The audio is classic bad instructional video (voice-over talent I am not), but the video should be useful if you’re interested in seeing this unusual nib in action. The ink is Caran d’Ache Storm, diluted – it shades even more wonderfully that way.
Sailor’s Nagahara specialty nibs are feats of engineering, and just like other feats of engineering, like bridges and giant tangles of metallic modern art in parks, sometimes they look mighty weird. Take, for example, the King Cobra.
The King Cobra is actually two nibs. The bottom nib has a very wide tip, the upper nib one slightly narrower, coming to a rounded point.
Viewed from behind, the nib reminds me of a pharaoh’s cap, neatly crowning a black plastic feed. (Hey! Pharaoh -> Cleopatra -> asp -> cobra! Okay. I’ll stop now.)
This is a nib I wish were installed in a piston filler, because the poor converter holds barely enough ink for a day. The nib also flexes. But why I would flex it, when it is clearly at least a 6B, is like asking why pop a snake in a rope jar and make it dance to Bollywood pop.
If you’re looking for line variation, the King Cobra is not for you. I would suggest the King Eagle, or even the Cross Music. The King Cobra lays down a consistent-width, wet line.
Aside from having the boldest signature on the shareholders’ minutes, you can also doodle large, shade with impunity and strike fear into the heart-shaped breather holes of medium nibs.
If your fountain pen stops working, you: check if the converter has worked loose; calculate the viscosity of the ink; flush the nib and feed with a 1/10th solution of ammonia in tepid water; use a syringe to force water through the feed; inspect tine alignment; wiggle a sheet of paper in between the nib and the feed to see if there’s too much of a gap; email the seller to demand a refund; bring it to a nibmeister.
I met Yukio Nagahara, son of Nobuyoshi Nagahara, in the Sailor Pen Clinic sponsored by Aesthetic Bay in Singapore. The elder Nagahara is a legend in the fountain pen world, as is his son. Their exacting attention to the creation, production and tuning of specialty nibs ensures a flock of fans at every pen show they attend. This clinic was no exception. I was lucky to have enough free time to hang around and wait my turn.
Many customers weren’t there, but had their pens waiting in line. Nagahara-san worked on nib after nib. He would flush the feed, work the nib and feed out from their collar (if there was a colllar), assessed what could be done, and got to work. (His grinding machine is bespoke. He uses a camera lens blower to flush sections.)
They handed out a quick guide to the specialty Nagahara nibs. These were all available on the other counter for customers to experience.
He told Mr. Tan, the shop owner, that nothing was impossible. A lady came in on the first day with a request: could the nibmeister make her nib a comfortable writer for both English and Hindi? He solved it by grinding the left and right sides of the nib differently – one angled for Western letters, the other for Hindi. He did raise his eyebrow at one request to grind a zoom nib into a cursive italic. I saw the request and said, oh no, don’t! (If you want a cursive italic, have it done from a Sailor broad or music nib instead.)
The large disc in the foreground is a very fine abrasive disc that Nagahara-san uses to floss between the tines. The black burnisher on the right seems to be just the thing for straightening bent nibs.
Yes, he really does have a giant wooden nib mock-up. It’s made of painted wood. Inside, there are magnets.
I expect he uses this to explain writing angle, how the nib is supposed to come into contact with paper, and all of that, but I can’t take a nib as humongous as this with any level of seriousness.
I met a lot of wonderful fountain pen fans, and if ever a trip of mine coincides with a Singapore pen meet, I’m crashing it. 
For more on the Sailor Pen Clinic (including video!), drop by the Fountain Pen Network thread.
While waiting, I couldn’t help but gawk at all the other pens. That’s for another blog entry.
I received a note from Mr. Tan the other day about the Sailor Pen Clinic in Aesthetic Bay. So who’s going?
Customers are allowed to bring any quantities or brands for the nib master to adjust the nib. In the event if the schedule is tight, we will limit 2 pens per customer. The remaining pens will be adjusted later during the lull period. However we are flexible depending on the schedule of the nib Master. If the Master is free, you could have him for the rest of the day <smile>.
Commemorating the event, Sailor has specially commissioned Realo Limited Edition Maki-e Fountain Pens in 4 different designs. The 4 designs are Sakura, Plum, Chrysanthemum and Camellia. Each piece is individually numbered and each design is limited to 28 pieces only. The Master could adjust the nib too.
A thanksgiving evening will be held on the 22 Jan 2010 Friday evening to thank our customers and Sailor team. It will be a good way to get to know the nib master too. There will be alot of interaction among the pen lovers in Singapore and also in the region. It will be fun. Drinks, Wines and food will be served. It is free. Please feel free to attend.
