River City Pen Co. Fineview Fountain Pen Review

Rich Paul, of River City Pen Co., has been a core part of the pen show circuit in the US for the past several years. It has been a blast to get to know him, and to get to know his products. I’ve used his Kakimori dip nib holder for a while, and this Summer, I picked up my first Oparex pen from him in San Francisco.

Rich has gotten to know me as well, and specifically my tastes. I was happy to see he created the Fineview model, which features a slightly slimmer barrel than some of his other models. I prefer pens that run on the smaller, narrower side of the ledger, so let’s see what the Fineview has to offer.

First off, the specs of the Fineview feature “an approximately 14.2 mm body and 15.5 mm cap at their widest points. The section is 10.95 mm at the pinch.” At first glance, it doesn’t seem overly narrow when capped, but removing it revels the narrower silhouette through the barrel.

The mid-barrel is the high point, with a slight taper towards each end. With the pinch in the grip section, and the taper towards the back end of the barrel, it fits my hand perfectly when writing.

You have your choice of Bock of Jowo nib fittings when choosing a Fineview. This one shipped with a Fine Bock nib, which has been an excellent writer right out of the box.

I feel like I’ve buried the lede with this pen - how great is this barrel material? It’s called Rainbow Shuffle, from Turnt Pen Co., and I’m loving its vibe. I’m loving the layout of the colors, too, as it runs from Red at the end of the barrel, into Orange and Yellow near the section, and ends in Blue and Green shades towards the top of the cap.

I don’t consider the Fineview a true small pen, like the Edison Beaumont (top). Rather, it is smaller in relation to the rest of the River City Pen Co. lineup.

I chose to ink the the Fineview Rainbow Shuffle with Rohrer & Klingner Blu Mare. I wanted to keep that same color flow seen in the pen barrel in the writing experience, and I have to say I nailed it. I’ve owned Blu Mare for years, but never reviewed it. If you are looking for a vibrant Turquoise that performs well, then this is a solid choice.

The Fineview, from River City Pen Co. is another fine choice, and another great offering from Rich Paul. On his website, this model runs $205, and is available in many different materials, and many that are even more vibrant than Rainbow Shuffle.

Huge thanks to Rich for sending me this pen, and especially for what is coming next for it. I’ll be auctioning off this pen very soon to raise funds for The Trevor Project, whose work is extremely important. Stay tuned for details on this auction later this week!

(River City Pen Co. provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Pilot Custom 823 Fountain Pen - A Fresh Look

There have been two main changes to the Pilot 823 fountain pen since my initial review in 2015. First, all three barrel colors are now more widely available. Second, there is a new nib option available. If I thought this was one of the best pens on the market back then, what do I think now? It’s even better, of course.

My initial hangup in acquiring an 823 for myself almost a decade ago was a superficial one: it was only available in the US market in Amber. While a fantastic color in its own right, Amber wasn’t the only color available in Pilot’s home market of Japan. Both Smoke and Clear were part of the lineup, but I would have to jump through international ordering hoops to get one. At the time, that wasn’t as easy as it is today.

An old image of my Clear 823 I resurrected for this post.

I did that dance when I bought my Clear 823 (back in the 2016/2017 timeframe,) and this pen has been a core part of my writing lineup ever since. Many others were in the same boat as me, waiting for their opportunity to easily order something other than Amber. That opportunity arrived in the last couple of years, as Pilot sent the Smoke barrel out first, followed later by Clear. Why not at the same time? Your guess is as good as mine, but at least they are here, and they are glorious.

Why is the Pilot 823 considered one of the best fountain pens on the market? It’s a feel thing. The size and structure of this pen is impressive. It’s big, but not overly heavy. The barrel is mostly plastic, but it has a density to it. The vacuum filling mechanism adds a few more grams to the overall weight, and keeps the pen balanced throughout the barrel when writing.

All of that is before we even get to the nib, which is a true standout.

Pilot’s nibs provide the best out of the box experience out of all of the major Japanese brands in my experience. They are always tuned and ready to write the moment you ink it up, no matter if the nib is Extra Fine or Double Broad, Steel or Gold. And in the case of my review pen, Signature.

Signature Nib, left, Fine with a Cursive Italic grind, right.

What’s a Signature nib? According to Pilot, the name of the nib dictates exactly what it is for. It is Broad on the down strokes, Medium on the cross strokes, and has rounded edges to give it a flowing feel. This is a big letter nib, and great for cursive writing, laying down a ton of ink, and yes, signatures.

Slight line variation between vertical and horizontal strokes.

