Fountain pen review ~ Conklin Mark Twain Crescent Filler (Rainbow LE)
I was recently listening to the PBR podcast and the owner of YAFA brands, Yair Greenberg was on. He’s clearly a passionate and lovely man, dedicated to pens and the people he works with. He said the Crescent Filler WAS Conklin. I totally agree with him.
Another lovely observation from this episode and many others, is Roy’s opinion that Conklin is often the gateway brand for many going from <$30 pens to something more, but who may not be ready to spend >$100. I totally agree!
Conklin is a very special brand to me for exactly these reasons. I honestly believe their offerings are incredible for the price range they operate in. I now have a number of Conklin pens, most of which I bought in the “acquisition phase” of the hobby. I’m trying to off load some of them now, but that’s a post for another day.
2021 was the year of rainbow pens, I don’t know why and I don’t really think this hobby is political enough to tie itself to those trends either. I think it was just coincidence. Of my rainbow collection so far I have, the Durograph matte black rainbow, TWSBI Vac700r Iris, Monteverde innova anniversary and a couple of others. This Conklin is by far one of my most interesting so far.
Grail rainbow pen: Visconti Watermark Rainbow.
There are many reviews for this pen, it’s an old pen with a rich vintage history, so I’m not going to discuss the vintage history of this pen as there are far better & qualified folk out there who do a better job than me. I want to just give you my personal thoughts on this modern version.
In this review, I’ll go over my favourite features of this pen and what I don’t like. I’ll picture some writing samples with different inks, to give you a feel for how it handles various types of ink. In summary, I’ll discuss why this pen is in my collection and whether this pen is truly worthy of being a GP’s pen!
First things first, lets discuss this “profanity saver” crescent! This is the most iconic part of both this pen and the brand. I believe this is what Yair meant, when you think Conklin you think crescent filler. Yair revived the brand in the 1990s and I’m so glad he kept the crescent. It’s not the most subtle of filling mechanisms, nor is it convenient or easy to clean. In this metal version, it makes the pen quite heavy, but I like heavy pens. I also know that eventually the silicon sac inside is going to explode and need to be replaced BUT it’s a damn beautiful piece of art, engineering and history so I’m glad I have one. There’s now many versions of the Mark Twain but I collect rainbow pens so this version was for me.
It works like a simple bladder mechanism, like how you fill your bulb syringe with your hand. You depress the crescent, it’s attached to a bar that squeezes on a sac inside the pen, the air is expelled out of the nib, you submerge the nib in ink and release the crescent and ta-da, ink gets sucked into the sac. There’s a plastic c-ring on the barrel under the crescent so it “locks” the crescent so you don’t accidentally squeeze it either writing or whilst in storage. So, you have to have the C “open” so the crescent can depress past it when filling, duh!
Pros
I do like the weight of this pen. This version is metal and hefty to hold. As of writing this review, it’s not sold out. I actually like the black Jowo omniflex nib. It’s not the flexiest nib in the world and it definitely takes a bit of VERY careful loosening up, but it does give some line variation with a bit of extra pressure. I don’t use a lot of pressure when writing so I don’t get much use out of a flex nib, but I wanted to try it out. If doing fancier calligraphy writing or doing my signature slowly for some reason then maybe it could work? I doubt it. I primarily enjoy this nib because it’s a JUICY smooth writer. Flex or no, ink properties look great with this nib, the flow is great and it’s really smooth to write with. I like a smooth nib on some papers, especially with juicy western writers and a slight feedback on some papers with finer Japanese nibs so this fits my tastes nicely.
I’m a bit sick of Jowo sticks popping up everywhere, so having the omniflex nib adds a bit of variety to my collection. That being said, it’s easy to swap out the nib on these pens and they’re interchangeable with all other Jowo sticks out there.
I do enjoy the limited edition of this pen. It comes “signed” and numbered, so that makes me feel warm and fuzzy and special inside.
