Kaweco Al Sport F And Dia2 Gt F

[TheDutchGuy]

Kaweco AL Sport F and Dia2 GT F

Though I’ve always been drawn to fountain pens, I never used to bond with them. I’ve tried many Shaeffers, Parkers, a Cross… after some time I always gave them away - they’d either be leaky, or scratchy, or have starting issues, or they’d be skippy, or roll of my table, or fall from my shirt pocket… it’s always been kind of a fight. I’ve still got the Cross, a rather nice Townsend Medalist with M nib, but I’ve never really bonded with that pen, either. It’s a leaky pen, always gives me blue fingers and it’s too big and heavy to carry it around in my shirt.

Two 2 years ago I fell for the design of Kaweco pens. I loved their stonewashed AL Sport fountain pens from the moment I laid eyes on them. I got myself a blue one with an F nib and it literally has not left my side since. For 2 years, I’ve averaged about 6 densely scribbled A5 pages a day (I rather write a lot) and the pen is always in my shirt pocket. I’ve never even cleaned it. It has never leaked, it’s always worked flawlessly and it writes beautifully. You can see the underside of the nib on the photo (the chrome-coloured nib) - all the writing definitely changed its shape, but it’s perfect for me. No feathering, no showthrough, super-smooth. You can also write upside down with it, for small scribbling in the sideline (thanks Wim, for learning me this trick!). It’s a rather dry nib so I use Schneider Königsblau, a lovely-coloured wet ink that costs next to nothing (never had much luck with Kaweco ink).

This pen works for me because of a variety of reasons. First, the screw-on cap means no pressure pop when releasing the cap, so no leakage, nothing, never, not even a little bit, not even when the pen falls on the floor. Awesome. That Cross will leak if I so much as look at it. Second, it’s absolutely indestructible. Third, how can a nib this good cost just 10 euros? It’s so smooth and pleasant. Fourth, it’s a very small pen when not in use and it makes for a great ‘take-it-everywhere-except-the-shower’ pen. Fifth, you can’t write with it unless the cap is posted. And the cap is ridged. Meaning, if you put down the pen for a second, it will not roll, not even on a moderately angled surface. Meaning it will not fall. Yet if it should fall, the cap is the heaviest part, so it never hits the ground nib-first. The only downside for me is the clip. it’s a mystery why Kaweco used a slide-on clip, so to speak. The pen is aluminium, i.e. rather soft. The clip seems to be stainless steel, i.e. tough as nails. The clip moves, thereby gradually eroding the ridges of the cap. And if you put the pen in a pocket, there’s a good chance the pen will go in while the clip will slide off. Many times I’ve gone back to conference rooms to look for the clip. Not good.

As a writing instrument, this is my all-time favorite pen. It’s part of me. It beats my Cross hands-down, even though a nibmeister from FPN was kind enough to optimize the Cross’s nib for me. The Kaweco still wins! (I still use the Cross at home from time to time, as a desk pen it’s rather nice).

At some point I acquired a cheaper, plastic Kaweco Sport F to use with a different colour, in this case Schneider Grün (that green is just so lush and rich!). I use it for underlining, annotations and the like. Same nib, same great writing experience, costs all of 20 euros. How do they do it?

This weekend I went out to buy another pen, not because I need one but because it’s nice to change it up a little and to be able to give my trusty blue AL Sport a little breather from time to time. My criteria were as follows:

-screw-on cap

-fixed clip

-understated, timeless design (preferably Art Deco), not too much shiny metal, not too many fancy colours

-under 120 euros (hey, if the AL Sport can be this good for under 70 euros, then why pay more?)

-F nib (I have show-through issues with heavier nibs)

-good results on a variety of paper

-smooth nib, no scratchiness

-no ink flow issues, not at start-up, not skipping

-no leakage whatsoever

-must fit in shirt pocket and must not fall out (i.e. a good, strong clip)

-must be well-made and built-to-last

I tried a few TWSBI models and I liked them. Nice pens. But a little bit too gadget-y for me, with that see-through plastic and that mechanism in there. Clever, contemporary, nice nib. I’ll get one, one day, just for fun.

I tried some Lamy’s. Well-made. Good value. Didn’t bond with the design (too modern), nor with the nibs (they’re good, but not for me - I have bad handwriting and need a certain kind of nib to write well).

Long story short, though I kind of intended to buy another brand for the sake of variety, I ended up with a Kaweco Dia2 GT F. It meets all my criteria, and then some. What a beautiful, classic pen. And so well-made. Same nib as my trusty AL Sport, only faux-gold-plated. See photo - the gold-coloured nib is the Dia2 GT. Feels different, though. Slightly more feedback, but not scratchy at all. Just a slight sense of “smooth resistance”, for lack of a better description. I wonder how this nib will feel a year down the line. In daily use, I intend to alternate between the AL Sport and the Dia2 - let’s see what happens once the Dia2’s nib settles in.

I do 90% of my writing away from home, mostly on trains, buses and at the office. I move around a lot. The Kaweco’s are exceptional pens for that lifestyle. The Cross? That Townsend Medalist is a rather fickle pen, more of a desk pen, a luxury item where class and looks take a backseat to dependability. Treat it gingerly, and it’s a true pleasure to write with it. But it’s not an all-day, every-day pen and in almost every aspect it the Kaweco’s are better pens.

To finish off, my wish list is short. I’ve good things about the super-affordable Pilot Metropolitan, but I’ve yet to find one in a pen shop. There will be a TWSBI one day. That’s about it. I don’t collect pens, instead I write them into the ground :-).

Best regards,

Oscar

Edited February 5, 2018 by TheDutchGuy

[bobje]

Nice review, DutchGuy! The Dia2 is so timeless and elegant. It could have been made in 1930 or 1950 or 2010.

[TheDutchGuy]

That's indeed how it looks and feels, Bobje. I'm a sucker for old-school, I guess.

 

Forgot to mention in the review that the Dia2 was never used, not even in the store. It came straight out of the box, bone-dry, still in its factory cellophane wrapper. Popped in a cartridge and straight away it wrote beautifully. With some of my earlier pens, at first use I had to coax the ink through the feeder and the nib. Not here.

 

Have a great day.

[TheDutchGuy]

**reminder to self** : never review a pen shortly after buying it. What initially attracted me in de Dia2 turned into an annoyance with extended use. The nib is smooth (as in: not scratchy in the least and very even in feel) but has a certain resistance when put on paper. It's like moving your hand slowly through water instead of through air. I had the nib changed from F to M but it looked and felt exactly the same. This feeling of subtle resistance initially felt great, but it quickly got old. Although both nibs wrote well, with no skipping and no hard starts, they were dry. This lead to very pale-colored ink on the page. In the morning, the colour would be rich and intense (because some of the water in the ink had evaporated while the dyes were still in the nib and feeder) but during the day it would become very very pale. After struggling with it for a while I eventually gave up and returned the pen to the retailer. They took it back and I got myself another brand/model of pen, with which I am very very happy (so far).

 

The AL Sport is consistently impressive, too bad about the nibs of the DIa2.