Serwex 101 fountain pen review
8 December 2014
I received this Serwex 101 eyedropper demonstrator for free with another pen I’d bought from Fountain Pen Revolution. It can be found for less than $6 if you look around.
The nib is as scratchy as they come without being useless. Any scratchier and it would be tearing up the paper but it doesn’t and it fulfils its basic function of putting ink onto paper. It’s quite a wet writer and it’s very consistent.
The clip is fairly thin metal and the cap, section and barrel are all made from cheap feeling plastic. This isn’t one of those pens that belies its price.
The Serwex 101 is a demonstrator and I do have a fondness for demonstrators.
I also rather like eyedroppers. Look how lovely that ink looks in there.
This is a scratchy pen that looks and feels cheap. However, it actually is cheap and it is rather fun. I can’t particularly recommend it in itself but for the price, it wouldn’t do any harm to pick one up one day and play around with it for a while, but only if you want to play around with nib adjustment or grinding.
You can find some more reviews of Serwex pens on Pennaquod.
I’ve always been curious about those little guys, but with the Pilot Petit1 being so cheap I never thought it worth it. (I love the Petit1!)
The Petit is a much better pen, that’s for sure.
I have many Indian FP’s Ian, and virtually all of them eyedroppers. Much as I love them for being handmade and unique, I find that even if you hit on a smooth nib, their feeds are their achilles heel. Did this Serwex ever ‘gloop’ at all? I’ve found that I have to keep any Indian eyedropper over half full to stop it seriously blebbing ink onto the page at any opportunity once it gets to about a third full.
Lots of research has shown that the problem is normally a poor ebonite feed (which allows ink to creep past the section), egged on by the heat from the users hand on the barrel accentuating the problem.
How they use these pens successfully in 40 degrees C heat over on the Sub Continent amazes me. Indian pens are an anachronism – Many are beautiful to look at and hold, but I see now that well known Indian sellers such as ASApens are fitting Bock nibs and feeds.
Defence rests M’Lud.
I’ve only got this and another identical pen with a flex nib. It didn’t gloop but to be honest I haven’t used it enough to know if that’s me being lucky or you being unlucky. Whilst it’s an interesting little pen, it has far too much competition from other pens in my collection to ever get any use. I’d like to explore other Indian pens in the future though. Are there any you’d recommend?