During the recent conference downtown, I had a chance to get away to the Fountain Pen Hospital to check out some of their wares. One pen I saw online was Conklin's Herringbone series, based on Conklin's 1923 Duragraph pen. This new pen features a herringbone pattern engraved underneath a clear colored acrylic wrap that allows the pattern to show through.
On the website this pen looks like a subdued light pink. In person it practically glowed! It is one large pen, with a large nib and clip. I like the styling on this, the way Conklin has placed its name everywhere it can: the crown of the cap, the clip, and especially the nib where it's in a gold-plated oval surrounded by silvery iridium. The band around cap features the Conklin "C" and half-moon crescents.
Above is the pen next to a TWSBI fountain pen with a fine nib, as a comparison of the two sizes. While the capped TWSBI is slightly longer than the Conklin, the latter is a much bigger pen.
The bright, deep pink is only one of several colors for the Herringbone model, the other that I was interested in is a bright teal. If you're interested in a large, colorful, noticeable fountain pen than the Conklin Herringbone is for you.
But how does it write? I have had bad experiences with Conklin pens in the past and have vowed never to buy another. I'd love it if I could change my mind.
ReplyDeleteIt writes quite well, I didn't take a pic of the writing as I was pressed for time. I don't get much dry starts or skipping, the ink seems to flow smoothly through the feed and there's not much of a problem as far as I can tell. It's a medium nib but not too garishly wide for my taste. Hope that helps.
ReplyDeleteI like the looks of that one!
ReplyDeleteWell according to my point of view, It is really a great pen. I think that the special ink inside the pen is really hard to detect on paper.
ReplyDeleteI purchased a Conklin last fall and have ceased to write with it because of the way it writes. Mine is an M nib, and I experienced an abundance of dry starts and skipping when the pen was new, but as I continued to write and experiment with various inks, the dry starts and skipping became less frequent. The reason that I don't write with it is because its writing is extremely wet. It will bleed through lesser papers and lie like a puddle of ink on thicker papers until the book is closed, leaving a mirror image of your writing on the opposing page. Beautiful pen, though.
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