Why Is Nobody Talking About Santini Italia Pens?

[Honeybadgers]

You carry fountain pens while working as a paramedic? Brave. When I was still a journalist, I carried the cheapest notebooks and pens because of the abuse they may take or my talent for losing stuff (pens, not notebooks). I was stupid enough to still wear expensive sunglasses and lost two pairs covering events. Even now, in quieter waters, expensive fountain pens stay at home and I only wear cheap sunglasses.

 

 

Fountain pen in one breast pocket, Fisher AG-7 (now the one-off AG-11 prototype they gave me) in the other one.

 

I've only ever had to chase down my ballpoint once. Nurse tried to steal it when I handed it to her. I don't really lose things, I'm very deliberate about where I set anything around me. I did forget a pair of cheap sunglasses once, but didn't care enough to go back and get them, though I knew where they were.

 

And then I forgot I lost them. Went back to the hospital 7 months later and they were still sitting right where I left them in the medic room, lol

Edited January 11, 2020 by Honeybadgers

[penzel_washinkton]

Santini Italia also offers a Chinese calligraphy nib option, which piqued my interest. Further conversation with Katrina, and looking more closely at some more photos of the nib and its output, seem to suggest that it's similar to the Aurora Goccia nibs, which in turn take after the Sailor Naginata togi nibs' design. I don't think Santini has any particular "standard" for the exact geometry (including how wide the tipping's contact surface is at which angle) though, nor does it offer a number of distinct width grades for that type of nib. At a guess, based on the look of two or three Chinese hanzi characters shown in a marketing photo, the "default" is between a Naginata togi NM and a NB. That's okay if you want to write in kaishu script to fit a 10mm grid, but probably not for me when I prefer my Chinese writing to be legible (as in having visibly distinct strokes) at one quarter that size to fit a 5mm grid; I can't even trust a Naginata togi NMF nib to properly support my handwriting, even though I get by just fine with with Sailor's other (steel and gold) MF nibs.

 

I'm sure Santini can make a narrower version of that nib for me if I so request, but I doubt my own ability to define and communicate the specifications well enough to get the right outcome.

 

Or maybe I can try and convince them to make me a Fude de Mannen nib!

 

 

Haha, I thought I was — and still am — very positive in my opinions, expressed on FPN, of Sailor's gold nibs and blue-black pigment (i.e. souboku and seiboku) inks, Dan Smith's nib customisation work on my Pelikan M600 Vibrant Orange, these particular Muji notebooks (so much so that I bought several dozen of them at once on a return visit to the store), the Pilot Justus 95 and Daiso-Hauser fountain pens, and so on.

 

Which Daiso Hauser color pen that you've got?

These pens also surprised me, writes fairly smooth and have a nice flow to them.

[A Smug Dill]

Which Daiso Hauser color pen that you've got?

 

 

Multiples of both the deep blue and the light grey. Gave one of each away last weekend.

[Iscribe]

Held a few models at a pen show last November. The fit and finish was not great, in my opinion.

[MuddyWaters]

Fantastic posts in this thread. Thanks dill and badgers, I hope your Santini pens are to your liking.

[jchch1950]

Held a few models at a pen show last November. The fit and finish was not great, in my opinion.

 

I'm interested in your opinion because I have to buy a Santini pen by mail .Thanks.

[A Smug Dill]

Smug,

 

I do hope that you find the results of what you are requesting to be just as you had ordered.

 

I received delivery of my Santini Calypso pen this morning, and have since flushed it and inked it up with Aurora Black, to give it "a fair go" without having to contend with the peculiarities of this Noodler's ink (which I'll never put in this pen anyway) or that Diamine ink.

 

Right now I'm rather conflicted as to how I feel about the pen and the nib. It's as if I really like >90% of how the nib performs, but when it falls into that last 9% territory it is really annoying. Same goes for how I feel about the pen body or the pen as a whole. I'll give it a few days to see if there's a breaking-in period after which either it adapts to me or I adapt to it.

