A Worthy Successor To Omas?

[europen]

 

This is the blurb I found on Nettuno-

"

Nettuno produced the first Italian fountain pens and this historic brand has now been reborn in spectacular fashion. Beautifully hand crafted pens, with intricate detailing, and all under the guidance of Italian pen supremo Nino Marino (former president of the Delta Pen Company)

Nettuno was looking for new blood, as their relationship with Aurora was deteriorating. Marino may have purchased Nettuno, but this does not make Nettuno a new company. It remains Italy's oldest manufacturer of pens, with no effort to re-make it into Delta.

 

Sorry for being off-topic with this post, which has nothing to do with worthy successors to OMAS. Just wanted to clear up the confusion about Nettuno/Delta.

[Silent Speaker]

I am sooooo tempted to buy one of their pens but Im a bit conflicted on an ethical level: isnt this company run by the same people behind Delta? And didnt Deltas management close the factory without paying the remaining salaries to the employees? (There was smth along these lines in the forums). If that is the case, it would mean that the initial capital to create this new company comes probably from the money they refused to pay to the employees who had rightfully earned it. If you have more exact info feel free to chip in.

The company you're concerned with was called Martemodena (do a search on here and you'll find the relevant thread concerning them). They bought Delta, they didn't found it. The individuals involved with Leonardo were, as far as I am aware, part of Delta early history and not with the company with such apparent ill-repute that saw Delta to its final days. You can do your own research on this matter, but that's the relevant name you can look into.

[TassoBarbasso]

The company you're concerned with was called Martemodena (do a search on here and you'll find the relevant thread concerning them). They bought Delta, they didn't found it. The individuals involved with Leonardo were, as far as I am aware, part of Delta early history and not with the company with such apparent ill-repute that saw Delta to its final days. You can do your own research on this matter, but that's the relevant name you can look into.

Thanks a lot!! This clarifies things... and opens the door to a Leonardo ;)

[HMSAjax]

Dear All:

 

Any personal reviews on the Nettuno 1911? The new one? Doesn't seem to be loved that much?

[TheDutchGuy]

I'm not familiar with Omas myself, never having owned one, so I can't comment on Leonardo being a worthy successor or not. However, I can say that since I started with this hobby, I've never been more impressed with a new (i.e. non-vintage) pen than I have been with the Momento Zero (F) and the Furore (stub). Prior to Christmas I sold some stuff that I didn't use anymore, which enabled me to buy a Visconti HS Lava Steel Midi (F) as well as the two Leonardo's. The Visconti was planned, the Leonardo's weren't. I adore the Visconti, it's a great pen that suits me really well. I adore the Leonardos more, they're exactly what I need a pen to be.

 

 

The Furore arrived today, with stub. The packaging of the pen is as nice as the pen itself (the Oxford notebook and the sweets were a gift from the store). I flushed it, inked it with Sailor Jentle Souten (which nicely matches the colours of the pen) and off I went.

 

 

The stub is smooth and pleasant. Nothing sharp or toothy to be felt. No rotation- or sweet-spot issues. You can hear it glide over the paper at downstrokes, but it's an OK sound, not a grating kind of sound. Leonardo calls it a 1.5 mm stub, which had me worried at first because that's wide. Thankfully it puts a 1.0 mm line on paper, which is quite manageable. Wetness is just right, not too wet, certainly no dry. Nice shading. The ergonomics of the Furore are even better than those of the Momento Zero; it simply melts into my hand.

 

Consider me impressed. Deeply.

 

(And what the heck am I going to do now with my other pens....?!)

[A Smug Dill]

@TheDutchGuy

 

Another beautiful pen! Congratulations on a great find and a satisfactory purchase.

 

While I was shopping for the Leonardo Momento Zero the other day (thanks to you, and then to Karmachanic for pointing me to Fontoplumo, even though my wallet curses you both for my breaking my new year's resolution in less than a week), I saw the Furore and was contemplating getting one, because they sport such lovely resin colours and patterns (which I find more attractive than the ones for Momento Zero other than the Hawaii). I think I'll wait for my LMZ with EF nib to arrive first, though, and see how that handles; it's on backorder at the moment, and since international shipping is free anyway, there is probably no advantage in my jumping in at the deep end right now and adding a Furore (probably the sun yellow) to the existing order.

