Search the Community

Interesting interview and look at his nib grinding setup. In the last couple of minutes he discussed holding the pen in different ways to change the line.

This weekend the Las Vegas Pen Posse had an emergency meeting. @Ron Z of Main Street Pens repaired a collection of pens for me and the pens came home - So I HAD TO ink up all the pens and see how they write now. In the meanwhile @Frank C brought over his Nagahara King Eagle Nib and his Monty Winnfield Owl nib. I pulled out my Monty Winnfield Cobra nib and we started doodling.

Wanted to present my current stable of Stylo Art pens. 1. Akebono/bokashi chinkin butterflies 2. Dragon maki-e 3. Pine tree and cranes maki-e The pen bodies are exclusive to Stylo Art and are large pens being slightly bigger than a Namiki Yukari but are lightweight. I believe the base material is plastic. The akebono chinkin pen has an amazing Pilot #15 nib custom ground by Yukio Nagahara to what is called an N-point. It writes a super smooth and juicy fat line at about 45 degree that gets more narrow as the pen angle is steepened. It's kinda a cross between a Sailor Zoom and Naginata grind sort of, it's doing it's own thing really. The other two pens have stock (?) Pilot stub nibs, which be warned, are really more like cursive italics. Wonderful nibs but a little more demanding than a Western stub. All come with Paulowina wood boxes, pen sleeves, and CON-70 converters. Most excellent pens and more than fairly priced. Highly recommended. capped rotated_SON3728 by Ja Ja, on Flickr capped fan_SON3729 by Ja Ja, on Flickr uncapped_SON3731 by Ja Ja, on Flickr writing sampe by Ja Ja, on Flickr

Perhaps you have already seen the announcement of another 100th anniversary commemoration pen (actually, two), a KoP with Naginata nib. Links Instagram Press release Page on website Price: 165000 incl. tax Have you analyzed that a bit? The same pen with a normal KoP nib costs 83600. (Assuming that I didn't miss a feature own to this new pen, making the body more expensive than the normal version - it is always difficult to read on a mobile phone.) Let's think, the nib would be 20000, then the body is 63600 Yen. The new pen's 165000 Yen - 63600 for the body makes about 100000 for the Nagahara nib, which is the price of a new MB149 or with a bit luck the price of three used MB 149s. edit: wrote Nagahara instead of Naginata, corrected

Here is what their recent Facebook post says: お客様各位： 誠に心苦しいお知らせをしなくてはなりません。 本日2月1日より長刀研ぎ万年筆と細美研ぎ万年筆の新規受注を一時休止させていただきます（受注再開は2018年6月頃を予定しております）。 ■「セーラーオリジナルペン先」製品の受注一時休止のお知らせ（PDF) 　（長刀研ぎ万年筆と細美研ぎ万年筆） 　 And this is a machine translation of the above: "Dear customers: I really have to do a hard hearted announcement. Starting today February 1st we will temporarily suspend new orders for long-sharpened fountain pens and fine sharpening fountain pens (We will resume ordering around June 2018). ■ Notice of temporary suspension of orders for "Sailor's original pen tip" product (PDF) (Long-blade sharpening fountain pen and fine sharpening fountain pen)" Seems like they are talking about Naginata togi and saibi togi nibs, eh? Hope all is well with Mr. Y. Nagahara.

Is anyone aware when did sailor start making specialty nibs ? And did they introduce the whole lineup of nibs or did they do it gradually ? References are always a plus !

I have heard that sailor’s nibmeister Yukio Nagahara retired, i was wondering what would be the future of sailor like (as a company know for their amazing nibs). Will their specialty nibs develop, or would the nagahara nibs never be produced again due to the retirement (king cobra , eagle ,...).I want to hear your thoughts and references regarding the topic!

what is the possibility of finding a sailor king eagle on a secondary market, or even on a very special edition sailor that they might produce in the future? is it easier to ask a nib meister to stack 3 nibs to mimic the 3 stacked nib of a king eagle? if so how hard would it be? is it even possible to find someone (or know someone) who does such works? Interested in this topic, since i have been wanting one for quite some time now ...

Will sailor ever release the specialty nibs in the KOP model in the future (specially the king eagle)? what are you thought?

