Frankenpenning The Delike Element

[Paganini]

A week or so ago I picked up a couple of Delike Elements from Amazon. I had read a few enthusiastic reviews of the "mini fude" nib and was looking forward to investigating them. I'm sad to say that of the four Delike nibs now in my possession (EF, F, and two mini fude) none of them were ones that I am at all inclined to spend any time writing with. Only one was any good at all, and the mini fude nibs were truly truly terrible. I mean, these nibs were born on the side of the hill, one tine longer than the other tine still. Twisted tips, off center *and* off angle slits, bad grind with burrs all over the place both right side up and upside down. Sadness.

 

All the same, it's a pretty cool pen. The same #5ish Jinhao nibs that go into the 8802 will fit in here just fine. I turned one of the two Elements into a sketch pen for my mom using a fude version of such a nib.

 

The one I kept for myself I did something a little more fun (at least, I think so) with. I really dislike the Bock nibs in most Kaweco pens. On the other hand, I really like the JoWo nibs found in the Kaweco Perkeo. The Perkeo itself, though, I find kind of lackluster. I'm not a fan of the section facets, and its whole presentation lacks a certain "cool fountain pen gravitas." (I understand the reason for this is that it's targeted at youngsters; all the same it's not my preferred choice of delivery systems for those nifty Black Oxide JoWo nibs).

 

The tiny Kaweco Lilliput takes the same nibs (I think they're called #2 even though they're not 2mm across) as the Sport. But the Delike Element is EXACTLY the right size to fit the Perkeo nibs, and the raw bronze deluxe clip from the Lilliput will fit, if you widen the collar just a little bit. And so, here is the Kawecified Delike Element. I think it's a pretty slick pen, and the irony cracks me up.

 

(BTW, I replaced the Delike converter - which rattles like CRAZY - with one of those "deluxe" Jinhao ones that have a brass-colored band. It's a nice tight fit and doesn't shake around.)

 

 

With Jinhao 159 for scale comparison:

 

Edited February 7, 2020 by Paganini

[taimdala]

NICE JOB!!!

[MuddyWaters]

maybe you had a bad supplier of delike pens, because those mini fude nibs have always been well aligned, smooth and very interesting to me. If anything they're just small

[Paganini]

MuddyWaters, could be. I don't feel like I got the chance to judge the *design* of the nib, on account of these particular specimens being so poorly machined. The seller was Lanxivi Pen Store; maybe they just got a bad batch.