Skilcraft Review - Working Week Pen Challenge

April 5, 2015

Hi all,

Some time last week I caught myself switching back and forth between 3 or 4 different fountain pens and I became curious about why I did it. I love variety, of course, but I also wondered whether I could get a clearer view of the relative virtues of my pens if I focused on them one at a time. That was all the inspiration I needed to start the "working week pen challenge". The premise is simple: pick a pen and try to use it exclusively for five days, keeping a record of what you like and don't like about it.

My first pick was the humble Skilcraft fountain pen. Costing about $5 after shipping, this little pen is easy to overlook. It's also, it turns out, a sturdy and reliable workhorse. In what follows I'll give you a brief account of what it's like to use this pen as an EDC. This is my first pen review so please let me know what you'd like to see in any future reviews.

Appearance and Construction

First thing's first, here's the pen in question:

It's not a particularly attractive pen, I don't think. The clip, for instance, is very cheap looking and the fit and finish are what you'd expect for a pen in its price range. I'm not a very big fan of the three rings on the barrel. They're very signature looking, but I actually think the whole thing would be more classy in appearance without them.

What I like most about it is it's very solid metal construction. I dropped this pen once to twice during the week and not a thing happened to it. I'd be fairly confident chucking this across a room. The section is the only plastic part of the construction and so far it has proven very durable.

The cap, as you can see, snaps on. It's a very secure fit in my experience. One little quibble is that twice as I carried the pen in my pocket I noted that the barrel was coming unscrewed from the section. This doesn't normally occur, but once or twice in a week is enough of an issue to raise it in a review.

Ergonomics and Performance

The most delightful surprise this pen has in store for its users is the super smooth nib and impeccably reliable ink delivery. I really cannot stress enough what a reliable writing instrument this has proven to be over the last week and really with every ink I've tried over the last several months I've owned it.

Another praiseworthy element is the diameter of the section. I have an ebonite Konrad and I've had a Shaeffer No Nonsense in the past. Both of those are pens I'd say had a thick section -- definitely a little too thick of maximum comfort, in my opinion. On the other hand, I find the sections of pens like the Lamy Safari and Pilot Metro to be too thin. This Skilcraft hits the golden spot in the middle. I wrote extensively over the week (hand drafting essays), and I never felt that the grip section was anything but accommodative.

One major quibble, however, is with the balance of the pen. For reasons I cannot imagine, someone decided this pen needed a tremendously long and top heavy cap. The pen is already somewhat back heavy (see balance photo below), but when you add the cap the balance point moves quite a ways back.

For my hand, when I grip the pen with the cap posted, the balance point is at the fleshy point between my thumb and index finger (anatomy, anyone?).

Some writers might appreciate that, but it's all too awkward for me. I prefer the balance to be as near as possible dead center of the pen barrel. Else-wise, the pen should be a little nib heavy. All that said, I tend not to post my pens, so it is not a big issue for me.

I mentioned before that this pen is a very reliable writer. I want to stress that point again. I never had a hard start, or got any ink spilling into the cap, and I found the pen to have great consistency in its wetness. On that latter point, I wouldn't call this pen a wet writer or a dry one. Less saturated inks will come out a little pale, but overall it lays down enough ink to keep things true to color without leaving puddles everywhere.

I'd say this pen has a medium nib (sadly there are no options), but it tends to write a line that varies a good deal by the ink. Inks I used over this last week: Noodler's Black and Liberties Elysium, Waterman Brown and Black. With Waterman Absolute Brown or Intense black it is a nice medium or fm. With something like Noodler's Liberties Elysium it writes much broader. I have a photo below to demonstrate the difference.

I found the line this pen made to be adequate for most applications, although it isn't fine or dry enough to be used for small writing on cheap paper. In one class I had to resort to a ballpoint pen when asked to fill out a form with small cells on cheap copy paper. Fortunately I was caring a ballpoint as a backup. (Another fountain pen would have been cheating).

Summary thoughts

Due to the comfort of the grip section and utter reliability of the pen I've found myself still going back to the Skilcraft a couple days after this first challenge ended. I am, however, still annoyed with the cap length and clip design. Those are small quibbles but they make a difference.

At some point this week it occurred to me that a challenge like this really equips you to specify three possible praises about a pen. In question form, they go like this: If this was your only fountain pen would you have a good opinion of fountain pens? If you were only allowed to recommend one pen to someone would this be it? If you had to choose just one of your pens to keep would this be the one?

Here are my ratings:

(X) Happy User

( ) Top Recommendation

( ) Sophie's Choice Pen

Big Quibble: None

Little Quibble: Little aesthetic sticking points, really.

Big Praises: Nib smoothness, section comfortability, reliability

Little Praises: None

Edited April 5, 2015 by kitojmanny

April 5, 2015

Nice review! I esp like the uncommon approach and the thoughts you put into this. Never heard of the pen though. I hope we will see more of your reviews in the future.

April 6, 2015

Nice review! I esp like the uncommon approach and the thoughts you put into this. Never heard of the pen though. I hope we will see more of your reviews in the future.

Thanks a lot. I'm hoping that in the future I can cover more less popular pens.

April 8, 2015

I absolutely love mine! As someone who does not write posted I find the balance to be just right - if the cap was posted it would be very awkward for me I think. The quality of the nib is astonishing, though - such a smooth writer! I'm using the black ink that came with the pen; I have a spare converter that I'll put in when the current cartridge is used up.

To have such a solid writer for its price is really something. I've actually put some of my other pens in a drawer here at work because the Skilcraft is so nice to use and won't be a major loss if it walks away - I have several others still in package as give aways (already gave one to my son!).

April 9, 2015

I absolutely love mine! As someone who does not write posted I find the balance to be just right - if the cap was posted it would be very awkward for me I think. The quality of the nib is astonishing, though - such a smooth writer! I'm using the black ink that came with the pen; I have a spare converter that I'll put in when the current cartridge is used up.

To have such a solid writer for its price is really something. I've actually put some of my other pens in a drawer here at work because the Skilcraft is so nice to use and won't be a major loss if it walks away - I have several others still in package as give aways (already gave one to my son!).

I'm not really a pen poster either. Actually, I haven't yet found a pen I don't think is made more awkward by posting -- with the exception of a pocket pen like the Kaweco Sport.

I like the idea of keeping spares to give away. It's just about the nicest introduction to fountain pens you can have.

May 1, 2015

Thanks for the great review. Within the last week or so, I ordered a few of these after noticing the post by bbycrts in Market Watch. At $2.59 each plus $4.50 shipping (for the lot), I thought I'd give them a try. I'm now eager for mine to arrive.