A Review Of Four Ranga Handmade Pens

[aswinsainarain]

Below is my attempt at reviewing together the four pens made by the Ranga Handmade company that I own.

 

[i will also put up a copy of this review on my blog fpensnme.blogspot.in]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Drone]

lovely pens. Which of these pens post, and which pens that post have cap liners to protect the barrel from wear when posted?

[aswinsainarain]

The bamboo pen is not to be posted. The others can be posted, but are not very well balanced then. I do not think any of these have protection against barrel damage from posting.

[sanyalsoumitra]

^{Great and exhaustive review. Very informative, Thanks for sharing. Would you kindly share with us the cost aspect- are these intra-India sales as expensive as their ebay.com listing? And... congratulations, really excellent pens.}

[mhguda]

aswinsainarain, your experiences reflect precisely my own, with the two Rangas that I have, the second arriving only yesterday. Beautiful pens, but their nib choice is less than ideal. I wish they would warn people about the scratchy Wality Fs! or, conversely, offer a nib such as Gem & Co or Kim & Co use. Those pens are an absolute joy to write with, from the first moment you try them. And they are less expensive than the Rangas...

[Uncle Red]

A wider range of tip sizes would be nice too, I write with broads and stubs.

[Flounder]

Thanks for the review. There's an awful lot of threads on the Bamboo style model, could you tell me how many revolutions it takes to open the cap?

[aswinsainarain]

Cost aspect:

 

The pens do range from less than INR 1500 to INR 3000. I think the price is dependent on whether the ebonite is "premium" or not. From what I have seen, the duller colours are cheaper. I am not expert enough to say if the ebonite body itself is very different. Mr. Kandan is on this forum, and he may be able to clarify. The most expensive one in my collection is the blue-white 3C model. The one thing that seems to distinguish Ranga from the other ebonite is the range of colours. I have not purchased any ebonites from other makers, but the images that I have seen online are invariably dull.

 

Being from Chennai. I must be ashamed I had not heard about Gem and co. till I read mhguda's reply. My excuse will be that I have not been to the home city much since I became an adult FP user. But I just ordered a Gama Kuyil pen, from a store called ASA pens. I should receive it this week, and will upload my impressions over the next weekend. That also gives me a list of FP shops to visit on my next visit to CHennai in a couple of weeks!

 

The bamboo opens in 2-2.5 revolutions.

[mhguda]

Glad to hear I could contribute, and I hope your visit will be worthwhile. I learned of the pens through this forum, there are many posts about them by now. And in fact one of the Indian members got me my first Kims, and I was lost... As I said, they are a joy to use, and I started getting the reaction that if one is good, two are better... I think I can honestly say that before getting bitten by the Kim bug, I did not have that sickness, not quite that bad, at least. But I seem to be making up for lost time!

[aswinsainarain]

I replaced the Wality F nib on my Ranga Duofold EBonite with a M Wality nib, and the result is below.

 

[mhguda]

I am waiting for a similar exchange, but in the meantime I decided to experiment with the scratchy nib, on the principle that if I did (extra) damage I could just wait until my replacement nib arrives. It hasn't yet, but I must say some passes over sandpaper (grit count 600) have considerably improved both the smoothness of the nib AND the flow, to the extent that this is now a very nice writer. And the body is really very nice.

[Brian C]

How badly, if at all, do these pens dry out when left sitting for a few days?

[Mesu]

I am dilly-dallying on the bamboo model. Your review is a big push towards the purchase

 

Is it convenient to write? Will the ridges/lines on the pen body cause any inconvenience while writing?

 

 

Wality F nibs are known to be scratchy most of the times. If anyone is planning to place an order, ask for Wality M nib or a different brand F nib.

[aswinsainarain]

mhguda: thanks for the sandpaper tip. I will try this out with the F nibs that are now lying around in my pen box.

 

dry time / Brian C: it is somewhat variable. the bamboo with the FPN nib dries out in a couple of days and needs a couple of gentle shakes to get it going again; with the acrylic and the duofold, i have not had starting trouble even after 10 days of non-use. I do not know about the 3C - i am using it pretty much everyday.

 

bamboo pen / Mesu: the bamboo is definitely very convenient to write; the ridges do not make a difference to me while writing. the downside is that it is probably the most fragile of the ebonite models: i have broken one (but that was anyway a very bad fall).

[Mesu]

Thanks for your response.

 

I dont mind the pen being fragile as i always carry them in a pouch. But i will be extra careful with this one.

[terim]

How badly, if at all, do these pens dry out when left sitting for a few days?

They are surprisingly airtight and we do not find the nibs drying out. I guess it must be all those cap threads! I have been putting big Sheaffer Lifetime "nail" nibs and Sheaffer feeds on models 3, 4 and 4c and they write first time, every time.

 

Teri

[aswinsainarain]

I have also been testing these pens for flow after a period of inaction - and so far, again, I see only the bamboo+FPR nib tending to dry out after a couple of days.. the other three (all carrying their native feeds + Wality M nob) are fine!

[Inky Tom]

What's the model of the acrylic pen? nice colour! How much?

[mhguda]

The Ranga with the Wality nib was fine after passing it over sandpaper; but I've now swapped the nib for a spare Deccan that I had lying around (thanks Mesu!) and it really makes an enormous difference. Very smooth, and because this nib is slightly larger, looking much better. I find myself using the pen more often...

[vikramguliya]

The reviews is worth its reading. The image used and the chart to describe is really nice!