Pleasant surprise from a humble Kaweco Sport EF

[TheDutchGuy]

 

Ever since losing my trusty AL Sport F on a train, I’ve been on the fence about getting another one but so far I haven’t, because I do already have a wine-red plastic Sport with a rather unremarkable F nib, a nib that just didn’t give me any joy. Then today I stumbled upon a spare Kaweco EF nib that I didn’t even know I had. A quick test indicated that it wrote a very fine line, which got my attention. So I swapped the stock F nib for the EF and proceeded to tune the nib. Aligned the tines, removed a small burr, smoothed it. Inked it up with Herbin Rouge Grenat, a great ink for dry-ish pens and/or pens that write a really fine line. I’m very happy with the result! Crisp, thin, wet lines in Japanese F territory, which I love. Smooth and wet enough for signatures and sketching. Thin enough for the ink to last a long time. When posted, a Sport is surprisingly comfortable in the hand. There’s something about the design that just makes sense. This little pen is a joy to write with and is now a worthy successor to my lost pen.

 

 

I’ve pitted it against some really good Japanese pens, all of which are more pleasant that the little Kaweco. You get what you pay for. Having said that, this endearing little Kaweco delivers about 70% of what a Pro Gear Slim delivers at 20% of the price. It’s a fun little workhorse pen.

[Gord K.]

I have the same colour Kaweco Classic Sport with a Kaweco XF nib. I think it’s a great writing instrument. My ONLY complaint with this pen is being restricted to small SI cartridges.

[ENewton]

3 hours ago, Gord K. said:

I have the same colour Kaweco Classic Sport with a Kaweco XF nib. I think it’s a great writing instrument. My ONLY complaint with this pen is being restricted to small SI cartridges.

 

I have the same pen, with a fine nib.  For years it produced a thin, dry line, but now, for reasons I cannot fathom, it writes a fat, wet line.

 

I do not use cartridges.  Instead, I fill the barrel of the pen directly with a plastic syringe designed for administering oral medications to cats.  Online descriptions of "eyedropper conversion" say to apply silicon grease to the threads, but I have never done so. 

[TheDutchGuy]

2 hours ago, ENewton said:

I do not use cartridges.  Instead, I fill the barrel of the pen directly with a plastic syringe designed for administering oral medications to cats.  Online descriptions of "eyedropper conversion" say to apply silicon grease to the threads, but I have never done so. 

 

^—No burping as the air in the barrel expands?

 

Personally I just use Kaweco’s little push/pull converter. Many people dislike it because of its small ink volume, but that never bothered me. With a line this fine, it lasts a long time. And re-filling it takes 20 seconds. And for whatever reason, this is pretty much the only converter where I’ve never seen ink behind the piston.

[ENewton]

8 hours ago, TheDutchGuy said:

 

^—No burping as the air in the barrel expands?

 

Personally I just use Kaweco’s little push/pull converter. Many people dislike it because of its small ink volume, but that never bothered me. With a line this fine, it lasts a long time. And re-filling it takes 20 seconds. And for whatever reason, this is pretty much the only converter where I’ve never seen ink behind the piston.

 

No burping and no leaking after several years, even when the pen is almost empty.

 

Small ink volume wouldn't bother me either.  I started using the pen as an eyedropper filler not to increase ink capacity, but to try to improve the flow.  Now that the flow has turned from dry to wet, I might consider using a converter or even cartridges again.

 

        

[MuddyWaters]

17 hours ago, TheDutchGuy said:

 

^—No burping as the air in the barrel expands?

 

Personally I just use Kaweco’s little push/pull converter. Many people dislike it because of its small ink volume, but that never bothered me. With a line this fine, it lasts a long time. And re-filling it takes 20 seconds. And for whatever reason, this is pretty much the only converter where I’ve never seen ink behind the piston.

 

As I wrote in another thread, I think that eyedroppers have gotten this burping reputation from the pens that have rough ebonite feeds. Modern plastic feeds do a better job at eliminating burping, which is why you don't see piston fillers burp much either.

 

My Kaweco Sport never burped either. However, I tried it again because of your thread, and found its threads very sharp. I picked up a Delike Brass copy instead and was more comfortable, though unfortunately not convertable to ED mode.

[TheDutchGuy]

Interesting. Every modern eyedropper I’ve tried has burped, and the more air there was in the barrel, the more it did so (as expected). Had a TWSBI Go once, it burped unmanageably. My Opus 88 Demonstrator burps a lot, but I can control it with the shut-off valve so that’s OK (though I’ve learned the hard way to always open the valve nib-up). The best one yet is my Fine Writing Bronze Age, in the sense that I can see the feed flooding up more gradually than with other pens, so evasive action can be taken. Even so, with more than 25% air in the barrel it’s game over. I still eyedropper some vintage button-fillers once their sacs fail, but for home use only and until I can get the sac repaired. Other than that, I’ve given up on eyedroppers unless they have a valve.

[Bo Bo Olson]

On 4/16/2021 at 2:02 AM, Gord K. said:

My ONLY complaint with this pen is being restricted to small SI cartridges.

Get a vintage piston Kaweco.

 

I have some Kaweco ink cartridges, which are the same or seem the same as a normal Pelikan short.

If it is shorter, I didn't notice, in I was putting the kaweco cartridges  in a Pelikan.