 

For what it's worth, it's not much of exaggeration to say I've never written with a nib quite like this (in a good way), and in terms of line width and variation it delivers what I expect — >90% of the time, except when it doesn't.

 

I really want to figure it out.

[A Smug Dill]

After a day and twenty pages of "writing samples", the nib performance issue seems somewhat resolved, and the incidence of hard starts and skips has been greatly reduced. Where I said "9% territory" yesterday, it's now in the 1%–2% territory. Part of it seems to be that the nib has become "wetter" after all that writing, even though I kept the same ink in there (and, yes, I did flush the nib with a very dilute solution of detergent and ammonia yesterday before starting); that "improvement" came at the price of a very slight loss of crispness.





My particular (or even peculiar) demands aside, the nib is very good — fine enough for a "Western" Extra Fine, smooth^†, now quite wet-flowing, and "bouncy" soft due the long tines, but not so entirely devoid of feedback that it just physically slips and glides all over the page. I consider it to be "expressive" for different handwriting styles I employ.



I've written to Santini Italia about a small issue with the finish, and Katrina has been very responsive and accommodating, so we're working through that now.

^† I did ask specifically to have the EF nib customised to an Italic style grind, so somewhat sharp corners — especially straight out of the box — are not unexpected.

[ingolf]

I spoke about Santini ...

... and here is a review (in German only)

https://schreibkultur.requirements.de/?p=1590&lang=de

 

Regards, Ingolf.

[praxim]

Lovely pen and review thank you Ingolf. I could be tempted out of pen semi-retirement for one of those.

 

Smugs, thank you for the further writing examples. While that is not my choice of nib, it fairly represents my general experience writing with a Santini using less complex forms.

[Karmachanic]

I spoke about Santini ...

... and here is a review (in German only)

https://schreibkultur.requirements.de/?p=1590&lang=de

 

Regards, Ingolf.

 

It was your November review that brought Santini to my attention. Thank you!

Edited January 21, 2020 by Karmachanic

[sansenri]

thank you so much Ingolf.

My Santini is a Libra Ambra too, and with such fine picture as your I don't need to take any more...!

 

your comments on the nib from google translate:

"In short ... first class.

The nib from own production writes softly and glides smoothly over the paper.

The B-nib is a B-nib, i.e. it writes wide and wet. When choosing the ink, make sure that you use an ink that is not naturally too wet. It's really fun to use the Libra Ambra to put the ink on the paper."

That is my opinion too, I like the long tines, they give the nib a bit of springiness which reminds me of early Aurora nibs (with long tines). A nice experience.

 

@ASD fantastic writing!, impressive how you change writing style with ease...

[Carrau]

It was your November review that brought Santini to my attention.

And me. Vielen dank, Ingolf.

[Paul-in-SF]

I have two Santini pens now, one a Libra in Royal Blue with gold trim, and one Colors model with black and gold trim. I haven't written with them much yet, so at this point my reactions are mostly to the look and feel, fit and finish.

 

The Libra is a piston fill. The piston mechanism is a bit unusual in that the knob doesn't move in or out, it stops when the piston is extended all the way, and starts to ratchet when it is all the way in. The size and weight are pretty good for me, it's pretty girthy but I suppose that allows for more ink storage. The cap comes off in less than 1.5 rotations. It has a rolling ball gold (plated, I presume) clip, and a slim gold band between the barrel and the knob. The section is fairly long, tapered with a flare at the end, and made of the same material as the barrel. The pen posts if you want, but it won't be necessary for most people. My only visual complaint is the too-wide and too-gaudy cap band. The milled edges really are overkill for me, it would have been much better without them. It looks like they are trying to impress with the wrong thing. I ordered the full flex nib on this one, and so far this large nib seems to be living up to its description. I haven't had any writing problems out of the box, so far. Oh yes, with the flex nib you get an ebonite feed.

