Entertaining and informative as always! Was watching some of your 2-3 yr. old vids earlier so I was pleased to see a new one tonight! Thank you, my Friend for all you do! May God bless you and yours!
In India pens from the same manufacturer are sold for as low as $3. For the price these are very decent , they perform well as eyedropper filled. Great Review as Always!💕
2:36 Kanwrite is the OEM for FPR and Noodlers. The ebonite feed of Ahab is the standard KW Heritage and Emperor. In india people can get the desire nib customised with this ebonite feed. The feed is as is very wet flowing hence its not a very required update. 5:22 the slider converter is the older version of desire and the new converter is much better and holds more ink than normal converters in the market. I have the old model and the converter was a major irritation for me. Now they have hit it out of the park.
The ebonite feed would work fine with dryer inks and/or finer nibs. For those who use glitter/sheen inks, they would really like the ebonite feed in this pen. Regards
Note re: ebonite feed: A comment that is in my notifications, but isn't appearing here (I don't know why) brought up that Kanwrite does produce the Desire with an optional ebonite feed. For those in the US, FPR doesn't offer than model, but they do sell the same feed. It's the 6.3mm #6 ebonite feed. You might double-check this with Kevin at FPR just to be sure. They are just $3 at the time of this comment.
I use a Pilot Custom Heritage 912 with the fabulous Falcon flex nib Flex heaven with the great Pilot Con 70 converter using it's supplied Pilot feed. No worries. Never had a problem
Had I started out with this Kanwrite, there'd be no need for the others. The decisions would be down to getting the best looking and performing ink. Collecting fountain pens is a recently acquired hobby, it's a mistake of thinking the higher the price the pen, the better the writing experience. The Kanwrite fine point nib is such that I'd like that same nib in some of my other pens, so that I may enjoy them as much as the Kanwrite.
I don't think I have any screw-in converters except for Ahabs, which I'm sure would receive scowling fury if I called it a converter. I wonder why they are not more common as this style would make me feel more confident that the converter is not going to shake loose & come unseated.
I've my reservation about ultra flex or anything actually flex, even like G Pen flex, I'm actually looking for that hard, minimum flex/semi-flex for small drawing with tipping for some smoothness, but I don't want to flex and fill with pigmented ink to my amazing EF 14k Custom 74, so I hope it will do, dryness is a bonus too
Thanks for great video. I happen to own 2 of these, of which one of them now has a jowo 1.1 stub. However you cant use the jowo feed that comes with the unit, and you need to use the original feed that comes with the pen.
You can buy kanwrite units threaded to fit a pen which accepts a Jowo or bock nib unit... And you can order with or without a nib and they're relatively inexpensive
Kanwrite has 5.5 size nibs which are available in india for 1-2 dollar range with varying degrees of flex and points. I have their 3 dollar saloon and i can put any of their 5.5 nib i want.
For flex pens, the nib is half teh battle. the underappreciated other half is the flow. The flow is the biggest problem I have with FPR pens. For me at least, adjusting the flow is a lot harder than adjusting the nib.
It always makes me think when most modern pens seem to require silicone grease to use them as an eyedropper filler. I have a 1912 Mabie Todd Swan C2 eyedropper filler that has never needed anything like silicone grease, and even the vintage screw in nib units didn't need anything extra to seal well. (Almost 90 year old, well used Esterbrook ones still seal well.) What changed in the last 100 years to require silicone grease? 🤔 I've read (on Fountain Pen Network) that the Ahab is virtually identical to the older model of the Desire. Looks like Kanwrite update a bit. And got rid of the ebonite feed that I can still find in some Kanwrite pens on eBay. Looks like really that the only design that was changed with the Ahab originally was the clip. Having a true vintage flex pen, I am pretty sure that most modern flex fountain pens are what they'd have called "semi flex" at best. Even my "flex" Esterbrook nibs are not really that flexible, IMO. I do plan to get at least one Kanwrite, and have really been looking at the Desire. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this pen! God bless, James!
I believe Kanwrite may be the manufacturer of the FPR Jaipur V2's Ultraflex nib, too, which I'll review in a couple weeks. It really does have a great spring to it, more than I expected.
