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Magna Carta Elements (Earth) This pen is an entry level offering from Magna cart pens from India. Me, being from India and with an eye for new innovation came across this pen and the company during one of my searches on Facebook. It was instant Bollywood style love at first sight with this instrument. The price quoted on the webpage was around INR 10,000/-. So with a few bucks to spare for the month and making up my mind with self justification of the purchase, i took the leap through the Rabbit hole. I contacted Mr. Hardik Kanakarra of Magna Carta through mobile and the order was placed with no hassle. The pen was shipped and delivered in pristine condition. First Impressions The pen is made with Resin and the variant i chose was the earth, the black cap with the green barrel. The build was sturdy with an apt weight and size for my medium sized hands (Glove size 7.5). A screw type cap and the bottom of the pen comes with a blind cap which leads to the pneumatic filler. A long brass plunger with a hole in the top enclosing a silicone sac (Claimed Capacity - 2ML) within the barrel connected to the nipple of the nib section reminds the Sheaffers of the pre touchdown era. The pen is equipped with a size 6 in-house Magna Carta gold plated steel nib with ebonite feed, enclosed within a Bock threaded ebonite housing. Over all a posh looking and definitely an eye catcher pen. First Write After the initial admiration of this exotic beauty, it was time to put into test. The ink is fed into the pen via the pneumatic mechanism i.e negative pressure caused by pushing the plunger with the top hole closed and opening the hole after the plunger is totally inside the barrel. One can hear a satisfying POP on the removal of the filler suggesting the opening of the sac and ink gushing into the silicon sac. Little tricky but an interesting and fun way to fill ink. The initial stroke of the pen on the paper was flawless. The fine tip nib that i ordered did justice to the word "fine tip". First Problem The first problem encountered was the in-house nib. The tipping of the nib was amazing, however the skips by the nib was unbearable not to mention the drying up of ink even on short storage. Every time the pen had a troubled start. After running out of ink and when trying to refill, There was no POP and to make things worse the ink gushing out of the rear hole of the plunger. A messy outcome on the second fill. A search on the web revealed the problem to be an alleged ruptured sac. The problem was confirmed on opening the nib section after soaking the pen in lukewarm water for a few hours. Another minor issue being the cross threading of the cap during closing of the pen. Final Word No doubts a great looking pen. Hats off to MAGNA CARTA for taking the step towards making the fountain pen interesting and offering a premium product from India. However the problem arises with the performance of the pen. A pen is judged by the way it writes and the major flaw with this pen is the skips during writing. I've swapped with a compatible Bock nib and the writing is flawless. Magna Carta elements is good but far from perfection. Rating Looks - 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Build - 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐ Nib - 2/5 ⭐⭐ Value for Money - 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐ As an EDC - 👍 (After the nib swap).

If you've been around fountain pens for a while, chances are you know about Kanwrite. At the risk of repeating myself... Again, let me repeat the intro that I said about my review of the Kanwrite PC. "Kanwrite or Kanpur Writers is one of the most popular pen companies in India and outside (If you've used a Noodler's pen, Chances are high that it may be made by Kanwrite...). Though their Desire and heritage have stolen the show for most of us, there are a few hidden gems in the brand..." One of which is the Relik, which is the only hooded nib pen in Kanwrite's lineup. And for about ₹350/- INR when bought directly from Kanwrite, just like other Kanwrite budget pens, it's a solid knock-around everyday carry pen. So without any further ado, Let's crack on... Design and Build Design wise, it's a classic design which harks back to the old reform piston filler pens of the 60's and 70's, and almost identical to the PC. Honestly, if I place a PC and a Relik side-by-side capped, and ask you to tell which one is which without touching them, you'd be hard pressed to notice any difference between them. It's when you open the difference becomes apparent. The hood over the nib is the main differentiator between the PC and the Relik, You can swap the parts like the converter, Body and the cap between the two and they'll fit perfectly. But design wise, It's a handsome fella. (Note: the standard relik comes with a gold plated nib however I dropped it nib down and bent the tines. since then I replaced it with a non plated nib, so some of the photos will contain the a silver nib on a gold trimmed pen... My bad) As far as the build, the cap is made of metal and has a slight texture to it, the body is made of plastic which is very durable. Easily able to handle drops without issues, and