Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Kaweco Lilliput fountain pen


I know, I know, it has been an awfully long while since I last posted something on my blog. I've been really busy working for school, and I just couldn't find any spare time to work on a new post. Luckily I have a week off, so it is time to show you another pen!
And I decided to review a very small one... the Kaweco Lilliput! This is another pen from the big care package, sent to me by Sebastian from Kaweco! So thank you Kaweco for providing yet another great product!



The Lilliput is Kaweco's smallest pen series consisting of a ballpoint pen and this fountain pen model, in either this black, or a natural aluinium colour. I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't only Kaweco's smallest fountain pen, but just the smallest one available on the market these days! 

Even though it isn't much shorter than the Sport pens ( 9.7centimetres long/ under 4 Inches, 8mm shorter than the sport pens), it still looks much smaller, mainly because it is a lot thinner, as you can see in the picture above, it is only slightly wider than an international cartridge! This makes it a truly perfect pocket fountain pen! 


The pen is completely made out of thin machined aluminium parts. Every part fits just perfectly, which make this pen feel very sturdy, though it still remains very light.

Now obviously, writing with the cap unposted is not an option, it is so ridiculously small when uncapped, it just tends to dissapear in my hand, and I don't even have large hands! But Kaweco fixed this by adding a threaded section on the back of the barrel. This way, the cap can be posted very securely, and it transforms into a normal sized fountain pen! When posted, the lilliput is actually very comfortable to hold. The grip section has that typical concave shape, and I probably mentioned it a hundred times before, but I really like this shape because it is easy and comfortable to hold! The pen might be a little thin for my taste, but that's just my personal preference. 

Because of the small size of this pen, the Kaweco Sport converter won't fit, and it can only hold one international cartridge at a time. Which might be a minor drawback for some people, because not everyone likes using cartridges. But I solve this by filling empty cartridges from a bottle of ink using a syringe. It needs some practise to get this done without making a mess, but it also allows you to use any ink you want!



The understated design works really well on this pen. The laser-etched engravings at the cap are very small and they don't interfere with the overall clean looks of the pen. The aluminium barrel is annodized, but surprisingly, the finish is much glossier than on most annodized pens I own, it almost looks like it is polished (even though that probably isn't possible!) .


Kaweco sent me this pen with a Broad nib installed on it, I decided to try it out with this configuration, but it didn't really suit me. The combination of a small pen with a broad nib just didn't feel right!


Don't understand me wrong though, the nib is great (as usual), it is a very smooth nib, but I just dont't like it on this particular pen. It's a fairly dry writer, but it didn't skip either. It did however, feel like it recuired a certain amount of pressure to keep it going, which made writing with it slightly less comfortable!  The narrow pen in combination with a nib that requires a bit of pressure when writing, isn't great, it resulted in a cramped feeling after writing with it for a while.

But a quick nib swap (the nib units used in this pen are the same as in all other Kaweco pens, except the classic sport.) to a much narrower Extra-fine nib resolved this problem, and made it much more comfortable to write with! So: problem solved, and I have to say that it performed great with a nib that suits me better. I almost forgot that it is a pocket-size pen!


The logo on top of the cap isn't the same as with the other Kaweco pens. Instead of a metal insert, the logo is laser-etched! (Notice the conveniently placed finger right in front of the camera lense!)
Conclusion: The Lilliput has certainly lived up to it's expectations, it has a nice, no-nonsense design, and it is very well made. But I wouldn't suggest buying it with a Broad or Double Broad nib, I'd rather go with a fine or even an extra-fine nib, It feels like the finer nibs suit this pen better! (Obviously this is another personal preference, so I would definitely suggest trying the different nibs for yourself!)

The Lilliput is a great pocket pen, it can easily replace a full-sized pen, and I would definitely suggest using it in combination with a daily planner, or just as an EDC pen!

You can get this pen for around 40 Euros/ 55 USDollars, which isn't cheap, but the Lilliput is definitely sturdy enough to survive in your purse or pocket for many years, and above all, it also writes very well once you found out which nib size suits you most!


3 comments:

  1. wow, i didn't know a fountain pen could be that thin... amazing.
    enjoy your week off and much fun in school after that! ;)

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, it is really thin, the thinnest part is only 8.3mm thick (The thickest section: 9.3mm)! I can imagine that there are some other fountain pens available that are as thin as this one (Cross spire, maybe), but none of those are as short as this one!
      And thanks! I will enjoy it as much as I can, but even now, teachers have flooded us with projects and tests due to next week! :(

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  2. Thank you so much for getting small and thinner Kaweco's pen.Which is full of best characteristics like aluminum part of body,Easy to hold ,Filling nib.Nice colors .Every thing is just fabulous.So I think many people would like it when they will come to write something through this.Choosing the best fountain pensfrom best corner would not let you down ever.

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