We encourage interested party to register with us so that we could reserve the time slot for you. Please write to us at sales@aestheticbay.com. Please also indicate whether you are attending the thanksgiving evening on the 22 Jan 2010.
Happy New Year!
Regards
Fong Kum
And I keep forgetting to put their pictures up!
The Sailor Vestaere, in collaboration with Takuya Okamoto
I’d seen the pen in pictures, and of course the Takuya website has many handcrafted leather wonders to ogle, but to see the Vestaere for real was a treat.
Sailor King of Pens
The material for this batch of King of Pens reminds me of the Namiki Impressions.
Sailor King of Pens - urushi choices
The King of Pens also comes in urushi finishes. The light purple one is my favorite.
Sailor Tale of Genji
I finally got to see the Tale of Genji pens. I wanted one from this series several months back, but after seeing them for real I was a tad underwhelmed. They certainly are beautiful. Perhaps the shape of the 1911, while classic, lessens its appeal to me.
Danitrio
Danitrio also retails at Aesthetic Bay. These pens are giants. They are, I think, truly more for exhibit than for actual writing.
I don’t have too many matching sets. There’s a Waterman 100-year in red, and there’s this, a Conway Stewart Dinkie No. 526 with a matching No. 2R pencil. That’s about it.
Conway Stewart Dinkie No. 526, matching no. 2R pencil
I imagine a lady carried these in a matching purse – oh, or even a reticule (I like that word, no one uses it outside of period romance novels) – with a set of notecards.
Conway Stewart Dinkie - it writes
These are impossible to use unposted. (Unless you have impossibly small hands.) (Or are too young to be reading this blog.)
Conway Stewart Dinkie, nib
Sailor Jentle Ink in Green matches. In for a penny, in for a bottle.
One of the Japanese big three, Sailor’s reputation rests solidly on its nibs. It’s no slouch in the design department either. The Susutake and Arita series take reimagine traditional Japanese elements into pens – bamboo taken from century-old chimneys, enamelled porcelain.
(On a side note – and I am always going off into side notes – I have always wondered why Filipino souvenir shops seem to be stuck on wooden clogs with heels carved with nipa huts and purses made from various frog body parts and pigskin leather embossed with the word “Philippines” and the occasional jeepney.)
Demonstrators, like today’s detailers and trade manuals, were for salespeople to – what else – demonstrate the fountain pen being pitched to retailers. They had clear or cutaway bodies to show off the pen’s inner workings. This was important back when unique selling propositions (ooh, marketing jargon) for pens moved from how they wrote to how they filled. Today, demonstrators appeal to buyers who are a) geeky, b) exhibitionist, and c) drawn to transparent shiny objects. File me under all three, because I bought a Sailor 1911 demonstrator from Pengallery.
Sailor 1911 Demonstrator
Unlike the clear Pilot demonstrator which has black ends, the Sailor uses the same transparent resin all the way through. There is no complicated filling system to explain; it fills by cartridge or converter. Demonstrators tell all. Here, you can see that ink has found its way into the inner section. If I’m not mistaken the nib is friction-fit, so this shouldn’t be hard to clean. It reminds me of those see-through plastic totes that became popular a few years back; I couldn’t understand why women would want to show off their tissue packets and lipstick-stained cosmetic bags. However, it seems quite all right in a pen. Sailor cartridges and converters are proprietary. I wish they used the same system as Platinum – it would have been a treat to use Platinum’s goldfish converter in this pen, and its gold trim would match.
Sailor's music nib
This is my first stock music nib from Sailor. The 1911M I had, which I eventually sold, had a music nib reground into a semi-zoom (different angle, different line width). Unlike Pilot or Platinum music nibs, which have two slits, Sailor’s has one. This makes it more of a stub, in my opinion. It certainly writes like one.
Sailor 1911 Demonstrator, music nib writing sample (ink: Pilot Iroshizuku ajisai)
I extend the last flourish of a letter, not just because it looks good, but to gauge how well the ink flows through the nib. This is more critical for wide-writing (italic, stub, music, anything over a broad really) and flexible nibs. Sailor has tuned this music nib well, and I am more than happy to show it off to people, which is more than I can say for the contents of my bag.
I first had two lists: top ten modern pens and top ten vintage pens. That I had acquired enough pens in 2008 to make two lists plus have others that didn’t make it to either list gave me pause.
