Omas Arco Brown

[klemenv]

This is my first pen after ten years of starvation. It was inspired by seing beauty of Montegrappa celluloid pens on Heathrow airport. Bittner had annual sale, and I have decided for Montegrappa Extra 1930, but I have been to slow, so I have settled for Omas Arco Brown.

 

When pen arrived, it didn't wrote well. It has skipped. Bad starter. Flow was great, so it was almost impossible to use PR inks. Pen did not hold a lot of ink. I have contacted Omas service department with mixed results. Thanks to some fellow forum members and Sam from Pendemium I got enough information to press Omas to repair it.

 

I agree with Noble remarks of springness of the nib. I would call that "luxury feeling".

 

I have sent pen to Bologna, telling them that if they are going to replace the nib, I would prefer the stub nib.

 

http://static.flickr.com/35/91436927_fa5d723f20.jpg

 

Two weeks later, this is what I got.

 

Springiness has gone, but now I have wide (around 1,3 mm) stub nib with great line variation.

 

Celluloid is great. On one side there is great colour variation from vanilla to deep brown, on other sides there is less variation. (Photos are usually showing just side with biggest colour variations.)

 

Nib has great design. It has inspired me to buy Pinstripe Duofold.

 

Pen is quite light.

 

It holds ton of ink. Earlier remark is linked to internal error of Omas pens that are couple years old.

 

http://static.flickr.com/41/91436952_82cd3689e8.jpg

 

For some strange reasons, this nib doesn't work well with regular inks like Omas, Diamine or Herbin. It works best with Noodler, Private Reserve inks and Waterman Violet ink. With those inks, pen is writting really well. With other inks, nib doesn't start well.

 

http://static.flickr.com/22/25213695_da6f3bd4ac.jpg

 

I would never pay list price, but everytime I take a look of celluloid, I apreciate its beauty. This pen was bought to be daily writter, but I have decided not to take it out of my home.

 

All in all, here is my vote(after repair):

 

Finish: 5 nibs

Look: 5 nibs

Filling: 5 nibs

Writting: 4,5 nibs (5 with Waterman Violet, 1 with Herbin ink)

Cost: 4,5 nibs

Edited January 26, 2006 by klemenv

[TheNobleSavage]

Ohhhhh my goodness!!! That is a beautiful looking pen!!! IS that the fullsize? I am in love with the bronze Arco. That color is so striking!!! I am sorry to hear about the problems with the skipping!! I am glad it is fixed with the nib swap to the stub. Too bad the spring is gone from the nib but sometimes with a stub you want it to be a bit on the rigid side. If love the 2 tone nib, I wish all OMAS pen had the 2 tone, it looks very classy. I have to admit that I envy you!!

 

Have fun

 

TNS

[chainwhip]

My OMAS is also having some issues with skipping - Pat from Nibs.com has suggested that I try different inks to see if I get the same skipping/start problems. When this does write, it's quite "luxurious" as klemenv described.

 

So far, I've tried Noodler's Eternal Brown & Sheaffer Skrip Blue-Black inks (both have start/skip issues) - Waterman Florida Blue & Brown are next.

[Michael Wright]

Arcos are very beautiful indeed. When I made them buy me one as a retirement present, I also made them buy it from John Mottishaw, because he checks out the nibs before despatching the pen, and from what I've heard about OMAS this is pretty necessary. Mine is lovely.

 

The skipping problems sound like they might be baby's bottom. There's a downside to a too-luxurious feel in the nib.

 

Best

 

Michael

[garythepenman]

Klemenv, now that looks like a great pen indeed.

 

Michael, I can't wait to retire. As we say in NZ, "your'e a lucky little vegemite".

 

Gary

Edited January 26, 2006 by garythepenman

[chainwhip]

Arcos are very beautiful indeed. When I made them buy me one as a retirement present, I also made them buy it from John Mottishaw, because he checks out the nibs before despatching the pen, and from what I've heard about OMAS this is pretty necessary. Mine is lovely.

 

The skipping problems sound like they might be baby's bottom. There's a downside to a too-luxurious feel in the nib.

 

Best

 

Michael

What's "baby's bottom"?

[chainwhip]

Arcos are very beautiful indeed. When I made them buy me one as a retirement present, I also made them buy it from John Mottishaw, because he checks out the nibs before despatching the pen, and from what I've heard about OMAS this is pretty necessary. Mine is lovely.

 

The skipping problems sound like they might be baby's bottom. There's a downside to a too-luxurious feel in the nib.

 

Best

 

Michael

What's "baby's bottom"?

 

Never mind... I found this:

 

http://www.richardspens.com/ref_info/nib_primer.htm

 

From Richard's Nib Primer Article:

Hard Starting: This is the condition that occurs when a nib does not start laying down ink immediately upon contact with the paper. The most common nib-related cause of hard starting is slit edges that are improperly ground. Look at the shape of a round nib in cross-section, shown at the left below. Note the slight rounding of the edges where the slit is cut through. If these edges are not rounded, the nib is likely to be scratchy. Many inexpensive modern pens, and some not so inexpensive, have nibs that suffer this fault. But if the slit edges are rounded too much, capillary action will hold the ink too far away from the paper instead of drawing it toward the paper as intended, and the nib will have trouble starting. This condition is shown on the right in the figure here:

 

http://www.richardspens.com/images/ref_info/nib_primer/pad_round.gifhttp://www.richardspens.com/images/ref_info/nib_primer/too_round.gif

 

 

If your nib starts after a little extra push and then writes well, the fault may well be slit edges that are too round. Nibs with too-round slit edges tend to be very smooth, so there is a delicate balance between too round and just right.

