An Ode To A Great Workhorse Pen: The Kaweco Dia2

[TheDutchGuy]

 

This is a Dia2 with what I believe is a 250 nib, which is a #6. It writes beautifully.

 

I’ve ordered a Bock #076 unit for my Dia2. When I received it about a year ago, I had many other pens in rotation and did not really put the pen into service. Recently, I put Herbin Ambre de Birmanie in it and today Pelikan 4001 BlueBlack. The pen is now a joy to use, far superior to the smallish stock Kaweco nibs. In the writing sample below, I deliberately varied the writing pressure from featherlight to heavy. This leads to dramatic changes in ink flow and line width, totally controllable. I totally love that, but I usually find it only in vintage pens. Only one other modern pen I own has this incredible pressure sensitivity (the Pilot Justus 95).

 

^—taken with articifial light, apologies, but tit still shows the variation with Pelikan 4001 BB.

 

As has been noted before by myself and others, if a Dia2 is fitted with a good nib then it becomes a superb ben. It is extremely well-made and simply melts into the hand.

 

This is going into steady rotation now and is likely to stay in rotation for a long, long time.

[TheDutchGuy]

Another writing sample of the larger #076 nib in the Dia2 and a comparison with some other well-known pens.

 

[MuddyWaters]

 

Ive ordered a Bock #076 unit for my Dia2. When I received it about a year ago, I had many other pens in rotation and did not really put the pen into service. Recently, I put Herbin Ambre de Birmanie in it and today Pelikan 4001 BlueBlack. The pen is now a joy to use, far superior to the smallish stock Kaweco nibs. In the writing sample below, I deliberately varied the writing pressure from featherlight to heavy. This leads to dramatic changes in ink flow and line width, totally controllable. I totally love that, but I usually find it only in vintage pens. Only one other modern pen I own has this incredible pressure sensitivity (the Pilot Justus 95).

 

^taken with articifial light, apologies, but tit still shows the variation with Pelikan 4001 BB.

 

As has been noted before by myself and others, if a Dia2 is fitted with a good nib then it becomes a superb ben. It is extremely well-made and simply melts into the hand.

 

This is going into steady rotation now and is likely to stay in rotation for a long, long time.

Thanks for posting this. Any chance the kaweco is too dry with little pressure? I do like wet pens that leave shiny lines even without pressure.

 

In any case, I am looking for a dia2 for a vintage nib. Looks comfortable.

[TheDutchGuy]

Any chance the kaweco is too dry with little pressure? I do like wet pens that leave shiny lines even without pressure.

 

 

Mine gets exponentially wetter with pressure, which is how I like it. Whether or not it is too dry with light pressure is very personal. I love mine just the way it is.

[Krushna]

It's a nice pen, it's real strength is that it's built like a tank.

I love the retro look, the only thing that could be just slightly better is the nib.

The Kaweco II mounts the same nib as the Sport, and it's slightly small for this pen and stiff.

Here next to two other Kaweco (The Elite and the Sport Luxe)

 

I wish that this was a piston filler like the limited edition Dia2s...

 

Also they should've used the Bock 076 wide shoulder nib, at least, on this pen... this nib looks too small imho.

I get the feeling that Kaweco in general is a brand that could do so much but deliberately chooses to limit itself.

[sansenri]

I swapped the nib with a Bock 076 some time ago, I've never remembered to add a photo, so here it is now (as we were talking of the Dia2 on another thread just now)

[gerigo]

Ohhh... pray tell how is this possible? Are the grip sections of both the Elite and the Dia2 interchangeable?

 

I swapped the nib with a Bock 076 some time ago, I've never remembered to add a photo, so here it is now (as we were talking of the Dia2 on another thread just now)

 

[Karmachanic]

Buy a Bock 076. Unscrew the existing nib. Screw in the 076. Prest o change o! Just like that.

 

https://www.beaufortink.co.uk/blog/upgrading-the-nib-in-a-kaweco-dia2-fountain-pen

 

corrected link

Edited June 10, 2020 by Karmachanic

[sansenri]

yes, that is correct, the original Kaweco nib (which is a 060 Bock) on the Dia2 and on all the Kaweco Sport and others) is interchangeable with the Bock 076, because the size of the screw in collar is the same.

The swap on the Dia2 is perfectly feasible because the space in the cap is plenty enough.

The pen now looks much more proportionate, check vs my previous pic above. The 076 is also a slightly better nib in my opinion, the 060 nibs often come with the times too tight (not difficult to tune them though).

I like this pen and my only gripe was that the nib looked too small on it, now it's much nicer, wonder why Kaweco does not offer it with a 076 by default...

[Ron Z]

Bean counters.... and they had a good supply of the 060 because of the Sport.

 

Glad to see the thread. That dinky nib is my only real complaint about the pen.