They flex as much, but require more pressure to do so. Main issue is usually the modern feeds can't keep up if you really flex it. So the issue is more with the feed than the nib. Sure vintage is easier to flex, but the key is that the feed can keep up when flexed, and not dump ink when not flexed. The modern attempts fail at one or the other.
Have you tried using your Kanwrite as an eyedropper? Even with the plastic feed, I learned that just using the pen as an eyedropper, the flow became much better.
I haven't, but it leaks as a sieve as is, so can't think that it wouldn't get worse on that count. Might try anyway to see if it helps with the feed starvation.
for me i have a bad experience with that kanwrite desire from the start having trouble with the silicon grease in the converter , then the nib is too wet it becomes blots when writing and then there's the grip section that cracked it seems like a flimsy plastic material.
Happy birthday. You're right, the ebonite feed is there to provide more ink flow. That's where people rin into problems with the Zebra G nibs on Jinhao pens. The Jinhao feeds can't provide enough flow. Chrisrap just pulls out the utility knife and opens the channel in the feed wider. Ebonite is expensive so it's cheaper to throw away a couple Jinhao feeds if you make a mistake. Isn't it great to have him around? He does the stuff that we're too scared to try. I know that the pen was a gift, but do you know where your wife got it? Edit - nevermind. I found the link.
@@JG3Reviews I have been meaning to stuff the Zebra nib into one of my Jinhaos, but got enough flexing out of my Kanwrite that I haven't gotten to it yet. Also watching Nathan of Noodler's Ink mod nibs gave me courage to convert some cheap Wing Sung nibs to stubs and oblique stubs. Easy to have courage when the whole pen and nib is under five bucks. Had to spend lot of time polishing it using chrisrap52's favorite mesh tool, but eventually they came out as a pretty decent stubs in the 1.0 to 1.6 mm range. (The size of the original nib and feed wouldn't let me go bigger than that.)
Kiwipens also sells a whole range of Indian made pens. Plus some separate nibs, and even Kanwrite nibs in Jowo nib units, so you can just screw that into any Jowo unit based nib holder.
@@JG3Reviews thanks It's help a lot I don't like wet nib as I always write on cheaper paper. My fav. Nib right now is kakuno fine and kanwrite super flex nib that best on cheaper paper
I keep being their pens and don’t get the same results. I don’t find these to be very reliable pens. Noodlers Ahab doesn’t really flex much either. Very disappointing.
I'll review the Ultra-flex nib in a Jaipur (which also fits the Kanwrite) soon, and it is much more what I think most of us expect in a flex nib. These are marketed as flex, but I definitely think the expectations of them have to be semi-flex. The difference between the two nibs is night and day.
Entertaining and informative as always! Was watching some of your 2-3 yr. old vids earlier so I was pleased to see a new one tonight!
Thank you, my Friend for all you do!
May God bless you and yours!
Thank you, sir, glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for showing indian pens the pens u mentioned are too notch quality pen with very less pricing I love these pens I too have them
In India pens from the same manufacturer are sold for as low as $3. For the price these are very decent , they perform well as eyedropper filled. Great Review as Always!💕
In India they are sold at 745 INR. That's about 10 US Dollars, not 3.
22$ at Ebay store
Yups, would like to buy at 3$ but unfortunately they are more like 10$
2:36 Kanwrite is the OEM for FPR and Noodlers. The ebonite feed of Ahab is the standard KW Heritage and Emperor. In india people can get the desire nib customised with this ebonite feed. The feed is as is very wet flowing hence its not a very required update.
5:22 the slider converter is the older version of desire and the new converter is much better and holds more ink than normal converters in the market. I have the old model and the converter was a major irritation for me. Now they have hit it out of the park.
The ebonite feed would work fine with dryer inks and/or finer nibs. For those who use glitter/sheen inks, they would really like the ebonite feed in this pen. Regards
".. like some people you know with a problem .." - I'm not alone ! :-) Great review and penmanship James!
😆 Thanks
I trust your reviews so I ordered one today. Thanks 🙏 so much for what you do!
I hope you enjoy it!