Introduction Nobuyoshi Nagahara is a name to be reckoned with in the world of fountain pens. Nagahara-san recently retired from his position at Sailor, for whom he invented a number of exotic and interesting nib designs. His inventiveness and craftsmanship was unparalleled, and he will be greatly missed by all who take an interest in Japanese fountain pens. To commemorate the man and his achievements, Sailor released a pen commemorating his retirement. The pen is in the shape of one of the bamboo pens that he loved, and crafted towards the end of his career, using the traditional take-nuri technique, which uses urushi to create the shape of the bamboo. First impressions I had been trying to get hold of one of these for some time, but it took a trip to Japan to find one. I was quite lucky: Itoya had none, but Maruzen had one left. Soon, they had none. The unwrapping begins: The pen comes in a gold coloured cardboard box, with "Nagahara Nobuyoshi retirement commemoration Take-nuri fountain pen" written in Japanese on the top. Opening the box, we find a wiping cloth, the guarantee card, and some literature about the pen. The first is a tribute to Nagahara-san and a description of the Take-nuri pen itself. The second describes the Naginata Togi nib, and its benefits for writing in Japanese. Finally a message from the man himself: Removing the black foam reveals the cartridges, and the pen kimono containing the pen itself. The pen reveals itself in the shape of a short length of bamboo. It's quite long, as pens go, certainly longer than the usual run of Japanese pens. The cap is a snap-on, with a very positive snap when new. We'll see how the spring survives the years. There is something of a step down to the section, which allows the cap to smoothly line up with the barrel of the pen. The nib, of course, is a Naginata togi N-MF, which is the earliest of the nibs that Nagahara-san designed for Sailor. It was based on early Japanese nibs that have a long blade shape which gives a broader cross stroke, and allows the width of the line to be modified by adjusting the angle of the pen to the paper. In skilled hands, it will give a brush-like stroke when writing in Japanese. The nib has Nagahara san's signature in place of the usual Sailor Logo. Weight and Dimensions The pen is quite light, and well-balanced in the hand. There is no option for posting the cap, which must be set aside. Uncapped, it is about 2 cm longer than an uncapped MB149, and is about the same diameter. The balance point is nicely between the middle finger and the webbing of your hand, when the pen is held in the conventional fashion, so no balance issues. Nib and performance As previously mentioned, the nib is a N-MF naginata togi. The blade-like shape of the nib allows for variation of the line width, and gives a more brush-like stroke than a conventional nib. The nib itself is smooth, as you'd expect from Sailor. The feed system provides plenty of ink flow, and there were no skipping or other flow issues, straight out of the box. Filling system The filling system is Sailor's proprietary cartridges. The proprietary cartridges are a particularly annoying feature of Japanese fountain pens, as they limit you to a particular manufacturer's cartridges. There is a cartridge converter available, but the Sailor converter is not particularly capacious, so many will prefer to refill used cartridges. Conclusion The Nagahara retirement pen is a very appropriate pen to celebrate the career of one of the greats of the fountain pen world. Nagahara san loved the simplicity of bamboo shapes, while being one of the great innovators of nib design. This is a pen that I will treasure.

I was planning to purchase a Sailor King of Pen with specialty nib but they are nowhere to be found online. What with the update? Is it true that they have stopped making those nibs completely or have put a temporary halt on these. I plan to buy Cross Music Emperor Nib and any help will be appreciated.

So here I am, wanting to jump into Sailor Nagahara speciality nibs and asking for some wisdom. I have reduced my dilema to two "similar" nibs: the Cross Point and the King Eagle. They are similar in that they work on similar mechanical principles: 2 or 3 nibs welded on top of each other; what accounts for 1 or 2 "crosses" formed by the 4 or 6 tines respectively (if you know the nibs, you know what I mean by 'cross' in this case; if you don't know the nibs, just check Sailor's web page: http://sailorpen.com/nagahara-story.html) (I'm attaching a couple pics so you can see it). The differences (those that I want to put on the table) Price: Having 2 or 3 gold nibs is simply not the same. Let us put this non-techical issue aside. Line variation: It is my impression that both nibs can produce the same fine lines when writing at the same high angles (close to 90º). However, the 2 crosses in the King Eagle provide a bigger contact surface, and will thus produce a thicker side-stroke at lower angles (below 30º). And here comes my (big) doubt: What does happen between 40º and 60º? I'd like to use this pen as an every-day writer. I typically use a B nib for that and write at an angle of over 45º. I don't want to be forced into an unnatural angle to write my notes, but want the freedom to write a range of different lines whenever inspiration demands it. So I guess that the right question for those of you familiar with these two nibs (I'm sure there are a few) is: how does line thickness progress in each of this nibs while lowering the angle? A simpler question would be: do they behave differently (regarding line thickness) at typical writing angles? And if so, how? I can imagine that the King Eagle will lay down a thicker line than the Cross Point at those angles, but I might be wrong and the difference may start at even lower angles. In the first case, I would go for the the Cross Point, but in later case, I'd love to make an extraordinary economical effort and go for the King Eagle. I leave a couple pics of both nibs and a super cool before-after series of the Cross Point, so you can better understand my disquisition. Thank you all.