surprisingly scratch resistant. It does smell. But not a lot and you'll barely notice it after a week or so. The pen comes with a hooded nib which looks similar to pens like the Camlin 47 and the Airmail/Wality 77. It uses a No.00 nib and an ebonite feed housed in a plastic sleeve which is then slid inside the grip section. reassembly can be fiddly, as the sleeve is like a gear with a million billion teeth and to get the assembly just right takes some trial and error. Also a thing to note while cleaning the pen, the sleeve is fairly fragile so be careful when reassembling the feed. Don't just jam it in there with all the frustration of your last breakup or else the sleeve will be the next thing you'll break up (Poor joke... I know...). Because of the hooded design, you can leave the pen for more than an hour, and it won't dry up. So that's the reliability box ticked for the Relik. The pen accepts a converter which is a screw in type and it smells... like more than I expected... Luckily, the barrel has enough threads that makes it a perfect candidate for eyedropper conversion, but air-tight enough that it seals the smell off... As for the size comparisons, from top to bottom: 1. Kanwrite Relik 2. Beena Lincoln 3. Parker Vector CT Standard 4. Jinhao X450 One thing though, and it happened to my PC and the Relik, the plastic of the converter becomes yellowed when using Bril black ink, tough it does not seem an issue with the other inks that I use, which includes other Bril inks. It does not affect writing though. Speaking of which... Ergonomics, Writing and Final Verdict The ergonomics are fairly good. If you use a Gel or Ballpoint before, you'll feel right at home, plus the hooded nib design means you can hold it very close to the nib, if you're an imbecile like me and hold the pen according to the mood I'm in, this is a very good pen to write. Plus because of it's light weight, it's comfortable to use for long writing sessions. Posting it gives it that little bit more heft that in my opinion, adds to the overall writing experience. As for the writing, It's a typical Kanwrite fine nib. Smooth for the most part with a hint of feedback that is noticeable but not unpleasant. You really feel you're writing something, which I prefer over a nib that writes like writing on glass, as my hand tends to go out of control faster than when a fish slips out of the hand the moment you catch it out of the water. Wetness and flow is more than adequate enough, but not so much that it makes the ink feather and make the writing a bunch of squiggly lines on cheap copier paper. Flow keeps up with even the fastest of writing that I can manage and over long writings, the pen doesn't break a sweat. Overall, as a final verdict, This is a solid option if you are considering a hooded knock around EDC pen that is both durable and good to write with. Honestly these Kanwrite offerings doesn't leave me with anything to say that I haven't said before. For the price that you buy from Kanwrite directly, it's a great value and an excellent beginner pen. PS: Note that the min. order value for ordering from Kanwrite directly is ₹500/- INR (you can order by contacting them via Whatsapp). So I'd suggest you buy and Apex (Review of which you can see by clicking here) and some spare No.00 nibs as well just in case. Trust me, you won't regret it. That's all from me, and I'll catch you all next time

Recently I was going through the youtube there I saw a fountain pen never heard off....the name is Parker Folio Fountain Pen. Any update regarding this pen?

If you're into fountain pens, chances are you know who Kanwrite is. They're the largest nib manufacturer in India and their models like the desire and heritage have garnered critical acclaim all over the world. They also (allegedly) make some of Noodler's pens as well. But that's not all the models they make. They make some pretty good inexpensive pens as well... some of which are a good choice for students and beginners who would like to start their fountain pen journey. Today I'm going to look at Kanwrite's cheapest offering, the Apex. A simple eyedropper pen that can be found at about ₹60 - 100/- INR(less than $1-2 USD) in India. And for the TL;DR of it, it's a pen that, if you want a good beginner pen or you want to venture into the world of eyedropper pens, this is a good place to start. So, let's crack on... Design and Build This is the cheapest pen that Kanwrite offers, and you can tell... not necessarily on the build quality, but you can tell why they chose to go with an eyedropper for this, you're basically paying for the nib, feed and a plastic housing. But beauty lies in simplicity... right? For the minimal amount of materials used the pen looks and feels solid. Even though it's at the bottom of the barrel compared to other Kanwrites, ink it up and it has the same amount of character and appeal as other fountain pens. They have various tints for the plastic, but I went for the demonstrator look because, well... I'm a sucker for those. The pen is made of the same plastic that is called a "celluloid derivative" by Mr.Nathan Tardif himself, and yes... it has the smell, but not that much compared to other pens that I have that's made of the same