I know this comment is 3 years old, but.... after filling the con 40 halfway, turn it vertically and then carefully turn the piston to expel just the air, moving the ink towards the feed. Then, dip pen back into your ink bottle and fill the rest of the way. I’ve been able to get it about 90% full this way. There are videos here on YT demonstrating this method.
Brian from Goulet Pens has a video demonstration on how to fully fill a converter. Its kinda tricky but he says you have to prime it by filling it then empty it and fill it again until the ink fully fills the converter. He explains it better than I just did. This method of filling is probably applicable to all of the converters including the Con-40. I hope this helps:-) ⬇️ ruclips.net/video/NjrROos9g_o/видео.html
Great to see a clear Kakuno. Do you know where they are made, Japan or China or elsewhere? I am amazed at the quality of recent Chinese clear demo piston fill pens. Been wondering on where they got their inspiration from.
I'm afraid I don't know where the Kakuno is made! It is usually either Japan or China, but my low level of Japanese is unable to discern where from the packaging. As for the recent Chinese demos, it's very much the people running the businesses getting creative, fitting in ideas from all over the place. Good for them, I can't wait to see more.
Leo, I love your videos!After finally seeing those pens here, i orderer an EF.But I have a question: I love super thin lines, but i have read so much about the fountain pen smoothness, so i end up killing my other pilot pen with EF nib.I simply thought that the feeling wasn't "natural" in a fountain pen (that's why with totally inexperimented hands i "try to fix it").I am a total newbie, so I must ask, Is it really unusable the EF pilot nib? By the way, you and your team are great, very enjoyable videos!
Thanks for watching! Super fine EF nibs are really hard to make in a consistent smoothness. Having a light hand certainly helps, but you must also realise that the closer your tip looks like a needlepoint the more scratchy the writing experience will feel in comparison to a fat wet medium. You might have to get pens tuned if you want an EF to be "very smooth" - it is possible, but it is just not within the capabilities of a mass produced EF like the PIlot Kakuno ones. Hope that helps!
Inquisitive Quill My budget or ... rather what I am willing to spend (because I am new to this), is not much. But I am contemplating a UEF 3376 "balance" (steel nib) vs. the 3376 century UEF vs. Pilot 91 EF. I really don't know which one makes a thinner and more consistent line (and I guess also wich one it's drier).
Tough choices! the UEFs will be super fine and definitely scratchy around 90% of the time. I would sooner recommend a 14k EF from Platinum or Pilot or 21K EF from Sailor for a fine nib that has a good chance of not being scratchy. I think the Platinum would most likely be the driest out of the three I just mentioned, but the Pilot EF is more consistently smooth. The 21K Sailor EF runs a little wetter than the two and has the special Sailor feedback. Best if you can try these in person first either at a store or at a pen meet! I'm sorry, a good hairline EF is hard to find...
Inquisitive Quill Oh I would love to try them in person, but in Mexico (Hola by the way!) There is no shop that sells any of the Japanese Pen brands, maybe I can find pilot, but just the kakuno, prera, even Vp, but nothing out of it. I am very new to this, I don't know almost anyone in the community (and the taste for any of the big Japanese brands is not even remotely common because of how difficult it is to get them). So I don't have any choise but trust in people who are more experimented than I am. Thank you so much Leo, I have another question: the platinum 14k uef can be compared (in smoothness) with a pilot (the penmanship or kakuno) EF? I insist on this type of question, because pilot it's the only one that I know, i'm sorry
WaskiSquirrel They should totally do a clear feed, I don't know what's stopping them! (Maybe not worth making clear feeds just for this when all the other steel nib pens have the regular rubbery plastic feed.)
Good review! I bet your EF would have produced a much thinner line if it was inked rather than dipped. I find Pilots Steel EFs to be incredibly fine. I love that this affordable pen can take the CON70. My oldest boy uses one.
@@InquisitiveQuill Right, right. I hope I didn't sound critical -- you are "on location" in this review so it's pretty hard to do ink up pens, etc. I love your on location reviews, by the way... There's energy to the background noise and activity!
