Nakaya (modem burner!)

[shandy]

Some of you may not be familiar with the Fountain pen brand called Nakaya.
They are a very small company hailing from Tokyo and hand make in small quantities exquisite fountain pens made to write that way you want to.

The North American distributor is the famous (in pen circles that is!) John Mottishaw of classic fountain pens in Los Angeles. John is famous for his gift of customizing nibs to write the exact way you want them to,a perfect partner for Nakaya!

You can order these pens from John or direct from the maker. I use the word maker as this is a very small scale operation that is based in a very small building in Tokyo. The gentleman who hand turns the ebonite bodies and caps of these pens does so at home! virtually all the employees are retired Platinum pen company men.

The Bodies once turned are then sent to an Urushi Lacquer artist. On average it takes three months just to apply the many layers of natural lacquer. My particular model is in Kuro-Tamenuri.

This colour is a deep deep red, almost black. Layers of red lacquer are layed down followed by layers of black, over time the black becomes translucent showing even more of the red below. The pen literally changes over a period of time, ageing to a beautiful rich red. In a years time my pen will have developed this colour, I love the fact it does that!

The pens come in a simple but beautifully hand made wooden box lined in rich red velvet, The pen comes in it's own kimono, cartridge converter and a pakage of platinum ink cartridges. I forgot to take pictures of that so will add them later!

Everything on this pen is hand made, no CNC machines and the only place a computer exisits is in the initial design!

I purchased my pen at the begining of the year (John keeps a small selection in stock but if you want a special finish or unusual colour then be prepared to wait up to a year!) with a medium nib.
The pen was wonderful to write as you would expect being set up exclusively for my handwriting requirements! But my tastes have changed since experiencing the joys of vintage pens so I decided to change my nib to one customised by john.

I now have a double broad Nakata (the name of the parent company of Nakaya) nib but I wanted more! So John custom ground the nib to a stub and shaved off some of the thickness of the tines on the nib so as to increase flexibility. I like a wet nib and so this was taken care of as well.

The customization is excellent and worth every single penny,this is the work of a true artisan! The nib is exactly as I asked for!

When you order the pen, either from John or Direct you are asked many questions on how you write, from the angle you write at to the force you use to write with, from this and much more Nakaya or john adjust the nib so that it writes exactly as you want it, you can then take that to the next level as I did and add flexibility or different nib profiles, even to accomodate left handed users.

It is very much like having a bespoke pair of shoes made. All this from a starting point of $460!

After the pictures I will include a couple of links so that you can find out more about this amazing company and it's equally amazing North American distributor!






The North American distributor is Classic Fountain pens.
http://www.nibs.com/

And the main website for Nakaya is.
http://www.nakaya.org/eindex.html

Happy writing fellow pen fans!

[2careless]

Very very nice. Many grades of shading! Well done my friend! Gets me drooling now
Many questions:
1. how big is the pen?
2. is the pen celluloid?
3. how flexi can it get?
4. how long did you have to wait for John Mottishaw? I hear his queue is like 3 months.
5. Is the colour in the first (handwriting) pic correct or the 2nd pic is correct? I like the ink colour better on the first pic.

Thanks for sharing mate!

[Lol-x]

Wow Shandy, what can I says, congrats to start with and thank you for the detailed information/review.

I think the pen writes beautifully. John Mottishaw has an excellent reputation, and going by his prices on his website I think they are very reasonable.

Nakaya is a little known company to many, but seems to have a very high quality reputation. Definitely worth looking into.

Great writing too

[shandy]

Originally Posted by 2careless

Very very nice. Many grades of shading! Well done my friend! Gets me drooling now
Many questions:
1. how big is the pen?
2. is the pen celluloid?
3. how flexi can it get?
4. how long did you have to wait for John Mottishaw? I hear his queue is like 3 months.
5. Is the colour in the first (handwriting) pic correct or the 2nd pic is correct? I like the ink colour better on the first pic.

Thanks for sharing mate!

Thanks so much mate! The pen is 153mm in length with the cap on, 130mm cap off (this pen does not post!) Nib length from section to tip is 22mm and the diameter is 14mm so around the size of a 146!

The pen is ebonite including the feed and is hand turned!
There is about 4mm of flex on this puppy!

