Schrade Tactical Pen

[Ink Sandwich]

Neato!

 

Even though I would never want to use one of these, I think it has really cool look to it.

 

Love the ornamentation on the nib btw

[penguinmaster]

No more attempts yet. I have to order them in and haven't had a chance. As for the other normal converter it was the knob was just a bit to wide to get all the way into the back of the pen. I suppose cutting or sanding down a bit of the knurled part might work, I can give it a shot tonight and report back. It appears the pen has enough room inside the barrel lengthwise to accommodate, just goes smaller the further into the barrel it goes.

Didn't mean to imply that I expected you to grind away on a converter. I'm willing to do so myself; was just wondering it was even possible before I invested in a couple I wouldn't need oterwise. What converter are you trying, by the way? Is this one of the "standard international" converters? I'm not sure I've even seen one -- only heard of them. I don't think any of the pen shops in my area carry pens for which they'd be useful. Did you mail order yours?

 

No problem. I have a few extra converters anyway and I'd really like to find a way to get one to fit. I'm thinking taking a really sharp knife and just narrowing that knob might work so we'll see. It is a standard international converter.

 

I did mail order mine from Edison Pen a while back.

 

HI Penguin master, nice review, one question, does the pen feel unbalanced when writing posted? And where did you buy the pen from, you could pm me in private if you wanted. Cheers. Cecil

 

It does indeed feel unbalanced when writing posted, it's LONG. I purchased the pen from a site called Blade Play (No affiliation), but I've also seen them on Amazon.com (also no affiliation, but wouldn't mind owning the company )

[professionaldilettante]

I would certainly think that tactical in this case is purely for market. The body/cap is sure tough looking, but in no way does it look actually dangerous. Now here's a pen that looks dangerous. http://site.tuffwriter.com/Images/Frontpage_1.jpg

[fabrimedeiros]

Nice review and cool pen!

[Grendel]

Thanks for the review, very nice.

 

--UPDATE - Turns out the nib is not a Schmidt nib, I tried to replace it as stated above and a Schmidt nib is just a bit too short. But what DID work was a steel JOWO nib I had, so take that for what's it worth. Either way the nib that comes on the pen is top notch in terms of smoothness and flow, so I'm guessing it's good brand of nib.

JFYI, I just got one of these pens -- the nib appears to be a chinese IPG fake (link to RB.) It has the five petaled-flower imprinted, the imprint isn't very good, and it is not steel. Could be chrome plated. Not up to par to a german made nib, unfortunately. Dang, I had high hopes. Oh well, guess you get what you pay for. Off to ink it.

[Parker51]

I have a 365 Giuliano Mazzuoli Officina which truly could be used as a weapon. It is made from milled solid aluminium and has considerable mass. It was not cheap, but it is Italian and it has the smoothest steel nib I have ever used, smoother than many of my gold nibbed pens with great iridium.

[mateo44]

Check out the SureFire pens. Plenty tough, and all that. And, if you happen to be in the market for a new muzzle break, flash hiders, or special ops lights, they have those too. I'm a bit partial, since SureFire products are made right here in Orange County, CA. (no affiliation, but I do own one of their flashlights -- it rocks).

 

http://www.surefire.com/The-SureFire-Pen

[UltraMagnus]

JFYI, I just got one of these pens -- the nib appears to be a chinese IPG fake (link to RB.) It has the five petaled-flower imprinted, the imprint isn't very good, and it is not steel. Could be chrome plated. Not up to par to a german made nib, unfortunately. Dang, I had high hopes. Oh well, guess you get what you pay for. Off to ink it.

 

I have never seen one scrap of evidence that Chinese nibs are poor quality and contain no tipping material, other than a few off hand racist remarks of "its Chinese so it must be rubbish".

[chrevbel]

the nib appears to be a chinese IPG fake (link to RB.)

The manufacturer's catalog definitely states that the nib is German made. If you're right, this is indeed a bit disappointing.

[redisburning]

here's how you know something is tactical: try taking it on a plane. if you get arrested, it's tactical. if not, it's for wusses.

 

there have been issues in the past with pens having "glass breaker" points, by that I mean something like this:

http://www.bladehq.com/images/knives/Benchmade/benchmadestainlesssteelpens.jpg

[penguinmaster]

Thanks for the review, very nice.

 

--UPDATE - Turns out the nib is not a Schmidt nib, I tried to replace it as stated above and a Schmidt nib is just a bit too short. But what DID work was a steel JOWO nib I had, so take that for what's it worth. Either way the nib that comes on the pen is top notch in terms of smoothness and flow, so I'm guessing it's good brand of nib.

