Indian Fountain Pens

P.S what do you think of the workmanship? Bizarrely the ASA site has a review from a guy who is not that complimentary over fit and finish. £30 is still too much too pay if it is not up to my exacting standards!
 
P.S what do you think of the workmanship? Bizarrely the ASA site has a review from a guy who is not that complimentary over fit and finish. £30 is still too much too pay if it is not up to my exacting standards!

Apologies for late reply, but for some reason this didn't come up in my notifications.

As I recall, it was about 2 weeks from India to the UK.

Regarding quality, mine is the green mottled ebonite ASA Daily. The quality is perfect, and the fine pitch body threads needed for use as an eyedropper are possibly the best-cut I've seen in a long while. I suppose the clip could be a bit posher, but it would then look out of place on what is, after all, a workhorse fountain pen for people who use one daily, and often through the day.

I haven't been too happy with my nib choice, so I've bought a couple of different ones from Schmidt in the UK. The gold plated ones are under £5, and, as they are the complete unit which just screws straight in, it takes less than a minute to change.

These Indian pens are now among my favourites. They're light enough to carry in a pocket ( unlike my Italix pens), but are of a length and girth which suit me. If you don't like big pens, then they probably won't suit.

I also love the distinctive smell of the ebonite.

As I think I mentioned, the only downside is the front flange preventing nib immersion in the small plastic Diamine bottles. I get over this by using KZW and Heroin inks in wide-mouth bottles.
 
It seems like good value I will treat myself later but with a converter.I would appreciate recommendations on a good ink @Ferrum that is water resistant but not iron based. I used to use a Cross fountain pen but their ink (in cartridges) was nowhere near to the same standard as the pen. I have been using Uniball gel impact pens recently because though the pen is cheap plastic, their tamper proof archival ink is terrific. I keep journals and I know if i accidentally knock over a glass of water the work will not be ruined.
 
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It seems like good value I will treat myself later but with a converter.I would appreciate recommendations on a good ink @Ferrum that is water resistant but not iron based. I used to use a Cross fountain pen but their ink (in cartridges) was nowhere near to the same standard as the pen. I have been using Uniball gel impact pens recently because though the pen is cheap plastic, their tamper proof archival ink is terrific. I keep journals and I know if i accidentally knock over a glass of water the work will not be ruined.

Waterproof ink is a tricky topic. I personally use it only with a dip pen, as most of my notes aren't too important, and I tend to protect any that are from getting wet. I use Indian ink and have used Rapidograph ink, but wrecked a couple of Rapidograph points with the latter, through dry-out.
I've heard good things about Platinum Carbon Ink, which isn't apparently an iron-gall ink, but still needs plenty of throughput and attention to cleaning. The other ink you might wish to look at is KWZ iron gall ink. It is produced in colours, some of which have a low gall content, and one is reckoned to be close to ordinary ink. Again, there are many caveats on frequency of use and pen hygiene etc. KWZ is a one-man handmade ink operation, in Poland - http://kwzink.com/language/en/
I think the only UK source for KWZ is Bureau Direct : - https://www.bureaudirect.co.uk/kwz-iron-gall-ink#b
I use the normal KWZ ink, and it's great stuff.

Perhaps it's a bit theoretical, but, based on past experience with "fast" (as in lightfast/waterproof) inks, I think that a broad nib with plenty of wetness is essential. When I have tried such inks, either in fountain pens or in dip pens, thin nibs never seem to give good results, but plenty of problems.

The good thing with these pens, when used with a converter, is that the whole guts of the things can be got out quickly for soaking and cleaning. The screw-in nib and feed unit (in my case Schmidt) can be just unscrewed, unlike the push-in units with separate nib and feed; and the converter can of course be pulled off and soaked. By the way, Schmidt also do reasonably-priced converters. See http://www.schmidtpenrefills.co.uk/
 
I have ordered one and yes on doing some research I have found that permanent iron gall and pigment inks can be pen killers if not cleaned through. This may be ok on a cheap Parker but not on a quality pen! I will get the normal ink.

It is great that this guy is selling pens at such a good price. India makes some great fountain pens but they are hard to get. The entrepreneurial spirit is painfully lacking in some makers when asking to ship abroad. I rang Kim and Co in Kerala to ask if they would mail abroad and they said no! Ratnam and Guider pens will ship abroad and the price, like ASA is cheaper than say a UK sold Varuna at £70.

