this nib as a small version of a common fude nib, which is good in writing Chinese calligraphy (applicable to writing Japanese characters as well). If I need to recommend a cheap version to the Sailor Togi (to give chinese-style line variation with a hard nib), I can easily recommend this one without a thought.

 

There is one problem though, I own 2 of this nib, and for both of them, I am not able to pull out the nib and feed, and the fins are too tiny and can easily be damaged if one try hard to do that, that means you can't tinker a faulty nib unit at all (both of mine OK), but won't worry, the replacement units are cheap.

[DasKaltblut]

I got mine today, and it was definitely smaller than I was expecting. I have fairly large hands for a woman, and it was too small and light unposted. The section is narrow too, although that doesn't bother me. It really only feels ok for me posted, which is a too bad since you really have to jam the cap down on the end of the pen. I like to post generally, but not when it requires force. I prefer the cap to lay gently on the end. It definitely has more of an upturn to the nib tip than the PenBBS, so the nib works a bit differently. Overall I like the pen, I just wish it were a little bigger all around.

[dcwaites]

I got mine today, and it was definitely smaller than I was expecting. I have fairly large hands for a woman, and it was too small and light unposted. The section is narrow too, although that doesn't bother me. It really only feels ok for me posted, which is a too bad since you really have to jam the cap down on the end of the pen. I like to post generally, but not when it requires force. I prefer the cap to lay gently on the end. It definitely has more of an upturn to the nib tip than the PenBBS, so the nib works a bit differently. Overall I like the pen, I just wish it were a little bigger all around.

 

I was going to get one, until I read somewhere else that they are a bit on the small side.

Instead, I have a PenBBS 308 on the way.

There are other colours, but the bleached pine woodgrain caught my eye.

[Honeybadgers]

I've got another pen which uses the same nib, and was deeply impressed.

 

According to some official sellers/traders in China, the manufacturer intended to create this nib as a small version of a common fude nib, which is good in writing Chinese calligraphy (applicable to writing Japanese characters as well). If I need to recommend a cheap version to the Sailor Togi (to give chinese-style line variation with a hard nib), I can easily recommend this one without a thought.

 

There is one problem though, I own 2 of this nib, and for both of them, I am not able to pull out the nib and feed, and the fins are too tiny and can easily be damaged if one try hard to do that, that means you can't tinker a faulty nib unit at all (both of mine OK), but won't worry, the replacement units are cheap.

 

 

rubber inner tube. it'll come out without damage.

[Honeybadgers]

I got mine today, and it was definitely smaller than I was expecting. I have fairly large hands for a woman, and it was too small and light unposted. The section is narrow too, although that doesn't bother me. It really only feels ok for me posted, which is a too bad since you really have to jam the cap down on the end of the pen. I like to post generally, but not when it requires force. I prefer the cap to lay gently on the end. It definitely has more of an upturn to the nib tip than the PenBBS, so the nib works a bit differently. Overall I like the pen, I just wish it were a little bigger all around.

 

 

I've got large hands for a man and I found the size to be just fine, but it's obviously completely subjective. I prefer the delike alpha with the brass to the aluminum because it's so much heavier.

 

The cap definitely posts, just in a really unsatisfying way.

 

Also, delike just released a real wood pen with these nibs... I have one on the way (I seriously can't get enough of these bent nibs)

[MingLau]

 

 

rubber inner tube. it'll come out without damage.

Just gave it another try with exceptionally hard force, managed to pull it out with some fins bended. My experience with a lot of Chinese-branded nib units is that, their injection-moulding tolerance is still relatively high, so that the nib assemblies with the same design can sometimes loose but sometimes very tide. I even came across feeds with low quality plastic/poor moulding skills which are brittle, or with large air bubble trapped internally which weaken the structure, by pull with normal force the feeds just break into 2, that's why I usually order a replacement unit (if it's ~$1USD) together with a pen whenever possible

[DasKaltblut]

I was going to get one, until I read somewhere else that they are a bit on the small side.

Instead, I have a PenBBS 308 on the way.

There are other colours, but the bleached pine woodgrain caught my eye.

I have 4 PenBBS 308s....so uh, yeah. Edited February 21, 2018 by DasKaltblut

[minddance]

To potential buyers, just a quick remark, I got my Delike today and it is confirmed by my experience and communication with the Chinese seller that the nib cannot be removed from the feed, and this applies to ALL Delike pens, not only the smurf Kaweco-inspired one.

 

This would rule out any possibilities of a frankenpen and nib-cocktailing. And as a result, cleaning can be tedious.

 

However, the entire nib unit (complete with collar and feed) can be screwed out of the section. Think of it as a Pelikan screw out nib unit but Pelikan cleans easier and with Pelikan, there's a possibility of removing the nib from the feed (with more tools) but not with Delike.

 

This pen is not for the enthusiatic ink-changer and OCD clean freaks like myself. It is to be filled with one ink and refilled with the same.

 

Good writer but can be rather back-heavy with cap posted.

 

The pen is smooth and rather wet. But the individually sold replacement nib units are a nightmare (same with Wingsung698) i.e. if you do not buy the whole pen, you won't get a smooth nib. I bought 2 units and both are very very scratchy. The replacement nib units are extremely scratchy and dry and totally unfinished.

 

You will have to be nibmeister and tie up the loose ends yourself with micromesh and whatnot.

 

Good luck and have fun

Edited February 27, 2018 by minddance

[jekostas]

I'm sure the nib could be removed using the correct technique, that technique being "ignorance and brute force".