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This is the Penteo Samurai Spirit Negoro made by Teodor in the Czech Republic. The base material is ebonite that has an urushi lacquer finish. The nib is a #6 JoWo steel 1.1 mm stub. Teodor makes the pen by hand by himself. Ordering is easy on the website and Teodor is very responsive. Custom pens are possible. I bought this pen to see what a Western artist can do with urushi. Plus, I enjoy supporting independent pen makers. Packaging was superb and the pen arrived totally safe and sound. To my surprise there was included a branded wooden pen box that contained the pen, an extra converter, a pen rest, and a leather pen sleeve. Nice attention to detail and value. The pen itself is medium large in size with a medium size grip section. Since the material is ebonite it’s a lightweight pen. It does not post, but being urushi lacquer one wouldn’t post anyway. As a nice touch the nib is laser engraved with the Penteo logo. The overall feeling is one of a well made pen with some special touches including the recess of the cap lip that forms a neat junction with the body when the pen is capped. Section threading is long and precise; it may be a good candidate for eye dropper filling. There is a sense of precision and solidity to the construction that is satisfying and reassuring. Regarding the urushi finish I appreciate the color palette, the smoothness of the finish, and the fact that the pen was totally cured before shipping. That is, I cannot detect the funky smell of uncured urushi, which is good because I’m highly allergic. From the standpoint of damage urushi is safe to handle and ship before it’s completely cured. That has caused problems for me more than once. While the pen is named Samurai Spirit Negoro it is not reminiscent of Japanese pens to me. The shape is unique to Penteo and while the finish is urushi it is qualitatively distinctly different from Japanese work. Negoro is a very specific style of urushi work that, in a nutshell, represents actual usage wear to the surface or a contemporary recreation of what a wear pattern might look like. Normally, red undercoating shows through as black is worn away. I have a Negoro finish Danitrio pen with reverse color scheme. Various interpretations of negoro finish exist but this pen does not conjure any of them for me. I’m also not sure what else to call the pattern. The tactile feeling of the finish is also not Japanese. This is much harder to describe, but I’d be surprised if this pen was polished with traditional materials and methods. The finish is of high quality, but it’s (naturally) not Japanese. The pen is comfortable to write with but the nib needed some attention before becoming a good writer. I expected this. In my experience 1.1 mm stubs from JoWo are rounded effectively wasting most of the width of the nib. Some careful shaping with 8000 and 12000 grit sandpaper did the trick. Now it writes fat and wide on the downstroke and thin on the horizontal with sufficient ink flow. Overall, this is a beautiful pen that is comfortable to use and a pleasure to operate. It’s not a cheap pen but there is value for money in the overall package and buying one make you a patron of the arts as it were. Highly recommended.

Dear members, visitors, ... Spring is in the air ! This week I'll receive some new Manupropria pens. On my request Martin will make all small version pens for the Sakura FP Gallery with #6 nibs in stead of #5. The pens are handmade by Martin Pauli in Japanese ebonite and crafted in urushi using kawari-nuri techniques. http://www.sakurafountainpengallery.com/en/boutique/manu-propria-schrijfwaren All welcome to visit the webstore or B&M shop in Diest ) Catherine