I backed the Ink fountain pen from Karas Customs last December. Like other Kickstarter projects I’ve backed, the pen was late, but it’s here now. Here are my first impressions after using the pen for an hour or two.
This is Karas Customs first fountain pen but their fourth Kickstarter pen and sixth KS project overall. I backed at the early bird level for the silver anodized aluminum fountain pen. The pen is available in a rollerball version but that was meaningless to me.
It’s been awhile since I backed the project so I had forgotten what to expect. My first reaction was “Holy @$%@, that’s big!” The pen arrived in three parts: pen body (and cap), gripping section/nib and the converter. Each part was sealed in it’s own plastic pouch. Assembly and filling instructions were included along with a discount code for an second Ink. Even though it arrived in pieces (probably because a rollerball version was available and would have had a different section). Assembly was easy and no different than most fountain pens these days. The section just screws into the barrel.
I decided to skip the pre-ink cleaning which is what I think most people will do. I immediately filled it with Montblanc Mystery Black. When I first started writing the pen felt strange. Not uncomfortable, just strange. I finally figured out the my hand didn’t like the difference between the gripping section width and the width of the barrel. I got used to it after about a page of writing and don’t notice it anymore. The threads are big and a little sharp, but the section is long enough so that my grip doesn’t rest directly on the threads.
The fine nib is made by Schmidt. Flow is good. It’s not the smoothest steel nib I have but it is smooth. A look through a loupe shows that the tines are slightly misaligned. I haven’t experienced any skipping with the pen and I wouldn’t call the nib scratchy so the misalignment isn’t significant.
The pen is big and heavy, although the pen body is not as heavy as it looks and it’s very comfortable to write with. I’ve only written a few pages so I can’t really speak to fatigue, but I don’t expect it to be a problem. The pen cap feels heavier than the body but this is an allusion created by having most of the weight in the clip. The pen body is 26 grams (with the converter and ink) and the cap is 16 grams. I don’t post my pens and this one is plenty long enough to use unposted. The cap does post but it doesn’t feel secure to me. Plus, the cap makes the pen very long and very top heavy. With much of that weight in the clip I also find it unbalanced.
Speaking of the clip, I love the look of the clip but it’s solid aluminum with no spring to it. Because of this it won’t grip the material unless its thick enough. It’s secure in the shirt pocket I have today because the material is folded over and sewn at the top. It may be less secure in the typical dress shirt pocket. There’s also no give for really thick material but in my case it does fit in a Franklin-Christoph Penvelope case which is probably the thickest material I’ll encounter.
Overall the Ink has a machined look to it which I like. It both looks and feels solidly built. The aluminum finish does collect fingerprints but they aren’t too distracting and I do have to look closely to see them.
My early bird price was $60 and at that price the Karas Customs Ink fountain pen is a terrific value. At the regular pledge price of $70 it’s still an excellent value. Brass and copper sections do cost a bit more. They still aren’t up on the Karas Customs website so the final price is unknown, but I’d say anything under $100 is a good value. The fit and finish are great and the pen feels like it will last forever.
Update: After storing the pen nib up overnight it didn’t start in the morning. I ended up having to prime the feed. Since this hasn’t been a problem with the ink in other pens I suspect there’s some manufacturing oil in the pen and a cleaning would have been better rather than jumping right in.