Testing Metal Dip Pens: Drillog Steel Nib and Kakimori Brass Nib

[ichirofakename]

1. Yikes, what a struggle! Thanks for taking it for the team. My enthusiasm is appropriately damped. I'll wait for 2.0.
2. Sailor now makes the Hocoro, which is effectively a dip pen with a normalish fountain pen nib. I may have to go to Japan to get one...

[CarlaPavon]

Thanks so much for the review! I was curious about the drill nibs. I just started with glass nib pens which are supeeer great, no skipping at all. I think if I go with this drillog I would get a broader nib. Great work!

[SarahBaileyArts]

Ahhh thanks for this! I bought the kakimori brass nib as well, but my first one just would not write normally, no matter what I did, I scrubbed it with a toothbrush and soap, tried lots of inks, changed my angle, all I got was giant blobs. I eventually emailed Yoseka and they said some of them had issues and sent me a replacement (they are so freakin' awesome). The new one writes more like yours so my first one definitely had an issue. I have been sitting here thinking to myself that I regret not putting that money into a drillog. The kakimori is great for ink swatches but frustrating for regular writing, even with the new one that works more like yours. It's fun to play with but I think I'll stick with my traditional metal nib for the most part. :-/ I was hoping for an all-in-one swatching pen but alas, I don't think so. For cleaning the kakimori, I used a soapy toothbrush, works much better than trying to use a cloth in my experience.

[jom]

I got the Drillog with the 0.8 nib and I really like it, though it doesn't hold the ink for as long as one would like but all the inks I've used it with have been absolutely fine with very good flow, including shimmer inks. Great review.

[marilyngardner]

Kakimori advises using a toothbrush to clean out the crevices in the nib, with soapy water only if needed. The Drilling looks interesting but seems too pricey. I can understand that you have a use for it for artwork, though, and the nib holder you chose is a very pretty color!

[gila]

Just on time your video came ..😊😊 thank you…

[redversdavies]

So I initially struggled with hard stats with drillog so I wrote to drillog and asked advice.

They said that if you touch the nib the oil on your hands stops the ink from flowing... so watching the first few minutes of you just rolling it around on your fingers was painful.

Toothbrush and small amount of soap to get the oils off the nib and it will start flawlessly.

Good luck!

[nancysharp]

I appreciate you sharing your authentic experience with these nibs. I’ve been wanting the Kakimori nibs and wondered which was better for drawing. I’ve read that the brass is smoother and that the stainless is little more precise.

[tanjablume]

I have just watched a video by Kateri Ewing, she is an artist as well and compares the Kakimori
Brass & Steel nibs. Very interesting as well, as your was. She really loves them🙂

[TheDormousesDesk]

Kakimori has them back in stock but shipping to the US via DHL is $26! Hoping that they come back in stock at Yoseka soon.

[starr-starr]

I am so glad you showed these! The want monster has been really whining about these. I think I can tamp it down a bit now, although the Drillog may come home at one point, just because the engineering on it is so nice. De Atramentis inks dry so quickly that I wonder if it will dry on the upper part of the nib before it can flow down. I even have that problem with a glass nib on some of them. I wonder if adding a drop of White Lightning would help with flow on those nibs.

[MarshaLove]

I have the Kakimori stainless steel metal nib and the Drillog in 0.8. I haven't been doing a lot of swatching lately, so I'm still testing with them.
So far, I like the Kakimori for swatching, but it is different from my older swatches with cotton swabs, so I'll keep using the swabs for those swatches for comparisons; I can see it replacing the Automatic pen in some cases. I need to practice getting the right angle for writing with it to produce a uniform thin line.

For the Drillog, mine seems to have a sweet spot but otherwise so far seems to work almost as well as the glass pens.

[drow]

If I could get over needing to switch inks frequently dipping the Platinum Preppy works as well as anything. Time consuming but it'll write for a page without re- dipping.

[SunshineFL]

I replaced my glass dip pens with the kakimori brass nib, stainless steel nib, fountain pen nib, and the kakimori aluminum nib holder.

[michaelsorrentino]

I’ve been playing with a ruling pen and inks for artwork sketching. Just found this video but I don’t feel that these new nibs flow well- especially the harder starts.

[technoraptor]

Doesn't look like my cup of tea...they look awesome..but don't work the way I prefer it seems..still on the hunt for a decent dip pen

[hannahf]

To be fair, I gave away my bottle of Nekoyanagi because the ink just doesn't like to behave with most fountain pen

[dashsunil]

I have never tried a dip pen. Looking at this video, I think they are too messy. 😅😅

[itsafineone]

Classic case of pay more get less. Not impressed with either nib. Thanks for the vid, though.

[technoraptor]

The hard starts gave me a headache to watch