[Uncial]

The more I use it the more I enjoy it. The vintage vibe is strong with this one and makes for a very comfortable, well balanced writer.

[TheDutchGuy]

I think I'll wait for my LMZ with EF nib to arrive first, though, and see how that handles

I tried the EF when I was at the store and felt it was quite different to the F. It wrote a much finer line and, as expected, it had more feedback. It struck me as a really good "true EF" (i.e. not something that's a mere 5% narrower than and F yet labeled EF). It somewhat resembles my Sailor Pro Gear Slim "Ocean" H-MF in terms of line width, and that pen writes a thin line indeed. Contrary to the rigid Sailor, the feathery bounce was also there with the Leonardo EF, but slightly less noticeable than with the F because the cushiony feeling was somewhat overshadowed by the extra feedback. By the way, the Sailor feedback of my Pro Gear Slims is much more pronounced and less subtle than that of the Leonardo pens that I tried (imagine that - I'm a big Sailor fan... and here's a steel nib that I consider to be superior...). I chose the F, because its velvety-soft, pencil-like feedback and amazing bounce were like nothing else I'd ever handled. I cannot say if my nib is somehow different from other F's, I only tried one.

 

The more I use it the more I enjoy it. The vintage vibe is strong with this one and makes for a very comfortable, well balanced writer.

+1 Edited January 6, 2019 by TheDutchGuy

[A Smug Dill]

@TheDutchGuy, after I discovered that the Aurora Alpha with the EF nib I purchased, on the basis that 'everyone' says Aurora has the narrowest nibs among European nibs of a given grade, still writes broader than the F nibs on my Japanese pens, I decided to play it 'safe' with my first Leonardo pen purchase and select the EF nib option. Bounce and flex are nice as optional/enhancing capability on a nib, but minimum line width that I can get consistently (with practice and concentration) from a nib is 'essential' to me.

 

The only EF nib that is too fine for my handwriting and tastes, is the black ion-plated Pilot Capless EF nib I recently purchased, when used with Sailor kiwaguro pigment ink on Rhodia paper.

[Karmachanic]

Speaking of "play it safe" I've ordered a Leonardo stub nib, rather than a MZ.

As an FP user, as opposed to 'collector' I don't really need another pen. My comittment to myself, at this point, is that I must must relinquish an existing pen to make way for an incoming pen. I can justify better quality, but not increased number.

I do have a pen I'm prepared to let go, but I'll try the stub first before purchasing an MZ. I've been listening to it calling me since it was first released. Glowing reviews have increased the volume!

[TheDutchGuy]

I decided to ... select the EF nib option. ... The only EF nib that is too fine for my handwriting and tastes, is the black ion-plated Pilot Capless EF nib I recently purchased, when used with Sailor kiwaguro pigment ink on Rhodia paper.

Kiwaguro is a fantastic ink, probably the best ink I've ever used, but I use it in pens where I want to tame the line width, because it does that. Putting Kiwaguro in a Japanese EF, that's courageous :-).

 

I've ordered a Leonardo stub nib...

Here's a writing sample I just made with the Leonardo stub.

 

 

Line width of the Leonardo depends on speed on writing, which I like. Casual quick scribbles are narrower, allowing for smaller letters. The caveat is that lines are less crisply defined, though this may change with a wetter ink. Write slow and deliberate, and the nib will reward you with great shading and very crisp lines.

 

Note #1: I don't use much downward pressure, if at all. If you press harder, then obviously nib will respond differently.

Note #2: line width never exceeds 1.1 mm with my stub, which makes sense, since the nib itself measures 1.1 mm (and *not* 1.5 mm, as advertised by Leonardo). Depending on your personal preferences, this may be a blessing or a curse. For me, it's a blessing. I tried several Pineider LGB nibs and they were too wide and too wet for me (apart from the fact that for some reason I could barely get them to write at all, they railroaded a lot, yet others adore them). The Pineider LGB stub is a lot more bouncy than the Leonardo, though. I'd say the LGB stub is as bouncy as my Momento Zero F nib, i.e. *really* bouncy.