If you buy a pen from John then for a year after purchase you can have the pen turned around in a couple of days at no extra cost.
My pen arrived to him Wednesday evening last week and was shipped Friday. If you did not purchase from him then to get that speed is an extra $100 and I think the wait without that payment is about 6 months as he is in constant demand and quite rightly so!

If you pruchase a new pen from him then you can ask for all the cusomization work at point of purchase and it will be done in the faster time!

And lastly the first image is pretty much on the money for colour. Once I get brave with the flexibility there will be more line variation!

Originally Posted by Lol-x

Wow Shandy, what can I says, congrats to start with and thank you for the detailed information/review.

I think the pen writes beautifully. John Mottishaw has an excellent reputation, and going by his prices on his website I think they are very reasonable.

Nakaya is a little known company to many, but seems to have a very high quality reputation. Definitely worth looking into.

Great writing too

Thanks so much Steve and thanks again for getting this sub forum up and running, I really appreciate the time and effort taken

[Bisquitlips]

Originally Posted by shandy

Some of you may not be familiar with the Fountain pen brand called Nakaya.
They are a very small company hailing from Tokyo and hand make in small quantities exquisite fountain pens made to write that way you want to.

The North American distributor is the famous (in pen circles that is!) John Mottishaw of classic fountain pens in Los Angeles. John is famous for his gift of customizing nibs to write the exact way you want them to,a perfect partner for Nakaya!

You can order these pens from John or direct from the maker. I use the word maker as this is a very small scale operation that is based in a very small building in Tokyo. The gentleman who hand turns the ebonite bodies and caps of these pens does so at home! virtually all the employees are retired Platinum pen company men.

The Bodies once turned are then sent to an Urushi Lacquer artist. On average it takes three months just to apply the many layers of natural lacquer. My particular model is in Kuro-Tamenuri.

This colour is a deep deep red, almost black. Layers of red lacquer are layed down followed by layers of black, over time the black becomes translucent showing even more of the red below. The pen literally changes over a period of time, ageing to a beautiful rich red. In a years time my pen will have developed this colour, I love the fact it does that!

The pens come in a simple but beautifully hand made wooden box lined in rich red velvet, The pen comes in it's own kimono, cartridge converter and a pakage of platinum ink cartridges. I forgot to take pictures of that so will add them later!

Everything on this pen is hand made, no CNC machines and the only place a computer exisits is in the initial design!

I purchased my pen at the begining of the year (John keeps a small selection in stock but if you want a special finish or unusual colour then be prepared to wait up to a year!) with a medium nib.
The pen was wonderful to write as you would expect being set up exclusively for my handwriting requirements! But my tastes have changed since experiencing the joys of vintage pens so I decided to change my nib to one customised by john.

I now have a double broad Nakata (the name of the parent company of Nakaya) nib but I wanted more! So John custom ground the nib to a stub and shaved off some of the thickness of the tines on the nib so as to increase flexibility. I like a wet nib and so this was taken care of as well.

The customization is excellent and worth every single penny,this is the work of a true artisan! The nib is exactly as I asked for!

When you order the pen, either from John or Direct you are asked many questions on how you write, from the angle you write at to the force you use to write with, from this and much more Nakaya or john adjust the nib so that it writes exactly as you want it, you can then take that to the next level as I did and add flexibility or different nib profiles, even to accomodate left handed users.

It is very much like having a bespoke pair of shoes made. All this from a starting point of $460!

After the pictures I will include a couple of links so that you can find out more about this amazing company and it's equally amazing North American distributor!






The North American distributor is Classic Fountain pens.
http://www.nibs.com/

And the main website for Nakaya is.
http://www.nakaya.org/eindex.html

Happy writing fellow pen fans!

This is very, very SWEET!!! I love that nib!

[shandy]

I have been practicing with the new nib and just filled it with Private reserve copper burst.
I have used this ink before but found it a little light, with this nib there is far more shading and I really love the colour. As it says in the writing (if you can read my scrawl that is) this ink is a little drier and I can get a slightly finer line which I prefer!
Hope it gives you an idea of the ink colour the picture is pretty much as it looks in normal light.


Sorry as well, I was a little sever with the cropping!!

[Lol-x]

Shandy why did you choose the BB stub rather than the BB cursive italic?

I like this one:

[shandy]

Originally Posted by Lol-x

Shandy why did you choose the BB stub rather than the BB cursive italic?

