For this review of the Sailor 1911 Standard fountain pen, a special thanks to Pen Chalet for sending it over to me.
I've had the opportunity of reviewing a few Sailor pens in the past: Brad Dowdy's 1911 Black Luster, my Orang Pro Gear, and most recently the Young Profit and have had an enjoyable experience with all of them.
Even though Sailor pens seem to fall into a slightly higher price point, I do feel that they definitely hold up to it in value. Outside of the sup-$100 range, you're always going to get either a 14k gold nib in the pens around $200 and 21k in pens around the $300 range. If you look at comparable pens in this range like the Pelikan M205 or even M405, you're going to generally be paying more to get there, even for steel nibs.
Brad's Black Luster that he so kindly lent me last year is of the larger 1911 variety, while this one is the standard. I hadn't used or handled the standard size before Ron sent this one my way and I didn't quite anticipate how small it would be in comparison.
The larger 1911 is a great size with just enough heft, but I found the standard to be just a bit small for me personally. It really is a good size, but if I had to choose between the two standard vs large, I'd go with the larger. That being said, someone with smaller hands this may be a perfect size.
The standard 1911 comes with a 14k gold nib. This particular nib is an H-M. I'm not certain what the "H" stands for, but I've read some forums that say it stands for "hard" medium. I would say this is likely accurate as the nib is very, very stiff.
The medium runs a pretty standard Japanese medium (slightly on the finer side).
Sailor nibs tend to have a certain wetness, smoothness and feedback. They aren't overly wet and they definitely have a feeling on the page that is very pronounced. I would not call it smooth by any means, but not uncomfortable.
Personally I find that I enjoy nibs that I can feel slightly against the page. Super glassy smooth nibs make it a bit difficult to make each pronounced stroke. I would wager that some people would find Sailor nibs a scratchy, but definitely a personal preference.
Pen Chalet doesn't offer the standard 1911 without the gold trim, but from my investigations I've seen that they do make them with a rhodium trim. I think I recall that they may not be available in the US as of yet? If moving up to the larger size, rhodium trim is readily available.
I really enjoy the Sailor brand and the standard 1911 is a great pen. A slight bit small for my taste (in comparison to the large), but still comfortable. Pen Chalet has a wide range of Sailor pens at good prices and is a great seller with excellent customer service. Also, for readers of the blog, using the promo code CLICKYPOST will also get an additional 10% off.
Thanks again, Ron!