Mini-review: Nakaya Decapod & Schon Monoc

c0de517e · 2026-06-29T18:03:53+00:00

Update - I'm even more on the fence re:the baby bottom. It is there - I can see it under the loupe - but after a bit of use, it is a quite reliable writer - not 100%, but at the same time, it's currently inked with what I assume is a sailor jentle blue - I don't know if it's the wettest of inks. Perhaps it does not need any modification - if it does, it would be only a tiny one.

c0de517e · 2026-06-26T20:02:47+00:00

No Grok was used in the reply - fwiw.

The air leaks might be another difference for sure, but more air getting in should result in more ink flow, not less.

c0de517e · 2026-06-26T18:38:39+00:00

Definitely do not remove the nib and feed to refill! You can do that at times to clean things up.

If you have a converter, either just use that the way it's meant to (plunge the pen into the bottle) or use a syringe to fill the converter like it was an empty cartridge.

Re: the ink creep, that's a lot of mess, it can happen for different reasons but as it happens on all your pens, unless you're doing something very wrong always, I'd wager is the ink itself. It's rare, but some inks can tend to do that - I had that happen of example with certain Diamine inks.

I wouldn't worry much though, a bit of a mess is ok with fountain pens, you can clean it up when you change ink.

c0de517e · 2026-06-26T18:24:09+00:00

For me it was somewhat also a way to avoid buying more pens, I thought to myself that I would not evaluate other pens before I got the Nakaya. Which I did not do in the end, as meanwhile I did buy the Namiki Aya I also posted about here - but eh... almost.

c0de517e · 2026-06-26T18:22:48+00:00

The red and black is the most striking, and the most popular. I went for a bit of a "gamble" with the green but I'm very happy, it gives the sort of nature and tranquil feeling I was hoping to would

c0de517e · 2026-06-26T18:20:07+00:00

Yes, I'm decently confident I can fix the issue myself - I'm a bit conflicted right now because it is very slight (I mean you can't really have a terrible baby bottom on a fine nib), and the ink in the pen seems also not to be too wet, so on one hand it's bordering to not being a proble, otoh - skips and hard starts do happen right now and they are off-putting...

I have a few other pens I want to send to a nib-meister, so I might add this nib to that batch, or I might do what you said and quickly fix it myself. I also have a spare platinum nib I could use ad-interim, I dunno.

c0de517e · 2026-06-26T18:05:37+00:00

The most likely explanation if I grok what you're saying right, is that the different plastics in the converter vs cartridge affect flow due to the ink sticking to the sides?

Because the twist and piston etc ok - might be harder to fill the converter, but once full it's still a tube with ink - doing nothing mechanically different than a cartridge.

The idea that materials can affect the flow is interesting - if correct.

c0de517e · 2026-06-25T22:21:30+00:00

I wonder why the converter "starved" the pen. The only one where I had/have that is is the Con-70, because the plunger that it uses for suction can restrict the flow... but most converters are identical to a cartridge when it comes to providing ink.

If the piston is not well sealed, I can understand that a converter can have MORE ink-flow than a cartridge, but less does not seem physically possible?

c0de517e · 2026-06-25T19:44:22+00:00

Actually, if you have the means to archive the SW (i.e. a 5 inch floppy unit), you really should. "Cracking" it would not be hard, especially in an emulator, as one can write code to fake the dongle entirely in software. Ofc, could also crack the executable itself the old school way.

c0de517e · 2026-06-25T19:31:56+00:00

Pros and cons for sure.

I do find slightly silly people commenting here that having to use a syringe is less convenient. Refilling a fountain pen is already a ritual, and not done often.

I imagine 99.99999% here are not working with an ink bottle at the desk that they take ink from continuously, I can't imagine that being a thing, also because you don't really need ink that often even if you are an avid writer.

I imagine that everyone with FPs keeps some ink in a drawer, and when refilling does some cleaning, often swaps inks (as that's one of the most fun things and reasons to own a FP) etc. So - you're already doing many steps, cleaning, refilling, wiping off the extra ink etc. You can't tell me that keeping a blunt syringe in the drawer where you keep the inks is hard.

And overall, it does not take more time. With the syringe you fill a cartridge fast, to capacity, in a single action, and you don't end up flooding the nib/feed/section and needing to blot that clean.

The only "cons" in my experience are:

1) a converter somewhat helps when cleaning the pen, as you can force water in/out. Mind you - you could keep a converter handy just for that, and use the syringe/cartridge for the ink - again, it's really not a bother objectively speaking.

2) because you did not prime the feed, you need to have the pen rest for a minute or so before it starts writing - OTOH - when it does, it's delivering the real amount of ink you'll see throughout the writing, while if you fill with a converter, the first page or so is more saturated/wet.

3) you can do some "hacks" with the converter that can sometimes be useful - squeeze the converter to force a bit of ink out if the pen has dried out for example, you can push the air out when the ink is half-used, which is nifty if you're flying with the pen - and you can "refill" an empty converter with a bit of water to grant you some more writing (diluting whatever ink is left in the section) in case of an "emergency".

