Kanpur writers - Desire, Heritage and Legacy

[Gunkanes]

Pros-

– Unbeatable price/quality ratio

– Ebonite feeds (not in Desire), these pens are WET

– Perfect tuned of nibs, with different options: ultraflex, half-flex, flex, etc...

– Inverted writing soft and usable in all nibs

– Bold nib is springy with gorgeous small flex

– 3 completely different and complementary pens in their portfolio

– Fast preparation and FEDEX delivery to Spain (2 weeks)

– Great ink capacity 

– The writing experience is top notch (better than any Jowo#6, TWSBI, etc...)

– Kampur Legacy body is so big and so confortable (at least for me)

 

 

Cons-

– They smelled a little of the factory's processes, i needed to clean them.

– Acrilic body in top pen, Legacy, is underwhelming. There is a ebonite option in darker pens. At the same price?! Is not well informed in the home page. 

- Rustic fountain pen feeling. 

 

 

Kampur writers - Legacy - Flex nib. 

 

 

Left Lamy Safary for reference. Orange Kampur writers Legacy, 3 x Kampur Heritage, 2 x Desire. 

 

 

Flex nib, Flex nib, UltraFlex nib, Bold, HalfFlex, HalfFlex

 

 

Ebonite feeders closeup. All pens perfectly adjusted. 

 

 

Kampur Desire, the smallest one. 14€ (included shipping and customs costs to Spain).

 

 

Kampur Legacy, the middle one. 35€ (included shipping and customs costs to Spain).

 

 

Kampur Legacy, the top one. 60€ (plus shipping and customs costs to Spain). Nibs are interchangeable and quite inexpensive. 

 

 

Great ink capacity. 

 

 

 

Body compared to Sailor King of Pen 1911. Kampur Legacy can't be posted. 

 

 

Writing sample, the ink is Sailot Shikiori Souten. 

 

And the final surprise: 

 

 

The amount of flex of the nib is bigger than Pilot Custom 743 with Falcon nib.

 

Mi suggestion: just buy the Kampur Legacy with flex nib and ebonite body. 

[K Singh]

Lovely pens. Enjoyed reading your review.

[txomsy]

Yeah! They do certainly look attractive. Congratulations.

[IlikeInksandIcannotlie]

19 hours ago, Gunkanes said:

Mi suggestion: just buy the Kampur Legacy with flex nib and ebonite body.

The nibs do take quite a bit of pressure to flex though, you can get upto  1.9 - 2 mm at max, but you have to press a lot. The nibs are thicker than usual, and they are cheap, so there is no need to worry about springing a nib.

Edit: It is an unfair comparison, as I am comparing it to an 18K Pilot nib, which is rather soft (though not marked as a soft nib) and can show a little line variation.

[PuliMorgan]

On 9/9/2021 at 12:10 AM, Gunkanes said:

Pros-

– Unbeatable price/quality ratio

– Ebonite feeds (not in Desire), these pens are WET

– Perfect tuned of nibs, with different options: ultraflex, half-flex, flex, etc...

– Inverted writing soft and usable in all nibs

– Bold nib is springy with gorgeous small flex

– 3 completely different and complementary pens in their portfolio

– Fast preparation and FEDEX delivery to Spain (2 weeks)

– Great ink capacity 

– The writing experience is top notch (better than any Jowo#6, TWSBI, etc...)

– Kampur Legacy body is so big and so confortable (at least for me)

 

 

Cons-

– They smelled a little of the factory's processes, i needed to clean them.

– Acrilic body in top pen, Legacy, is underwhelming. There is a ebonite option in darker pens. At the same price?! Is not well informed in the home page. 

- Rustic fountain pen feeling. 

 

 

Kampur writers - Legacy - Flex nib. 

 

 

Left Lamy Safary for reference. Orange Kampur writers Legacy, 3 x Kampur Heritage, 2 x Desire. 