I like this one:

Good Question Steve. I have three vintage stub nibs and really like the way they write. It is not too dissimilar to the cursive but I believe it is a little smoother. The bottom line is though that I really found my ideal nib shape in the stub and to have one customized to my exact requierments is just the icing on the cake.
Your a broad nib man as well I think, Have you tried a stub, it is a very different experience than normal italic I think.

I am waiting for a couple of bottles of Diamine ink, ruby and the beautiful Majestic blue, it will be interesting to see how they work with this nib. I really like the copper burst with it, it allows a little more control.

I have started to study classic writing forms so hopefully my writing will improve more. I love the way the Victorians wrote and they used nice and flexible nibs!

[Lol-x]

I think I like the look of the stub more than the cursive italic.
Also, if the stub is smoother then that is even more reason for me to prefer that to the cursive italic.
To my eye the stub offers more in the way of line variation than the cursive italic shown in the video.

I'm assuming your went with the portable size as opposed to the long size. The packaging looks fantastic.

I think I'm almost sold on this pen, I would get the same as you save that I'd like the irridium (silver) clip and nib and just the solid black colour pen, but otherwise thanks for doing the ground work for me.

[JJ Irani]

Congrats on your 13K posts, Steve!!

[shandy]

Originally Posted by Lol-x

I think I like the look of the stub more than the cursive italic.
Also, if the stub is smoother then that is even more reason for me to prefer that to the cursive italic.
To my eye the stub offers more in the way of line variation than the cursive italic shown in the video.

I'm assuming your went with the portable size as opposed to the long size. The packaging looks fantastic.

I think I'm almost sold on this pen, I would get the same as you save that I'd like the irridium (silver) clip and nib and just the solid black colour pen, but otherwise thanks for doing the ground work for me.

Hi Steve, yes I got the portable size, it is just about perfect in balance, no posting with these pens but then with the quality of the lacquer you would not want to!
The all silver version would look stunning and the black is a wonderful colour. though I have to say that the colour I have is quite beautiful, my pictures do not do it justice. In a lot of light it looks black but in other light there is the tinge of red!

The stub on this is about the smoothest nib I have used, buttery would be the right word but still very communicative. John really is incredible in the quality of work he does. You won't regret it one bit I think! Also, something I failed to mention in the review is the feeling that the ebonite and lacquer impart, the ebonite is warm to the touch and the lacquer smooth as glass but not at all slippery and on mine the smell is something else! Yes, the smell! The only thing I can compare it to is that it smells like a very delicate Darjeeling tea. I think it is a combination of the ebonite and the natural tree sap lacquers used!

Give me another few days getting used to using the flex and hopefully I will get the shading even better. Your right, the line variation with this nib is wonderful. I know the rest of my pens are going to get a lot of rest now!

[shandy]

Oh yes and congrats too on the 13,000, a very lucky number!
Great to see you here JJ, hope we convert you to a fountain pen

[Lol-x]

No worries, thanks JJ.

[Lol-x]

I'm interested in this concept of 'flex'. Sorry for my ignorance, but does that in some way provide a better feel, I'm just not familiar with that concept.

I've seen the 'flex' offered as an option, but I just don't understand the utility behind it?

I do think that your writing looks excellent with this pen.

[shandy]

Originally Posted by Lol-x

I'm interested in this concept of 'flex'. Sorry for my ignorance, but does that in some way provide a better feel, I'm just not familiar with that concept.

I've seen the 'flex' offered as an option, but I just don't understand the utility behind it?

I do think that your writing looks excellent with this pen.

It is the flex in the nib that gives the greater line variation and feel that is why it is not only smooth as silk but still offers huge amounts of feedback when writing, combine that with the stub and it get's even more pronounced!

I have four flexible nibs now and to be honest I would not purchase a pen without that feature anymore, it really makes ones handwriting sing!
Thank you for your comment on my writing but it really is largely due to the flex and the stub combination. without my writing looks pretty ordinary, it really does transform handwriting!

Also, don't be worried about nib longevity with the extra flexing. My 83 year old Duofold's nib still looks like the day it came out of the factory. Also I have a friend with an early 20th century Waterman with an incredible flex nib that shows no signs of giving up any time soon!

