Duragraph Fountain Pen Amber - S

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!

I bought this pen with a Fine nib originally. It felt dry and scratchy from the get go. I tired some different inks and papers, but nothing helped. I have had similar troubles with Fine nibs on other pens, too. I also have pens with Medium nibs that are consistently wet and smooth. I wrote to Yafabrands.com and asked them if I could exchange my Fine nib for a Medium. To my delight, they mailed me a Medium replacement nib unit at no charge and did not require an exchange. It's easy to unscrew the old nib unit and screw in the new one. Now the pen writes DELIGHTFULLY smooth and wet. It just glides across any paper without any friction. I would compare the feel to a TWSBI ECO, which is known for smooth, wet, wrtiing. The quality of the construction of this pen is outstanding. The included converter screws in, but the pen also accepts standard international cartridges if you choose to use those (handy when traveling). It's a very handsome pen as well. I am drawn to the 1920's nostalgic look. The cap posts securely to the barrel when you are writing with it. It does not dry out, have hard starts, or skips. So far I've tried Parker Black Quink and Waterman's Intense Black ink in it (both available at Amazon.com), and it writes superbly across different papers. I highly recommend this pen, but in a Medium nib. Because of the quality of this pen, it's beautiful design, it's smooth wet writing, and Yafabrands.com's outstanding customer service, I rate it 5 stars.

This is an attractive pen, presented in a handsome stitched faux leather box. I don't know if it's a full-on copy of Conklin's old Duragraph, but it's a well-executed throwback design. As a writer, the Duragraph holds its own against other pens in the $30-60 price class, and though I've read complaints about Conklin nibs this one wrote well out-of-the-box. It lays down a good, wet line with a nib as smooth as the Lamy Safari, Lamy Al-Star, Pilot Metropolitan, Sheaffer VFM, etc. The nib is steel and stiff... The converter threads into the feed, it doesn't just press in--a first in my experience. I prefer piston fillers for ease of filling and greater capacity. For that reason and for smoothness of writing action I rank the TWSBI Eco and Diamond 580 ahead of this pen. But TWSBI sets the bar high, and the Duragraph's no slouch even if it doesn't have the exquisite smoothness and huge reservoir of TWSBI. Buy this pen for its looks. It's a competent pen that, like the TWSBI, competes with more expensive pens--TWSBI on the basis of writing excellence, this pen on the basis of a classy throwback design. Though the Duragraph isn't a demonstrator, its celluloid barrel and cap permit glimpses of the working parts of the pen when the pen is closed. The cap posts, but barely. There's just enough purchase for the cap to teeter precariously off the back of the pen when in use. I don't care for the back-heavy feel, but at least it posts. If a cap doesn't post I find it distracting. The Duragraph's clip is stiff and attractive. It looks solid from the front, its back is concave. But the ciip's tear-drop bottom is elegant, and the whole is well-polished. Three trim rings are equally bright. Inside the section, the threads attaching the section to the barrel are metal. The cap itself attaches to the barrel by threads in the cellulose of barrel and cap. Buy this pen for its looks. For the price you can get between 3 and 20 Jinhaos that will write just as well. But they won't have the elegance of this pen.

I have many Conklin fountain pens and the Duragraph is a favorite. Some people seem to have problems with the nibs, but I have found them to be consistently excellent. I used it with the converter and it worked beautifully. I find the pen very comfortable in hand, beautiful and performs as well as pens costing hundreds of dollars more. I find it to be a pen of remarkable value. Prompt shipping.

This pen looks great. When I received it I cleaned it then loaded it with a high quality Diamine ink. Big letdown when the stub nib (or maybe the feed) would not give consistent ink to the paper. I could write a word and then the nib was dry. Nothing I did would get the flow to work so I cleaned the pen and returned it as defective. I really wanted to like this pen, but it just didn’t measure up.

I bought a stub nib with the Amber but the stub nib isn’t quite what I wanted. Im moss is a fine or extra fine. I didn’t return it because I feel maybe in my future I will use the stub nib but I bought a fine jowo #6 to replace it. I didn’t want to return the body of the pen so this was the next best option. The pens “plastic” feels cheap for a MSRP of $60 usd although just paid about $32 usd for the stub variation. I have a nahvalur asfur bronze schuykil (sp?) which looks so much better even though it’s also plastic but I did pay msrp for it at $60. Functionally it’s pretty good - I had no issue with writing on the stub. No skips no hard starts but I haven’t used it often due to it being a stub nib. Getting my #6 fine jowo nib replacement soon. This pen is long when posted. And this pen I do not think was meant for posting. It’s is an awkward post. And I like to post my pens. It takes international ink cartridges and it comes with a screwed on cartridge converter. Which was a nice addition. The Conklin brand on cap is not etched or lasered in. It’s printed so also kinda cheapens the pens look. It’s ok I’m not disappointed but it could have been better.

Well worth it to purchase a Conklin Duragraph. This is the Ice Blue with a stub nib. I have several Duragraphs in various designs & nibs & they're by far my favorite pens in this price range. They're buttery smooth wet writers. Instant start, & no hard starts later. Cap designed well. Quality converter. The pen beautifully showcases your higher priced sheening shimmering pearling inks that have multiple color gradients (when using quality fountain pen paper). Pen writes great on regular paper too. See my video review for further specs that make this pen worth the price. Its a lovely writing experience that you'll enjoy. Also, Conklin lifetime guarantees their pens. I purchase a new one every year that will someday be heirlooms for my children & grandchildren. Once you buy one, you'll want more. I purchase them with the various nibs. Stub, broad, & Italic. Each nib works absolutely wonderful. Conklin uses the Jowo nibs which are high quality & are affordably replaceable should you need to. But, if you're taking good care of your pen, it's unlikely you'd need to replace the nib any time soon. I purchased my first Duragraph 8 years ago and the nib works as well as it did from day 1. Definitely highly recommend ANY Conklin Duragraph pen. It's worth the price for a fully enjoyable writing experience paired with great quality inks & paper! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

UPDATE: it didn't get better with more use. I still have to open the pen up when I want it to use it, give the adapter a twist to start the ink flowing, then repeat those steps when it stops writing, even though the adapter is completely full. The pen is pretty. That's the only good thing I can say about it. Functionally, it's a piece of garbage. There aren't enough anti-superlatives in the English language to properly describe what a complete piece of junk this is. For the price, that's disappointing. Maybe the other 1k reviewers got the good pens and I got the dud of the batch, but I'm beyond disappointed in this. Never buying another Conklin pen (or anything else from their rwo-bit umbrella company, for that matter) ever again. Superficially, this pen is absolutely beautiful. It feels rock solid in the hand. The craftsmanship that went into it is outstanding when looking at it. The problem, however, has been the fine nib. Out of the box, I could not fill the adaptor with ink by dipping the nib into the ink bottle. I had to directly put the adaptor into the ink and fill it that way. Hooking it up to the pen, it barely put ink to paper. On that basis alone, I would've given a 2-3 star review, but the customer service has been outstanding. I emailed Conklin, and they got back to me within 24 hours. They recommended fixes that, unfortunately, did not work. They sent me a replacement nib, no questions asked, based on the reports of issues I had. Unfortunately, when I hooked it up to the pen, it still would not fill by putting the nib into the ink. The nib is long compared to what I'm used to, so I don't know if that plays into the problem at all or not. I'm hoping it just needs to be broken in through continued use, but until that, it feels scratchy on paper and the ink deposition on the page is inconsistent at best. Hopefully it gets better with more use.