 

 

Flex nib, Flex nib, UltraFlex nib, Bold, HalfFlex, HalfFlex

 

 

Ebonite feeders closeup. All pens perfectly adjusted. 

 

 

Kampur Desire, the smallest one. 14€ (included shipping and customs costs to Spain).

 

 

Kampur Legacy, the middle one. 35€ (included shipping and customs costs to Spain).

 

 

Kampur Legacy, the top one. 60€ (plus shipping and customs costs to Spain). Nibs are interchangeable and quite inexpensive. 

 

 

Great ink capacity. 

 

 

 

Body compared to Sailor King of Pen 1911. Kampur Legacy can't be posted. 

 

 

Writing sample, the ink is Sailot Shikiori Souten. 

 

And the final surprise: 

 

 

The amount of flex of the nib is bigger than Pilot Custom 743 with Falcon nib.

 

Mi suggestion: just buy the Kampur Legacy with flex nib and ebonite body. 

 

A detailed review of Kanwrite Legacy can be found here. There is a discussion on the various body material options also in that thread.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/360743-kanwrite-legacy-review/#comments

 

[Gunkanes]

Thank you PuliMorgan.

[Sagarb]

Congrats !

[cll]

Beautiful.  Can I asked if the nib unit of the Legacy and Heritage interchangeable?

 

Thank you for sharing

 

[Gunkanes]

1 hour ago, cll said:

Beautiful.  Can I asked if the nib unit of the Legacy and Heritage interchangeable?

 

Thank you for sharing

 

Apparently they are the same, even the housing. But I won't touch my Legacy by any means! My legacy is so we'll adjusted.

But I think is only apparently.

They gifted me with a M nib (screw full housing with nib). But is clearly stated that only for Legacy. And in the Kampur shop only heritage nibs are available.

[cll]

Thank you for your reply.  I like how the heritage has lots of nib options.  And they look good.  I had a look at their website and realised that they have no quotation for shipping to my country.

 

[PuliMorgan]

3 hours ago, Gunkanes said:

Apparently they are the same, even the housing. But I won't touch my Legacy by any means! My legacy is so we'll adjusted.

But I think is only apparently.

They gifted me with a M nib (screw full housing with nib). But is clearly stated that only for Legacy. And in the Kampur shop only heritage nibs are available.

 

@Gunkanes

 

You are right, Heritage and Legacy use the same nib units. This was confirmed by the company when I was ordering an extra fine ebonite nib unit for my Legacy which was originally fitted with a fine nib.

 

Changing the nib unit is very easy and it is not going to change the nib tuning. Just be careful to hold the nib with a soft cotton cloth while unscrewing. I have done it multiple times with no trouble.

 

(I thought I had damaged the nib the first time I changed it. But later when I checked for tine misalignment under a magnifying glass, I found something (a tiny cotton fibre, I guess) stuck between the tines. Everything was fine once I removed it using a mini - tweezer).

[Gunkanes]

 

After 2 weeks the Heritage Demostrator still had some odour. 24 hours sumerged in soap and the odour has disapeared and now it has the soap smell, that is quite nice. 

 

The best body for me is the demostrator (i have too the blue and the crystal red). 

 

 

This is the gifted replacement M that is written that only is for LEGACY. But it worked on HERITAGE. 

 

 

Is different from the Ebonite feed that was installed. 

 

 

 

Just gently unscrew the unit and screw the new one :

 

 

 

The dismantled ebonite original Bold system. 

 

 

Replacement one is made of plastic, but great ink fow and worked flawless. 

 

 

Nice nib, slightly softer than Jowo #6 steel but the flex one is much better and funnier. 

 

 

I reverted back to B nib. 

[Gunkanes]

I ordered a Desire with flex nib. I really love that nib. Is like having several nib sizes in the same nib. No presure: F, inverted EF, a little presure M, and even some line variation. 

 

I had a beautiful body (Ranga Giant 9B) + ebonite housing and feed waiting for a nib like this. 

