Sailor Professional Gear
I had such fun writing my last post, here is a new one in quick succession.
The story goes that I was on r/Pen_Swap about to buy a Sailor 1911 Realo but was unsure of the F versus the M nib. So I walked into my favourite store WonderPens here in Toronto to try the nibs. Already with a lot of guilt in my heart, I knew that I would save a lot of money if I bought off of the common Reddit group.
So I walked in and guiltily greeted my friend, one of the shopkeepers at Wonderpens, who I asked if I could see an F and a M nib for Sailor. We got to chatting, and I fell in love with the Sailor Professional Gear she had there, but didn't know if I wanted to buy the other pen... within 5 minutes, I came to the conclusion that I was kidding myself if I didn't support my local pen shop.
So I walked out with my very own beautiful orange (thanks to the shopkeeper's wonderful recommendation) Pro Gear! She said "Buy the orange, then your co-workers won't accidentally think it's a $1 pen", since I was deciding between this and the demonstrator. Truthfully, I always have a fascination with demonstrators but can't seem to pull the trigger on one yet... I may go back and get a TWSBI just to do it for a third time to see if it really is the charm... But for now, this is one sexy sailor.
Ahoy! Unlike the 1911, there is a finial on this pen which is a beautifully done anchor. It is raised and has a texture when I run my finger over it. If I had a shirt pocket, this is one subtle and amazing finial to be sticking out.
Many people say that the Sailor his the homage pen to Montblanc, and certainly I can see that for the 1911 model, but this Pro Gear is certainly a Sailor pen. It does have the 2 bands at the base of the cap that are very Montblanc-esque, but hey, who cares. This pen is something super special!
Around the thick band says: Sailor Japan Founded 1911.
The clip is snug, it's a one piece metal piece that fits underneath the black finial. It should not come out of your pocket if you have it clipped there... I keep this baby in a pen sleeve or pen holder in my messenger bag.
The cap uncaps with almost 3.5 turns, so that's quite a bit. Definitely changes how I use this pen. Unlike my previously reviewed VP, this pen is not a jotter. It is a sit down and journal at the end of the day pen. It is the pen that I will grab if I write over 4 lines of text. It is the one where each word that I write comes out of it with beauty and makes me not want to stop writing.
The girth of the section and the pen are thick, and it is very nice even with my small hands. It has become my favourite pen to hold when writing, and that's why this is my go-to Journal Pen.
Well, everyone seems to love photos of nibs and I can never understand... except for this one. My goodness, I filled it also once with an orange ink, and those decorative grooves get filled in with the colour ink you fill the pen with. Amazing touch. Not only that, it's a large nib and it is gorgeous. This is the 21K model. I did also try the 14K in the Pro Gear Slim at WonderPens, and it is also a beautiful albeit smaller nib. However, this one really shines because of how soft 21K is - and I'll expand in the writing sample.
Each pen's tines are tuned and inspected by Sailor so, this pen wrote beautifully right (write haha) out of the box. It is a weird mix of smooth with a "feedback"... I was always afraid of what this feedback meant - was it smooth? was it toothy? was it scratchy? Compared to my beloved Lamy 2000 F nib which is like hydroplaning with a nib, this has a similar feel except you can also feel the grains in paper. This means I prefer to use it on Tomoe River when possible because in the end, I don't like feedback... I like it to hydroplane. Of course, this is up to the preference of the user. Don't be swayed against this nib though - it's smooth as ever, there is no tooth, it is not scratchy, it just vibrates slightly so you can feel your paper. Despite my love of gliding, I absolutely love this nib.
So what are its cons? 100% the converter - holding only 0.5mL-ish of ink... it's small! But that being said, it still takes me between 1-2 weeks before having to fill it - and I write approximately one A5 page per day with it, every day, because it's my favourite Journal Pen. Other than that, it is slightly annoying you need to turn the cap 3.5x to get it closed - compared to the just less than 1 turn for my Pelikans.
Overall, this pen is fantastic, and it is a beautiful colour. Here it is with my orange Dot Pad on what can honestly be called the most utilitarian looking laptop ever. And just like my ThinkPad, it is not only gorgeous, it is also a my daily desk pen.