Having had the medium nib before on the Nakaya, and lovely though it was I would say double broad stub flex is the way to go to get the most out of the fountain pen. Remember as well, it is a Japanese pen so the nib does run a size down from say a Mont Blanc, so a bb would be more like an MB broad!

[Lol-x]

Shandy, thanks for the advice, very informative

[shandy]

Originally Posted by Lol-x

Shandy, thanks for the advice, very informative

No worries Steve, I really hope you enjoy your Nakaya as much as I enjoy mine!

[Denny M]

Originally Posted by shandy

Some of you may not be familiar with the Fountain pen brand called Nakaya.
They are a very small company hailing from Tokyo and hand make in small quantities exquisite fountain pens made to write that way you want to.

The North American distributor is the famous (in pen circles that is!) John Mottishaw of classic fountain pens in Los Angeles. John is famous for his gift of customizing nibs to write the exact way you want them to,a perfect partner for Nakaya!

You can order these pens from John or direct from the maker. I use the word maker as this is a very small scale operation that is based in a very small building in Tokyo. The gentleman who hand turns the ebonite bodies and caps of these pens does so at home! virtually all the employees are retired Platinum pen company men.

The Bodies once turned are then sent to an Urushi Lacquer artist. On average it takes three months just to apply the many layers of natural lacquer. My particular model is in Kuro-Tamenuri.

This colour is a deep deep red, almost black. Layers of red lacquer are layed down followed by layers of black, over time the black becomes translucent showing even more of the red below. The pen literally changes over a period of time, ageing to a beautiful rich red. In a years time my pen will have developed this colour, I love the fact it does that!

The pens come in a simple but beautifully hand made wooden box lined in rich red velvet, The pen comes in it's own kimono, cartridge converter and a pakage of platinum ink cartridges. I forgot to take pictures of that so will add them later!

Everything on this pen is hand made, no CNC machines and the only place a computer exisits is in the initial design!

I purchased my pen at the begining of the year (John keeps a small selection in stock but if you want a special finish or unusual colour then be prepared to wait up to a year!) with a medium nib.
The pen was wonderful to write as you would expect being set up exclusively for my handwriting requirements! But my tastes have changed since experiencing the joys of vintage pens so I decided to change my nib to one customised by john.

I now have a double broad Nakata (the name of the parent company of Nakaya) nib but I wanted more! So John custom ground the nib to a stub and shaved off some of the thickness of the tines on the nib so as to increase flexibility. I like a wet nib and so this was taken care of as well.

The customization is excellent and worth every single penny,this is the work of a true artisan! The nib is exactly as I asked for!

When you order the pen, either from John or Direct you are asked many questions on how you write, from the angle you write at to the force you use to write with, from this and much more Nakaya or john adjust the nib so that it writes exactly as you want it, you can then take that to the next level as I did and add flexibility or different nib profiles, even to accomodate left handed users.

It is very much like having a bespoke pair of shoes made. All this from a starting point of $460!

After the pictures I will include a couple of links so that you can find out more about this amazing company and it's equally amazing North American distributor!






The North American distributor is Classic Fountain pens.
http://www.nibs.com/

And the main website for Nakaya is.
http://www.nakaya.org/eindex.html

Happy writing fellow pen fans!

Fantastic pen Shandy. I would certainly love to own one.

[Bisquitlips]

I REALLY LIKE this one!!!

I normally would never purchase a pen made from wood as I have not seen but one that really appealed to me, but being a man who does take an occasional pipe this Briarwood version is really appealing to me.





And even the other versions of the Brian is just really nice to my eye.

[shandy]

Originally Posted by Bisquitlips

I REALLY LIKE this one!!!

I normally would never purchase a pen made from wood as I have not seen but one that really appealed to me, but being a man who does take an occasional pipe this Briarwood version is really appealing to me.





And even the other versions of the Brian is just really nice to my eye.

I love the Briarwood as well Richard, Just think what the satin finish one would look like after years of hand oils feeding it! And of course still that great nib and feed system that is on the Urishi ones!

[Bisquitlips]

Originally Posted by shandy

I love the Briarwood as well Richard, Just think what the satin finish one would look like after years of hand oils feeding it! And of course still that great nib and feed system that is on the Urishi ones!

I never thought about the patina that would come with years of use on the Briarwood that are satin.

I think that will settle it for me. I will go with either the light or the dark satin.

[shandy]

Originally Posted by Bisquitlips

I never thought about the patina that would come with years of use on the Briarwood that are satin.

