A disclaimer up top: This pen was given to me as a gift, and I bought the ink and paper I reference with my own funds. I’m not interested in trying to monetize anything on this site right now, so take this post as it is; a writeup about a neat pen I got for my birthday.
The Conklin Duragraph model dates back to 1923. That’s quite a legacy for a pen, but Conklin itself goes even further back. How far? Far enough that Mark Twain endorsed their Crescent Filler design in the early 1900s. The brand was revived in 2009, and their classic models have been in production ever since. You can get the Duragraph in plenty of colors, but I had my eye on the matte black/rainbow trim limited edition model that Goulet Pens put out this year. Luckily, a good friend grabbed me one as an early birthday present, and I’d like to write some thoughts on it, at least partially to give the friend who gave it to me a bit of anxiety.
The matte black finish feels incredibly smooth and looks great, and the anodized metal trim makes it stand out. A neat thing about rainbow-anodized metal is that each piece comes out differently. Between that and the engraved limited edition number, the pen really feels unique. It might be hard to see in the picture above, but my clip came out super green.
The neat black design extends to the #6 JoWo steel nib, too, which features the Conklin logo and place of origin, Toledo.
So how does it write? Really nicely. The grip is larger than I’m used to, but not an issue. The pen’s weight is solid, and it’s a bit long when posted. It doesn’t bother me, but some people may find it a bit too backweighted when posted. Mine came with an extra-fine nib, so there’s definitely some tooth and feedback, but it’s an overall smooth writer, and the finer nib means that it’ll write well on less-than stellar paper. Speaking of writing, here’s some awful writing samples with that nice black JoWo nib.
Overall, this is a neat finish on a classic design. Another nice thing about the Duragraph is that if you’re not a converter fan, it takes standard international cartridges as well. This might not be huge for some people, but as someone who started with a Pilot and had a friend with a Lamy 2000, I’m excited and pleasantly surprised when something isn’t proprietary. The price is what I consider the mid range of fountain pens, currently on sale for $64 on Goulet. Paying much more puts you in the range of the Vanishing Point, other gold nib pens, and more internal fillers than cartridge converters. Paying much less puts you in the Metropolitan/Safari/Eco tier, which isn’t a bad thing at all. 2/3 of those are in my current rotation, and I love how they write.
My friend gave me this pen with the hopes that it would immediately become my favorite daily writer, like the Monteverde Innova I got him became to him. I’m not sure we’re there yet, but if I could only have one pen to carry around daily, an argument could be made for this sweet limited Duragraph.