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I received a pen from Birmingham Pen Company today. It is the "Ironsides" Model-C with a "Raven" clip. The clip has the black ceramic coating used on their "Raven" model. I ordered mine with a Nemosine 0.6 stub. Ordering: It took about three weeks to receive the pen from the time of order. Birmingham Pens is a small family-owned and operated company. They make their pens in small batches to fulfill orders as they come in. Receiving: The pen came with a certificate of authenticity and serial number. The pen arrived securely packed in an attractive box a postcard, the certificate, and a note from Nick. Fit and Finish: The pen is hefty. It has a satin finish that suits the material. It is cigar-shaped and has simple, clean lines. The black clip contrasts nicely with the silver gray finish. The photos of this pen on the Birmingham website look like there is a greenish color cast. The pen is more like silver-gray color in real life. There is the option of "Raven" or satin steel for the clip material, and it is possible to change the clip after purchase, so it is not a big commitment. The pen feels like a precision instrument. The threaded components almost spin together or apart once loosened for assembly or disassembly. The cap does not post securely (I did not press it hard on the pen), but I don't post my pens. The size and weight of the pen un-posted made it feel comfortable in my hand. Writing Experience: It is a weighty pen. If you like lightweight pens, this is not the one for you. So far, I have written on Leuchturm 1917 and cheap computer paper (in the photos). The Nemosine 0.6 stub is the perfect thickness for my writing. The nib had a lot of feedback on the Leuchturm with an audible sound but has not caught on paper. It felt more like a cursive italic nib, but that's alright. Hopefully, it will smooth out a bit with use. I am using Platinum Cassis Black in the photos. Nemosine 0.6 stub with Platinum Cassis Black on printer paper Conclusion: I am happy with this pen and think it is a good value. It just feels like a high-quality, precision machined pen. I like supporting small companies that make great products. I have not tried their ink yet, but have some on order, and I am looking forward to giving it a go and doing more business with https://www.birminghampens.com/

An email I received today from the guys at Birmingham Pen Co. Introduced me to their new ink comparison tool, the Inkvestigator. As one of their fans, I’ve often found it difficult to decide between some of their inks that appear to be very close to one another. This new tool helps with some of that decision making. It is found at the bottom of the INKS pull down menu, and for the moment is only operational for their line of “Crisp Inks,” although that is still a considerable number of inks. You click on the ink you are interested in on the list, and its swatch appears below. Then you can add as many inks as you want to view together. They appear as stacked tiles, which you can then drag and drop to move them around for comparisons. You can lay part of one over another to fit them on the relatively small portion of the page allotted for viewing, and rearrange them however you please. You may remove one or all the swatches with the provided buttons. It’s a useful and welcome tool for their website, and will become even more functional when their complete line of inks can be viewed. More good work from Birmingham. (No affiliation). https://www.birminghampens.com/pages/inkvestigator

Ink Review: Birmingham Pen Company Twilight Background: Birmingham Pen Company (BPC) started as the brainchild of two brothers – Nick and Josh. Initially, Nick and Josh worked with third party ink producers in England and Germany to produce their inks. BPC started making their own inks over a year ago. While some changes have been made, their new formulations include “Crisp” inks designed for everyday use on all papers, “Swift” inks that are a bit wetter, starts up quickly and works well on premium papers, “Rich” inks which have high sheen and saturation, “Everlasting” inks that have high water resistance, “Twinkle” inks with shimmer and “Wishy-Washy” inks that are designed for performance but a washable from fabrics and surfaces. The glass bottles with tight-fitting plastic lids bottles are very nice and functional. My largest pen fits nicely into the bottle for a full fill. BPC offers three sizes: 30ml, 60ml and 120ml for all inks except the Twinkle inks which are only available in 60ml. The 120ml bottles have an eye-dropper lid instead of the regular lid. Review in Brief: Saturation: moderate saturation Sheen: some nice green sheen Shading: medium shading from fine to wider nibs Haloing: low Lubrication: medium lubrication Wetness: moderately wet Water Resistance: Moderately water resistant Feathering: minimal feathering on lower quality papers Bleedthrough: minimal only on lower quality papers and with high ink application Showthrough: medium showthrough on 52gsm TR paper, minimal on Rhodia and Apica Price: reasonable for 30mls, very good for 60ml and exceptional for 120ml which is the best value. While some inks retained the same name (or an abbreviated version), they may be slightly different. Ana at the Well Appointed Desk discussed this very well in her January 2021 blog (https://www.wellappointeddesk.com/2021/01/ink-brand-overview-the-new-birmingham-pen-company-inks/) The older version of this ink, known as Allegheny River Twilight, was review by craptacular in 2018. You will note that there is a difference between the older version and the new “Swift” formula. Pens: a Pilot Vanishing Point with a fine nib, and a Conklin Duragraph with a 1.1 stub nib. Papers shown: Rhodia, Tomoe River, Cosmo Air Light; Not shown: Apica CD Premium, Advantage 24 lb copy paper; Cambridge Premium Notebook paper. Rhodia Dot Grid Paper The ink is nicely saturated with some green sheen when pooled. The ink flows wonderfully in both pens. The Pilot VP has a very dry nib and is very particular about the ink it uses. This pen glides effortlessly with this ink. The Conklin Duragraph, on the other hand, is a very wet pen. The Twilight ink is almost too wet to use in this pen. The ink does dry fairly quickly on all papers tested but is slower on Tomoe River and Cosmo Air Light (20-25 seconds). he ink is surprisingly quite water resistant although it is not known as an “Everlasting” formulation. Feathering and bleeding are not seen on Rhodia, Tomoe River, Cosmo Air Light. There is some feathering on the 24 lb. copy paper, and minimal feathering on the Apica CD and premium notebook paper, and the three papers showed small amounts bleedthrough in heavy applications of the ink. Because this is a fairly saturated ink, there is showthrough on Tomoe River, Rhodia and Apica as well as the copy and notebook papers, especially with the 1.1 stub nib. Tomoe River Ivory Paper Tomoe River Ivory Paper Cosmo Air LIght Paper Apica CD Premium Notebook Paper The chromatography was simply done with a coffee filter. It shows how the ink color breaks down in to a complex variety of yellow, blue and red. Here are some color comparisons. Overall this is a very nice ink that behaves very well. I highly recommend giving this ink a try. Disclaimer: I purchased this ink directly from Birmingham Pen Company. Any photos, opinions and thoughts regarding the ink are my own and are not sponsored by Birmingham Pen Company and do not necessarily reflect their opinions.