Nakaya
Nakaya 17mm Portable Cigar Shu Unpolished
Nakaya 17mm Portable Cigar Shu Unpolished
With its smooth, rounded shape and matte red finish, the 17mm Portable Cigar Shu Unpolished fountain pen radiates a natural, understated beauty. While the standard size Portable pen has a diameter of 15mm, this version has a diameter of 17mm, perfect for those who prefer more heft to their writing instrument. The unpolished finish also provides a textual delight to those who prefer writing with a pen that feels almost velvety to the touch.
The Nakaya 17mm Portable Cigar Shu Unpolished fountain pen is handcrafted from ebonite and Urushi lacquer, and comes standard with your choice of solid gold 14k nib.
As always, this Nakaya pen body is made from hand-turned ebonite hard rubber which is then layered with Urushi lacquer in the Wajima region of Japan. Ebonite hard rubber is a strong and durable material - vintage fountain pens using this material have lasted for a hundred years and more. The muted, earthy color of the Unpolished Shu is reminiscent of clay bricks.
The Nakaya 17mm Portable Cigar Unpolished Shu fountain pen can be filled with bottled fountain pen ink using the provided converter. Nakaya pens can also use Platinum brand ink cartridges.
These smooth-writing nibs are well-suited to customizations including Stub, Cursive Italic, and Left Oblique, as well as the modification for added flexibility.
With its satiny finish, subdued color, and smooth shape, the Nakaya 17mm Portable Cigar Unpolished Shu fountain pen provides a multi-sensory writing experience for those who prefer a wider pen.
Decorative rice paper, a simple solid softwood shipping box decorated with Japanese Kanji script, a starter box of Platinum ink cartridges, and a fabric pen ""kimono"" are all included with this pen, making it a lovely presentation item. Sensible and elegant packaging has long been a hallmark of the Nakaya brand.
Nakaya pens are individually handcrafted.
Unless requested otherwise, each pen or nib you purchase from us will be carefully examined, tested, and optimized for your personal writing characteristics before it ships.
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Customization Guide
Stub
 
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Above is the same size nib after a regrind to Stub. A regrind to Stub is often a good place to start for your first customization. Â A Stub nib provides broad down-strokes and narrow cross-strokes while writing, and is less position-sensitive on the paper than the crisper and slightly more demanding cursive italic.
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Cursive Italic
 
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More demanding, but also providing crisper edges and more line-width variation, is the very popular customization to Cursive Italic. This also provides broad down-strokes and narrow cross-strokes, but is also more position-sensitive in terms of how the pen is held and requires more skill on the part of the user. This is a common customization for artists and calligraphers, but is still smooth enough to make for a good everyday writer.
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Formal Italic
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Formal Italic is an even crisper and more demanding customization than either cursive italic or left oblique, and is usually utilized for calligraphy and by the most experienced users. This provides broad down-strokes and narrow cross-strokes, with even crisper corners and edges than a cursive italic - this is an extremely position-sensitive customization.
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Left Oblique
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 Commonly used for signatures and correspondence, the Left Oblique customization provides broad diagonal strokes and narrow cross-strokes, and like a cursive italic, is more position-sensitive and demanding than a stub. The whole pen must be rotated to the left in order to write smoothly, without skipping. The "Left" in Left Oblique refers to the cut of the nib itself, and does not refer to the handedness of the writer. |
Architect's Point (Also for Arabic and Hebraic writing)
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A more exotic regrind is that to Architect’s Point. Named after the style of writing used by Frank Lloyd Wright, this regrind is the opposite of cursive italic, and provides for broad cross-strokes and narrow down-strokes. This also tends to be a particularly useful customization for those practicing Arabic or Hebraic calligraphy. |
Spencerian
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Perhaps our most popular customization, but also one of the most advanced, the Mottishaw Spencerian Customization has gained special attention from being featured in a customer's YouTube video which has now received over twelve million views! The Spencerian starts from a semi-soft 14k nib and adds additional flex and a regrind to needlepoint to create a specialized writing point used for copperplate calligraphy. For more details, visit our special Spencerian page.. |