Santini Italia Libra

[dms525]

I enjoy the look of santini pens, they seem fairly reasonably priced also. Great review!

 

P.s. What is that green and gold Aurora 88?

 

 

Sorry for my very late reply to your query. The Aurora is a 88 801 model that has a custom bind in Conway Stewart "Classic Green" resin done by Shawn Newton.

 

David

[avlisyar]

David ... You are an enabler.

I finally got around to looking at their site

and they were running a special price on

the same pen you discussed. And to my

joy, they offered it in a Cursive Italic and

that was all I needed to pull the trigger.

 

One should be on the way in the next few days.

 

And I will say that dealing with Santini has been

easy and quick.

[drnausheerp]

I got my first Santini Libra in the honey ebonite with a flex nib this past March. Beautiful material, beautiful presentation and a beautiful nib.

 

Overall an amazing pen for its price.

[Mr.Rene]

I just got my Santini Libra in Red- Burgundy, Flex Fine 18 K. nib and I really love it very nice packing and Katrina Santini is real nice person...

I am waiting a Leonardo with flex nib too. I will compare both

[Gloucesterman]

Definitely of interest. They have a nice site with many very attractive pens.

 

My one concern is regarding ordering a stub nib based on the experience shared here.

 

If anyone else has more recent experience with the stub nibs please post at your earliest. Or, if you prefer, PM me.

 

And thanks for the review. Very informative.

 

Thank you.

[Carrau]

I have had a Libra with one of their stubs for the past 4-5 months. I asked they adjust the nib to make it moderately wet, and it is a lovely writer. I have a fine and medium nibs as well, and I enjoy them all. I may be able to get a writing sample and some nib pix posted if that helps.

[langere]

Yes, Santini Italia is one of my favorite companies. Great pens, great nibs, nice shapes. I have three pens from them so far and probably will get more. I have one Tscana and two Libras.

 

Beautiful, functional pens!

 

Erick

[Paul-in-SF]

I don't know why but that gaudy toe ring of a cap band is awesome.

 

Toe ring! That's what it reminds me of (not that I've ever seen such a thing in person).

 

I'm sorry to say that I find it a little too bling-y, but I realize it probably depends on the finish of the pen. It seems more at home on an earth-tone pen like the OP's, rather than my Royal Blue. If I had it to do over (and who knows, I might) I'd probably go with Rhodium plated trim.

[Karmachanic]

Definitely of interest. They have a nice site with many very attractive pens.

 

My one concern is regarding ordering a stub nib based on the experience shared here.

 

If anyone else has more recent experience with the stub nibs please post at your earliest. Or, if you prefer, PM me.

 

And thanks for the review. Very informative.

 

Thank you.

 

As you probably already know, Santini nibs are made in-house. If you let them know exactly what you want, they will happily grind to your specs. Very happy with my 0.6 cursive italic.

Edited October 5, 2020 by Karmachanic

[Carrau]

My Santini Libra Red Stone with Stub nib and writing sample.

 

[dms525]

Handsome pen! How do you find the stub nib? Was it customized in any way?

 

David

[Carrau]

Hi David,

I asked them to tune it to be moderately wet, and for it to be as close to a cursive Italic as they could get it and still be a stub.

Mike

[bbs]

My Santini Libra Red Stone with Stub nib and writing sample.

 

Gorgeous pen, and thanks for the writing sample. I recently got a Libra in the Etna material, with fine flexy nib, and I’m very pleased with it. Having seen this I may well go back for a stub.

[Forsooth]

I have a question about the Santini Italia Libra series.  The series is advertised to be a piston filler, I believe.   I watched a recent review (link below) and the presenter said (paraphrasing), "As far as I know, the piston is a captive converter.  At least the ink capacity is that of a captive converter.  I do find myself running out of ink rather quickly with this pen."  The review was positive overall, but I would be interested in learning more about the piston filling mechanism.  Is it, in fact, a so-called captive converter?  Thanks!