Great review James I did actually like your birthday pen better, have a happy birthday and God bless
Thanks 👍
Note re: ebonite feed:
A comment that is in my notifications, but isn't appearing here (I don't know why) brought up that Kanwrite does produce the Desire with an optional ebonite feed. For those in the US, FPR doesn't offer than model, but they do sell the same feed. It's the 6.3mm #6 ebonite feed. You might double-check this with Kevin at FPR just to be sure. They are just $3 at the time of this comment.
I have three fpr ultra flex nibs, and they’re my favs so far, but I recently learned about Ackerman fountain pens that take g nibs for dip pens.
I use a Pilot Custom Heritage 912 with the fabulous Falcon flex nib
Flex heaven with the great Pilot Con 70 converter using it's supplied Pilot feed. No worries. Never had a problem
Had I started out with this Kanwrite, there'd be no need for the others. The decisions would be down to getting the best looking and performing ink. Collecting fountain pens is a recently acquired hobby, it's a mistake of thinking the higher the price the pen, the better the writing experience. The Kanwrite fine point nib is such that I'd like that same nib in some of my other pens, so that I may enjoy them as much as the Kanwrite.
What other pen you have that you can say the kanwrite is better
You can use#6 kenwrite nibs for bock #6
I LIKE TO BUY ONE AFTER YOUR REVIEW. THANK YOU
If you buy will kanwrite pens directly from their website then they will provide you an option of choosing feed between plastic and ebonite.
Maybe it will accept an ebonite feed from noodler's? That would be an interesting idea for another video.
Thank you for the video.
My thoughts exactly. Glad you brought up this idea.
You can actually request kanwrite directly for a desire with an ebonite feed instead of the screw in nib unit.. the feed is the same as the Ahab's one
I don't think I have any screw-in converters except for Ahabs, which I'm sure would receive scowling fury if I called it a converter. I wonder why they are not more common as this style would make me feel more confident that the converter is not going to shake loose & come unseated.
I can see why some would prefer it. The construction overall is quite good.
I've my reservation about ultra flex or anything actually flex, even like G Pen flex, I'm actually looking for that hard, minimum flex/semi-flex for small drawing with tipping for some smoothness, but I don't want to flex and fill with pigmented ink to my amazing EF 14k Custom 74, so I hope it will do, dryness is a bonus too
This may be a fit. It's definitely a much firmer flex than say, a Pilot 912 FA or FPR Ultra-Flex. It takes effort.
Thanks for great video. I happen to own 2 of these, of which one of them now has a jowo 1.1 stub. However you cant use the jowo feed that comes with the unit, and you need to use the original feed that comes with the pen.
Good to know. I have a couple of the JOWO 1.1s and they have been great nibs.
You can buy kanwrite units threaded to fit a pen which accepts a Jowo or bock nib unit... And you can order with or without a nib and they're relatively inexpensive
Kanwrite has 5.5 size nibs which are available in india for 1-2 dollar range with varying degrees of flex and points. I have their 3 dollar saloon and i can put any of their 5.5 nib i want.
For flex pens, the nib is half teh battle. the underappreciated other half is the flow. The flow is the biggest problem I have with FPR pens. For me at least, adjusting the flow is a lot harder than adjusting the nib.
Try vsign antic and kanwrite desire pens these two company pens have best flow smoothest nibs
It always makes me think when most modern pens seem to require silicone grease to use them as an eyedropper filler. I have a 1912 Mabie Todd Swan C2 eyedropper filler that has never needed anything like silicone grease, and even the vintage screw in nib units didn't need anything extra to seal well. (Almost 90 year old, well used Esterbrook ones still seal well.) What changed in the last 100 years to require silicone grease? 🤔
I've read (on Fountain Pen Network) that the Ahab is virtually identical to the older model of the Desire. Looks like Kanwrite update a bit. And got rid of the ebonite feed that I can still find in some Kanwrite pens on eBay. Looks like really that the only design that was changed with the Ahab originally was the clip.
Having a true vintage flex pen, I am pretty sure that most modern flex fountain pens are what they'd have called "semi flex" at best. Even my "flex" Esterbrook nibs are not really that flexible, IMO.
I do plan to get at least one Kanwrite, and have really been looking at the Desire. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this pen! God bless, James!