material(lookin' at you... Kanwrite PC converter). and yes... it can handle drops like a ballpoint... I accidentally dropped it back side down about 3ft from the ground, and aside from a temporary ink fountain that covered my floor with purple ink, the pen wrote as soon as I picked it up and put It on paper(probably because the fall helped prime the feed even more). The cap is a simple screw in cap that takes around 2 turns to open/close. and the clip is sufficiently tight yet easy to clip into even thick fabrics. it also has Kanwrite stamped on it, alongside the heat embossed Kanwrite logo in the barrel. Overall for a ₹60/- pen, it looks distinctive, and that's good in my books. The only issue is that the pen has minor flashing marks on the inside of the section, probably due to not properly trimming the injection molded parts, but other than that, a solid pen that is well built. As for size, well... it's a small pen... From left to right: Kanwrite Relik Jinhao X450 Airmail/Wality 71JB(cartridge converter system) Kanwrite Desire Kanwrite Apex Nib, Feed and Writing Experience Kanwrite is a company Known for their nibs, so it shouldn't be a surprise that this one will also be a good nib, right? Well, we'll get to that in a bit. Let's first take a look at the nib, shall we? The nib is a Kanwrite No.00 stell nib in fine. The same nib that is used in the Relik and perhaps even the same size as in the Airmail 77 and Camlin 47. It's a tiny fella, and couple that with an ebonite feed that is sufficiently finned, and you can rest assure that reliability will be a strong suit of this pen... and it is. I have never run into any dry out issues even when left uncapped for the better part of an hour. So suffice to say, it's a reliable writer. Talking about how it feels while writing, well, the pen is a small guy. But even for me, a guy with a hand the shape of a kayak(slim and long...) writing it unposted was fine, but I'd still recommend posting it as then it's in my opinion a perfect size for writing with. Talking about writing, and well... It writes just like a Kanwrite. Very smooth for the most part with a hint of a feedback. It's less than you get while writing with a pencil but you feel that you are writing. This is with TNPL 70gsm copier paper though. Move on to a better paper like a Classmate or Rhodia, and the nib just glides... honestly, as much as the Airmail 69T that I shoehorned a Kanwrite No.35 nib into(Check that one out here). And I'm baffled that you can get this writing experience out of a pen that costs around the same as a ghee roast in a restaurant. Now the pen is an eyedropper and does take around 2ml of ink. And like most eyedroppers it does burp, but when the barrel is so low that you are not refilling the pen out of pure ignorance and laziness. So, refill it when the ink gets to about 1/8th mark, which'll last you more than 2-3 ballpoints. Plus, everything is friction fit, so it is easy to clean. Before getting into the conclusion here's a writing sample of this pen. Conclusion and Final verdict Honestly, there isn't much to say about it, if you have a Kanwrite PC, Saloon, Relik or any of the lower end ones, the experience is somewhat similar. and for just 60 rupees, you can't go wrong. Like I said in the beginning it's a pen that, if you want a good beginner pen or you want to venture into the world of eyedropper pens, this is a good place to start. It is a cheap and effective gateway drug into the world of fountain pen. couple this with a ₹25/- bottle of bril blue, and you're pretty much set for at least half a year, or more. Thanks for reading my write up and I'll see you around...

I was perusing through the fountainpen forums the other day and came across @mehandiratta's review of the Airmail 71JT. He described how the pen was magnificent, but the nib it came with was a mess... literally, as it burped on first write... and he then swapped with a No.35(International #6 for anyone wondering) nib and now it's his daily writer. I was so astonished by the fact that you can swap a no.35 nib on an airmail pen which usually takes No.8(a stubbier version of a #6) nib. So being the curious and idiotic imbecile that I was, I started to find out how to fit a No.35 nib to my pen... Forgetting the fact that my pen is the smaller 69T instead of the 71JT(Which literally means Jumbo Transparent) that I bought from The Pen Hospital in my city (Thrissur) a while ago. At first I was surprised that the nib didn't fit as the diameter for No.8 and No.35 feed was identical... while I found a way to coax it in there, the cap wouldn't close properly... after about two days I got frustrated and abandoned the idea and planned to buy a 71JT... but then... While I was watching youtube, a channel called Penatomy appeared in my feed and I saw that he was able to fit a Kanwrite No.35 nib in an Airmail 69T... and I got my guts back... And I watched the video and found out that evenly scraping off the ebonite feed bit by bit until the nib fits in place... and voila... a No.35 nib on a 69T... And I have so much to say about it... Design And Build To be frank... this is one of the most beautiful budget pens I have (given that my pen collection only contains pens under ₹800/- at