Review: Sailor 1911 21K Emperor Hb -- Professional Gear Rhodium

[breaker]

nice review and excellent pics!

thanks!

[terminal]

nice review and excellent pics!

thanks!

Thank you! 'twas fun to write it

[kjm]

Where did you purchase the pen for $164???

[terminal]

I bought it on ebay. It was a really good deal, there's no doubt. I bought it from one of my favorite sellers, engeika.

[fprookie]

Great review terminal..

 

I have never seen a nib like this before.

Edited September 2, 2013 by loveyounadal

[terminal]

Thank you! Yeah it's definitely unlike anything I've ever seen -- new or vintage. Very unusual.

 

Still my daily carry... loaded up autumn ink in it over the weekend.

[SB129]

How's the weight of the pen feel? Does the plastic give the pen a cheap feel or is the material weighty enough to not matter?

Edited September 2, 2013 by SB129

[hariharan]

wow , a brilliant idea of buffering more ink for better flow..However, as someone pointed out, without the engraving, the nib looks like a prototype design, where an engineer experiments with different options. I hope they will bring out novel ideas soon with such variable ink flow. The later versions may also be aesthetically pleasing..

 

btw, the ink flow varies with pressure isnt? So does it write like a flex nib? is this a modern age replacement for flex nibs ?

[terminal]

How's the weight of the pen feel? Does the plastic give the pen a cheap feel or is the material weighty enough to not matter?

 

This pen weighs roughly an ounce. I generally use it un-posted, which brings it down to like .6 oz. I've found this weight to be absolutely middle of the road... for example, the Pilot I use in the review for comparison is .7oz and the Omas is the exact same weight as the Sailor.

 

As far as the feeling of quality: this pen definitely doesn't feel cheap. I just reviewed a Platinum 3776, which also weighs almost exactly 1 oz, and it DOES feel cheap. It's definitely a little hard to quantify why the plastics feel different, but I would be surprised if anyone would describe a Sailor pro gear as anything but high quality.

[terminal]

wow , a brilliant idea of buffering more ink for better flow..However, as someone pointed out, without the engraving, the nib looks like a prototype design, where an engineer experiments with different options. I hope they will bring out novel ideas soon with such variable ink flow. The later versions may also be aesthetically pleasing..

 

btw, the ink flow varies with pressure isnt? So does it write like a flex nib? is this a modern age replacement for flex nibs ?

 

Yeah, I do agree about the looks... though I have to tell you I showed it to a ten year old yesterday, and it got his attention more than any of the other pens I had... well, except for the Homo Sapiens, but the overfeed bar is definitely intriguing, though, as you say doesn't match the aesthetic very well.

 

Well, that's the biggest misconception about the way this emperor over-feed system works. It's only about ink flow, and not about flex at all. So, the nib has a teensy bit of flex all on it's own, but where the magic comes from is the fact that the overfeed simply lets more ink through the feed, thus making it write wetter.

 

One would think that Sailor's next step would be to apply this to a flex nib, since it seems like it would be perfectly suited. Platinum and Pilot both make what they call "soft" nibs, but as far as I can tell, Sailor doesn't... so I don't know where that leaves me...

[fprookie]

I too thought it may work like flex

Edited September 4, 2013 by loveyounadal

[hariharan]

Thx terminal for the clarification on flex.. You had already mentioned it in your first post itself , which i didnt notice earlier

 

 

In general, an experienced FP user likes to apply as little pressure as possible. Was applying this additional pressure strenuous for you, especially when writing long pages.. ?

 

 

When i think more about its applications. .. i see two possibilities though

 

 

1) with wetter flow you can experience the performance of M nib even with EF nib. (though the line width may not vary much, it may still be better)

 

 

2) Inks.... well we know that some inks are drier than many others. So with this nib, i think we can explore drier inks to perform as wet inks with little writing pressure.

 

[terminal]

That's a good point about the ink.

 

I guess the main reason to have a variable feed is for expressiveness. In a sense, it's not unlike any good feed that will keep up when you write fast or release more ink when the tines are spread. In this pen, that effect is just enhanced. It's a bit like having the best of all worlds in terms of feeds... because with very little pressure you get the thinnest line the nib can give you and a very light coating of ink (no skipping though). But if you bare down, you get... whatever the nib can give you in terms of flex... but also deeper ink for more sheen and saturation.

[hariharan]

Though not directly relevant, i came across the following video on innovative nibs..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvJophbQOoo

[terminal]

You know, that Justus was tops on my most wanted list until I read Hari317's review of it.

[alvarez57]

I really liked the review: well constructed and fun to read. Most of anything, I really love your macro pictures!!! The lighting is even and subtle. How did you manage to post the pics? I’m having trouble posting mine from Flickr

I am a fan of Japanese pens. I have only one Sailor: the zoom but I’m not a fan of it (on the selling list). I have Pilots, Namiki, Platinum and Nakaya. This review has made me consider a Sailor in the future (a specialty nib, that is). Thanks again!

[terminal]

Thank you very much! It's funny how some reviews will just turn out well... perhaps it has to do with my enthusiasm for the pen.

 

Well, after rejecting a couple of different photo-posting solutions... I ended up buying my own domain. That's probably not what you wanted to hear LOL. I can't see any way to really maintain full control of your pictures otherwise.

 

That's too bad about the Zoom, I've never tried one. I do absolutely think you should still consider Sailor, it definitely stands among the other brands you own.

[25_15_3]

I'm glad I was able to find this post. I never realized that an Emperor tab was available without the other specialty nibs attached to the bottom. This specialty nib is not available on nibs.com which probably why I never found out about it before reading this post.

 

While I'm still in a honeymoon phase with my Sailor KOP in Medium, this nib looks like a nice next pickup later this year. This looks like the only Sailor specialty nib suitable for my daily writing.

[Dr Dan]

Someone above mentioned inks. If you haven't experimented with different inks I would urge you to do so but focus on color. Try and stay away from dark inks. There will be greater color variation with lighter ink shades. Many of the Sailor inks will work extremely well with this nip. I use Waterman South Sea Blue in mine. I agree you can get some line variation (via flexing of the nib, which I never recommend doing) but with the appropriate ink you will see significant line variation (color not thickness) with very little modification in the pressure you apply. Again, the effect of the color variation is, in my opinion, far richer than any flex nib could provide. Something you might try.

 

all the best

 

DrDan

Edited April 18, 2016 by Dr Dan

[25_15_3]

Someone above mentioned inks. If you haven't experimented with different inks I would urge you to do so but focus on color. Try and stay away from dark inks. There will be greater color variation with lighter ink shades. Many of the Sailor inks will work extremely well with this nip. I use Waterman South Sea Blue in mine. I agree you can get some line variation (via flexing of the nib, which I never recommend doing) but with the appropriate ink you will see significant line variation (color not thickness) with very little modification in the pressure you apply. Again, the effect of the color variation is, in my opinion, far richer than any flex nib could provide. Something you might try.

 

all the best

 

DrDan

 

Could you provide a writing sample showcasing the color variance between different pressures - not flex - applied on the nib?

 

Also, is your experience with the emperor tap the same as the original poster?