Nakaya, Naka-Ai, Ao Tamenuri, Spencerian

[Finalist]

This is less of a review and more of a victory lap. I knew what to expect as this is one of the few FP purchases where I got to test, see and compare months before buying... So I knew it would be really good. So let's rewind a little before I knew this combo is what I wanted.

At some point I decided Nakaya makes the coolest looking pens, but how to choose the best out of all their awesome models. The Naka-ai, the Neo Standard, the Dorsal Fin v1 and v2, the Long, the Piccalo... All look related, and have similar design aesthetics, yet they each have many details that a studied eye can see. At first the Neo standard and Naka-ai looked almost identical, but after some time you can easily see the differences... So after months of staring I decided the Naka-ai was my favorite. The cap and barrel are flush, the taper of the barrel is crafted well and the section has threading that twists off very fast and shows off Tamenuri urushi more. Deciding on Ao Tamenuri was fairly easy, but really all the Tamenuri finishes are awesome. A very close second was the Shiro and the Kuro, but I'm not sure why the Kuro section threads are not Tamenuri-ed and the Shiro may not work well visually with Ruthenium plating. Next up was the San Fransico Pen show where I could test all of the nib options including custom grinds by John Mottishaw. Here's a thread I started with pics showing all the grinds and discussing my opinions of each. https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/272920-nakaya-soft-fine-vs-soft-medium-pics/?fromsearch=1

At the show I was completly sold on the soft medium. It was smooth and offered line variations from xf to broad when strokes quickly and pulled down hard. However, as time passed I realized this pen would not be a daily carry. It's too much money to chance a fall, or pass around at a meeting where han will stab the nib into copy paper. That thought opened the idea for somthing finer lined or added flex. Deciding was seriously difficult. I changed my mind dozens of times until I finally realized I have enough in the budget for another Spencerian and really that's what I always wanted... Line variation with thin thins.

So here I am four months after calling Nibs.com and getting kn the waiting lost for his model. Once the pen arrives at their shop they contact you and you can then choose the nib if you haven't already. I paid for the pen and requested the nib on Monday and arrived at my house two days later. Insanely fast once the pen was in stock.

 

First impressions:

That box! It's what we all see in videos and pics. The box is really nice and has some neat little crafty features not seen in vids. The box's edges have a very tiny bevel and the inside of the lid is padded with some sort of silky white material.

The Kimono! It's thinner than I expected. For some readon in videos the Kimono looks thicker and stiffer, but's still really cool.

The Pen! I've seen all the Nakayas before so the size was no surprise, but Tamenuri Urushi recipes change, so you don't know exactly what you'll get with the Ao and it looks so different depending on how you hold it and what type of light you have. The colors I have seen are jade, mint, white, and yellow all with a hint of light blue. I'd say it leans more towards green than blue bu far though. There is also more of the Tamenuri effect in person than what my pics can capture especially on the end of the section and the back end of the barrel. The pen is light! Very light with no ink, but once I inked it with Tsuki-yo it gained a little weight. The size of the pen feels very substantial, yet not huge, but favoring big pen size. The Urushi is glass smooth and has a wet look. The threads are tight and fit very well. It clearly gets tighter as you screw the cap on.

The Nib! It's perfect. I love the overall shape-- hiw the wings flare out and the size and the scroll work and the breather hole and the old style Nakata logo. It's my favorite looking nib. The spencerian has easy flex and seems to be a hair smoother than my Falcon Spencerian and produces slightly thinner lines, yet it can go as fat as the Falcon, but it takes a slightly more pressure. The pressure to flex is nothing like a steel flex nib. The gold Spencerian nibs want to flex, and it seems steel "flex" nibs like the Serwex MB have to be mashed into flexing.

[Finalist]

[Finalist]

 

[Betweenthelines]

Ohhh yeahhh. There it is. I'm so full of turkey and stuffing and yet, suddenly I'm drooling again. Beautiful beautiful pen, excellent choice, and thank you again for all the helpful feedback after your SF show testing. I didn't know you could get the Nakaya nibs and clips in the darkened metal.

