Black

Pen review of the Sailor 21 black pocket pen.

After having written a review on a black Platinum pocket pen, speaking about its Sailor counterpart is only natural—and boring. But this is my daily pen these days.


1. Appearance and design. (6/10)
Again, a formal black pen for shirt pocket. The accents are more silvery than golden. The nib, however, is golden in color and material.

As mentioned for already reviewed pens (I, II), this is a Japanese product of the 1970s. And, I add now, on the more formal style. But at the same time, it is a handy and convenient design.

2. Construction and quality. (7/10)
This pen had been used when I got it in my hands. It shows some tear and wear on the cap, mostly. The adjustment between cap and barrel and cap and section is perfect despite the years of use. And that is especially important for the writing comfort in a pocket pen.


3. Weight and dimensions. (8.5/10)
Standard size for a pocket pen. Well balanced.

Dimensions:
Diameter: 11.0 mm.
Length capped: 118 mm.
Length uncapped: 99 mm.
Length posted: 146 mm.
Weight: 12 g.


4. Nib and writing performance. (8.5/10)
Very smooth fine nib in 21 K gold. There is no indication of the actual point. The nib engraving only says “Sailor, 21 K, -2-“.


The ink flow is just perfect for this nib. The demands are easy to meet as the nib is very rigid.


5. Filling system and maintenance. (5/10)
A Sailor pocket pen does not give you many options—you must use, or re-use, Sailor-proprietary cartridges of 1.1 ml in capacity. This is, nonetheless, quite enough for a fine nib.

There existed converters for these pens, but they are long out of production.

The adaptation of the current converters to these old pens presents a problem in the bore of the section—it is too narrow for the metallic part of the converter to fit in. There are exceptions to this general rule, but that is not the case of this particular pen.

Regarding maintenance, there is nothing complicated on this pen, as is the case on most cartridge only pens.


6. Cost and value. (8.5/10)
Cheap pen, good writer. Therefore, good value.


7. Conclusion. (43.5/60=72.5/100)
Good pen for daily use. Boring looks and proprietary cartridges with no possibility of converter take many points away. The nib scores very high.

(Sailor 21 black pocket pen – Sailor Brown)

Bruno Taut
(Inagi, July 10, 2010)
[labels: Japón, Sailor]