Conklin Duragraph Fountain Pen Cracked Ice - Stub Nib, Elegant Tool for Calligraphy & Signatures

Abalone nights duragraph is a very nice pen. The colors are beautiful. I got the stub nib to try something different and I love it. The pen writes smoothly with little feedback. I inked it with Endless Alchemy poseidons reef and the pen writes wet enough to see the sheen. Good buy esp. for the price, much more elsewhere.

Are all Conklin Duragraphs good? Can't say. But this one I have in front of me is superb. It has problems. Still—superb.Lemme establish parameters. My field of comparison is as follows:• 5 Pilot Metropolitans: 3 <F> and 2 <M>• 4 Lamy Safaris, all <M>• 2 TWSBI Ecos, both <B>• 2 Monteverde Monzas, one <M>, one <flex>• 2 Kaweco Sports, one <B> and one <BB>• 1 Pilot Prera <M>• 1 Parker Urban Premium <M>• 1 Conklin Herringbone w/a Bock #6 nib• 1 Pelikan Jazz <M>• 1 Monteverde Regatta Sport <B>• 1 Jinhao 159, we'll call it a <M>• 1 Waterman Expert <M>• 1 Faber Castell Loom <M>• 1 Levenger L-Tech 3 <F>Twenty-four pens in all, fourteen different "makes." Most of the instruments cost less than $25; only three were sixty. The item under review is a Conklin Duragraph, <EF>, "Cracked Ice"—roughly $46. It may be worth mentioning I have it inked with Diamine Oxford Blue, an extremely easy-peasy ink that never causes issues.GOOD• Looks every bit as nice in the hand as it did "in the bush." If anything, the pix on Amazon don't do the pen justice. Meanwhile, the "cracked ice" effect is hard to find on a $46 pen. (The other pen I have my eye on that has this is the Esterbrook "Blueberry"—$156, a little more than 3X as expensive as the Conklin.)• The nib is among the best I've ever used. Right up there with Faber Castell and Levenger (the two nibs that are proverbs in this household, meaning "Actually Good," not just OK). Juicy and smooth, with a little bounce.• The grip section is the kind I much prefer: flared a little, right before the plinth of the nib. Waterman Experts are like this. I think of this shape as a "classic old-school grip section," and I wish it were more common.BAD• The cap will not post in anything like a satisfying way. The YouTube reviews all complain about this. I hereby add my voice to the choir.• The threads on mine are not really done right. You can easily insert the pen in the cap in such a way that it gets caught wrong in the threads, and jams. Consequently, you have to insert with rather more care than you're accustomed to having to use.• One slight amendment to the first point under "GOOD." The nib in the Amazon photo has a yellow oval. Mine has the oval but no yellow. And I should've liked it to be yellow.NEUTRAL• The size is good *for me*, but I am a 6'1" male with big hands.• The weight is good *for me*, but I don't really care about weight. I like heavy, light, anything. I would say this pen, unposted, is a little bit heavier than an unposted TWSBI.One further note. My friend Catie bought a Conklin Duragraph, same week as I bought mine, and hers is a very different piece of goods. Her threads are just fine, her nib seemed finicky and "unforgiving" at first, and her oval is yellow. I conclude from this that the Conklin people are a shady operation. But, actually, isn't this kinda true of all pen manufacturers? One Lamy <M> is not necessarily like another. I have four, no two alike. And my Metropolitans are subtly different too. So I don't know what to think.Next move: Conklin "Orange Nights," with an ominflex nib, and pray it's a good one.Bottom line: I am very satisfied with my purchase and warmly recommend this pen to anyone who wants to see how far $46 can take ’em.

v.good

Doesn’t start well Pen is beautiful. Has nice weight and balance. Ink flow is dodgey. Dry starts if left for even 1 minute uncapped while not writing. Dry start when not used for even a few hours when capped. Does write very wet and more like a broad without much line variation despite being a “flex nib”

I have been using fountain pens for going on 50 years...from the vintage Parker 51s I got from my Dad (still have them BTW) and the old Schaeffer which I've converted to an eyedropper right up through a pricey Visconti Voyager Kaleido...I love them...there is no finer writing instrument in the world. With all the pens I have, I've never owned a stub nib. When I saw that the Conklin brand was back and offered this beautiful pen in a stub nib for under $50 I knew eventually I'd buy it. Truthfully, I bounced it in and out of my cart for a week or so and finally pulled the trigger. Glad I did!First off, the pen is well made, well balanced and is a smooth writer right out of the box. I inked it up, ran a few 8s and the ink started flowing right away. The stub nib is interesting as you get broad down strokes and thinner cross strokes. From an aesthetic standpoint it makes my handwriting look better than it is. There is just the right amount of wetness and there is some feedback but not scratchy at all. I like a little feedback, some don't...to each their own. The pen posts just fine and does not seem overly big when posted. People with smaller hands may want to use it unposted but, again, the posted balance is good.As I just received the pen, I cannot yet speak to the overall durability but given the quality construction I see no reason why it will not last for generations. If you clean your fountain pens once in a while and run decent ink through them they will last a good long time...one of my 51s is a South America vintage from 1939-40 and writes well still.If you want a pen you can be proud of (pair it with the Duragraph Ballpoint for a nice set, I did) or that you can give as a gift...you will not be disappointed. For the price, again assuming it does not develop any problems down the road, this is a very high value writing instrument. It's not a Visconti or a Sailor or top end Pelikan but for a 10th the price you'll never feel underpenned!

For several years I've been chasing the grail pen, but unwilling to pay hundreds. It's taken time to get beyond appearance and realize how important the grip section size is, weight of the pen, overall feel and of course the nib. This "Heisenberg Edition" of the Duragraph with Omniflex nib meets all of my criteria.A similar style Pelikan costs 4x and is too light weight for me. Glad I waited and found this beauty. I absolutely love the smooth JoWo Omniflex "goldilocks" nib -- just right and now I can just write for longer sessions with flair. LOVE IT! At this price seriously you can't go wrong.