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PRELUDE The never ending search of NOS Omas-es My love with Omas began with a dodecagonal (12-faceted) Omas Vision back in 2015. Like a fleeting teenage romance, it turned out to be as ephemeral as it was passionate, as the 90-year old company filed for bankruptcy the very next year, in 2016. For years, I never managed to acquire another Omas ,until late 2024, when I crossed paths with Tom Westerich (penboard.de). This inadvertent meeting led me to acquiring a few more Omas pens: a beautifully fluted 2003 Ogiva from Tom, an Europa later from Regina (martiniauctions) and a 360 dating back from the 1990s to early 2000s, courtesy of Marco (penboard). Now, I feel my pursuit for Omas pens has reached it’s conclusion though seemingly intelligent people who love ballpoint pens would see it as redundant. Among the pens, the 360 in Venice blue stands out. It came with a titanium emotica nib (semi-flex, by the way which original Omas nib isn’t!). Marco, in a gesture of old-school trust graciously refused payment until I received the pen and tested it, a courtesy likely extended because of my connection with Tom. The 360 seems to be a pen of legend, evoking tales of endless delight and occasional heartbreak from its end users. Nonetheless, I am going to exalt the 360 in this review and here is why! If you like a pictorial blogger view, here is the link: Pursuit of an almost elusive Omas 360 HISTORY The luxury of yesteryears now withered away According to the listing, the pen came without a box but did include its original pen sleeve - sporting a matching blue color or rather, what remained of it after 30 years of loyal service. Back then, Omas wouldn’t have left a stone unturned, when it came to presenting their exquisitely crafted pens. The history of the 360 design is a fascinating tale, well-documented in this FPN comment. Apparently, in the 1990s, Omas was inundated with fountain pens sent in for nib repairs. The culprit? Users who apparently gripped the fountain pens incorrectly! Enter Miss Malaguti (refers to Raffaella Simoni, Armando Simoni’s daughter), who had a lightbulb moment: why not design a pen that forces users to hold it the right way. This stroke of genius led to the triangular 360, but it also created a new engineering challenge: how to cram their standard cylindrical piston mechanism into a triangular barrel. The solution? Stretch the pen’s size, making it significantly larger than Omas’s typical offerings. I discovered this firsthand when I held the 360 - it’s as big as the Scribo Feel, though without the heft. DESIGN An Equilateral Triangle The Omas 360, released in 1996, is often hailed as the brand's last major design innovation, featuring its iconic triangular body and grip. I’ll admit, the idea of a triangular grip never seemed convincing to me - at least not until I actually held the pen in my hands. For this 360, the trims are rhodium-plated, a finish Omas fancifully called "HT" (High Tech). Even after three decades, the pen manages to dazzle - though now in the muted hues of Venetian blue. The triangular facets give the pen a unique sense of curvature, something absent from the dodecagonal Paragon designs. At the finials, the gentle curvature is so precise it feels like it was sculpted by a mathematician in love with parabolas. The trims are simple yet elegant: a thin triangular ring followed by a thick center band adorned with the Greek key, meandros. Notably, unlike the more modern Omas pens from the company's later years (pre-2016 closure), this band doesn’t have "OMAS" stamped within the motif. Closed, the final trim cleverly highlights the piston knob - a small but satisfying detail. The cap is snap-fit and pulls off with ease. However, I do have a minor quibble with the two-stage snapping mechanism. There’s a slight wobble during the second stage of uncapping, though it does seem to minimize the risk of ink spillage - a trade-off, perhaps. In my experience with premium fountain pen snap caps, the spectrum of quality is wide. At the top sits Faber-Castell (GvFC), while Sheaffer Legacy sits firmly at the bottom, scratching entire sections with the kind of determination that makes you wonder if it’s intentional. (Pro tip: If you want scratches to feel like a design feature rather than a bug, go all-in like the Lamy 2000. No offense to L2K lovers - I’m one of you!) Omas 360 comfortably lands in the top 20th percentile of snap-cap designs, at least in my limited experience and collection. Even without a magnifying glass, the trims bear the subtle marks of 30 years of ageing, lending the pen a certain vintage charm. The friction-fit clip arcs gracefully, with a concave taper that’s as functional as it is beautiful. Opening the cap reveals a delightful cross-sectional symmetry at the section’s end: a thin triangular ring followed by the signature Greek-key band. There’s a minor step