[Finalist]

A quick writing sample with the Naka-ai.

Edited November 28, 2014 by Finalist

[Hallel]

Gorgeous pen. Congratulations!

[Kyouju]

That is one sexy nib!

[Finalist]

The pen feels very fragile, but I keep reading how tough urushi is. most pens feel extra fragile when you first get it, so some of it is mental.

 

I'm very interested to see how the Tame-nuri changes over time, and I'd love to see some before and after type pictures. Anyone know of where I can find some?

[ethernautrix]

Oo, that is a beauty. And that nib! (And what you can do with it.) Very nice.

[Finalist]

One thing that doesn't translate in the pics is the section size difference. The pic showing a close up of the two pens makes them look comparable in section grip size, but in reality the Naka-ai feels much bigger.

[Mickey]

Oo, that is a beauty. And that nib! (And what you can do with it.) Very nice.

 

I agree it's a very pretty pen and a very responsive (seeming) nib. (I really like the Ao tamenuri.) What I can't understand is why nibmeisters want to call this modification Spencerian. These nibs are much better suited to Copperplate (Roundhand) than Spencerian. Unless you turn the paper a considerable amount, (the writing line running from 6:00 to 12:00) it's impossible to put the shades in the correct position for Spencerian, especially on the majuscules. (And there are other problems.) On the other hand, as the OP shows writing the alphabet, it's possible to write a quite decent roundhand with such pens and without turning the paper very much from the conventional position.

Edited November 28, 2014 by Mickey

[Finalist]

Check out my unique Nakaya tid bit...

 

I love the little "preworn" Tamenuri edges showing the brighter base colors, but can you spot the edge on mone that didn't come preworn? I noticed right away and thought how cool. I've never seen a Naka-ai Tamenuri without this "preworn" edge.

Look at the section. Where the nib fits into the section the first edge shows the blue/green, but the there should be a second line going around before you get to the gripping part of the section - it's just black. In time it will pop out as I can barely see little bits showing in one spot, but for now I love it. It makes the section look smoother and more unique.

 

 

Edited November 30, 2014 by Finalist

[Finalist]

I agree it's a very pretty pen and a very responsive (seeming) nib. (I really like the Ao tamenuri.) What I can't understand is why nibmeisters want to call this modification Spencerian. These nibs are much better suited to Copperplate (Roundhand) than Spencerian. Unless you turn the paper a considerable amount, (the writing line running from 6:00 to 12:00) it's impossible to put the shades in the correct position for Spencerian, especially on the majuscules. (And there are other problems.) On the other hand, as the OP shows writing the alphabet, it's possible to write a quite decent roundhand with such pens and without turning the paper very much from the conventional position.

I agree and disagree. Isn't Spencerian based on organic flow and nature? Is it an exact art, or does it allow individual style?

 

This nib doesn't flex enough to copy the master Spencerian pieces we have all seen. I would guess the original idea for the nib is to not flex it as much as a lot of people do as in copperplate letterforms. I really don't know and don't care too much. From a marketing standpoint I would have branded it something unique and new like ... XXF Nib Nudge or Needle Point Snake bite or Modern Vari-Flex or Spencerianplate or Coppcerian or Mash for Cash. Eh? I don't know. Don't really care.

[Mickey]

I agree and disagree. Isn't Spencerian based on organic flow and nature? Is it an exact art, or does it allow individual style?

 

This nib doesn't flex enough to copy the master Spencerian pieces we have all seen. I would guess the original idea for the nib is to not flex it as much as a lot of people do as in copperplate letterforms. I really don't know and don't care too much. From a marketing standpoint I would have branded it something unique and new like ... XXF Nib Nudge or Needle Point Snake bite or Modern Vari-Flex or Spencerianplate or Coppcerian or Mash for Cash. Eh? I don't know. Don't really care.