JFYI, I just got one of these pens -- the nib appears to be a chinese IPG fake (link to RB.) It has the five petaled-flower imprinted, the imprint isn't very good, and it is not steel. Could be chrome plated. Not up to par to a german made nib, unfortunately. Dang, I had high hopes. Oh well, guess you get what you pay for. Off to ink it.

 

Thanks for doing some more research. I suppose I should have done a bit more (I'm on Richards site constantly so I have a bit of a red face right now for not seeing that!). I do stand by what I said though that the nib I have is at least very smooth and have great flow so I think that's good enough.

 

Also to clarify with the JOWO thing, I know a JOWO nib fits, but I'm sure the original nib wasn't a JOWO. Just a happy coincidence I guess.

 

 

JFYI, I just got one of these pens -- the nib appears to be a chinese IPG fake (link to RB.) It has the five petaled-flower imprinted, the imprint isn't very good, and it is not steel. Could be chrome plated. Not up to par to a german made nib, unfortunately. Dang, I had high hopes. Oh well, guess you get what you pay for. Off to ink it.

 

I have never seen one scrap of evidence that Chinese nibs are poor quality and contain no tipping material, other than a few off hand racist remarks of "its Chinese so it must be rubbish".

 

I agree, the nib on this pen I don't think is of any bad quality.

[chrevbel]

I have never seen one scrap of evidence that Chinese nibs are poor quality and contain no tipping material, other than a few off hand racist remarks of "its Chinese so it must be rubbish".

So in viewing this thread, you'd say the claims are purely racism?

[UltraMagnus]

I have never seen one scrap of evidence that Chinese nibs are poor quality and contain no tipping material, other than a few off hand racist remarks of "its Chinese so it must be rubbish".

So in viewing this thread, you'd say the claims are purely racism?

 

So one Chinese company make fake montblancs, how does that equate to all chinese companies making fake garbage? It is rather like saying some Americans funded the IRA, so all Americans must therefore fund terrorism.

[chrevbel]

So one Chinese company make fake montblancs, how does that equate to all chinese companies making fake garbage? It is rather like saying some Americans funded the IRA, so all Americans must therefore fund terrorism.

Umm, what?

 

I'm going to go out on a limb here and state that when a Chinese company manufactures pens (or nibs) and they're then marketed as being produced by a different company and manufactured in a different country, then the pens (or nibs) are going to be of inferior quality.

 

But maybe I'm just racist.

[mateo44]

here's how you know something is tactical: try taking it on a plane. if you get arrested, it's tactical. if not, it's for wusses.

 

That's an excellent standard. I like it.

 

The SureFire pens I linked to, above, have that glass-breaking tip. I recall another pen (maybe by the same company, maybe by someone else) that had a hollowish, sharp end. The purpose was you could ward off an attacker with it, and some of the attacker's DNA would remain in the pen for subsequent identification purposes. Now that's tactical!

 

EDIT: Turns out the UZI tactical pen has the "DNA catcher" (not my term!).

 

http://www.bladehq.com/item--UZI-Tactical-Pen-Defense--5780

Edited May 13, 2011 by mateo44

[penmanila]

this is just too curious to pass up. just ordered one in black, for $30.99 with free US delivery, from here:

 

http://www.bladeplay.com/item--Schrade-Black-Tactical-Pen-Defense--8411

 

i hope i never have to use this beyond writing "the quick brown fox..."

[Spector]

very interesting, it looks interesting but I would rather stick with other things for self defence

[encre]

Interesting, I have a tuff writer & the S&W ballpoints, never seen an fp equivalent o.O Very interesting but not for me, looks too blocky for my liking.

 

Thanks for the review!

[adamselene]

I love this pen.  Very smooth wet line, comfortable and light despite extra length and bizarre configuration.  <br /><br />Writes better than my twsabi!<br /><br />Way tougher that my Rot 600s!<br /><br />A Lamy al star on steroids?<br /><br />I think this is an indestructible FP.  And that is very cool to a klutz like me.  <br /><br />And it is so inexpensive, it is loss proof.  <br /><br />Priceless!<br /><br />Did I say I love this pen?<br /><br />And it can convert to a roller?  Omg.

Edited June 30, 2011 by adamselene

[penmanila]

i, too, just want to say what a pleasant surprise the schrade turned out to be. it's built and looks like a tank, but it writes amazingly well! the IPG nib is suitably large, but smooth. at $30, it's a good match for my TWSBI.