as you transition to the section, but it never interferes with writing comfort. The triangular grip is smooth and intuitive, with its three planes acting as natural guardrails to ensure proper nib alignment. The pen does feel larger, albeit lightweight, compared to other Omas pens fitted with #6 nibs. FILLING & CLEANING SYSTEMS Piston Filler, Easy to use though difficult to service The piston filling system features a sturdy, pyramid-like knob at the end, along with two tiny metallic circles. These are the exposed ends of a brass pin that secures the blind cap to the piston mechanism. The knob requires a respectable 4–5 turns to move the piston to its end stop, and the mechanism works smoothly, drawing up an around 1.2 ml of ink from the bottle. The difference in weight prior and post filling the pen was 1.18g. Now, when it comes to lubricating the piston mechanism, things get a bit...tricky. Unlike the Paragon or Ogiva series, where you can simply unscrew the section and go to town with your silicone grease, the 360 makes you work for it. You’ll either need to carefully pull out the pin at the piston end or remove the heat-set nib from the other end. Both approaches require caution, patience, and possibly a bit of meditation beforehand. Secondly, it takes a long time to clean the pen, some ink just keeps coming out from nowhere. NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS Titanium Emotica My Omas 360 is equipped with a Medium Titanium Emotica-series semi-flex nib, which feels remarkably similar to a well-tuned Conid Ti nib. The size "M" is discreetly marked on the wing of the nib, while the material composition is etched towards its tail. The OMAS branding sits within an oval, adorned with some scrollwork that looks definitely inferior to the gold nibs. Fortunately, the nib arrived perfectly tuned, and I’ve had no complaints so far. The heat-set black ebonite feed ensures a generous ink buffer and an unapologetically wet ink flow. Ebonite, being hydrophilic, attracts water, unlike its hydrophobic plastic counterparts. This makes ebonite exceptionally efficient at delivering ink to the nib. There’s also a charming difference between Omas feeds of different eras. The modern feeds (circa 2015) showcase symmetrical fins on their exposed surfaces, giving them a neat, precise look. In contrast, the older feeds (1996–2003) embrace a minimalist aesthetic, with a plain design. PHYSICS OF IT – RELATIVELY SPEAKING The Laws of Ms. Malaguti Although there’s a step down from the barrel to the section, it never interferes with writing comfort. The pen is large, much like the Scribo Feel, and proves to be quite comfortable for extended writing sessions. And to top it off, there’s no room for confusion when holding the nib, thanks to the ingenious design by Miss Malaguti. Below are the pictures along with a Scribo Feel and a Pelikan M200 for a comparative reference. Here go the dimensions. Uncapped Length ~ 13.5 cm Total Length ~ 15 cm Exposed Nib Leverage ~ 2.5 cm The weight of the pen is comforting even without the cap. Overall Weight ~ 26 g (inked, without cap ~16g) WRITING & FINAL COMMENTS Writes wet and elastically The writing experience is beautiful - easily rivalling any well-tuned Bock Titanium nibs. Thanks to the natural springiness of titanium, this nib delivers an experience so delightful it’s a joy to ink the pen again. The nib writes wet and doesn’t suffer from major drying-out issues. I did encounter one hiccup: after leaving the pen untouched for a month, it required to prime the feed. I simply placed it nib-down for 2-3 minutes. This seems to be a recurring quirk with older Omas NOS pens. While writing, there’s a faint feedback reminiscent of graphite on paper, barely noticeable with wetter inks. With moderate pressure, the nib flexes, tines parting well to increase ink flow. The line variation is satisfying without requiring excessive effort, though I approach this titanium nib with the care of someone handling a 14k gold nib’s more temperamental cousin. On Endless Regalia 80 GSM paper with Scribe Indigo ink, the drying time clocks in at 40 seconds - another proof of wetness. While I’m not a die-hard flex writer, the line variation is pleasing enough to bring a smile to our face. After 2–3 months of use, this pen has secured its place in my Omas rotation. One of the standout features for me is the long section, which offers a great level of comfort as you settle into your perfect grip. The Omas 360 might have started as a design experiment, but it’s proven itself as a reliable one. Thank you for going through the review. You can find other pen and paraphernalia reviews here. REFERENCES Omas 360 Design Bankruptcy Omas Ogiva disassembly Omas Paragon (non-metal section) maintenance Omas 360 maintenance Omas Art Vision Review (metal section Paragon maintenance) Scribo Feel Review