least for now). And it's the blend of a simple clear acrylic barrel that is hand turned with the randomness of the pattern of the plastic cap (that is made of the vegetal resin and it smells... but not as strongly as the converter in the Kanwrite PC was check that one here.), the chromed finish of the cap band and the simple clip to the clear crystal like portion on the back end... all come together to make a timeless and handsome looking fella... The build is also... for the price... reasonable. Yes you won't get the heft and the metallic build of a Jinhao... but this is an eyedropper pen and if it were made of metal... then it would have not been an airmail/wality wouldn't it (at least in my opinion). The pen is long enough to hold comfortably unposted and it's light enough to write without any fatigue for a long time... Posting it though... unless you have gorilla sized hands... don't use it posted... I have a very thin and long hands (like a canoe oar... if you will) and for me unposted is the way to go... and you might find the backweight a little too much when posted... The only sort of complaint that I have in regards to the looks is that for a pen with chrome trims, it comes with a sorta gold, sorta bronze type of plated steel nib (the nib shown above), and I'd rather have it a un-plated steel nib... thankfully the Kanwrite nib fixes that for me...(the picture shown below is of a Kanwrite No.8 swap that I did before I ventured into a No.35 swap)... As for size comparison here it is next to: Kanwrite Desire Hero 336 Pilot Hi-Techpoint V7(That I eyedropper converted) Nib, Inking And Writing As I mentioned, the standard 69T comes with a No.8 Steel Airmail nib... And I might have been one of the lucky ones from what I hear about Wality nibs because at first it was a bit on the toothy side, but a little polishing fixed that... to some extent... it had a bit of scratchiness in the leftward strokes and I wasn't experienced enough at the time to remedy it, so I bought a No.8 kanwrite nib and wrote with that for a short time... and it worked. Well... Kind of... You see... Since it is an eyedropper, I was expecting some burping... but not when the ink is 7/8th of the barrel... and that issue pertained with both No.8 nibs... I then read about heat setting the ebonite feed... and that worked to an extent... but still about half full before the pen starts to burp is a bit too early in my opinion... So as per the intro, I started to try and fit the No.35 nib into the 69T. And suffice to say that I shoehorned it in there is an understatement It took a lot of trial and error but after bit by bit sanding off the feed, I was able to fit the nib deep enough that the cap can open/close in 2 turns... which was enough for me and that is how much the cap turned to open/close initially. But was all that trouble worth it? In short... Yes... The nib I fitted was a Kanwrite No.35 Fine nib in a steel finish... and I think it suits the pen better than the No.8 nibs that Airmail uses. that extra flare in the shoulder and the increased length really sets the proportions right for me... And when we come to the writing... Fine and smooth with a hint of feedback... Just the way I like it because it allows me to write fast enough without being too fast that my hand gets out of control... so I prefer pens with a slight feedback. But the feedback isn't intrusive and the pen just glides along the page. And remember, the amount of feedback depends on the paper used as well. On standard 70gsm copier paper like the one used in the writing test, the writing feels more pencil like. But if used in a higher quality paper like a Classmate or Rhodia, the feedback becomes, near as makes no difference, unnoticeable and the nib just glides over the page while putting on a generous, wet, fine line. The line is fine by western standards and a medium when compared to nibs like that from Pilot. But suffice to say that this is an upgrade that you should do. and with proper heat setting of the feed, there is absolutely no burping until the ink gets critically low, and by that time I would've refilled it anyway... All of these combined made my Airmail from never carry to daily carry. And for me, that's a win. Conclusion To conclude this for about ₹400-450/- for the pen and about ₹75/- for the nib which overall costs around ₹500-530/-(around $8 USD) this is a pen that punches way above it's weight and is a recommend from me... if you are not feeling that adventurous then a No.8 nib swap from Kanwrite can make you love your airmail even more... Trust me, if you have a Airmail/Wality 69/71 series,and you want to have an enhanced writing experience (and you're a bit frugal like me), don't buy another pen... just swap the nib with a better one. Your love for that pen will be enhanced... Just like my love for my 69T