I have a clear kokuno on order and a Pluminix with the B calligraphy stub nib to swap on to it. I also ordered a Con 70 for it. Kacuno £10. Pluminix £8, Con 70 converter £8.50. Bargain.
@@InquisitiveQuill I enjoyed it, my brain couldn't process anything besides the adorable cosplayer for the first minute and I had to rewind, but thank you for the only explanation of why the various faces on Kakunos are different that I have found ANYWHERE on the entire internet. Was driving me crazy that nobody had written it down anywhere.
I find the con-40 incredibly hard to fill up completely. It half-fills and then the air bubble trapped inside refuses to come out so I can never get a complete fill. I end up just refilling an empty cartridge.
Nope! I love super fine nibs for Spencerian-like scripts, and know friends who feel the same. I totally have Chinese-writing friends who also like to write characters with slightly thicker western EFs and Fs as well. So there's always a nib for everybody.
I don’t care much about high ink capacity, I change inks frequently anyway. But I do love the Kakuno...it’s the perfect EF.
tis a solid pen!
I agree. The con-40 is the worst filling converter I've ever used. I can't get more than a half fill unless I use a syringe...
Agreed! At which point you might as well use an empty cartridge.
It takes the Con 70 converter.
I know this comment is 3 years old, but....
after filling the con 40 halfway, turn it vertically and then carefully turn the piston to expel just the air, moving the ink towards the feed. Then, dip pen back into your ink bottle and fill the rest of the way. I’ve been able to get it about 90% full this way. There are videos here on YT demonstrating this method.
Brian from Goulet Pens has a video demonstration on how to fully fill a converter. Its kinda tricky but he says you have to prime it by filling it then empty it and fill it again until the ink fully fills the converter. He explains it better than I just did. This method of filling is probably applicable to all of the converters including the Con-40. I hope this helps:-)
⬇️
ruclips.net/video/NjrROos9g_o/видео.html
But... you didn't review the medium nib. :(
Excellent video they look so cool
Thanks! They are!
Is there a major difference between the EF and F nibs?
You can eyedropper convert them using araldite. They look fantastic.
Great to see a clear Kakuno. Do you know where they are made, Japan or China or elsewhere? I am amazed at the quality of recent Chinese clear demo piston fill pens. Been wondering on where they got their inspiration from.
I'm afraid I don't know where the Kakuno is made! It is usually either Japan or China, but my low level of Japanese is unable to discern where from the packaging. As for the recent Chinese demos, it's very much the people running the businesses getting creative, fitting in ideas from all over the place. Good for them, I can't wait to see more.
Leo, I love your videos!After finally seeing those pens here, i orderer an EF.But I have a question: I love super thin lines, but i have read so much about the fountain pen smoothness, so i end up killing my other pilot pen with EF nib.I simply thought that the feeling wasn't "natural" in a fountain pen (that's why with totally inexperimented hands i "try to fix it").I am a total newbie, so I must ask, Is it really unusable the EF pilot nib?
By the way, you and your team are great, very enjoyable videos!
Thanks for watching! Super fine EF nibs are really hard to make in a consistent smoothness. Having a light hand certainly helps, but you must also realise that the closer your tip looks like a needlepoint the more scratchy the writing experience will feel in comparison to a fat wet medium. You might have to get pens tuned if you want an EF to be "very smooth" - it is possible, but it is just not within the capabilities of a mass produced EF like the PIlot Kakuno ones. Hope that helps!
Inquisitive Quill Oh Thank you Leo. Then, could you tell me, what pen do you recommend with a good EF (needle point) nib?
Inquisitive Quill My budget or ... rather what I am willing to spend (because I am new to this), is not much. But I am contemplating a UEF 3376 "balance" (steel nib) vs. the 3376 century UEF vs. Pilot 91 EF. I really don't know which one makes a thinner and more consistent line (and I guess also wich one it's drier).