 

Spencerian allows plenty of room for personal style, but that hardly means it doesn't have some core principles (pardon the pun) that must be observed, one of the most important being the placement, shape, and frequency of shades. For instance, the alphabet you penned at the top of this thread is very attractive, but it is not remotely Spencerian (the shades are all wrong), but it is fairly close to the Copperplate style.

 

I have several modern, flex modified pens. They are capable of producing sufficient width to produce something convincingly Spencerian. (I doubt your pen is any different). The difficulty is putting the shades where they properly belong. (It's possible, just not convenient.) On the other hand, these same pens can produce fairly decent Copperplate or Roundhand with considerably less fuss. As for the name, if I purchased something represented as a tractor, I certainly wouldn't want to end up with a back hoe.

[Finalist]

I don't practice Spencerian, but I have become fascinated with it. I was initially mesmerized with the famous immovablemovers youtube Falcon Spencerian videos with his brand of copperplate.

Here's my beginners sample of as-pure-Spencerian as I can produce for now. Even with a dip pen I have trouble making the baseline shades that have different radius for the inside and outside tines... The kind that look like they sit on the baseline - make sense?

I think the Spencerian grind might be great for miniscules. It can produce sabi togi thins, flex well and even create the cut off ascender and descender shades.

 

 

Edited November 30, 2014 by Finalist

[Mickey]

I don't practice Spencerian, but I have become fascinated with it. I was initially mesmerized with the famous immovablemovers youtube Falcon Spencerian videos with his brand of copperplate.

Here's my beginners sample of as-pure-Spencerian as I can produce for now. Even with a dip pen I have trouble making the baseline shades that have different radius for the inside and outside tines... The kind that look like they sit on the baseline - make sense?

 

It makes perfect sense. Shades near the baseline align with the return angle (c. 30 degrees), not the main slant (c. 52 degrees). To get them to look right, you need to rotate the paper more than you might think. (I would experiment with aligning the nib slit somewhere between 30 and 52 degrees above the writing line. That means rotating the paper so the writing line is virtually perpendicular to the writer's body. The shades on direct oval (the ones on the left side of the letter) align with the main slant and should be high on the letter body. (For example, the shade on your 'a' above is too low, too late, and too vertical for Spencerian. It is, however, nearly perfect for Copperplate. In contrast, the shade on the 'S' is too early, too high, and nearly vertical, again more in the roundhand tradition. )

 

There are other things that can help you in your quest, like rotating your hand so that the flat of the wrist is parallel to the desk. This not only turns the point clockwise, it also lowers the angle of attack.

 

These days, I write Spencerian almost exclusively - fountain pens for monoline, an oblique holder and dip nibs for everything else. The pens I use for monoline Spencer are XF and XXF nails. I don't find the output from flexible FPs satisfactory. I can't get decent hairlines* and the writing experience is labored compared to using an oblique holder. In contrast, I enjoy writing roundhand (informal copperplate) with a flexible FP, which I can do at fair speed.

 

Here are a couple of excellent examples of Spencerian.

 

http://www.iampeth.com/sites/default/files/artwork/Madarasz_study_as_much.jpg

 

http://www.iampeth.com/sites/default/files/artwork/golden_lupfer2.jpg

 

* A feed wet enough not to railroad won't support good hairlines.

[discopig]

Great review, the comparison against the Spencerian grind on the Falcon was helpful.

[Finalist]

Great review, the comparison against the Spencerian grind on the Falcon was helpful.

Thanks! I've been spending a lot of time with both pens and it's becoming more obvious that the Nakaya creates much better non flexed standard thin lines - they look more crisp, elegant and fine. John ground both pen tips down to .1 mm lines, but the Falcon spits out a bit more ink when not flexed, so it looks a hair thicker or rather wetter. The Falcon also tends to shade a little better when flexed - I think that is also related to it being wetter. I'm finding that the Nakaya is less picky about what angle I hold it.