Thanks for putting me wise on inks!
 
I have ordered one and yes on doing some research I have found that permanent iron gall and pigment inks can be pen killers if not cleaned through. This may be ok on a cheap Parker but not on a quality pen! I will get the normal ink.

It is great that this guy is selling pens at such a good price. India makes some great fountain pens but they are hard to get. The entrepreneurial spirit is painfully lacking in some makers when asking to ship abroad. I rang Kim and Co in Kerala to ask if they would mail abroad and they said no! Ratnam and Guider pens will ship abroad and the price, like ASA is cheaper than say a UK sold Varuna at £70.

Thanks for putting me wise on inks!
There is another source, which is a US-based outfit called Fountain Pen Revolution. http://fountainpenrevolution.com/index.html
They have a reasonable range of pens (including Guider), priced in USD, and which cost about the same as the ASA direct from India. I'm not sure exactly how FPR operate, but, looking at their shipping information, it seems that the arrangement is that an order is placed and paid for with FPR in the USA, and they then communicate it to the chosen pen manufacturer in India, whence it is shipped out to the buyer, who may be anywhere in the world, at a shipping rate of $3.
A lot of the pens listed are some form of plastic other than ebonite and the prices appear to run from about $6 upwards. I have no idea why what would seem to be potentially a cheap pen is dear, and vice versa.
I'm not planning any immediate pen purchases, but I will consider FPR when I do. Although I'm an ebonite fan, the FPR Triveni acrylics are nice and colourful (brash?).
 
I like the ebonite myself. I have written to Guider direct and waitiing for them to get back to me with a quote. I am hoping bargains are to be had. I would think FPR marks them up quite a bit like ASA but they are still good value. Ratnamson sent me a catalogue and a medium pen from them without shipping (at Indian prices) are £5 for a steel nib and £30 for 14ct. Let's see what they say.
 
Might be worth writing to them and asking them maybe. Schmidts are good workhorse nibs.

As to Ratnamson: not heard a dickybird since I made an order enquiry. I don't want to deal with Western intermediaries really as I am after a bargain!
 
Just out of curiosity, these Schmidt nib units, is there a list compatible pens (Chinese maybe) that they will fit on.

Not that I know of. If you look at the Schmidt UK website, you will see that the nibs and feeds are one unit. Some are screw-in, and others the push fit. Indian pens can have either, but I prefer the unitary screw-in models. My observation is that push-fit Indian pens use the two-piece nib and feed (see FPR reference below), but that's not to say that one-pieces won't fit.

I have experience only of Jinhao Chinese pens, and all mine have the separate nib and push-in feed. This is good in one respect, as I made one into a flex nib fountain pen by replacing the nib with a flex Zebra.

Of course, apart from getting the correct feed, it's also important to match the nib and feed in these two-piece arrangements.

The Nibs section of the FPR website is worth a look, and there is also information on the US pen specialist Goulet's site; along with some links to their YouTube videos.
 
Might be worth writing to them and asking them maybe. Schmidts are good workhorse nibs.

As to Ratnamson: not heard a dickybird since I made an order enquiry. I don't want to deal with Western intermediaries really as I am after a bargain!

Quite right about intermediaries. My purchase direct from ASA required some application, but worked out fine in the end.

On this subject; well, sort of. I live "in the sticks", and the nearest city is Norwich, which has a small but flourishing community whose roots were, or are, in the subcontinent. Their shops have all manner of interesting things besides food, but I have never seen a single Indian pen for sale.

I can't work out why, with the longstanding ties between our countries, there is apparently no UK entrepreneur apart from Andy's Pens in this marketplace. I doubt there would be sales running into tens of thousands, but I'd love to be able to go to an Indian shop, and buy pickles, chapattis, a stainless tiffin box and a nice fountain pen at a very reasonable price.
 
The Fountain Pen Network have a Ranga group buy going on at the moment. These are supposedly one of the best Indian ebonite pens you can get and what Andy's market as a Veruna:

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/f...and-3c-group-buy-christmas-2016/#entry3738767

Thanks for that. I'm a member of FPN, but haven't been there lately. The model I have is the 3C in the swirled olive green, and I've been thinking of getting another in a rather more colourful finish. I may well join in.
 
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