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Sailor 1911 Standard


cgreenberg19

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Overview:

The Sailor 1911 is my first pen from the brand. I've been reluctant to but a Sailor pen because everybody I've known who has purchased one of these pens had immediately gotten five more and I can't say I'm an exception. I picked this pen up yesterday as a bit of an impulse buy, I had been looking at the Sailor two tine music nib for a while wondering what it was all about. It turns out it behaves in my particular case less like a stub and more like a really broad round nib, which I like a lot. It's also a bit like their zoom nib where if you hold the nib perpendicular to the paper it writes differently then when the angle is decreased. The pen is very good looking; I like the yellow in contrast with the black. It's no secret, I really like this pen.

Writing Experience:

The pen writes incredibly well. If you like wet stubby broads this nib will be for you. On the paper it has just a pleasant amount of feedback, enough to know you're writing with a fountain pen, but not so much that it becomes unpleasant. It's a 14 karat gold nib with the Sailor "1911" stamped on it. It's a pretty rigid nib, but I don't tend to flex my pens so much so it's not an issue for me. The nib is marked MS on the right side. The nib does use a lot of ink and sailor converters really aren't by any means high capacity. When writing with this pen I've found myself running dry in about one and a half normal size pages, so if you don't like carrying a bottle of ink around with you I would suggest going with a finer nib, or the pen or getting the Realo which is a piston filler, however that comes at a larger price.

Design:

I like the looks of this pen. Like many other Japanese pens the design is minimal which I don't mind. The pen features the Sailor stair step clip which does add a bit of design to a part of the pen where it would be otherwise pretty bland. The black ends go nicely with the yellow cap and barrel. One part of the design that isn't so great is the converter. It has a very low ink capacity and with a nib like this it is far less than ideal. I've found that the nib runs dry in about one and a half pages, so a finer nib might be a good choice on this pen. The overall nib deign is very pretty. It mimics a Montblanc nib, but is not a strait out rip off of one. It also features the classic sailor anchor in the middle of the nib. I have not one thing against the way this pen writes.

Presentation:

From what I can gather like many Japanese brands like Sailor don't go too far with the packaging on their sub $500 offerings whereas over $500 dollars the boxes can cost as much as them pens inside of them. This pen is no exception; it comes in a standard Sailor branded blue box with the cardboard outer sleeve. I really like how the outer sleeve has a cutout it it so you can see the Sailor name and logo. It serves no functional purpose, but it's nice attention to detail. The pen comes with two Sailor Jentle Black cartridges and a converter. In addition the pen comes with a use and care guide that's mostly in Japanese. The pen itself comes in a plastic bag nestled in the velvet interior of the box. The presentation is strait ahead, but I'm not a fan of excessive packaging if the pen you purchased is just a pen that you are keeping for yourself and not gifting on to somebody else.

Pros/Cons:

The 1911 is a nice gateway into the Sailor line of fountain pens. In the United States the 1911 is Sailor's least expensive offering. In Japan Sailor also offers a lower priced gold nibbed pen called the Promenade which I do have my eye on. The nib also writes extremely well. I haven't had any issues with skipping or ink starvation. The clip is also just springy enough to put into a shirt pocket and have it stay put and not too hard so that it won't give with a lot of force. The one thing that I really don't like about the pen is the converter as well as the fact that buying the piston filler is $150 more than the standard model. I don't thing the converter would be as much as an issue with a finer nib, so it may just be my particular configuration. At the end of the day, even the converter issue seems insignificant.

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Pens left to right: Pelikan M1000, Lamy Safari USA Edition, Montblanc 146, Sailor 1911 Standard, Visconti Breeze Blueberry.

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Nib photo

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Writing Sample

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Sailor 1911

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Wonderful, well structured review, thanks for posting.

 

I fear I too am one of those folks who dipped their toe into those world of Sailor, and left all else behind. I honestly find their nibs to be the best in current production. The dozen or so I have used all wrote flawlessly and with nice character, straight from the factory. Though, I am partial to their slightly larger 21k nibs (not the KOP nibs, they have a bit too much length and bounce for my taste).

