Review of asa nauka

[Harish N V]

My recent pen that arrived today was the asa nauka in black ebonite with a matte finish. It's a lovely torpedo shaped pen. It came with a lovely cloth pouch

It has a lovely texture to it and has a pronounced torpedo shape and comes with a bell shaped chrome clip. This is available in both ebonite and acrylic versions. The name asa nauka is etched beautifully on the right side of the clip and at the bottom of the cap. I really like this engraving as it is very subtle and not on your face. This makes the design more visible and makes the main features stand out. 

The main feature of this pen is revealed on uncapping. 

It has a lovely seamless section which is beautifully designed and executed. The partition between the writing section and the rest of the body is barely visible. The threads for the locking of the cap are near the nib which is very unique. I really enjoy this design and it's executed really well. There is a good level of skill revealed in the finishing of this pen. 

 

The seamless design offers a very good writing section with a great deal of flexibility. You can hold the pen near the threads or however low you want. 

 

The pen is perfectly balanced and very light. It is as long as the guider zimbo and more girthy than ranga model 8.

It can be posted and feels light but also becomes a bit long and it doesn't post completely securely which indicates that this is not meant to post. 

 

 

The pen is fitted with a jowo medium nin which writes out of the box. It needed no tuning and it's a lovely wet and saturated writer. This nib reminds me of many a vintage Parker nib like the ones on the uk duofolds. There is no scroll work on the nib and the letter M is etched on the right side bottom of the nib. 

 

This pen has a 3 in 1 filling system and comes with a schmidt converter. 

 

Conclusion

 

This pen is priced at INR 2800 and that too comes with a jowo nib or schmidt nib. In a conversation with Subramaniam anna, he told that the aim is to make these pens available and accessible to even college goers and this pricing certainly makes it a very affordable handmade pen that is accessible to a variety of pen users. I find this pricing very reasonable given the unique design, German nib and good finish. Overall iam very happy with this pen and would recommend it to people who enjoy Indian handmade pens. 

[kazoolaw]

 I have the clipless version of the Nauka, with its nib customized by JJ Lax.  I think of it a working man's Oldwin with the barrel shape and the cap threads at the end of the section.

An excellent pen for long writing sessions, and worth more than its modest price.

Thanks for the review and excellent photos Harish N V.

 

[Rebbe]

Handsome looking pen! Thanks for the review.

[sansenri]

thank you for the review, Harish.

This is a nice pen, I agree. I own the demonstrator version that was object of a group buy some years ago.

It looks nice, but every time I use it I wish I had an ebonite version! (I'd love it also with no clip!)

The great characteristic of this pen, as you mention, is the fantastic section that is so smooth with no impediments to holding it whichever way you like! (and since I hate steps, and some threadings also disturb my fingers, this is a favourite design.)

I do need to get another in ebonite (I've see some versions in mottled brown that look so classic)! but Asa's online shop has been for long time always out o stock!

[mhguda]

@Harish N VThank you for a nice review of one of my favorite pen models ever. BTW, your photos suggest to me that the pen might feel a bit roughish in your hand - or is that just the effect of the matte ebonite? Like Sansenri, I participated in group buys for the Nauka and in fact I own five. Two in blue-green ebonite, both polished. A third one is actually mottled green, with brownish spots. Then one transparent blue acrylic (it was called the Aqua) and finally a colorless acrylic. All polished and very smooth. Only one has a clip - the other four have rollstoppers that I bought as finger rings.

All five are wonderful pens. One had an accident and it broke, but I've managed to repair it by gluing the barrel threads back onto the barrel - the break was relatively clean. The pen has a weak spot, but other than that it holds up well. The accident was through my stupidly dropping a stack of notebooks on it... so not any inherent problem the pen has!

[K Singh]

I have 4 ASA, not any Nauka though. The Nauka design is beautiful, and had I not moved on to bigger pens I would have tried it. Surprisingly my least expensive ASA, an ASA Daily with a Schmidt nib, is the best performing pen among all my ASAs.

 

@sansenri The website doesn't always show updated stock. You can directly reach out to Mr.Subramaniam on WhatsApp or Facebook and ask about it.

[Harish N V]

15 hours ago, kazoolaw said:

 I have the clipless version of the Nauka, with its nib customized by JJ Lax.  I think of it a working man's Oldwin with the barrel shape and the cap threads at the end of the section.

An excellent pen for long writing sessions, and worth more than its modest price.

Thanks for the review and excellent photos Harish N V.

 

Surely a working man's oldwin. Surely worth more than it's price. 

[Harish N V]

13 hours ago, Rebbe said:

Handsome looking pen! Thanks for the review.

Most welcome

[Harish N V]

8 hours ago, sansenri said:

thank you for the review, Harish.

This is a nice pen, I agree. I own the demonstrator version that was object of a group buy some years ago.

It looks nice, but every time I use it I wish I had an ebonite version! (I'd love it also with no clip!)

The great characteristic of this pen, as you mention, is the fantastic section that is so smooth with no impediments to holding it whichever way you like! (and since I hate steps, and some threadings also disturb my fingers, this is a favourite design.)

