While trolling Etsy last month, I came across an interesting-looking fountain pen from a brand I wasn't familiar with. After watching a couple of enthusiastically-positive YouTube reviews about it, I decided to take the plunge and ordered it. Meet my new Kanwrite 'Heritage' fountain pen....
(all photos by Maja ~ please click on images to enlarge)
Made by Kanpur Writers, a family-owned pen manufacturer founded in 1986 and located in Kanpur, India, the 'Heritage' fountain pen is a piston-filling fountain pen that's about the size of a Pelikan M800 (although it's slightly bulbous in the middle). I got mine from 'WriteNowTreasures' on Etsy for $38 USD/$52 CAD, including free trackable shipping from India.
It's a lovely acrylic pen with a swirly white cap, section & blind cap, and a beautiful, multi-coloured (predominately orange) resin barrel which lives up to its name -"Fire Blast". The Heritage comes in several different acrylics, as well as a demonstrator model.
One of the YouTube reviews I saw mentioned that the pen was reminiscent of an Indian mace called a gada, likely due to its distinctively-shaped, unadorned cap top (see photo above). There's a plastic inner-cap liner to prevent the pen from drying out when inked, which is a nice feature. The cap itself screws on and off the barrel in 2.5 turns (which may or may not irritate some people :)
The simple 23 gold-plated clip (with "KANWRITE" stamped on it) reminds me of my Noodler's 'Konrad' fountain pens (most of whose parts were made in India), as does its piston-filling mechanism. If you don't clip your fountain pens to your shirt pocket, the clip
should be fine---it clips onto a dozen sheets of paper easily--but it is quite tight. The very top of the cap unscrews, though, and the clip is removable, so theoretically you could adjust the clip tightness by carefully bending the clip slightly outward after removing it.
The section is nicely flared and matches the colour of the cap and blind cap (I think that's what initially drew my eyes to the pen). The ink-view window has two attractive 23K gold-plated rings on either side of it. The ink-view window can't be seen when the pen is capped, but that's a relatively minor point.
The piston-filler unit has a true blind cap that covers the clear
plastic turning knob. Note: the plastic turning knob has a smell that many find off-putting (ditto for many Noodler's brand fountain pens). This is from the material the pen is made of - Cellulose Acetate Butyrate (CAB). Thankfully, the blind cap covers the turning knob, so the smell isn't noticeable unless you remove it. On the plus side, CAB is considered eco-friendly and is tougher than Cellulose Acetate.
My 'Heritage' pen has a #6 size, two-tone gold-plated steel BB (double-broad) stub nib, made in-house by the manufacturer. They make both steel and gold nibs in a variety of nib widths (from XXF to BB) and there are also flexy, ultraflexy, oblique and stub options available for their pens.
The BB stub on mine writes very well and lays down a true stub line that's slightly wider than my 1.1mm Lamy italic nib's. There is definitely some "feedback" when writing with the nib, so if you're expecting a butter-smooth writing experience, this might not be the nib for you (unless you want to get yourself some nib-smoothing material and smooth the nib...carefully). Personally, I like the nib's toothiness on rougher paper, and more importantly, I've had no problems with skipping, railroading or hard-starting.
According to the official website's description, the 'Heritage' model's nib and ebonite feed are in a "replaceable screw in nib unit", but I wasn't able to unscrew it from the section. Erring on the side of caution, I didn't try to force it after a couple of tries. The nib and feed are friction-fitted into the nib unit, though, and can be removed fairly easily (tip: remove the nib first by pulling it straight out-- rubber gloves really help---and then remove the feed).
According to the Etsy seller, the total weight of the pen (uninked) is 28 grams. The length is 61⁄16 inches capped...
... and 611⁄16in inches posted. Without its cap, it's 57⁄16 inches long - long enough for me to use comfortably unposted. When posted, it is very long, but it's incredibly well-balanced. It's a fairly light but chunky fountain pen with a section diameter just a tad over 0.5 inch (at the barrel threads) that feels really good in the hand.
All in all, an attractive, well-made fountain pen and at slightly over $50 CAD shipped (in an oval metal box with a small cleaning cloth), I think it's a good deal for a piston-filling fountain pen (especially with a factory BB stub nib).
For a comprehensive review, check out this excellent YouTube video review.
~Write-up & photos by Maja
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