As you said: “It's also a bit like their zoom nib where if you hold the nib perpendicular to the paper it writes differently then when the angle is decreased.” This is definitely the case with all of Sailor’s larger tipped nibs (B,MS,Z). Their tipping is ground in a sort of teardrop shape, tapered at the top. Like a naginata-togi ’lite’ their large nibs produce thinner lines as you get closer to a 90º angle. A neat side effect of how they grind their nibs.

Though I swear by their nibs, I too get quite frustrated by their pens’ capacities. Their piston offering is no better. With a capacity smaller than their cartridges, shoddy glue-work, and an all-plastic construction, it’s a pen that leaves a lot to be desired.

 

In the end, I bought a Conid out of love for my Sailors. I couldn’t bear giving up their nibs, but I could last no longer enduring their lousy capacities.

thanks again for the solid review. I’m almost certain it won’t be the last.

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Good review! My 3 run-of-the-mill Sailors carry the brunt of my writing. The nibs are H-M, H-MF and H-F. Ink lasts virtually forever with my pens. The ca 150 euros one has to spend on a 1911 Standard or a Pro Gear Slim are, in my humble opinion, unbeatable in terms of price/performance ratio. As far as new pens go, I don’t think anything tops Sailor.

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"As you said: It's also a bit like their zoom nib where if you hold the nib perpendicular to the paper it writes differently then when the angle is decreased. This is definitely the case with all of Sailors larger tipped nibs (B,MS,Z). Their tipping is ground in a sort of teardrop shape, tapered at the top. Like a naginata-togi lite their large nibs produce thinner lines as you get closer to a 90º angle. A neat side effect of how they grind their nibs. "

 

 

I don't like the way the lines look. It doesn't give u the solid crisp lines like a rounded nib. Just my two cents

Edited by sakib
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Thank you for your thorough review. Congrats,... you got a particularly handsome 30-ish looking Sailor.

 

You are right about getting a Sailor pen. It usually leads you down a "rabbit hole", as it did for me. Since my introduction to a 1911 Standard a decade ago, I have owned more than a dozen Sailors with the smaller 14c. nib. They're just the right size for my small hand & are great value for the money.

 

At present I'm enjoying thee 1911S & a Pro-Gear Slim. I also have a blue/black model from the "Colours" series on order from Wonderpens. (no affiliation)

Enjoy!

 

Oh yes. The MS nibs make great candidates for regrind to subs or cursive italics. A good number of my 1911S pens came with an MS nib, then were sent off for customization.

Edited by tinta

*Sailor 1911S, Black/gold, 14k. 0.8 mm. stub(JM) *1911S blue "Colours", 14k. H-B "M" BLS (PB)

*2 Sailor 1911S Burgundy/gold: 14k. 0.6 mm. "round-nosed" CI (MM) & 14k. 1.1 mm. CI (JM)

*Sailor Pro-Gear Slim Spec. Ed. "Fire",14k. (factory) "H-B"

*Kaweco SPECIAL FP: 14k. "B",-0.6 mm BLS & 14k."M" 0.4 mm. BLS (PB)

*Kaweco Stainless Steel Lilliput, 14k. "M" -0.7 mm.BLS, (PB)

 

 

 

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Great nib .

My only complaint is its size, just too short.

And i don't like posting the cap , i dont like the shifted weight.

Mine is a very old version with a gold metal ring at the grip section nearest the nib.

It does show some corrosion.

Other than that, i still like that nib.👍

... 671 crafted ... one at a time ... ☺️

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Recently got a 1911L Music nib as well and love it. only issue is an occational hard start - does anyone else experience this? Writes more reliably at higher angles but sometimes ink doesnt get down between the tines from a lower angle

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Reading this excellent review from deep down in the rabbit hole. I have quite a few rabbits now, i’ve been through most of the shapes and sizes. I agree with you about the music nib. Lots of fun to write with. These days I prefer the 1911 large and King of Pen. Pro gear and standard(slim) are a bit too short and skinny for my old hands. In fact at times I reach for the King of Pen before my Montblanc 149’s. The two are similar in size and looks, both have fantastic smooth writing, big old nibs, but the KOP is a c/c filler. Makes it easier it clean and maintain.

Thanks for the very thorough review. Welcome to the family.

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Great review. I went straight to the King of Pen, which is one of my top 2 writers, and now am debating if I’ve ruined myself and would disappointed in a 1911 large or standard “downgrade”?