Tough choices! the UEFs will be super fine and definitely scratchy around 90% of the time. I would sooner recommend a 14k EF from Platinum or Pilot or 21K EF from Sailor for a fine nib that has a good chance of not being scratchy. I think the Platinum would most likely be the driest out of the three I just mentioned, but the Pilot EF is more consistently smooth. The 21K Sailor EF runs a little wetter than the two and has the special Sailor feedback. Best if you can try these in person first either at a store or at a pen meet! I'm sorry, a good hairline EF is hard to find...
Inquisitive Quill Oh I would love to try them in person, but in Mexico (Hola by the way!) There is no shop that sells any of the Japanese Pen brands, maybe I can find pilot, but just the kakuno, prera, even Vp, but nothing out of it. I am very new to this, I don't know almost anyone in the community (and the taste for any of the big Japanese brands is not even remotely common because of how difficult it is to get them). So I don't have any choise but trust in people who are more experimented than I am. Thank you so much Leo, I have another question: the platinum 14k uef can be compared (in smoothness) with a pilot (the penmanship or kakuno) EF? I insist on this type of question, because pilot it's the only one that I know, i'm sorry
I may have to get one just for the tongue face! But a clear feed would have been fun.
WaskiSquirrel They should totally do a clear feed, I don't know what's stopping them! (Maybe not worth making clear feeds just for this when all the other steel nib pens have the regular rubbery plastic feed.)
WaskiSquirrel I think you can switch it out with a wing sung 698 clear feed, feel like getting this just to use the con 70 tbh
How smooth is the medium nib?
Good review! I bet your EF would have produced a much thinner line if it was inked rather than dipped. I find Pilots Steel EFs to be incredibly fine. I love that this affordable pen can take the CON70. My oldest boy uses one.
Good point! I think I ink most of my pens for review now...
@@InquisitiveQuill Right, right. I hope I didn't sound critical -- you are "on location" in this review so it's pretty hard to do ink up pens, etc. I love your on location reviews, by the way... There's energy to the background noise and activity!
@@JunkyardSam haha, it's totally fine and you make a valid point!
So were you able to remove the inner cap to clean up the ink? Because my Kakuno has some ink up the cap too.
No....It's quite irremovable. But I used some water and some tissue which cleared up the problem!
How does the plastic on the body of this pen compare to plastic on TWSBI ECOs or Lamy Vista?
This plastic is a tad thinner than the ECO bodies, but is around the same if not thicker than a Vista.
Where have you been?
Busy with the real world, sorry!
I have a clear kokuno on order and a Pluminix with the B calligraphy stub nib to swap on to it.
I also ordered a Con 70 for it.
Kacuno £10. Pluminix £8, Con 70 converter £8.50. Bargain.
Nice Leo! Thank you!
Gissel Freites thanks for watching!
I like your videos but is there a reason why you film everything in public spaces? Do you have to hide your fountain pen addiction at home? ;-)
We like to share a bit of the HK atmosphere!
I like seeing the culture. I'll never get there😃
@@InquisitiveQuill I enjoyed it, my brain couldn't process anything besides the adorable cosplayer for the first minute and I had to rewind, but thank you for the only explanation of why the various faces on Kakunos are different that I have found ANYWHERE on the entire internet. Was driving me crazy that nobody had written it down anywhere.
Ooh, have to get one for myself and one to stash away for my daughter for when she is older.
Audrey Paquin A lovely idea!
Excellent!
Brumario Castilla Ramos Thank you!
wait why don't you like the con-40 D: ... that aside, thanks for the video! it looks gorgeous. adding it to my wishlist~
When the con-40 is full it only looks half-full and that's not much fun when you want to see lots of lovely ink sloshing around!
I find the con-40 incredibly hard to fill up completely. It half-fills and then the air bubble trapped inside refuses to come out so I can never get a complete fill. I end up just refilling an empty cartridge.
...this is great for characters, maybe it's a bit sharp for english?
Nope! I love super fine nibs for Spencerian-like scripts, and know friends who feel the same. I totally have Chinese-writing friends who also like to write characters with slightly thicker western EFs and Fs as well. So there's always a nib for everybody.
Who films for you, Leo?
54born2win My cameraman is a close friend of mine who loves gadgets and gear! And video editing. They do all the heavy lifting behind the scenes.