Here is the writing sample below:
The nib is juicy, and look!!!! Line variation that is quite significant since the 21K is very soft. I wouldn't push on it and pretend that it is Flex though, it's not... but it does offer what I like to call an airbag to your writing, so that just a little extra downstroke pressure that you normally do makes your writing beautiful. The line is a true Western F, being a Japanese M. I should have put my Lamy 2000 up there with it, and certainly the Lamy F is even thicker than this Japanese M.
There it is! My second post ever into the bloggisphere. Please shoot me any questions or comments or criticism (ok maybe not) you have. Hope you consider this Journal Pen. And remember, your neighbourhood pen shop is always the way to go :)
The story goes that I was on r/Pen_Swap about to buy a Sailor 1911 Realo but was unsure of the F versus the M nib. So I walked into my favourite store WonderPens here in Toronto to try the nibs. Already with a lot of guilt in my heart, I knew that I would save a lot of money if I bought off of the common Reddit group.
So I walked in and guiltily greeted my friend, one of the shopkeepers at Wonderpens, who I asked if I could see an F and a M nib for Sailor. We got to chatting, and I fell in love with the Sailor Professional Gear she had there, but didn't know if I wanted to buy the other pen... within 5 minutes, I came to the conclusion that I was kidding myself if I didn't support my local pen shop.
 |
| Sailor Professional Gear next to VP and Leutchtterm A6 slim notebook |
 |
| The finial! |
 |
| Montblanc-esque |
Around the thick band says: Sailor Japan Founded 1911.
The clip is snug, it's a one piece metal piece that fits underneath the black finial. It should not come out of your pocket if you have it clipped there... I keep this baby in a pen sleeve or pen holder in my messenger bag.
The cap uncaps with almost 3.5 turns, so that's quite a bit. Definitely changes how I use this pen. Unlike my previously reviewed VP, this pen is not a jotter. It is a sit down and journal at the end of the day pen. It is the pen that I will grab if I write over 4 lines of text. It is the one where each word that I write comes out of it with beauty and makes me not want to stop writing.
The girth of the section and the pen are thick, and it is very nice even with my small hands. It has become my favourite pen to hold when writing, and that's why this is my go-to Journal Pen.
 |
| Sexy Nib Shot |
Each pen's tines are tuned and inspected by Sailor so, this pen wrote beautifully right (write haha) out of the box. It is a weird mix of smooth with a "feedback"... I was always afraid of what this feedback meant - was it smooth? was it toothy? was it scratchy? Compared to my beloved Lamy 2000 F nib which is like hydroplaning with a nib, this has a similar feel except you can also feel the grains in paper. This means I prefer to use it on Tomoe River when possible because in the end, I don't like feedback... I like it to hydroplane. Of course, this is up to the preference of the user. Don't be swayed against this nib though - it's smooth as ever, there is no tooth, it is not scratchy, it just vibrates slightly so you can feel your paper. Despite my love of gliding, I absolutely love this nib.
So what are its cons? 100% the converter - holding only 0.5mL-ish of ink... it's small! But that being said, it still takes me between 1-2 weeks before having to fill it - and I write approximately one A5 page per day with it, every day, because it's my favourite Journal Pen. Other than that, it is slightly annoying you need to turn the cap 3.5x to get it closed - compared to the just less than 1 turn for my Pelikans.
The nib is juicy, and look!!!! Line variation that is quite significant since the 21K is very soft. I wouldn't push on it and pretend that it is Flex though, it's not... but it does offer what I like to call an airbag to your writing, so that just a little extra downstroke pressure that you normally do makes your writing beautiful. The line is a true Western F, being a Japanese M. I should have put my Lamy 2000 up there with it, and certainly the Lamy F is even thicker than this Japanese M.
There it is! My second post ever into the bloggisphere. Please shoot me any questions or comments or criticism (ok maybe not) you have. Hope you consider this Journal Pen. And remember, your neighbourhood pen shop is always the way to go :)
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