I do need to get another in ebonite (I've see some versions in mottled brown that look so classic)! but Asa's online shop has been for long time always out o stock!

I echo ksingh's suggestion. Please do reach out on whatsApp Or email. When I spoke to him recently, Mr subramaniam had some stocks of the nauka

[Harish N V]

7 hours ago, mhguda said:

@Harish N VThank you for a nice review of one of my favorite pen models ever. BTW, your photos suggest to me that the pen might feel a bit roughish in your hand - or is that just the effect of the matte ebonite? Like Sansenri, I participated in group buys for the Nauka and in fact I own five. Two in blue-green ebonite, both polished. A third one is actually mottled green, with brownish spots. Then one transparent blue acrylic (it was called the Aqua) and finally a colorless acrylic. All polished and very smooth. Only one has a clip - the other four have rollstoppers that I bought as finger rings.

All five are wonderful pens. One had an accident and it broke, but I've managed to repair it by gluing the barrel threads back onto the barrel - the break was relatively clean. The pen has a weak spot, but other than that it holds up well. The accident was through my stupidly dropping a stack of notebooks on it... so not any inherent problem the pen has!

That's a nice collection. Iam infact planning to buy those acrylics in blue and tangerine. It's actually not at all rough. It's actually close to the ranga matte finishes which are somewhat smooth. I find the woodex 39 to have a rough finish with lovely texture which I enjoy

[Harish N V]

38 minutes ago, K Singh said:

I have 4 ASA, not any Nauka though. The Nauka design is beautiful, and had I not moved on to bigger pens I would have tried it. Surprisingly my least expensive ASA, an ASA Daily with a Schmidt nib, is the best performing pen among all my ASAs.

 

@sansenri The website doesn't always show updated stock. You can directly reach out to Mr.Subramaniam on WhatsApp or Facebook and ask about it.

Oh. I was also a little hesitant regarding the grip after using guider zimbo. But I actually found this also to be unique. I will also check out the ASA daily

[K Singh]

18 minutes ago, Harish N V said:

Oh. I was also a little hesitant regarding the grip after using guider zimbo. But I actually found this also to be unique. I will also check out the ASA daily

Your Nauka is a better pen than the Daily in my opinion. It's just that the nib on my Daily happens to be great and better than the Jowo/Schmidt nib on other ASAs.

[mhguda]

5 hours ago, K Singh said:

I have 4 ASA, not any Nauka though. The Nauka design is beautiful, and had I not moved on to bigger pens I would have tried it. Surprisingly my least expensive ASA, an ASA Daily with a Schmidt nib, is the best performing pen among all my ASAs.

 

The acrylics are actually a bit larger than the ebonites; I find them comparable to some of the bigger Gamas I also got from ASA.  Both longer and girthier.

[K Singh]

1 hour ago, mhguda said:

The acrylics are actually a bit larger than the ebonites; I find them comparable to some of the bigger Gamas I also got from ASA.  Both longer and girthier.

You are right. I have this ASA Titanium pen in Acrylic (a limited edition group buy) which is girthier than my other ASA pens. But I love ebonites so much that I rarely buy any acrylic pen 🙂

 

[mhguda]

That's a handsome pen (in more ways than one 😉) although I think I would have preferred it in one color - just the blue. But that's me, I love blue. And yes, I find that in general, I prefer ebonites, but some acrylics can be so very beautiful, with that pearlescence trapped inside the material... Also, as a physics teacher, I do love to see the ink moving in the pen. Especially between the section walls and the feed...

[K Singh]

34 minutes ago, mhguda said:

That's a handsome pen (in more ways than one 😉) although I think I would have preferred it in one color - just the blue. But that's me, I love blue. And yes, I find that in general, I prefer ebonites, but some acrylics can be so very beautiful, with that pearlescence trapped inside the material... Also, as a physics teacher, I do love to see the ink moving in the pen. Especially between the section walls and the feed...

That just shows how different our tastes are ☺️ I bought that pen only because I liked the contrast between blue and white. 

The one thing about transparent sections is, no matter how much you clean them, some tiny droplet of ink always remains there, which used to bother me earlier, but have learnt to live with it now 🤷

[mhguda]

Most of them, I find, the nib and feed come out easily, and then you can thoroughly clean them. But yes, some drops of leftover ink don't bother me too much... especially if something similar goes in afterwards.

[langere]

Great review!  My Asa Nauka is one of my very favorite pens.  It's a transparent green.  It writes like a dream and holds a boatload of ink.

 

Thanks for sharing -

 

Erick

[Harish N V]

11 hours ago, langere said:

Great review!  My Asa Nauka is one of my very favorite pens.  It's a transparent green.  It writes like a dream and holds a boatload of ink.

 

Thanks for sharing -

 

Most welcome

[dawnsleepermail]

@Harish N V lovely review; very helpful. I've only recently discovered ebonite FPs from India (purchased the FPR Himalaya). I really wish there were more US distributors for Indian FPs. Does the converter slide in or screw in? And if it's not too much to ask, could you post a pic of the nib unit + converter separate from the body? Thank you so much!