 

So, lesson learned here for me is that when in doubt, consult the Oracle of Nashua.

[garythepenman]

Chainwhip,

 

Thanks for the Baby bottom explanation, I posted the question elsewhere, now I know.

 

Gary

[chainwhip]

Chainwhip,

 

Thanks for the Baby bottom explanation, I posted the question elsewhere, now I know.

 

Gary

Ha! I just added the explanation to your thread too

 

It looks like klemenv and I weren't the only ones to experience this problem with the OMAS nibs - check out Han's Paragon review:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...&hl=baby+bottom

 

Here's WIM's Nib Grinding article on Pentrace (if you want to fix it yourself):

 

http://www.pentrace.net/penbase/Data_Retur...icle.asp?id=403

Edited January 26, 2006 by chainwhip

[klemenv]

In my case original nib was really stranged. It looked like cut that divides nib into two half (left picture) was not perpendicular, but slanted. That can't be repaired.

 

By luxury feeling I meant springiness of the nib. Really nice feel. Difficult to describe with words, but really nice feeling.

 

I strongly agree with buying pens from John and Richard. In fact, I guess one is better to send troubled pen for repair to them. At least you know job will be done (perfectly).

 

Another good news. A friend of mine just won eBay auction for Blue Safron Paragon. I am eagerly waiting to take some picture. Blue Safron was colour that I was initially looking for, but than settle for Arco Brown.

[wimg]

Hi Klemenv,

 

Thank you for your nice review and pics! I must say that if I ever wanted to buy an Omas, this is the one. You have to see it in the flesh to really get hooked!

 

For the time being, I'll stick to Stipula, though .

 

And I am glad you're nib got fixed in the end!

 

Warm regards, Wim

[DrPJM1]

I saw an Arco Brown last time I visited Toronto, I hated to part without it for it is truly a beautiful celluloid. I am still looking for one at a good price.

 

Thanks for the nice review!

[Michael Wright]

I saw an Arco Brown last time I visited Toronto, I hated to part without it for it is truly a beautiful celluloid. I am still looking for one at a good price.

You might just have to grit your teeth, as they don't seem to turn up often in sales or on the second-hand market.

 

I think that is telling us something

 

Best

 

Michael

[chris burton]

Gorgeous pen. Gorgeous. That has to be the most attractive material that any manufasturer is using today. Makes me drool every time I see one.

[southpaw]

Beautiful pen. Sorry to hear about your initial troubles, but glad it worked out.

[chupie]

Gorgeous indeed. I LOVE how your nib writes!

[Bill_D]

I had some problems with my Omas Arco Celluloid as well but it wasn't with skipping. If I use any of the Private Reserve or non-permanent Noodler's inks, the line comes out looking funny and uneven. The only way I can describe it is that the edges of the line look jagged or frayed. If I use the Noodler's permanent inks, however, such as Legal Lapis or Iraqi Indigo, the line is even. I am not sure why this happens. Does anyone have any experience with this? It happens on all papers, so I know that that isn't the problem.

Edited January 31, 2006 by Bill_D

[saintsimon]

I had some problems with my Omas Arco Celluloid as well but it wasn't with skipping. If I use any of the Private Reserve or non-permanent Noodler's inks, the line comes out looking funny and uneven. The only way I can describe it is that the edges of the line look jagged or frayed. If I use the Noodler's permanent inks, however, such as Legal Lapis or Iraqi Indigo, the line is even. I am not sure why this happens. Does anyone have any experience with this? It happens on all papers, so I know that that isn't the problem.

Actually, I noticed the same uneven line occurrence with Noodler's Nightshade (nonpermanent) - currently in an Aurora Optima 'Sole' 18K F-nib. In other pens I thought it is feathering, but not really

[klemenv]

Couple weeks I have spoted this picture on eBay from Winedoc.

 

http://i4.ebayimg.com/04/i/05/fa/ag/92_12.JPG

 

My friend likes blue colour, so I have recomend pen to him.

 

Dark blue - gold celluloid combination is just gorgeous. Really outstanding colour. Picture doesn't do justice to the pen. Omas should reintroduce this colour.

 

Personally, this is my favorite combination. I still regret of Moresi No.2 being sold out and Delta Venezia being to expensive.

 

 

The pen camed with M nib. The nib runs on fine side of medium with juicy flow. (Original M nib of Arco brown was on broad side of mebium.) We have tried pen with Omas Blue Black ink and I was a little worried as Omas ink is not the most free flowing ink. But there was absolutly no problem. Pen started to write from start. No skipping whatsoever. Flow is generous. I guess this is standard for all Omas pens. The nib is less springy that my original nib, but I would not call it firm. It is as perfect as nib can be.

[davyr]

hi klemenv,

 

great review and beautiful pen, if i may say so (i have the same one)

 

i echo your sentiments regarding the saffron blue arco as well - gorgeous.