 

The Color model is more modest. It is a cartridge/converter pen. The cap twists off in less than one turn. For decoration the cap has a gold plated clip band surmounted by a rounded shiny black finial with the company logo on top, a gold non-rolling ball clip, a narrow gold cap band and below that the cap ends in the same shiny black material which is rounded down to the barrel. The section is the same shiny black material, and there is a narrower gold band between the section and barrel. The pen is overall smaller (shorter and slimmer) than the Libra, although the nib is the same size. There is a rubber gasket on the section threads, which seems a bit odd since you can't ED it (metal threads in the barrel) This pen also posts, but you have to push the cap onto the barrel due to a thin inner plastic cap liner, it seems like a bit of an afterthought, maybe because the cap would have wobbled without it. Anyway, it works ok. My only complaint about the appearance is the end of the barrel, which is just a flat end drawing together the barrel material into a central nexus. Considering the rest of the pen, I think a short flat black finial would have finished it off better. I have a Fine nib on this one, but have only written a few lines so far.

 

Both pens feel substantial and well put together to me. The Libra weighs 31.43 grams with ink; the Colors weights 36.78 grams with (less) ink. I just checked the inside of the barrel, and it is lined with metal, which at least partly explains why it's heavier. I hope corrosion in there doesn't become an issue.

 

Summary: the Libra is definitely worth the relatively small step-up in price from the Colors, even if you question one of the design choices like I did. On the other hand, I can see the Colors pen being more of an EDC while the Libra would probably stay at home. I don't "love" either one of these pens, but then I don't know why I would expect to.

Edited January 22, 2020 by Paul-in-SF

[A Smug Dill]

The Aurora 88 EF nib shown above isn't nearly the finest of my Aurora 18K gold EF nibs, and it looks to me that Santini Italia's EF nib is broader than that. Neither of those comes close to the Pilot Capless F nib shown above.

 

I picked FWP Bluegrass Velvet as the ink for the comparative tests because it has a wide "shading" range, which helps tell me visually how relatively "wet" or "dry" a nib (or line) is.

[katerchen]

Any of you guys tried their factory stub?

 

-k

[A Smug Dill]

Any of you guys tried their factory stub?

 

 

Not me; I only have the one Santini Italia pen. I can contemplate buying another in the future, but it certainly won't be with a Stub nib. I'll probably be sending Santini writing samples done with a Pilot Namiki Falcon SEF nib, and asking whether their "Flexy" nib — with or without customisation — can match that, ahead of placing an order. Actually, now that I have dealt with Katrina and Santini, I'd trust them enough to send them my SEF-nibbed Namiki Falcon (with prior express agreement, of course) and let them try it for themselves and see what I would be expecting; but it's the cost of my sending the pen to Italy, and the (marginal) shipping expense on their part to return it to me, that gives me pause. Only if both sides are sure that my expectations will be met, and the purchase is in all likelihood going ahead, that I'd impose on them like that.

 

On that note, Katrina and Santini are just completely delightful and deal with, and very responsive to the feedback I've given them, even though you probably all know I can be very critical down to the last detail, and a total PITA. Now I just have to find the time to actually write the pen review, which is what I generally wouldn't do on FPN, but in part I feel I owe it to them to publish one. (Just to be clear, I paid for the pen myself as any other customer would; my feeling of obligation is based on the personal attention and courtesy they have shown me.)

[katerchen]

Well, I should be able to answer my own question and report back in a couple of weeks or so, as I ordered a Cherry Ebonite with a stub

 

-k

Edited January 31, 2020 by katerchen

[YonathanZ]

My favorite pen shop now carries Santini Italia pens:

https://fontoplumo.nl/2020/02/01/santini-italiana-pens-now-available/

[Theroc]

I think they are fantastic pens for the money.

I own the Costa Smeralda and I simply love it.

The aesthetics of their Colors series (~$200, 18kt) are, lets say, questionable. However, the Libra and Toscana series (both ~$270 18kt) are classic Italian and quite tasteful, imho. You can expect to pay twice as much for similar pens from more established brands.

 

For those who find their website too slow, they also have an ebay store

You can still specify the nib you want with any pen.