Ratnamson 302 - True Classic

[mehandiratta]

First of all, I must thank Pradeep for getting me these pens from Rajahmundry. I actually got lot of pens from Ratnam, Ratnamson, and Guider who all are stationed at Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh state of India.

So this, as in Ratnamson 302, is the first in line to be reviewed and this pen is one of the fast selling models of Ratnamson.

Ratnamson 302 – Capped

Ratnamson is a brand name of Ratnam Ball pen works. There is other brand by the name of Ratnam which is owned by Ratnam Pen Works. As far as I know Ratnam Pen works is an original parent company which got split into two and thus Ratnamson came into existence. And both the companies produce some good quality pens. which i will be reviewing it here one by one.

Ratnamson 302 – Rose Pink Rippled and Blue Rippled Model

DESIGN & BUILT : 3.5/05

Like I said earlier this pen is one of the fast selling model of Ratnamson’s and it is a very well designed and executed pen. Made of Ebonite this pen come in various regular ebonite colors like Rose Pink Ripple, Blue Ripple (Both shown in pic above), Black, Brown Ripple, Green Ripple and Dark Brown Ripple. Also mottled pattern is available but i believe that is on request.

Ratnamson 302 – Beauty Shot

The pen is cigar shaped design which tapers slightly just a bit towards the end to circular rounded bottom. The cap finial is also rounded similar to the barrel end.

Ratnamson 302 – Capped

The grip section is made of black color ebonite and their is a slight tapering towards the top of section from middle of barrel. The length of grip section is not that long. Actually it is short. But thats not a problem. Circular thread patterns do provide for grip and threads are not at all sharp.

Ratnamson 302 – Uncapped View

The picture below shows the rounded bottom and top of the pen.

Ratnamson 302 – Rounded top and bottom

The cap clip though is quite sturdy but I can see there is bit of uniformity in insertion of clip inside the cap, which is because of the reason these are all hand made.

Ratnamson 302 – Cap

Ratnamson 302 – Cap Top View

You can see from the image above the difference of clip insert inside the cap. Nevertheless these are minor things and can be resolved easily.

The cap has slim center band which seems to be a okay kind of job because i have seen many manufacturers not able to take care of bands properly. I love the pens with centre band. Though I am not happy with the centre band on the cap but the pen shape and finish is far above what i expected.

Ratnamson 302 – Cap Side View

Ratnamson 302 – Cap Clip View

Ratnamson 302 – Cap Centerband Closeup

Ratnamson 302 – Cap Internal View

Like most of the Indian pens this also comes with breather hole which helps in tackling the vacuum created while opening the pen and thus preventing ink leakage.

Below are the few images showing the pen comparison.

Gama Kuyil vs Ratnamson 302 vs Pilot 78G vs Jinhao 886 – Capped

Gama Kuyil vs Ratnamson 302 vs Pilot 78G vs Jinhao 886 – Uncapped and Posted

Gama Kuyil vs Ratnamson 302 vs Pilot 78G vs Jinhao 886 – Side View

The pen built quality barring just two areas with regards to centre band and clip insertion inside cap, is amazing.

The material used is amazing. Handmade and overall well executed classic designed pen. Lastly one thing i wanted to mention is that cap threads are not that smooth as it should be and offer certain resistance while opening.

BALANCE : 05/05

One good thing with the ebonite pens is that they are extremely well balanced weather cap is posted or not.

The length of the pen is 145 mm when capped and 125 mm when uncapped including the nib.

And when cap is posted it is approx 165 mm long. The cap is thickest near centre band at 14mm dia and the average barrel thickness is 13 mm and grip section thickness is 9 to 10 mm.

Ratnamson 302 - Writing Unposted

Ratnamson 302 - Writing Posted

The pen is very well balanced with cap posted or not posted, though it becomes very long id the cap is posted.

I personally prefer writing without posting cap.

NIB & INK FILLING MECHANISM: 2.5/05

Well this is one area where i was not that much happy. It gives you resistance on good quality paper (which in a way is good for handwriting) but writes scratchy on not so good quality paper and picks up paper fiber even.

The nib is gold color monotone iridium tipped nib and it writes fine. I actually will end up changing the nib.

But lately I have realised if you keep using this nib it will grow on you.

Ratnamson 302 - Nib Unit Top View

Ratnamson 302 - Nib Unit Side View

Ratnamson 302 - Nib Unit Bottom View

Ratnamson 302 - Nib Unit Angled View

The feed is made of ebonite and the pen writes actually bit wet. I had to do certain smoothing on the nib. And still I am not happy.

Ratnamson 302 - Ebonite Feed

The ink filling mechanism is through eyedropper and it holds good amount of ink. Good thing about the pen is that it never burped on me while writing for a complete week.

Ratnamson 302 - Ink Filling Through Eyedropper

Below is the Link of my handwritten review which shows sample and ink dry test for your reference.Also are certain images.

LINK

CONCLUSION:

I will buy this pen for its design and change its nib.

This pen is not that expensive and retails around for 12 to 15 USD. And thats why i will buy this pen for its classic design and long history behind brand name.