 

Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy_P0jGwZFo

 

Dave

[Paul-in-SF]

OK, I had no idea, so I took a closer look at mine. If I unscrew the nib unit and put my tiny bright light down the barrel, I can see the light through the barrel, and track the progress of what looks like a piston up and down in the barrel. The problem is, although it's a large barrel, relatively little of it is available for ink. If you measure the barrel from the top of the piston cap trim ring to the top of the piston at full extension, it is about 72 mm. If you measure the barrel from the top of the piston cap trim ring to the top of the piston at full declension (?) it is 51 mm. So the piston travels about 21 mm, and the mechanism apparently takes up 51 mm or so, or 2/3 of the available space. That seems like a lot to me.. 

 

Since I can see the light through the barrel, it doesn't seem likely it's a captured converter, which I would expect to have metal walls. I wonder if that reviewer tried that. 

[Forsooth]

4 minutes ago, Paul-in-SF said:

OK, I had no idea, so I took a closer look at mine. If I unscrew the nib unit and put my tiny bright light down the barrel, I can see the light through the barrel, and track the progress of what looks like a piston up and down in the barrel. The problem is, although it's a large barrel, relatively little of it is available for ink. If you measure the barrel from the top of the piston cap trim ring to the top of the piston at full extension, it is about 72 mm. If you measure the barrel from the top of the piston cap trim ring to the top of the piston at full declension (?) it is 51 mm. So the piston travels about 21 mm, and the mechanism apparently takes up 51 mm or so, or 2/3 of the available space. That seems like a lot to me.. 

 

Since I can see the light through the barrel, it doesn't seem likely it's a captured converter, which I would expect to have metal walls. I wonder if that reviewer tried that. 

Thanks for the fast and detailed response!  The reviewer did not mention what explorations he had done to come to his conclusion other than the, in his opinion, limited supply of ink.  I will copy your text and paste it in the comments section of the review.  I'm glad to hear that the Libra has a traditional piston.  I'm am interested in purchasing one of these beautiful pens.

[Paul-in-SF]

Actually, the piston takes up more than 2/3 of the space, it takes up almost 71% of the space. That really seems like a lot. It would be interesting to know why. 

 

(And thank you for taking out my bit of snark at the expense of the reviewer when you posted my remarks.) I don't know this reviewer well enough to know if he will be likely to respond, but I'll be keeping an eye out. 

[Karmachanic]

I have a recollection of reading somewhere that it is a Schmidt piston.

 

to add:  I went hunting. Schmidt piston confirmed. :

 

[A Smug Dill]

6 hours ago, Karmachanic said:

I have a recollection of reading somewhere that it is a Schmidt piston.

 

Santini informed me expressly in writing that they use Schmidt piston component in its pen models, such as the Calypso I have, except for the two vacumatic models. I take it to mean the component designated KFH 450; there isn't much else that fits the bill in Schmidt's product catalogue. The nib-and-feed assembly's housing, or collar, screws directly into the end of the ink reservoir in that component, so there are no reasonable grounds for concluding that it is a converter, captive or otherwise.

 

Also, from my testing, the capacity of the ink reservoir in such a piston unit is 1.1ml–1.2ml, which is significantly more than that of Schmidt converters as well as Lamy, Aurora, Parker, Pelikan, Diplomat, Faber-Castell, Rotring, PenBBS, Jinhao, Wing Sung, Platinum and Sailor converters.

 

In essence, there's a significantly narrower and shorter piston-filler pen embedded inside the pen's exterior body (inclusive of the gripping section and barrel, either fused or made in one piece in the first place).

 

If an individual wants to make the ill-founded and questionable assumption that “piston-filler” means the entire cross-section area between the inner walls of the barrel's exterior material is used for holding ink, then it's his/her own mistake. “Piston-filler” does not mean a design requirement or promise to maximise the ink capacity of a pen for its external form factor.

[como]

Judging from Schmidt's catalog and Santini's photos on its website, it looks like the Schmidt's model KFH 450. I am not a fan of captive converters, but the one in Santini has not given me any problems (too early to tell). Photos below taken from Santini's site and Schmidt's catalog.