Hi All, I just received my new Kickstarter pen, Namisu Ixion Titanium with Bock titanium nib. I am having some ink flow issues and noticed the nib slit is very tight, with no light coming through so I think this is the problem (I have washed and flushed the pen out two times). I normally open up nib slits with a pen knife but never tried on a titanium nib. So before I ruin a brand new nib does anyone have any advise for working on a titanium nib? Second question, is the minor flow issue. It writes well, but stops once in a while, mostly when dotting the "i" and crossing the 'T', with some dry starts. Does this sound like the nib slit being too tight? Thanks, Pen_Padawan

Being someone who likes to make pens, I always have one of my own creations in my pocket. I lose these creations about every other month for one reason or another and have to make myself a new pen. The pen you see here was my experiment. I had heard a lot about the unique feel of a Titanium nib and decided to create such a pen for myself. I got it made, inked it up, and HOLY COW... too flexy for my taste. I press too hard when I write the way it is. This thing made me feel like I was using a magic marker. So its time to find it a new home. If you like good line variation and a smooth nib, this should be great for you. It just wasn't to my own taste. The pen is around 5 1/2" long and has a Cap that does post. The section measures about 13mm and the pen weighs in at around 24 grams. The nib is a F Bock titanium and comes with a K6 screw in converter. Because I did intend to make it for myself I bored out the inside fairly deep for eyedropper use. It will hold around 5.5 ml of ink. I would love to hear everyone's opinion. The pen is for sale here. www.jandjwooddesigns.net

I'm a big fan of the rainbow of colors you can get from monkeying with titanium oxides, but until tonight I had never thought about titanium nibs being a target for my blow torch. I bought a titanium OMAS nib off eBay and as I was messing with it the idea clicked. Here's a titanium silverware set I anodized a while back. Unfortunately, unlike the silverware, the titanium nib has the matte finish that is (for whatever ungodly reason) very popular. So I knew the finished product wouldn't be nearly as bright and cheery, but I pressed on. I tested the tail end of the nib first. After that turned out fine, I did the entire thing. Looks beautiful, but do you wanna know the major downside? Not that it was flexy before, but if flexed now it tends to stay flexed. So I have to use it with light pressure. But since I never wanted to use it as any degree of flexible nib, that's fine with me. The nib unit wouldn't fit in any of the handful of pens I tried, so I kept the nib out and stuck it in a pen I thought it would look nice in, and one that would let me alter the flow: an ebonite Noodler's Konrad. Luckily I didn't have to heat set the feed, it worked great right away. So there it is, a beautiful nib in a beautiful pen.

This is only my second review, so please excuse any mistakes or anything important that gets left out. This review is of the Stipula Orient Express Special Edition. I saw this pen on ebay not very long ago. It was in my watch list and I have no idea why, but I decided to chance an impulse buy (something I rarely do) even though I knew nothing of Stipula. As far as I know, Stipula are relatively new to the market, having only begun in 1973 in Italy. This pen is the Orient Express SE and was limited to 500, of which this one is pen 221. It is a piston filler with a T-flex titanium nib (one size fits all!). It came in a slightly naff red box with a cheap looking red cardboard sleeve. I've since looked at other Stipula pens, but their design doesn't really appeal to me much - I'm vain and stupid and I like shiny. DESIGN The pen has a deep and very rich celluloid in black and a reddish brown, a little like a tortoiseshell effect in flakes and it is very highly polished. It is very pleasing to the eye and the colour sets off the silver mounts very well. It has a vintage look to it which is carried through into the titanium nib which has dulled and tarnished - but I quite like the look. It reminds me of nibs on an old flex pen and it seems to me to work with the overall look of the pen. The pen barrel has almost tubular double silver mounts at the cap and then again at the cleverly concealed piston nob, and these double mounts are meant to represent the railway tracks. Set into the barrel of the pen is an enamelled escutcheon of the faux coat of arms associated with the Orient Express. It is two lions holding an 'O' with an "E' inside it and surrounded by a tied cloth swag. On the pen cap, opposite the clip is a smaller enamel escutcheon with a small suitcase with a "V' shape on it (for 'voiture' possibly?). The clip is firm with a tightness to the spring and is in silver with an inlaid foiled enamel in imperial blue - which is also the inlaid colour on the other two silver escutcheons. The