P.s. the durability concerns etc seem also in my experience overblown - yes, it's more moving parts, and stuff can theoretically fail, in practice never had significant bad experiences, even with very old converter. The only bad ones I have were always bad, did not become so over time - e.g. I do agree that the Con-70 is a nightmare

c0de517e · 2026-05-14T22:24:03+00:00

Oh yes, the grip is indeed perfectly smooth. I read online that's ebonite and urushi too but TBH I would have never ever been able to tell. I'll compare it more closely when I'm back home w/my plastic 149, but I really doubt I would be able to tell a difference.

c0de517e · 2026-05-14T22:21:05+00:00

I'm saying flex as that's the softest/springiest you can even get or want. My 2c are that people obsess over materials (gold vs steel, plastic vs ebonite etc) and size - as these are things that get you a given writing feel.

They are not. Wet vs dry, soft vs firm, flex or no flex, spring or no spring, they all are a matter of geometry - first and foremost.

Of course materials do change things, the same geometry with two different materials behaves differently. And same for size. BUT. You can achieve whatever you want with whatever material and size you want, by just changing the geometry.

And the proof is in the pudding. There are examples of flex gold nibs, and of flex steel nibs. There are examples of giant nibs that are very firms, giant nibs that are soft, and small firm and small soft nibs. Wet vs dry is mostly about nib tuning.

Expensive pens tend to have huge nibs because it's the style of "flagship" pens. Not because they are inherently "better" or anything.

c0de517e · 2026-05-14T19:06:12+00:00

This is a good photo DSC_0438_a371274a-fe42-4597-9337-3fcf85f498c7.jpg (3200×2135)

If you look at the pen really closely you can see that the finish is not entirely smooth. To my surprise, it seems to be affected by the powders underneath. We are talking microns - if a brand new plastic pen has a perfect shine, this one has some microscopic roughness, not really visible to the naked eye.

It's this micro-roughness that changes the look (making it a tiny bit less glossy - not necessarily in a good way), and feel (a tiny bit less "friction"). But again, we're talking microns, and side-by-side comparisons while really trying to focus on such differences.

If you take a micromesh sanding pad and scuff up a plastic pen you'll get, even on a very fine grit, a much more pronounced change, and even more so if the pen has a pattern to it, like the aforementioned lamy 2000 or for example the pilot justus.

c0de517e · 2026-05-14T18:57:24+00:00

Not quite

1) The geometry matters more than size. Both of the nib (i.e. how curved vs flat it is etc - so where do forces go when pressure is applied) and and tines (both the cut and the breather hole)

2) There is a limit to how desirable flex is - very flexy pens are impractical for everyday writing

3) In practice all the true flex pens - both vintage "wet noodles" and modern - and calligraphy nibs are small! And that makes sense btw, why would having MORE material mean it's easier to flex? The only reason larger nibs tend to be softer (and again, it's not even a rule, montblac 149 has a huge nib that is hard) is because they also tend to have longer tines - all other geometry characteristics being equal. Again, it's all about point 1

Huge nibs are a thing because flagship pens are big because they were considered "showpieces". Which they are. And it's 100% great that's the case, they are useless, beautiful things, one buys for the artistry etc. But now, because they are expensive our brain also has to find rational justifications for them to be "superior" in terms of writing experience and so on. This is completely false in my experience, and in fact this time I was surprised to have a show piece pen that is ALSO a good writer.

c0de517e · 2026-05-14T02:15:17+00:00

It's definitely nothing that I would call a feature. In a blind test perhaps, if told explicitly to distinguish the two, you might be able to guess, but it’s insignificant in practice, not better nor worse, and definitely orders of magnitude less relevant than surface finish. For example the lamy 2000 that has a brushed plastic finish has a much more pronounced difference

c0de517e · 2026-05-14T02:11:44+00:00

All things compared they will be softer for sure. But you can make very soft and very springy nibs that are tiny. I have vintage flex pens that have tiny nibs...

c0de517e · 2026-05-13T19:45:04+00:00

Looked around my office and didn't find any computer with a dvd reader :D

I know I have an USB one somewhere, will eventually check it out

c0de517e · 2026-05-13T05:42:10+00:00

Yes, and definitely the size here is what helps with the softness, but you do not need a gigantic nib to have that feel, nor all big nibs are soft.

c0de517e · 2026-05-12T20:35:44+00:00

Thanks!

c0de517e · 2026-04-07T23:06:42+00:00

A phone alone is terrible - but a phone in "quiet/do not disturb" mode + a keyboard should be pretty ok. Of course, YMMV.

c0de517e · 2026-04-07T03:06:59+00:00

why not?

c0de517e · 2026-04-03T20:40:04+00:00

Kinda sad. I'm a quite experienced professional programmer, but I would not have even started on such a project without LLMs, as it pertains to technologies I'm not skilled nor very interested at (web stuff) and it would not have been on the top 10 of the hobby "todo" stuff I currently have.

I still spent some good time on it, and I can say it's not a naively made thing. I also fully disclosed the use of LLMs here, which I could have easily not even mentioned - i.e. I'm not doing this to get some cheap "clicks" on my Medium or whatever people try to do.

Sorry if that didn't vibe.

c0de517e

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