I believe Kanwrite may be the manufacturer of the FPR Jaipur V2's Ultraflex nib, too, which I'll review in a couple weeks. It really does have a great spring to it, more than I expected.
@@JG3Reviews Thanks! Might have to check it out!
They flex as much, but require more pressure to do so. Main issue is usually the modern feeds can't keep up if you really flex it. So the issue is more with the feed than the nib. Sure vintage is easier to flex, but the key is that the feed can keep up when flexed, and not dump ink when not flexed. The modern attempts fail at one or the other.
Maybe it was because those older pens use ebonite body.
@@houghwhite411 With the Esterbrook Renew Points, the threaded portion and the section weren't ebonite. Just the feed. Again, no leaking.
Have you tried using your Kanwrite as an eyedropper? Even with the plastic feed, I learned that just using the pen as an eyedropper, the flow became much better.
I haven't, but the next time I refill, I'll try it.
I haven't, but it leaks as a sieve as is, so can't think that it wouldn't get worse on that count. Might try anyway to see if it helps with the feed starvation.
for me i have a bad experience with that kanwrite desire from the start having trouble with the silicon grease in the converter , then the nib is too wet it becomes blots when writing and then there's the grip section that cracked it seems like a flimsy plastic material.
Thanks for letting us know. If I run into any similar problems I'll pin a comment and add an update to the description.
Hi James, another great review, may I know the size of the flex nib that you use in the video? is it size F or M? thanks
Thanks! I'd consider it a F, though Fountain Pen Revolution (the seller I bought from) only lists it as Flex.
Happy birthday. You're right, the ebonite feed is there to provide more ink flow. That's where people rin into problems with the Zebra G nibs on Jinhao pens. The Jinhao feeds can't provide enough flow. Chrisrap just pulls out the utility knife and opens the channel in the feed wider. Ebonite is expensive so it's cheaper to throw away a couple Jinhao feeds if you make a mistake. Isn't it great to have him around? He does the stuff that we're too scared to try.
I know that the pen was a gift, but do you know where your wife got it? Edit - nevermind. I found the link.
Yes, I really appreciate his videos. I have a Wing Sung that I was inspired to repair after seeing him do that, and it worked perfectly.
@@JG3Reviews I have been meaning to stuff the Zebra nib into one of my Jinhaos, but got enough flexing out of my Kanwrite that I haven't gotten to it yet. Also watching Nathan of Noodler's Ink mod nibs gave me courage to convert some cheap Wing Sung nibs to stubs and oblique stubs. Easy to have courage when the whole pen and nib is under five bucks. Had to spend lot of time polishing it using chrisrap52's favorite mesh tool, but eventually they came out as a pretty decent stubs in the 1.0 to 1.6 mm range. (The size of the original nib and feed wouldn't let me go bigger than that.)
Kiwipens also sells a whole range of Indian made pens. Plus some separate nibs, and even Kanwrite nibs in Jowo nib units, so you can just screw that into any Jowo unit based nib holder.
I have this with a BB tipped nib .
When you said, "What's it got?" I thought you were going to say a converter. LoL
I can see why that would be expected. lol
Is the nib of kanwrite is good as kaweco or twisbi? I only have kanwrite and I like to try kaweco or twisbi nib
The Kaweco and TWSBI (esp. the TWSBI) write a good bit wetter than the Kanwrite, at least in my experience.
@@JG3Reviews thanks It's help a lot I don't like wet nib as I always write on cheaper paper. My fav. Nib right now is kakuno fine and kanwrite super flex nib that best on cheaper paper
Flex ? Maybe slightly soft...
Agreed. They are marketed as flex, but I'd say semi-flex.
I keep being their pens and don’t get the same results. I don’t find these to be very reliable pens. Noodlers Ahab doesn’t really flex much either. Very disappointing.
I'll review the Ultra-flex nib in a Jaipur (which also fits the Kanwrite) soon, and it is much more what I think most of us expect in a flex nib. These are marketed as flex, but I definitely think the expectations of them have to be semi-flex. The difference between the two nibs is night and day.
What do you call a Kanwrite pan that doesn’t write?
KANTWRITE.
Ba dum tss. 😆