Today I made time to do a pen swap. My Kaweco Special Brass will be replaced by the TWSBI VAC700 R. Time to take a closer look at the brassy thing. And off we go…
For the impatient: link to my ready-to-ink TWSBI VAC 700 R. Curious about the brass videos, click here.
Most of the pens I own (my Notion database says it’s just under 37%) I buy in a fountain pen store. I know this isn’t always cost-effective, but the opportunity to try out pens and the contact with the sellers is invaluable. I also believe that buying local is a form of support for the community. So I bought the KAWECO Special Brass at Penworld.be, a well-known store located in Antwerpen. They offer a large assortment of stationery, also online. I paid 95 Euro for this pen (today it’s around 100 Euro)
The name of the fountain pen already suggests that the body of the pen is made of brass. What exactly is brass and how is it made? Brass is an alloy, a metal, made primarily of copper and zinc. The proportions can differ depending on the type of brass. At the end of this post I have added two videos explaining brass and the process of it.
The KAWECO Special brass is a cartridge/converter fountain pen. It has a straight octagonal thin body with screw cap. Due to the brass metal it weighs around 31 gr., which means that she can be considered one of the heavier pens.
The cap is a screw cap that needs 3 turns to get off the barrel. I think this is way too much. The pen cap is tightened to a rubber ring of the section, so that the cap is tightly sealed and the ink has no chance to dry out. There is no clip on the cap. On top of the cap you find the aluminium KAWECO logo. Many times when I unscrewed the cap, the section came out of the barrel. This is really disturbing.
In terms of design, the pen looks very simple and sleek, nothing fancy, discreet, which makes the metal brass the point of attraction. When you first use the pen, the brass is shiny, but after some time it gets a certain patina, a natural tarnish that appears on the surface of brass. You can clean this, but be aware after using the pen for a couple of days it reappears. Cleaning the brass is a personal thing.
The barrel has the same look of the cap. On the barrel ‘KAWECO Special FP Germany’ is etched. On top of the barrel there are threads for posting the cap. When posted the pen becomes, for me, too long (almost 17cm). The thing about posting the cap is that the octagonal facets of the cap and barrel are not aligned. Many people will not pay attention to this, maybe I pay too much attention to detail, but this is also part of my duty to do an honest review and to pass on what I find.
You can unscrew the barrel from the section, count 8 turns for this. As mentioned above, the cap is sealed with a rubber ring between barrel and section. For inking the pen you can use a cartridge (standard international) or a converter. The section is very short which means that for some there is a chance that their fingers will rest partly on the threads of the section. At least I didn’t have any problems with the grip, but just be aware.
Then the most important thing, the writing performance! The pen is equipped with a KAWECO stainless steel medium nib. This nib writes really soft. No scratchy feeling at all. This medium is really spot-on, a delight to write with. You can get some line variation out of the nib. Too bad the nib doesn’t support reverse writing. If the nib would not suffice, you can simply unscrew this unit (nib and feed) from the section and replace it with another one. Simple as that! Nice to know for cleaning purposes: you can pull out the nib and feeder out of its holder by using gentle power.
The pen comes in a very nice embossed tin box. Included is a blue ink cartridge, manual and KAWECO sticker.
As a general conclusion, I can say that, despite the problems with the alignment, I am a fan of this pen. She exudes a certain attitude and is powerful in her simplicity. It is certainly not perfect, although the imperfections are hidden in a small corner. What you pay for this pen is just justifiable. Recommended? Yes, it is!
What do you think of this KAWECO Special Brass? What are your thoughts or experiences?
TWSBI VAC 700 R – eyes wide open!
This pen has been already for a while in my fountain pen collection, untouched. Finally today I will be inking this pen with a wonderful ink. The VAC 700 is a vacuum filler with a clear body and a stunning titanium finish. This pen is one of the most expensive TWSBI fountain pens, so my expectations are high on this one. If I can stick to my fountain pen rotation system I will use/test this pen for about 2 months followed by an in-depth review.
Peacock pens 
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