 

(The annotations were made with my son's vintage De La Rue with accountant's nib, which writes a very fine line, yet is totally smooth.)

[Karmachanic]

Thank you TDG, this is very helpful. Still lots of shading with fast and casual as well as cursive, which speaks both to the softness and width of the nib. The nib I purchased is on backorder. Patience.

Edited January 6, 2019 by Karmachanic

[TheDutchGuy]

Update on my Furore. After spending lots of time with the steel 1.5mm stub, I've decided that this pen deserves better. The steel F nib in my Momento ZeroMomento Zero is totally amazing. The stub is, welllll, a steel 1.5mm stub. It's not bad, it's certainly not worse than what the competition offers, but it's not great either. One day I'll get a killer #6 stub in there, around 1.0 mm in width. In the mean time I fitted it with an F, because that nib is just... well, let's not repeat myself. The Furore feels quite different in the hand from the Momento Zero, so it's nice to have two amazing writing, wonderful looking pens like this.

Edited January 9, 2019 by TheDutchGuy

[A Smug Dill]

I tried the EF when I was at the store and felt it was quite different to the F. It wrote a much finer line and, as expected, it had more feedback. It struck me as a really good "true EF" (i.e. not something that's a mere 5% narrower than and F yet labeled EF).

That's 'good news' to me, then.

 

It somewhat resembles my Sailor Pro Gear Slim "Ocean" H-MF in terms of line width, and that pen writes a thin line indeed.

Hmmm. My two Sailor koshu-inden pens, both with H-MF nibs (since the koshu-inden models were not offered with any other nib width or option), seems to write differently in terms of line width, possibly due to the different (Shikiori) inks with which I filled them. Neither of them is unacceptably wide, but naturally I prefer a narrower line, so I hope the Leonardo EF nib is close to that. Either way, it certainly sounds to me that EF instead of F is the right (or at least far safer) nib choice for me there.

 

Contrary to the rigid Sailor, the feathery bounce was also there with the Leonardo EF, but slightly less noticeable than with the F because the cushiony feeling was somewhat overshadowed by the extra feedback.

I don't mind a bit of feedback; on the other hand, I've come to worry about a nib being too soft and 'cushiony', if it behaves something like the F nib on my Namiki Falcon. I think it actually blunts the character I inject into my handwriting through minute, frequent fluctuations in hand pressure. I also have a similar problem with the SF nib on my Pilot Custom 74, but funnily enough not the SFM nib on my Pilot Custom Heritage 91 – which leaves a finer line than the SF nib somehow when I write with next to no pressure – or the SF nibs on my Platinum #3776 Century pens. Maybe the real issue is that the point of the nib is not narrow enough, at least when held in normal orientation.

 

I cannot say if my nib is somehow different from other F's, I only tried one.

In the mean time I fitted it with an F, because that nib is just... well, let's not repeat myself.

Another Leonardo F nib? Did the retailer allow you to swap the Stub nib for an F nib post-sale?

[TheDutchGuy]

Did the retailer allow you to swap the Stub nib for an F nib post-sale?

Yes, if I had wanted to. But I elected to keep the stub as a spare. The retailer put the F in the pen for me.

Edited January 9, 2019 by TheDutchGuy

[A Smug Dill]

How much did the extra nib set you back?

[Karmachanic]

€18 @ Fontoplumo

[A Smug Dill]

Karmachanic, thanks for pointing out that Fontoplumo sells Leonardo spare nibs as items on its product catalogue.

[Karmachanic]

It's what we do!

[A Smug Dill]

My new Leonardo Momento Zero in Hawaii resin and fitted with EF nib arrived today. It writes smoothly by leaves way too broad a line to really qualify as a F nib, much less an EF nib; even in comparison with the Aurora and Diplomat EF nibs the differences in line width are very noticeable.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/331106-dont-just-tell-us-about-the-pen-youre-using-show-us-2018-2019/?p=4159036

 

It's a beautiful pen to look at, and nicer to hold than say the Platinum #3776 Century Bourgogne pen which is lighter, squeakier and feels cheaper than the Leonardo, but this EF nib is a complete let-down, I'm afraid. The only saving grace is that it writes OK in upside-down orientation, and then it will lay down a proper EF line.