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Great review. I went straight to the King of Pen, which is one of my top 2 writers, and now am debating if I’ve ruined myself and would disappointed in a 1911 large or standard “downgrade”?

 

The King of Pen Is Painfully oversized and overpriced. That is until you write with one. Had I bit the bullet and bought one right off, I would have a much smaller Sailor Collection.

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I went straight to the King of Pen, which is one of my top 2 writers, and now am debating if I’ve ruined myself and would disappointed in a 1911 large or standard “downgrade”?

 

 

The first Sailor I bought is of the KOP form factor, even though it wasn't called that; it was the kaga maki-e hagi-ni-cho 'Bush Clover & Butterfly'. I'm glad it was intended as a present for my (now-)wife, because I didn't enjoy writing with it. Whereas the only other gold-nibbed Sailor fountain pen I don't like using is the 'Precious Wood of the World' series, which has a slimmer barrel than the Sapporo (aka Professional Gear Slim) it purported to be.

 

All the rest of our gold-nibbed Sailor pens, including the Profit Standard (aka 1911 Standard) and Promenade are more enjoyable for me to use personally, although I prefer the flat ends on the Professional Gear line. (I'm only emphasising the gold-nibbed part because the steel-nibbed Sailor desk pens and Fude de Mannen pens we have are pretty atrocious; the steel-nibbed Lecoule and the Procolor pens we have are nice.)

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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  • 2 months later...

What is the section diameter of the 1911? I know where my 'comfort zone' is & I wouldn't want to make an expensive mistake.

Their Medium would equate to a European Fine?

Is the converter capacity only an issue if you are using a really thirsty nib? It isn't something that looks like it would go inside a Kaweco Sport. Damn, that WOULD be a small converter.

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  • 2 months later...

I love this music nib. I also really enjoy my 14k MF and Medium Promenades (there is quite a difference between the 2) and I'm debating whether I should get the Broad. These little pens have proven to be a perfect fit for me. Posted, they feel great. Thanks for the review.

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A partial solution to the small capacity of the Sailor converter (about 0.6 mL) is to use Sailor cartridges (about 1 mL).

After using up the ink supplied in the cartridge, you can rinse it out and refill it with whatever ink you find suitable. I don't know how many cycles of this will wear out the cartridge mouth, but the cartridges are not very expensive. Large-bore syringes suitable for refilling cartridges are available from several suppliers including Goulet and Jetpens.

 

Unfortunately these pens are not suited to use as eyedropper pens (that is, filling the entire back of the pen body with ink) because of the metal components at the back of the section (corrosion risk).

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I love this music nib. I also really enjoy my 14k MF and Medium Promenades (there is quite a difference between the 2) and I'm debating whether I should get the Broad. These little pens have proven to be a perfect fit for me. Posted, they feel great. Thanks for the review.

I had two Sailor broad (H-B)14c nibs, one on a Pro Gear Slim Fire Spec. Ed. & another on a 1911S. I kept the broad nib unmodified on my Pro Gear Slim. Writes more like a European M nib. Perfect, out-of-the-box, smooth with a touch of feedback. My only factory nib.

The B nib on my 1911S was stubbed by Pendleton Brown to a lovely 0.4 mm. BLS.

 

I've a 14 c. MS nib ground to a 1.1 mm. cursive italic & another 14c. MS ground to a 0.8 mm. stub (both nibs by John Mottishaw at nibs.com). Could not get used to the Music nib as it came from Sailor, but the massive tipping on these nibs made them a great candidate for italic customization.

 

If you are pleased with the performance of your Sailor MS nib, then all the better. Enjoy! :D

Edited by tinta

*Sailor 1911S, Black/gold, 14k. 0.8 mm. stub(JM) *1911S blue "Colours", 14k. H-B "M" BLS (PB)

*2 Sailor 1911S Burgundy/gold: 14k. 0.6 mm. "round-nosed" CI (MM) & 14k. 1.1 mm. CI (JM)

*Sailor Pro-Gear Slim Spec. Ed. "Fire",14k. (factory) "H-B"

*Kaweco SPECIAL FP: 14k. "B",-0.6 mm BLS & 14k."M" 0.4 mm. BLS (PB)

*Kaweco Stainless Steel Lilliput, 14k. "M" -0.7 mm.BLS, (PB)

 

 

 

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