As I said before, having a novel filling mechanism in my collection is great. I like the clip, it’s unique, very functional and easy to use. It’s not so hard that its ripping my shirt pocket either. It’s a quick, easy unscrew of the cap so using it as a desk pen is no problem.
I do love that the cap and crescent will line up if you find the correct thread for it. For my pen case however, I don’t like the idea of the crescent sticking up and getting bashed in transit, so I tend to cap it so the clip and crescent are perpendicular. This way, as the clip faces up the crescent points to the side and is much less likely to get damaged/depressed in my pen case/bag. By no means is this a pen that needs to be babied, but I’m not keen to get it scratched or dropped or anything.
Cons
One really has no idea how much ink the pen contains. Given it’s solid design and juicy nib, I just assume that every time it starts to “hard start” and skip that it’s out of ink. Which seems to happen a lot! You can’t tell from the weight of the pen if its empty. However, on numerous occasions I’ve gone to “refill” the pen and depressed the crescent inside the ink bottle and ink has hosed out of the nib. So, it’s clearly not empty, but still behaving as though it is. I don’t know.
I’m not game enough to undo this pen to either check this issue or for the cleaning, which means this pen is a pain in the ass to clean. I’m forever pressing and releasing the crescent waiting for it to come back with clear water — just never seems to happen. Eventually I give up and just put in whatever ink I want to use next and hope with time the mixing won’t be an issue. As a rule I don’t use sheen or shimmer in this pen. I used to remove nibs for cleaning a lot when I first started in this hobby, but I find that you’re only opening yourself up for trouble later down the line. So, I don’t use the nib removal method to clean this pen either, but it is an option I guess.
Sometimes the crescent is in the way when writing, it’s next to impossible to write reverse because of it and if you hold your pen in anything other than the traditional “dynamic tripod grip” I think it’ll get in your way. For example, cross thumb, thumb wrap, thumb tuck, transpalmer and interdigital grippers will never write with this.
The issue with juicy writers is that in my line of work, this means ink gets everywhere, smudges everywhere and writing can be illegible. One can only really use this pen on long form slower activities, such as letter writing or journaling where you can give the ink time to dry before turning the page.
Writing samples
I apologise for my horrendous writing sample images, but this pen is a wet writer. On crappy copy paper it feathers all over the place and reverse writing on any paper is scratchy and horrible. Like I said I use it journal and write letters with so on “better” paper it’s behaved and ink looks fantastic. With the GVFC moss green in my Endless notebook, you can almost see the ink meniscus as the ink sits on the page slowly drying, this also brings out wonderful shading properties too.
Like I said, the nib isn’t soft or bouncy and one has to really press to get any flex out of it. Saying that once I braved pressing it down a few times it did get a little softer, but I’m not game to do that again. I’d say be very careful!
Why is this pen in my collection?
It looks great, the colours and varieties of this pen are growing so there’s something for everyone. Its a unique and modern take on a vintage pen. The filling mechanism is novel, the crescent is iconic and many of the issues with vintage pens have been taken care of in this modern iteration. People who want something of a throw back will really enjoy this pen.
It’s a heavy pen, solid writer for long slow “writing for pleasure” activities with a nice juicy nib. I don’t need to baby this pen and of course it’s a great conversation starter.
I have one now so I don’t need another.
Is this a pen fit for a GP?
Nope, no way. The ink capacity/visibility issue is a big one, especially if the nib is fire-hosing on my scripts and forms. The ink doesn’t dry in the time I’m done with notes, signatures and forms and hand them to a patient. Smudges all round!
Cleaning is a pain as well as filling. Can you imagine my embarrassment as I’ve had to fill my pen in front of patients? Staring at me like I’m a lunatic, with my tissues and ink bottle and inky fingers. I can hear them thinking, “just use a ballpoint you idiot”. Never!
Paired with the crappy copy paper we use all day, feathering and slow drying are disastrous to deal with. It looks great and is a wonderful long form writer, but doesn’t work in an office GP situation and for doctors on the move it’s a no go.
Thanks so much for reading and remember no matter who you are, “first, do no harm.”
