PILOTFountain Pen Custom Heritage 912, Black Body, FA-Nib (FKVH-2MR-B-FA)

Bought this pen and saved $100 compared to the pen shops in looked at in the United States. It ships from Japan, but it arrived very quickly. Received it less than two weeks after I ordered it, and that was after 5 days of delivery attempts while I wasn't home. I did not pay for shipping or to expedite the shipping process. Went to pick it up at the DHL location and fixed that. The pen is in perfect shape; it works great; it looks great; and it comes with converter as well. I've heard some of the pens that ship from Japan don't come with converters, but this one did.

This is the only pen I own where I can not use it for a whole year and when I come back to it the ink is still flowing perfectly. It really is amazing. Love the posting nib on mine, it gives a very fine line and just feels nice to write with because of the angle it hits the paper. I don't post the cap when I write, I find the pen gets too heavy and tires my hand out but it feels great without. It's also probably one of the nicest built pens that I own.

So I draw Manga and do Urban sketching. I wanted a pen that would do all in one. Thin and thick lines, instead of a bunch off fine liners . I heard about this pen and saw it on here. The first problem I ran into was there was two listed on Amazon. One for $ 224.00 and one for $ 184.00 no matter how many times I read descriptions I couldn’t tell a difference. I even called Amazon ( USA ) support lol and asked them to see if there was a difference, they saw nothing. So I’m not a idiot I ordered cheaper one. Btw which is no longer listed on Amazon. Oh the only difference Amazon saw was cheaper one was a Japanese seller who had their inventory with Amazon so it was still prime and no month long wait to get it. So I always do huge research on major purchases and this time I made the mistake of only reading Amazon reviews, and not my usual YouTube plus online reviews. They were completely mixed from exceptional to total garbage. After I received it I went to YouTube and my heart hit the floor. Almost every review said great writer horrible for drawing, complete railroading due to bad feed design. Plus it’s extremely picky on ink and people said to use only Pilot iroshizuku ink which btw i did get from Amazon. For my work I only use De Atramentis document ink. I reached out to the experts at Goulet pens about my concerns. Brian the owner replied to me stating that the pilot ink would be better but may work with document ink. Also mentioned the drawing problems due to feed and told me about a aftermarket feed which I had seen for 30 dollars. But after a huge investment why should I have to change feed and also void any kinda warranty on pen. So the pen sat on my desk for weeks, with me not knowing what to do. I finally called Amazon with two days left in return window and started the return process. Also giving me 14 additional days to think about it. Well tomorrow is last day to drop it off at UPS store, and this morning I was thinking I should at least try it. Even if it’s garbage I can still return it. I love Amazon, not always the cheapest but get your items in either one or two days and return policy is outstanding.Well I’m so mad at myself for waiting. I filled with document ink, mainly because I tried the Take-Sumi in another pen and felt it looked more gray than black. I’ve never ever written with a smoother pen in my life. I was writing on Deleter Manga paper. Then the big question , the flex of the Fa nib. Let me just say as fast as I could draw something it kept up perfectly. Absolutely no railroading and went from a hairline to about a 1/8” thick with extremely very little pressure. This is the best pen I’ve ever owned. Now I’m not sure I just got a good one and got lucky or what. Secondly I did flush it out with some spring water, maybe that helped. I’ve never flushed any new fountain pens before but one artist on YouTube recommended flushing this one. Thirdly I think I found difference between two listed on Amazon. 90 percent of YouTube reviews stated the middle ring says Pilot Custom Heritage Japan with stars around it. Mine only says Pilot Custom Heritage Japan, no stars. I don’t know if it means mine is older or newer.In conclusion all I can say is this pen is yes extremely expensive for me anyway but if your looking for a pen to draw with getting hairlines and broad lines and a feel that is so smooth this is your pen. Again I’ve never felt something so smooth. It makes me wanna just throw away all my fine liners. I hope if you purchase you’d have same results I did and hopefully I didn’t just get a good one.

Handy

I currently own 10 Pilot fountain pens, all save one with gold nibs. I thought nothing would compare favorably to my prized metal Falcon with SF nib. Then I thought the 743 FA nib was the pen to end all pens...until I acquired the 742 with FA nib. The fact is, I am an artist, and I have finally found the tools I have been looking for for decades.The Falcons (I own three) replaced most of the dip pens I used to use for pen and ink work. This Custom Heritage 912, with PO nib, has replaced my favorite Rotring Isograph. Yes, sometimes I like lines with character, sometimes I want consistent lines. It depends on what I am doing.I have never used a nib that makes marks so fine, and yet moves so smoothly across a variety of papers, including my favorite, Strathmore 500 series Bristol. What makes the pen even more interesting, and useful, is the fact that you can make lines that are Sharpiesque in their thickness, using the back of the pen. The Falcons do this as well, but this does it better...MUCH better. This technique uses a lot of ink, but it is a brilliant facet of the tool. It means I don't have to interrupt my flow in order to grab a Sharpie or brush or marker to fill in large areas of ink.The nib is very, very stiff. I love it. It is like drawing with an Rotring Isograph .1, although I have not compared the lines they make directly. I do know, however, that it makes a finer and even more consistent ( I did not think this was possible with a fountain pen) line than my Pilot Custom 74 EF. That alone is worth the price of admission. Mine came with a con70 converter. This is a very good thing, as the con40 stinks, in my opinion.If you are an artist, and like the clear line style of illustration (e.g. Moebius), and like to do VERY FINE cross hatching, just buy it.For about $150, what's not to like? This pen is a BARGAIN at that price.Incredibly highly recommended. The Kwisatz Haderach of fountain pens.