 

The nib removal form the Desire is just by pulling and accept directly the Jowo nibs.

 

 

Really good feelings.

[sansenri]

Thank you for showing the Legacy, as you say, the Legacy in ebonite is likely to be a very nice pen.

 

I'm not convinced about the Kanwrite flex nib though, as I own one which I had fitted on a Ranga pen with the specific feed with the "half pyramid shaped" tip. (During discussion about other pens it was mentioned that this feed is likely to be a Kanpur feed.)

 

I found the Kanwrite flex nib to show practically no flex at all, unless you put a lot of pressure to it, which does not come natural.

My nib was also scratchy and the nib curvature was probably faulty as the nib kept going off center vs the feed.

After some unfruitful attempts at using it, I gave up and swapped it for a much nicer Bock nib.

[Gunkanes]

The pens have arrived from a joint purchase we have made thanks to the spanish telegram group "El Rincon de la Estilografica".

 

My order has been two Kanwrite Legacy with titanium flex nibs. Also another titanium flex nib, a steel BB and a steel Zoom.

 

 

Sailor KoP, Kanwrite Legacy Acrylic, Kanwrite Legacy Ebonite, Kanwrite Legacy Ebonite, Kanwrite Heritage, TWSBI Vac700R, Pilot Heritage 912, Lamy Safary.

 

 

 

 

The titanium nib is not yet available on their website, but can be ordered manually (email). They also have it in gold. The titanium one is $18 and the gold one is $100.  You can see that the titanium one is slightly inferior in size to the steel one.

 

 

The overall qualities of the body are mediocre and this black ebonite one is not perfect on the threads. The fountain pens have permanently the smell of the factory. Don't expect anything in the glamour department, these pens are all about writing sensations.

 

 

The titanium nibs are similar to the Jowo in size. They don't fit easily in a TWSBI Vac700R Jowo #6, but they do fit Opus 88 with an ebonite jowo #6 set (and some adjustment). They doesn't fit on Jinhaos.

 

I ordered one titanium flex in M size, one in B and one in EF. All three wrote exactly the same point and one of the nibs was not working correctly (and after some dremel work is now a BB flex). The reason for the titanium no difference in point size maybe is because the fact that they are very soft and the tines open slightly at the minimum pressure, so when writing they tend more towards an M.

 

If we want to have different dots it would be better to play with the ink. Since the feeders are made of ebonite, these pens are hoses that eliminate the shading of the inks, darken the light tones and the ink takes a long time to dry. If, like me, you like your pen to be a hose, they are a dream. If you need it the ebonite feed to be dryer, just use something to reduce the main (and only) ink channel. The current pens are designed not to stain the cap and to be transported, give just the right amount of ink, these Kanwriters are the opposite. They have a very rudimentary but terribly efficient feeder system so that we don't run out of ink.

 

 

The experience compared to the steel flex is more pleasant, even comparable to a gold Pilot #15 in M. I won't say that it is clearly superior, but in my case I find that nib and the ebonite body very comfortable for long sessions. 

 

 

The Kanwrite BB nib is MAGNIFICENT, much better than a JOWO and smoother.

 

 

I bought the nib separately, so now it's in a TWSBI Vac700R. I struggled to get it in until I got the nib in place first and then pusshed the feeder. It's writing really nice and smooth. Thanks to the dot size it's making inks that I didn't like too much, start to shine with its shading: KWZ Thief's Blood for instance. 

 

 

Detail of the ZOOM BB nib . It's not perfect, but it's been adjusted by hand and it writes really WELL.

 

 

This is a BB/ZOOM and is on the same level as a Sailor 21K Zoom. I can't believe it costs less than 10€. It's a real JOY. OUTSTANDING.

 

 

These pens are far from perfect, they are rather handmade and you have to know how to take care of them (silicone grease, posible ink stain in the cap).