INTRODUCTION: Greetings everyone. I'm back after quite some time and this review is long overdue. The ASA Maya was a pen that I fell in love with on the first sight. I read about this pen in Sagar da's review and wanted one of my own. I get how this is Mr Subramanium's design of a dream pen. So I got one Maya from Mr Subramanium and a kind pen friend from Saudi Arabia, gifted me another one. So without further ado, I'll get straight into details. DESIGN & COMFORT: The pen has a nice classic design to it. With a straight cap, and a barrel that first bulges and then tapers towards the ends, both subtly, the pen has a nice aesthetic flair to it. It seems to have a few curves borrowed from Kaweco's Dia 2, while still maintaining the original Indian charm. The section is simple business. Straight, with a touch of taper and ending with a thick block towards the nib. The trim on one of my Maya is chrome coated and on the other, I have sanded this chrome coating to bare brass. I have also given a baakul finish to the section on this Maya. The pen is quite comfortable in the hand. It has ample length and girth for my hands, that I consider to be larger than usual. The material it is made of, i.e. ebonite, is very nice to the touch. Especially on the Maya with the baakul section. Since it is made of ebonite, it is very light in the hand. Here lies my only gripe. I wish it was slightly heavier. A brass ring or two towards the end of the barrel might solve this. CONSTRUCTION & QUALITY: As far as I could find, there are no flaws with the construction of this pen. The threads are slightly rough, but I do know how to smoothen them using some Novus polish. The quality of ebonite is acceptable at this price. The brass trimmed Maya had a lot of pits, spots and discoloring. I used a gel-pen and touched these up. The baakul finish is beautifully done on the chrome trimmed Maya, whereas on the brass one, I had to redo it since the lines were kind of tilted. I can understand that the baakul finish is done by hand, but would appreciate a little more attention over there. NIB & WRITING EXPERIENCE: The chrome trimmed Maya has a Schmidt Fine nib and is a beautiful writer. Depending on the ink, the nib writes from a Japanese fine to a Japanese Fine Medium, which was quite a surprise since this is a nib from the west. It is smooth, with a lot of feedback. its great for controlled writing and handwriting practice. The brass trimmed Maya has a Jowo 1.1 Stub (that I've hand torched to an antique finish that should go well with the brass as it ages). This nib is fun to write with. As most of my Jowo nibs, I found it a bit dry. Its very smooth with a whisper of feedback, which I've smoothed out. It has ample line variation while still being usable for daily writing. (Please ignore wherever I wrote polished ebonite. That was a failed project ) WRAPPING UP: The Mayas are my go to pens for school and I've written 3-hour exams with these without any fatigue. I highly recommend these to anyone who needs a well priced pen for daily, long writing. Mr Subramanium of ASA pens is flexible to work with, and can do customizations without much hesitation. That said, I hope this review was useful to someone out there. Any comments, either here or on PM, are always welcome. I hope do to more reviews in the future

Hi All, Sharing some group pictures from the recent Maya Group Buy, specially for Members Fountain Pen Lovers Group, India. I request all those who participated to also share their pictures here.

This review is published in my blog as well. For some more pictures, visit https://inkpensblog.wordpress.com/2018/10/18/ranga-model-8-in-black-and-orange-ebonite/ This is the review of a couple of pens I had for sometime. Two Ranga model 8 pens. One in Premium Orange ebonite with Jowo medium nib with cartridge/converter fill and other one in black ebonite with an ambitious nib with eyedropper fill. I bought them in a group buy in fountain pen network. They were part of my every-day-carry for most of the time since I got them. Model 8 is a small pen and is very different from many other Indian ebonites pens in that way. It has a very nice torpedo shape with pointed edges on both ends. The body is very streamlined. The big clip contrasts with the petite size of the pen. When you uncap the pen, it has a long concave section. It is one of the most comfortable sections I have seen and used. It just fits my fingers very well. Overall, it is a lightweight ergonomic pen suitable for long writing sessions. The orange pen came with a medium Jowo nib in dual tone finish. It wrote like any other medium Jowo nib. Sometimes, I felt it wrote a tad drier. I used Noodler’s Liberty’s Elysium in this pen. Somehow, it left a stain on grip section. I switched red and orange inks later and the stain disappeared slowly. So, I will stay with those hues in this pen. The black pen has the brushed or bakul finish. I think, this is the better looking pen of the two. It feels very good in the hand and the matte finish helps with the grip. But, the nib was bit of a disappointment. It was a fine tipped ambitious nib. The writing experience with this nib did not match the beauty and the ergonomics of the pen. So, I tuned the nib, changed it, tried a lot of things. But, wasn’t happy with it. Finally, found a match in a medium Kanwrite dual tone nib. It writes wet and smooth now. It has the notorious baystate blue in it now. Hope this review is useful. It is a nice Indian pen to have in any pen collection. Now, Ranga has come up with model 8B, which is a fatter brother to these pens. But, model 8 remains to be my favourite.