Pilot has expanded their nib offerings in both the #10 size 14K nib, and #15 size 14K nib, which the 823 uses. They are not widely available for this pen yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see this expansion happen since they already exist in the market. The only Specialty nib for the 823 is the Signature, along with traditional Fine, Medium, and Broad nib.

Putting the Signature nib in the 823 makes a lot of sense due to its large ink capacity. The vacuum chamber holds 1.5 mm of ink, which you will need with a nib like this one. To get a full fill, you may need to engage the vacuum rod twice, while keeping the nib submerged in the ink bottle. I got about half of a fill with one snap, which is normal in my experience with my other 823’s. To get it closer to full I would run it twice.

The Pilot 823 is an elite fountain pen experience, and that also accounts for price. At $336 it is by no means cheap, but it is close to being a value compared to the competition. The build quality, the filling system, the nib, and the overall experience make it an easy recommendation from me.

As much praise as I give it, are there any downsides? Yes, I hate cleaning it. Push, pull, push, pull, push, pull …

It doesn’t take three hours, but it takes a lot of work to get it to run clean. And once I get the water clear, I leave the pen uncapped to let the inner barrel air dry. It’s such a great writer that the juice is worth the squeeze, but it is a lot of squeezing.

The other hangup are the colors available. While I’m a translucent pen fan, not everyone is, so the aesthetics of the pen may not work for some. There are no solid barrel options at this time, and given Pilot’s history with this pen, I’d be shocked to see it.

The famed Fujiyama Blue Pilot 823.

My hope for the future of the 823 is that one, the full nib lineup becomes as available as all three barrels, and two, more colors. While the former is likely, the latter is a pipe dream. Pilot has teased a few special editions of the 823 over the past few years, but the main lineup has been static for over a decade. Pilot does like their translucent plastic colors, so there is a chance, albeit a tiny one.

I think highly enough of the Pilot 823 that it would be in the conversation for my only and only pen, if it ever came down to that. To be clear, it will never come down to that, but I can’t think of many pens I rate higher.

(Goldspot provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Retro 51 2024 Spooky Season Editions

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

Every year I look forward to the Halloween themed Retro 51 drops and I've collected them faithfully--only missing one years ago, the elusive glowing zombies. I won't ever let that happen again. Which means I jumped on both spooky releases this month!

First up, I picked up the Dracula Rollerball Tornado Popper from Anderson Pens. This might be a top five edition for me. Maybe even top three. I love it. The pen body is, of course, blood red, with the illustration laid over it in black. The illustration shows our buddy Dracula surrounded by a swarm of bats. To the side, a gothic castle, graveyard, and a man with a fatal stake raised in his hand (could be Van Helsing, could be Jonathan), and to the other side, a lovely lady with a mysterious smile (Mina or Lucy?). The hardware is all in glossy black, and the finial is blessed with a fabulous image of fangs.

There is a ton of detail in this design. Every time I look at it, which is a lot because I can't stop looking at it, I see even more. It's a great homage to Stoker's novel and an excellent addition to my spooky Retro collection.

The pen comes in the classic pen tube, with the name and design in red foil on the outside. This edition is limited to 1031 pens, so grab it while you can!

Next, I grabbed the Goldspot exclusive Boo-roque Fright Night Rollerball. The fun thing about this edition is that it comes in three colors, and you don't know which you'll get till you open it. Great Pumpkin Orange is the most common, with 505 pens or a 50% chance. Paranormal Purple has 313 pens, a 30% chance. And Poisoned Apple Green, which glows in the dark, has 213 pens, or a 20% chance. While the underlying color varies, the black overlay is the same for each. As you can see, I got the Paranormal Purple! I'd have been happy with any of them--they all look great.

The black overlay design is an opulent Halloween theme, with jack o' lanterns, bats, spiders, webs, ghosts, and skulls. Be still my heart. All are interspersed with gothic flourishes. This one also has black hardware, and the finial has a grinning Jack-o-lantern. The pen tube is black with a preview of the design on the label.

This pen really screams Halloween, so I've been keeping it clipped to my shirt collar as a seasonal accessory.

It's pretty exciting to get two Retro 51 Halloween releases this year. Having two did hurt the budget a bit, as they're costing around $59 these days. That's steep for a rollerball, but these are exceptional. Not only do they look amazing, they have that classic Retro 51 refill that writes a sturdy, thick line of saturated black ink. They write so smoothly that they're a joy to use, and when you're not writing, you can just stare at them.

Someday I hope I'll be able to complete my spooky retro collection and find the one I missed, but until then, I'll keep making sure I don't miss any more. And if you feel the same, be sure to grab these ones while you can!

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Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!