Left Hook Pens

The Kaweco Sport is a favorite among many fountain pen users for its small size and many color options. I’m a fan of pocket pens myself, and enjoy these little guys. The Sport line has many iterations besides the rainbow of standard plastic models; there are AL or aluminum models, carbon fiber, special acrylic, steel, and brass. You can also get the Sports in rollerballs, ballpoints, clutch pencils, and mechanical pencils. When Kaweco went under new ownership in 1994, they updated the design from a piston filler to the standard international cartridge/converter system. Vintage Sports with gold nibs and pistons can be found on eBay, and I hope to acquire one someday.

The first Sport I owned was a clear one with a medium nib. At first it had some baby’s bottom issues, but Kaweco customer service sent me a new nib, which worked fine. Baby’s bottom is where a nib is over polished so that the inside edges of the tipping material are rounded and don’t touch, inhibiting ink flow. Later, I tried a white Sport with a fine nib, but it had flow issues and only liked very wet inks. My third Sport is navy with an extra-fine nib, and it’s just right. The navy is a lovely deep blue color with gold trimmings. I added a black clip, which compliments the navy nicely. I ordered this pen from St. Louis Art Supply over the summer. They test all fountain pens over $20 USD before sending them off, and this Sport had the best out-of-box writing experience out of all the Sports I’ve tried.

The Sports are a good starter pen for lefties with small hands, or for anyone who wants a pocket pen. These pens are designed to be posted, but my hands are small enough to use the pen unposted if I’m just writing a quick note. Posting really helps keep the pen balanced. My grip happens to fall on the threads above the grip section, which is fine with the plastic models as the threads aren’t sharp.

Sports take short standard international cartridges, or Kaweco’s slide piston converter. Kaweco also makes a tiny squeeze converter, but I’ve found that they don’t work very well and come apart easily. I’ve also found that Kaweco pens write better with non-Kaweco inks, except for their Pearl Black, which wrote great every time. Lubricated inks like Monteverde come in cartridges and seem to flow smoothly. Faber-Castell cartridges also work well. I haven’t tried Herbin or Diamine cartridges, but I know their inks work well out of the bottle.

If you don’t want to use cartridges, or are bothered by Kaweco’s converters, plastic Sports are able to be converted into eyedropper pens by applying silicone grease to the barrel threads. You can add an o-ring as well but the silicone grease works just fine.

Eyedroppering is especially nice with clear barrel models such as the clear classic, and any of the ice series. In the picture above, I’ve filled this pen with Noodlers Blue Nosed Bear. This is a super wet ink, so the fact that I was able to write with this and enjoy it means that this medium nib was a very dry writer. I’ve taken notes with my navy Sport, and it flowed well, but the design of the pen makes it impractical for start/stop applications unless you’re able to use the pen unposted. When I was first trying to write with my clear Sport that had baby’s bottom, the pen wouldn’t flow consistently when I was holding the pen at a high angle. My girlfriend tried using it while holding the pen at a lower angle and she was able to get a consistent flow. I’m not sure how common baby’s bottom is for Kaweco nibs, but it is an issue to look out for. If you’re a lefty over writer beginning their fountain pen journey with a Sport and you encounter baby’s bottom, please don’t be discouraged because there is always another nib.

I love Kaweco as a brand, and love all of my pens from them, but the quality control on their nibs can be uneven. I once bought a double broad Kaweco nib, and it didn’t have a slit. Fortunately, all of their pens except for the Supra take the same nib, so it’s easy to swap nibs once you’ve found one that you really like. All Kaweco nibs are friction fit inside a plastic housing. On all metal sectioned models, this housing can just be screwed in and out. On all plastic sectioned models, the housing is stuck inside the section and is not able to be removed. To remove a Kaweco nib from its housing, use a rubber grip or jar opener and pull it out by holding the nib at the tapered part of the feed. Kaweco feeds are a lot more durable than (for example) TWSBI feeds, so these pens are good to practice on if you’re a beginner nib swapper. Lamys are good for practice as well, but you can’t play around with other nib brands.

Every version of the Sport will have its own writing experience, which is why the AL-Sport will have its own post. Besides the fountain pen, I’ve also tried the rollerball and the clutch pencil, which are both pleasant to use and will also have their own posts in time. You can purchase your own Sport wherever fine writing instruments are sold. The plastic models generally sell for about $25 to $30 USD.