Appelboom sent these two very interesting fountain pens for review, and they are a very pretty package! This is not the style of pen I would otherwise pick up for myself. They look interesting and they look clean, but I usually like resin/celluloid pens for how they feel. Usually. Not always. So I gave these pens a good go to see how I felt about them.
ABOUT
Body material of Classic Copper: Copper
Body material of Brassing: Brass
Trim: None
Cord material: Leather
Pen Case: Maple wood
Nib material: #5 Schimdt steel
Filling material: Standard international cartridge/converter
Cap: Snap on
Posts: No
CLASSIC COPPER
Length (capped): 138.2 mm/5.44"
Length (uncapped): 119.2 mm/4.69"
Length (posted): N/A
Length (section): 23.7 mm/0.42"
Diameter (barrel): 10.2 mm/0.40"
Diameter (section): 7.6 - 9.2 mm/0.30" - 0.36"
Length (case): 138.0 mm/5.43"
Width (case): 21.2 mm/0.83"
Weight (all): 50 g
Weight (cap): 20 g
Weight (body): 30 g
BRASSING (black)
Same length/diameter as Classic
Weight (all): 46 g
Weight (cap): 16 g
Weight (body): 30 g
Price: $126.03 USD
Where to buy: Appelboom -
Brassing |
Classic
Discount code: 10% off with 'friend'
PACKAGING
The YStudio fountain pens are beautifully presented! I was not expecting such elegant packaging from solid metal pens - I was expecting something more "daily carry" style and less "super pretty". Silly assumption, of course, because the YStudio packaging is daily carry AND super pretty! Nice clean corners, finished, and put together in a great package.
The boxes are quite large compared to the size of the pen. The first layer is a thick paper sleeve in either black with gold writing, or white with copper writing. The sleeve has a boxed border around the print: the weight of words, portable fountain pen, classic/brassing, and the YStudio logo at the bottom.
The box is a solid, dark wood with gorgeous striations and gold characters on the top. There is a small hole in the lid of the box which makes removing the slim lid easy. There is a rice paper pen guide inside, which is also quite elegant. The rice paper is doubled up so it is a little thicker and fairly tough, and it has a stitched binding. It gives information about YStudio, the Brassing series, nature of materials. how to use the contents, etc. Along with this, there are two leather cords (brown, black), two brass beads (one for each pen), and a maple wood case to house the pen. The Brassing pen comes with a sheet of sandpaper for removing the black paint should you wish. Whereas the copper will patina, the Brassing won't change much unless you do some work on it.
The presentation makes me think of the Japanese pens - limited edition sailors and Pelikans, and Nakayas - which are presented in lightweight wooden boxes. They are not particularly ornate but they are very classy. These pens are made in Taiwan with great care, and I think the attention to detail is obvious in both presentation and the finishing of the pen.
APPEARACE
The YStudio Portable fountain pens are on the smaller side compared to most of the other pens I usually use. Both pens are hexagonal with distinct edges and flat, blunt ends. The top of the caps have holes for the leather strings, and for using the carry cases (or both). If you don't use the leather thongs, I think they look pretty cute as is.
The cap and barrel snaps together with all the facets aligned, and if it doesn't, you can just rotate the cap until they match. The barrel is engraved with the logo and "YStudio". The Classic Copper pen is all copper and the Brassing is matte black with brass edges peeking out. The Classic has a copper section, whereas the Brassing has, not surprisingly, a brass section. It's a slender section that tapers slightly towards the nib. The copper is bright and shiny when it is new, and the Brassing has a matte black finish.
The case is round and smooth, made of black wood with a screw on cap and a hole in the top for the pen cap to sit in. That's it. Simple case. The pens are also quite simple, but I like the compact, clean design. They look well made and unique, and they certainly are a different look to my pen case!
NIB & PERFORMANCE
Both pens have a gold-plated medium steel nib. The #5 nibs are made by Schmidt - they have a single slit, no breather hole, and they are engraved with "Schmidt Iridium Point" with some flourishes.
Both are medium nibs and overall, they work well. Drying times are average, around 30 seconds with fairly wet ink flow. The nibs are on the firm side, they did not skip or hard start during normal writing. With a bit of pressure, a little line variation is possible. On smooth paper, I could feel a little slipping from the nibs being slightly dry - but once they were going, ink flow was consistent. Not the most amazing or unique writing experience ever - I think both nibs could use a quick tuning (made slightly wetter) but they work pretty well. I did not find them skippy mid letter, which is good. A hard starting nib is pretty easy to tune up, and it doesn't
really need it, but to make them ideal, that's all it would take.
The converters were included and worked well. Makes inking and cleaning quick and easy. They're also pretty affordable to replace should you break or lose it.
IN HAND
No clips here, but the whole idea of the portable system is you can either use the wooden case to carry your pen/attach your pen to things, or just attach the leather string to the hole directly, without the case. I tried using the case to tote the pens - all you do is put the pen cap through the slot in the case, tie your leather thong to whatever you want to hang your pen from, and tie it up. Then you can either carry the pen in the case with the barrel, or without the case barrel - then you just uncap the pen and you have your pen in hand!
You don't have to use the wooden case, of course. The pens are metal and they are pretty tough - they can easily handle being bumped and tumbled around, so they don't need to be protected by the case. I like the idea of tying my pen to my bag and always having one at the ready. I did not have any ink burps into the cap because the pen was often facing upwards. On the other hand, this meant the pen occasionally dried up a little and I had to lick the nib to get it writing quickly. (OK... I didn't HAVE to lick the nib, but I did because it's the fastest way to get it going). The pen did not randomly uncap itself and there were no inky messes. The downside is if you want to quickly remove the whole pen, you can't - you have to untie it first!
The sections are slender, smooth, and feel nice because there are no threads. Even though they are slender, I found the shape comfortable and the material was not slippery. Given the width of the sections, there will probably be some out there who will find it way too thin for use.
Unposted, the pens are compact but feel comfortable in hand. Well balanced, no effort to write with. I love how the metal warms up on the Classic Copper more than the Brassing, which is smoother. They are not so big and heavy that the metal bodies feel unwieldy. The caps cannot be posted, so you have to be able to use it unposted.
These are metal pens and that penny smell is definitely there. I did not find it overwhelming and although the smell rubbed off on my hands while writing, it wasn't too strong. That's a good thing, for those of you who like metal pens but hate the penny smell.
The Brassing pen comes with a sheet of sandpaper in the box that you can use to remove the black paint from the surface. I like the black pen as it is so I have not experimented with taking off the black paint (it also seems like a messy affair). The copper pen has developed some patina after months of use, but it took some time to get to the stage it's at now. I've seen other copper pens that have developed a patina much faster. The copper section changed more than the brass did.
PROS & CONS
Classic Copper
OVERALL
These are interesting pens! They are well presented, and the packaging includes everything you need - instructions, leather cords, carry case, converter - so you get the box and you're ready to go with some ink and paper. They are quite versatile in how you can carry and use them, they write well, they are definitely durable, and I think they are interesting to look at. The biggest downside is the price - I'm not saying $126 USD is too much, but the Euro amount at 130,00 is painful! However, if you like metal pens, these are a great choice - compact, tidy, pretty.
I received these items free of charge for the purposes of this review. I was not compensated monetarily for my review. Everything you've read here is my own opinion.
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