Going, Going...

If you ever wanted to buy one of the Kaweco Sport ink rollers or fountain pens that Nathan Tardif, who makes Noodler's inks, modified into eyedropper pens, but never got around to actually getting one, now is the time to get your new eyedropper pen before they're out of stock. Swisher Pens won't be getting any more because Nathan stopped converting the Kaweco pens to eyedropper fills.

The blue Kaweco Sport Ice is already out of stock for both the eyedropper ink roller and the eyedropper fountain pen. The Kaweco eyedropper ink rollers are still available in clear, green, orange, and red. The Kaweco eyedropper fountain pens are still available in green, orange, and red.

(The term "ink roller" differentiates pens using fountain pen ink from pens using conventional rollerball refills.)

There's no rush if you want one of the regular pens, only if you want one that was modified to be an eyedropper pen.

What makes the Kaweco eyedropper pens so desirable is that they hold a whopping 2.5 ml of ink. Compare that to the .5 ml held by the standard short international cartridge that a regular Kaweco uses. The Monteverde mini converter holds even less ink than a standard short cartridge. The eyedropper pens will continue letting you have the options of using a cartridge or converter, if you want.

By comparison, other pens that use the standard long international cartridge hold 1 ml of ink, so with a Kaweco eyedropper pen, you'll be getting a nice compact pen that fits easily into a pocket or purse that holds 150% more ink than a pen that uses the long standard international cartridge.

The only undesirable aspect about the ink roller is that it's more sensitive about the angle at which I hold it than is my Parker rollerball. That is, if I prop a writing pad on my knees, the Kaweco ink roller quits writing sooner when I get careless and try to write while holding the pen at an upward angle than does my Parker rollerball. As soon as I angle the tip back downward so gravity can take effect, the pen starts writing again. (I posted a review of the Kaweco eyedropper ink roller last November.)

Should you decide to wait too long to order, to the extent that they run out, you could make your own eyedropper pen by simply coating the threads with pure silicone grease or silicone sealant as others did without problems before Nathan's specially lathed-modified pens with o-rings got to be popular. Put enough of a layer of silicone to coat the threads of the section (the part that holds the nib and feed or the rollerball) and gently screw on the barrel, wiping off any excess silicone. Pendemonium offers pure silicone grease for sale in their section called, "Pen Repair Supplies" or you should be able to find some in your local home building supply store.

Happy Writing!