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Posts in the Sheaffer category

Sheaffer Skrip Red

Sheaffer Skrip Red swabSheaffer Skrip Red bottle

Once upon a time, I embarked on a journey that took me from the solemn vaulted halls of Diamine Oxblood to the burning desert of Noodler’s Cayenne—I examined Pelikan Edelstein Ruby and I basked in Montblanc Winter Glow. Then one day I came upon a simple, unassuming jar of ink. My eyes dismissed the packaging and my hands fumbled with the bottle, but when I finally pressed pen to paper, I knew I had found it—the red of reds. An unwavering beacon of chromatic precision that you could set your watch to. Sheaffer Skrip Red.

Dramatic hyperbole aside, Sheaffer Skrip Red is one of the best iterations of a basic, no-frills red colored fountain pen ink that I have used thus far. It has a beautiful, bright red hue that doesn’t seem to lean too far into other color tones. The ink bottle it came in is not my favorite bottle design, but it gets the job done. I find the ink itself to be rather moderate all-around. Flow is moderate with the ink not being too wet or too dry, dry times are moderate to long depending on the pen you’re using, and shading is moderate to minimal. I did not get any bleeding on Rhodia paper even with a flex pen, but unfortunately the ink has zero water resistance properties (like most red inks) and is easily washed away. Considering the bold red color of the ink, I was a bit concerned about staining in my pens, but the ink washed out cleanly without much fuss. If you are looking for a nice, bright, standard-looking red fountain pen ink, Sheaffer Skrip Red is certainly worth trying out (especially considering the affordable prices of Sheaffer inks).

Sheaffer Skrip Red review

 

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Sheaffer 100

Sheaffer100_01

Even after all of the pens I’ve acquired, I still find myself drawn to affordable pens that give great performances. I had heard many good things about the Sheaffer 100, and a sale at my local pen shop finally convinced me to pick it up.

The pen comes in a variety of colors, including versions featuring design patterns printed on the barrel. You can also get the pen in either gloss finish or matte finish, depending on your tastes. While the matte finish really appeals to me, I decided to go with the classic, glossy black & gold version of this pen. I was not disappointed. The pen is striking and has an air of class to it that I think is lost on a lot of other pens in its price range. The construction is solid. There are no loose or wobbly parts that I could find. The cap eases onto the body with a soft, satisfying click. Even though the barrel is made of stainless steel, the pen does not feel too heavy. The grip section on the black & gold version is a polished gold, but I did not have any problems with my fingers slipping. It performs its duties as a grip section just fine. My only complaint is that it obviously attracts fingerprints like a glass mirror, but that is to be expected. Included with this pen is Sheaffer’s converter. It holds a decent amount of ink and works reasonably well. The only potential issue I could see is that it slips out of the pen rather easily, so just be careful that you don’t accidentally pull the converter out of the pen while you’re filling from the bottle or trying to flood the feed with a bit of ink.

One of the shining features of this pen is, of course, the nib. The nib is very wet and very smooth. Flow is excellent and can keep up with fast writing very nicely. Considering the cost of the pen, I think the nib is spectacular. The only other feature that might outshine the nib, in my opinion, is the weight and balance of the pen. I love my resin pens, and I have to admit that switching between metal barreled pens and lighter weight resin pens after long periods of time can feel awkward and ungainly. However, there is something about the heft and balance of this pen that really appeals to me. Un-posted, the pen feels extremely comfortable in my hand. The balance feels almost perfect, to me. Since the cap is also made of metal, posting the pen makes it feel a bit too back heavy for my taste, but the cap posts quite deeply so it isn’t as bad as some other metal pens I’ve used. One thing I did notice is that the clip is incredibly tight and I had trouble slipping it over some pockets, but your experience may vary.

Overall, I am really pleased with this pen. It is well constructed, writes wonderfully, and is very affordable. The durability and price could make this a great every-day-carry pen for anyone’s arsenal. Definitely recommended!

Nib material: Steel

Cap: Snap

Filling mechanism: Cartridge/Converter

Overall Length: 138 mm

Weight: ~31 g

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