Pilot Workhorse

The day I picked up from Moriyama-san at Fullhalter the new Pilot Custom 823 fountain pen is a day I still remember. Something of a surprise to get the call saying the pen was ready a good three weeks ahead of the promised date. It was July 17, 2006 and according to my summer schedule, perfect timing. It’s usual to expect a six-week waiting period when ordering a customized fountain pen at Fullhalter, the tiny pen shop owned by Nobuhiko Moriyama in the Oimachi neighborhood of Tokyo, and I was not expecting the pen to be ready before my departure for the US three weeks later. In the shop Moriyama-san filled the pen with a bottle of ink I had brought along, carefully explaining the plunger-vacuum filling system.

From an old journal, my first scribbles with the new pen…

‘Restaurant in Oimachi called Sun Room with Kumiko after picking up the Pilot Custom 823. First time to write with the pen—ink is Montblanc Black, a bottle bought in 1985. Moriyama-san, who worked for Montblanc almost thirty years, says the ink is even better today than at the time I bought it. Black ink in a pen ordered primarily for that color and the old Montblanc ink is a happy surprise, a sumi-like shade of black that strikes the perfect chord. Always thrilled with a new pen from Moriyama-san, this one no different. As smooth as cream, nib a perfect width, the weight and size in my hand comfortable…’

That pen is today still one of my favorites. During five years of regular use it has never failed to satisfy in the same way it did that first time back in 2006. Most would not call it inexpensive, but Pilot’s fine engineering and classic design of the Custom 823 are worth the higher price. It is nothing less than a rock solid writing instrument. My original idea of using the pen for only black ink wore off in time and these days it sees a wide range of inks from half a dozen makers.

Pilot makes the Custom 823 in three choices: clear, amber-brown and black. The barrel of the black model is smoky and like the other two shows the amount of ink in the pen. The black one caught my attention from the beginning. As with most of my pens, I ordered a medium nib, but had it customized by Moriyama-san to suit the line and flow I prefer. The 14k gold nib is the largest one made by Pilot, the No. 15. There is sometimes fear that a fountain pen will leak during airplane flights, but that will never happen with Pilot’s engineering of this pen. Tightening the barrel end cap seals off the ink chamber from the nib, cutting off the ink supply and preventing the possibility of leaks. When ready to write, twist the end cap a turn or two and ink is released into the nib.

Nothing too modern or avant garde about the shape of the 823. It is the classic cigar shape with a gold pocket clip. This ball clip seems a little tight, but for those who don’t often put a pen in their shirt pocket this feature is of little concern. There is a broad gold band at the bottom of the cap engraved with ✭✭✭ PILOT MADE IN JAPAN ✭✭✭ CUSTOM 823. Not anything that could be described as unusually large, neither is it a small pen. It measures 5 and 7/8 inches long capped, 5 and 1/8 inches without the cap, and 6 and 3/8 inches posted; the diameter measures a half inch.

The pen’s plunger-vacuum system for filling uses a washer mounted on a thin rod to create a vacuum in the barrel. Releasing the vacuum fills the barrel with ink. Unscrew the barrel end cap and pull out the plunger; put the nib into the ink then push the plunger back in. Wait about ten seconds and then lift the nib from the ink. The 823 will hold 1.5ml of ink. That’s a lot of ink.

Few will find anything to complain about in the smooth ink flow from this pen. Neither will skips ever be a problem as long as there is ink in the pen and the barrel end cap is open a turn or more. For a year or so I used only black ink in the pen but have since filled it with an assortment of inks and colors from J Herbin, Iroshizuku, Montblanc and De Atramentis, getting superior results with each. The only ink that proved troublesome was the Sailor Kiwaguro carbon ink, but this is a risky ink in any pen because of the carbon nanoparticles and surfactants in the ink.

Because of its reliability the Custom 823 is what might be dubbed the workhorse fountain pen, one that will always put the words on paper in a smooth trouble-free flow of ink, day after day, year after year.

Inky Misfortune

It’s thankfully a rare occurrence in my experience, but I am definitely not immune to ink clogs in my fountain pens. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred I am very careful about what ink is in what pen, and monitoring that pen to be sure the ink doesn’t get screwy or constipate the ink feed, or ink reservoir. Careful or not, bad things can happen and leave you with a tough mess to put right. I was telling myself just the other day how lucky I’d been with my pens, despite the occasional use of ‘dangerous’ inks.

What does ‘dangerous’ ink mean exactly? It means those inks which have undissolved pigment that went into the making of the ink along with the dyes, chemicals, surfactants and antibacterial additions. Viscosity can be a fine balance. I mentioned in a blog post a couple of weeks back that the wine inks especially contain solid particles that have the potential of clogging your pen. On buying ink I have been warned several times about the De Atramentis series of wine inks, and their potential for clogging a pen. Another risky ink—and the villain of my story—is Sailor’s Kiwaguro Carbon ink. (kiwaguro can be translated as ‘extremely black’) I have used this particular ink for a long time and never had a problem until this week.

The problem? The Kiwaguro ink contains carbon nanoparticles as well as surfactants. The nanoparticles can be a problem in themselves, but the surfactants suspend the particles in the ink and can affect a fountain pen’s ink feed, producing clogging. No question it’s a strong and beautiful black, but one that should be used with care.

I filled my Pilot Custom 823 with Sailor Kiwaguro ink about two weeks ago, used the pen throughout the next day, and then returned it to my pen rack that night. Normally I remember, but this time I didn’t and so left the pen untouched until two nights ago. When I picked up the pen to use, I could see that there was plenty of ink still in the reservoir, but I wasn’t getting a smooth or wet flow of ink common to the Pilot 823. When I put the pen under a bright light I could see what looked like black gunk adhering to the mouth of the ink feed. I could also see the same gunk stuck to the inside of the barrel.

Using tepid water I flushed the remaining ink out, repeating the action several times to dissolve the solid buildup. I filled the pen with tepid water one more time, then stood it up in a small half-filled glass of water, which I then put into my ultrasonic cleaner. I ran it through about five three minutes cycles, then flushed the water out of the pen once again. There was still a small amount of the gunk visible in the reservoir and near the ink feed, so I again filled the pen with tepid water and left it to stand overnight. That did the trick. When I returned the next day, the pen looked as clean as a whistle.

I refilled the Pilot with Pelikan black ink and now it’s writing like a dream.