 

 

I have several other pens and i really like to use both the Kanwrite Steel and the Kanwrite Titanium, both in the ebonite bodies. They really feel so confortable for writing. 

 

For me they are SPECTACULAR. My advice is that you should try the FLEX STEEL, FLEX TITANIUM, BB and ZOOM BB nibs. The Ebonite Legacys are very comfortable to write with and if you want to spend half the money, the Heritage are also a great buy.

 

I predict that this brand is going to grow and prices are going to increase. There is simply, nothing similar in the actual market. 

 

 

[K Singh]

@Gunkanes Thanks for the detailed update. Kanwrite nibs are great value for money. I haven't tried any of their pens though as I prefer ebonite pens without any stepdown at the section. Hope they come up with more exciting models in future.

[txomsy]

Interesting. How hard did you have to press to get line variation in the flex nibs?

[Gunkanes]

19 hours ago, K Singh said:

@Gunkanes Thanks for the detailed update. Kanwrite nibs are great value for money. I haven't tried any of their pens though as I prefer ebonite pens without any stepdown at the section. Hope they come up with more exciting models in future.

 

I really love the Legacy model. It fit perfectly my hand and really confortable in long writting sesions. 

 

 

That beautiful red ebonite from Kanwrite is very well adjusted and works fine. And YES, it fits Pilot Custom 743 (with full con-70) and closes the cap perfectly. you just need to slightly increase the Pilot part section. I prefer big ebonite bodies...  (750$ KoP japanese ebonite doesn't play in this league). 

[Gunkanes]

13 hours ago, txomsy said:

Interesting. How hard did you have to press to get line variation in the flex nibs?

 

Compared to the fountain pens i own :

 

Being 10 (the hardest) - 0 (the easiest)

Line variation 1 minimum - 5 maximum

 

Infinite - Steel Jowo #6 - Line variation -infinite

• 10 - Sailor King of Pen M - Line variation 1
• 08 - Kanwrite flex steel - Line variation 2
• 05 - Kanwrite flex titanium - Line variation 3
• 04 - Parker Duofold (vintage nib) - Line variation 5
• 03 - Pilot custom #15 Falcon nib - Line variation 3
• 03 - Pilot custom #10 Falcon nib - Line variation 5
• 01 - Waterman Ideal (vintage nib) -  Line variation 5

I am not going to over push the Titanium nibs, it's too risky and not worthy. They are not full flex nibs. 

 

But i think that these Kanwrite Nibs shouldn't be compared in the flex category (Waterman Ideal, Falcon nibs). The trick is that they are impressive writers WITH flex. Falcon nibs are flexy, but comes with the handicap of scratchiness (50% of my FA #15 nibs) or hard start (100% of my FA#10). You are limited by the flex in the daily work. The Waterman Ideal vitage nib, destroys the Japanese Flex in flex feeling, but is for flex, not for daily normal writing.  

 

 

Kanwriters nibs are gorgeous writers AND you can flex. You can be much more expressive with your writing style and have several nibs sizes in the same pen. If a Pilot #15 M is a automatic transmission car, the Kanwriters are full manual transmission. I wonder when we lost this amazing nibs like Waterman Ideal or Parker Duofold (made in USA), but this Indian Nib Producer has made me recover the faith in a better future for fountain pen nibs. 

 

 

[K Singh]

4 hours ago, Gunkanes said:

 

That beautiful red ebonite from Kanwrite is very well adjusted and works fine. And YES, it fits Pilot Custom 743 (with full con-70) and closes the cap perfectly. you just need to slightly increase the Pilot part section. I prefer big ebonite bodies... 

Hey we all have different writing styles. Happy to know it fits perfectly for you 👍

 

The pilot modification looks good too. Like you I too prefer large, or rather Jumbo ebonite pens. Kim ACR jumbo is among my favorite, lotus maharaja and gama supreme are also good, guider Zimbo and maharaja are also there.