Ratnamson 302 - Saying Goodbye

[L.Velvet]

Thank you very much for this nice review and beautiful pictures Everything I wanted to know I have found on this review , nice to have the prices too

 

Me and a friend of mine, we have tried to contact Ratnam, but no responses

Edited August 29, 2015 by L.Velvet

[mehandiratta]

Thank you very much for this nice review and beautiful pictures Everything I wanted to know I have found on this review , nice to have the prices too

 

Me and a friend of mine, we have tried to contact Ratnam, but no responses

There was one month long festival going on recently... And they were busy at that time... Try again

[Sagarb]

Really Vaibhab..amazing photographs and review..Your sense of aesthetics is stunning.Thanks very much.I have two questions ,one of them is not related with this topic.

 

1.Is Guider and Ratnamson same company?

 

2.In your review of Bril Laurel Rose Ink you had mentioned about "ammonia flush". What is the process? Can I do it with collins or somthing like that?

[amk]

Nice review. Your detail photos of the clips and cap band to show the fit are really useful.

 

Amazing to find an eyedropper that won't burp. You must be very happy with it!

[mehandiratta]

Nice review. Your detail photos of the clips and cap band to show the fit are really useful.

 

Amazing to find an eyedropper that won't burp. You must be very happy with it!

actually this pen has grown on me for the way it writes.... i love this....

yes there are certain if and buts with regards to finish ... but at this price and that tooo ebonite i can't complain too much

[mehandiratta]

Really Vaibhab..amazing photographs and review..Your sense of aesthetics is stunning.Thanks very much.I have two questions ,one of them is not related with this topic.

 

1.Is Guider and Ratnamson same company?

 

2.In your review of Bril Laurel Rose Ink you had mentioned about "ammonia flush". What is the process? Can I do it with collins or somthing like that?

No Guider is separate company...

 

Also you can easily get ammonia over the counter from Chemist shop... or maybe some beauty salons....

I have not tried flushing with Colin.... so cant say...

[pankaj]

Nice review. Your detail photos of the clips and cap band to show the fit are really useful.

 

Amazing to find an eyedropper that won't burp. You must be very happy with it!

I think almost all of the Indian EDs I have used behave and do not burp. I follow the ink filling Dos / Don'ts. Our FPNer Hari 317 has plated up the guidelines somewhere here in the forum, guess in his Classified.

 

"Fill in : section screwed in half the way - tilt the pen upside down over the inkpot : turn the section in well placed "

 

Guess this takes care of any ED. Any further misbehavior could be progeny of wrong feed / nib / alignment.

Its just my empirical knowledge, and not expertise.

[Seele]

Mehandiratta,

 

Great review of the 302 - like the other reviews, with informative illustrations; thanks!

 

It was a couple of years ago that I was exchanging email messages with Ratnamson in view of purchasing several of their pens, somehow they dropped the ball and that's the end of it, so I am still (at least) a Ratnamson and a Ratnam short from my arsenal! If I am not greatly mistaken, ASA provided Gama an international front end which must have been very beneficial to Gama, but for international users and connoisseurs it's a bit exasperating.

[pankaj]

A pretty looking pen.

 

True classic

[mehandiratta]

Mehandiratta,

 

Great review of the 302 - like the other reviews, with informative illustrations; thanks!

 

It was a couple of years ago that I was exchanging email messages with Ratnamson in view of purchasing several of their pens, somehow they dropped the ball and that's the end of it, so I am still (at least) a Ratnamson and a Ratnam short from my arsenal! If I am not greatly mistaken, ASA provided Gama an international front end which must have been very beneficial to Gama, but for international users and connoisseurs it's a bit exasperating.

You are right ... Gama was brought on international level by ASA and it was easy for people to get Gama pens easily... which is not the case with Ratnam, Ratnamson, Guider and even Deccan ...

[mehandiratta]

A pretty looking pen.

 

True classic

yes.... it is....

[Seele]

You are right ... Gama was brought on international level by ASA and it was easy for people to get Gama pens easily... which is not the case with Ratnam, Ratnamson, Guider and even Deccan ...

 

For a brief period Ratnamson pens were sold by Organics Studio and they sold very well too, so it is actually quite strange that Ratnamson still have not realize how they products are in demand internationally. It seems my wish to include Ratnamsons (and Ratnams) is not going to realize too easily!

 

Still, Kevin of FPR sells limited ranges of Guider and Deccan pens, so that's better than nothing I guess.

[mehandiratta]

 

For a brief period Ratnamson pens were sold by Organics Studio and they sold very well too, so it is actually quite strange that Ratnamson still have not realize how they products are in demand internationally. It seems my wish to include Ratnamsons (and Ratnams) is not going to realize too easily!

 

Still, Kevin of FPR sells limited ranges of Guider and Deccan pens, so that's better than nothing I guess.

I will try to source the pens.... and make it available for other members tooo

[mehandiratta]

Just wanted to share the list of pens they sell and the catalogues....

[pankaj]

Latest ?

[mehandiratta]

yes...

[Sagarb]

yes...

They have changed their prices, 302 is now 650/,shipping cost Rs.100/- over the India

[mehandiratta]

They have changed their prices, 302 is now 650/,shipping cost Rs.100/- over the India

possible...

[rwilsonedn]

I will try to source the pens.... and make it available for other members tooo

 

Careful ... you may get a lot of interest from Europe and North America if you write things like this. We can be real pests!

ron