escutcheons are just ever so slightly raised (almost completely flush inset) on the cap and barrel, making this a very tactile pen. The pen is in a torpedo shape, looking very like an unclipped cigar, and although to the eye in pictures it looks very thin and small, it is actually quite a large pen at just a touch under six inches capped, five and a quarter inches uncapped and at six and a half inches posted (it's posts reasonably securely). The piston filler is a marvel. It is sooooo smooth and it feels like it has been very well made. There is no rattling or looseness to it at all and the pen holds a seriously good fill of ink. When you look at it at first the grip section looks like it might be a bit difficult. The pen is actually very heavy, but quite well balanced (both posted and unposted, although I prefer posted). The grip looks very thin and tapers off quite dramatically towards the nib and at first I thought the threads would be an issue (it''s a screw cap). But here is the clever bit, the screw threads to place the cap are right at the very end of the grip, so where you hold the pen your fingers are not near them, unless of course you have a slightly unusual grip. It also means that when the pen is closed you have this little squished cushion of celluloid between the railway tracks that keeps the pen body looking tidy and neat. I find the grip surprisingly comfortable and can write holding at the silver mount or slightly further down the grip and both positions are very comfortable. NIB The nib on this pen is a T-Flex titanium nib. I knew nothing of these nibs and still have no idea what the advantage of a titanium nib is, but it does tarnish - a lot - so if you like bright shiny nibs, this is not for you. The nib is nicely engraved with six arrow head leaves and the brand name Stipula and the words 'titanio' and 't-flex'. These nibs don't come in sizes; they are a one size fits all. First thing to say about this is that it totally blew me away. I had read a few reviews of Stipula that suggested the nibs were slightly temperamental and I think someone on here felt it wasn't a great writers pen. Maybe I got lucky, but this pen writes like an absolute dream. The Pilot Custom 823 is the...scratch that, was the most butter smooth nib I had ever used, but this Stipula only requires the very lightest of touch to write. It glides across the page with no effort at all. Now a note on the T-Flex and its capabilities (or lack thereof). The T-Flex has a video on youtube that I watched (after I had bought the pen ) that demonstrates the extent of flex in the nib. When you write lightly the line is nice and thin, but with only a tiny bit of pressure it deepens and thickens; but only slightly. It doesn't have the same capabilities as the Ahab for instance, but it is a much more refined nib. It is truly a thing of wonder - I have never experienced anything so damn smooth. With normal writing - dependent on the lightness of touch - I would guess that the nib writes close to an F or an EF, so if you like big fat B's and BB's, this is definitely not a pen you will enjoy. If you like to be able to glide across a page with super thin lines with not even a hint of a scratch, then you will likely enjoy this very much. With a shading ink you can get some very beautiful results. PRICE I have absolutely no notion what this pen normally retails for or what price should be paid for a second hand version, but I bought this on a whim on ebay for €130 and on the basis of how much I like this pen, the surprising aspects of it and the build quality I think I probably paid a fair price. I do hope I haven't been ripped off and I am really hoping that someone doesn't come and tell me that you can buy one for €50 elsewhere. If that is the case, just don't tell me! Overall this pen is a bit surprising and very pleasing as it has very quickly become one of my favourite pens. I doubt that it will ever be left uninked. It's a big, weighty, yet beautiful and refined pen with very well thought out design touches. Despite all the imperial blue on fancy and florid escutcheons it still feels like quite a 'male' pen (if there is such a thing), but perhaps I only think that because when I look at it the pen reminds me of a cigar. It is also a very tactile pen with a nice weight; the celluloid is not cold to the touch and I find it hard to put it down and stop rubbing my thumb on the almost flush insets. A very dangerous thing to say I know, but I couldn't recommend it enough. SCORE There are very few pens I own that get this score (I can count them on one hand) and after a very long time pondering what I could possibly dislike about this pen to knock off a point and make this review look a little more realistic (and not make me look like a kid with a sugar rush in a candy store every time I get a new pen) I have to confess I struggled. I just love it, so it gets a 10/10 in my book.