I think that will settle it for me. I will go with either the light or the dark satin.

What nib are you getting Richard?
I can't wait to see the photo's you take of it, I love Briar wood!

[Bisquitlips]

Originally Posted by shandy

What nib are you getting Richard?
I can't wait to see the photo's you take of it, I love Briar wood!

I will have him try and match yours to a tee! If not, I will bribe you to send yours back to him. He can then remove your nib, put it on my pen, and give you something close to what you have now. Howz that????

Works for me!

[Lol-x]

I think I prefer just the solid black pocket writer. Maybe I've been looking at too many black Montblanc 149's but the rhodium seems to go well with the black.

Difficult choice on the nib.............there's no right answer to that, but i think the flex BB stub is the way to go.

Do you think delivery will take long?

[shandy]

Originally Posted by Lol-x

I think I prefer just the solid black pocket writer. Maybe I've been looking at too many black Montblanc 149's but the rhodium seems to go well with the black.

Difficult choice on the nib.............there's no right answer to that, but i think the flex BB stub is the way to go.

Do you think delivery will take long?

Are you getting it from John? If so it looks like he has the all black in stock. It took just a day to customize my nib so I would imgine you could have it very soon, He gives priority immediate response to cusomizations if you have purchased from him. Jonella is really great to deal with and the person your most likely to interact with.

Hopefully you will have it by the end of the week as long as shipping to Aus is quick!
I am really looking forward to seeing what you think of it and think you have chosen the right nib, but then again I would say that would'nt I

Congratulations Steve, I think you are going to really enjoy how this pen writes!

[2careless]

Hmm, I like the changing of colours when the pen is "aged", like you have to carry/wear jade for it to turn green

Thinking about the heki-tamenuri colour with Rhodium clip and I like how it looks after aging.
http://www.nakaya.org/hekitame.html

nib would be broad stub 2-tone.

[shandy]

Originally Posted by 2careless

Hmm, I like the changing of colours when the pen is "aged", like you have to carry/wear jade for it to turn green

Thinking about the heki-tamenuri colour with Rhodium clip and I like how it looks after aging.
http://www.nakaya.org/hekitame.html

nib would be broad stub 2-tone.

That is a beautiful colour Kai. Mine will turn to this after a few years (they use a shallow dish to give the example!)
New.


After a year.


I am so happy you guy's are either getting or thinking about getting a Nakaya. I really don't think you will be dissapointed and to think you are keeping the craft of Artisans both in Japan and the US alive and well. I know this might sound odd but you can really feel the human input and care that has been put into these pens!
I can't wait to see your reviews!

Richard, I was just looking again at the briarwoods, I love the way the satin finish seems to give even more depth to the grain, think what that will be like after a few years use, it will have the same sort of patina and old briarwood pipe has or a lovely old desk!

[Bisquitlips]

Originally Posted by shandy

That is a beautiful colour Kai. Mine will turn to this after a few years (they use a shallow dish to give the example!)
New.


After a year.


I am so happy you guy's are either getting or thinking about getting a Nakaya. I really don't think you will be dissapointed and to think you are keeping the craft of Artisans both in Japan and the US alive and well. I know this might sound odd but you can really feel the human input and care that has been put into these pens!
I can't wait to see your reviews!

Richard, I was just looking again at the briarwoods, I love the way the satin finish seems to give even more depth to the grain, think what that will be like after a few years use, it will have the same sort of patina and old briarwood pipe has or a lovely old desk!

Yes. I agree.

And I have spent a lot of time on John's site going through his Nakayas. I have my eye on two more.

Just emailed him for an estimate and to see if he needs more information.

I will keep you posted.

[shandy]

Originally Posted by Bisquitlips

Yes. I agree.

And I have spent a lot of time on John's site going through his Nakayas. I have my eye on two more.

Just emailed him for an estimate and to see if he needs more information.

I will keep you posted.

Wonderful Richard, I can't wait to see it, what are the other two if I may ask? Should be nice and quick for you as you are in the same country, next day shipping!!

[Bisquitlips]

Originally Posted by shandy

Wonderful Richard, I can't wait to see it, what are the other two if I may ask? Should be nice and quick for you as you are in the same country, next day shipping!!

Posted my short list here with the other two at the bottom of the post that I am considering.