I decided to stick to one list. That was harder than I’d expected. What about the Well Koi and the Sterling eyedropper, my flex-nibbed surprises? Or the Visconti Mazzi Dragon with the stub nib? None of those is in the list, because – well, as much as I treasure them, they do have minute issues. The Visconti is a hard starter (but flows very well once it does start), the Well Koi has a crack at the bottom of the barrel (a definite minus for an eyedropper) and the Sterling’s nib has hardly any iridium left, and so must be used sparingly.
Top Ten Pens, 2008
What did make it to the list:
1) Danitrio Silver Wave – an aesthetic delight to use, and once I adjusted the flow, the flexible extra-fine nib can now handle the pressure I inflict upon it in the name of line variation.
2) Nakaya longer Piccolo in the ishi-me kan-shitsu finish – a direct order from Nakaya, placed during my visit to the Platinum table at the Hong Kong Stationery Fair in January 2008. Its nib is an elastic extra-fine.
3) Nakaya Piccolo in kuro-tamenuri – with a stock flexible fine nib, this seminal Nakaya pen sees regular use.
4) Sailor Hannya Sutra – wards off evil spirits and signs checks at the same time.
5) Sailor 1911 Demonstrator – I just wanted one. This has a music nib which, like all Sailor nibs I’ve encountered, lives up to Sailor’s reputation as the smoothest nibs on the market today.
6) Pilot Custom 742 – not the most original in looks, but definitely the most flexible modern factory nib I’ve used.
7) Oldwin, classic ebonite marbrée – bought in Mora Stylos in Paris, my largest pen and one of my most used.
Waterman 7 in red ripple with Pink flexible nib – it’s vintage Waterman, it’s a 7, it has a wonderful, expressive nib, and I am a sucker for red ripple.
9) Frankensnork! – the only Sheaffer that’s ever made it to any top ten list of mine, this Snorkel is here because it is made from five different Snorkels, is fitted with a rare flexible stub nib, and most of all because it’s from a dear friend.
10) Wahl Pen 3 – A small beauty, not in any way difficult to find, but this one is a most elegant writer.
Top Ten Pens, 2008 - the written list
If you can gauge a pen by its name, then this pen has to be a heavy hitter. You can’t tell by the way it looks, though. The name refers to the nib, not to the body. A nib that deserves three nouns should be able to do anything short of tweeze eyebrows and squeeze juice from wheatgrass.
Sailor Cross Music Emperor nib, side view
The nib is actually two nibs. There’s a metal strip on top that acts as an overfeed, pushing more ink to the nib. Sailor’s Emperor nibs all have the overfeed.
Sailor Cross Music Emperor, nib slit
The “cross” in the name refers to the way the two nibs are slit. Usually, a single nib has a vertical slit. Here, there’s a horizontal slit as well. The cross cut allows more ink delivery to the paper. The iridium tipping is shaped so that when almost flat against paper, the nib delivers a very wide horizontal line and a thinner vertical line. That’s the way Sailor defines “music nib” in this case. Their regular flavor music nib is a stub with a single slit, not the three-tined design Pilot and Platinum have.
"Cross Music Empress"
I think a Cross Music Emperor deserves a Cross Music Empress, and here she is, looking suitably cross. Watery, pale inks that look washed out in finer-nibbed pens come to life with a nib like this. On sturdy paper, thin lines can add texture over broad washes, something a regular nib could never accomplish.
Form is emptiness; emptiness is form. The Hannya Sutra, also known as the Heart Sutra, is one of the most known of all Buddhist sutras. Pilot and Sailor each released pens with the Hannya Sutra engraved on the cap and barrel. Most recently, Kamakura Pens sold out their limited edition Hannya Sutra pen based on the Platinum 3776 body, with a music nib.
When I appeared on Mel & Joey (a local TV show) together with other pen enthusiasts, I joked that my Sailor Hannya Sutra pen was meant to keep devils away. They took me seriously. Now I see I might have been halfway serious, as there is a towel printed with the Hannya Sutra that is supposed to wash away evil spirits as well as dirt.
Sailor Hannya Sutra
I haven’t tried bringing this pen to a new business pitch. I’ve tried most everything else, including hiring an a capella group to sing live, draping a toy snake around my neck and clambering on top of the conference room table (not all during the same presentation). Perhaps I should.
Sailor Hannya Sutra - nib
The notebook with the evil eye closure is from Victoria Marin, on the second floor of Greenbelt 5. If I take both with me to a meeting and still don’t get anything approved, that means some seriously nasty juju is about. Or maybe people just need to go out and grab a drink. Empty is full, full is empty.
