Kanwrite Legacy Review

Legacy Ice Blue

Are you looking for a pen that is big, simple, practical and comfortable and at the same time?

Here’s one good option for you. Kanwrite (aka Kanpur writers) based at the city of Kanpur in UP, India has recently come up with their new offering known by the name “Legacy” and have made it available in a few different acrylic and ebonite versions. The one that I’ve got for myself and will be speaking about here is the ice blue version turned from acrylic celluloid (how they like to call it) material; which is technically speaking different from cellulose acetate butyrate or even cellulose nitrate. The manufacturer breaks it down as an acrylic resin which has celluloid like chipped pattern running through its dimensions.

Acrylic with celluloid like chips

Previously, the company offered different pens including the Desire and Heritage, and all were moulded acrylic. This is their first model that’s hand turned and lets look at how it turned out (pun intended).

Before jumping into the specifications, let’s have a look at some information from the company’s website.

•Length – 152 mm
•Barrel diameter – 15.1 mm
•Cap diameter – 16 mm
•Section diameter – 12.2 – 12.3 mm
•Weight – 25.75 gm
•Weight (without cap)-18.2 gm.

Colour/Material available:-

1. Acrylic- Orange, Dark blue
2. Ebonite- Red Black Swirl, Solid Black.
3. Acrylic celluloid – Ice Blue.

Specifications

Filling mechanism

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It uses a proprietary converter which mimics a piston and is hence termed as a piston pump by the company. I choose to call it a converter
as it could be removed from the barrel of pen and that’s where the second filling mechanism i.e. Eye dropper, comes into play. This new converter / piston pump is different from other conventional converters as it could be fully disassembled for cleaning and lubricating (with silicon grease) purposes.

Piston pump fully disassembled

It holds a generous amount of about ~1.1 ml (approx.) of ink, while as an eye-dropper the barrel can hold upto ~ 6.2 ml of ink and that’s a huge volume to last for a few days of regular writing.
Now there had been speculations going on about the piston pump in the community, which believed it is the same old piston style from the Heritage and I had a chat with Mr. Sandeep Awasthi (owner of Kanpur writer) about the same. He said “It’s a new improved piston, where only o-rings are the same as in case of Heritage.”

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Packaging

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This time they have introduced changes to their packaging style and we get to see a cardboard box with magnetic closure and more importantly it has their branding, company’s address and contact information, these things were missing in their older box. It opens to reveal the contents placed between the cutouts from a foam padding.

Cardboard box

Interior and contents revealed

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Nib and writing experience

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Kanwrite has always had a multitude of nib options with various nib tip grinds and flex nib options. This particular pen is equipped with their brand’s housing with a No. 6 nib. Legacy offers to choose from any of the grinds available with a nib of the above specified size. All the steel nibs can be availed for the same price, while an upgrade to solid gold nib (14K) would invite additional charges. I got mine with a steel zoom nib ground on a double broad tip.

Close-up of writing sample

Line variations with zoom nib

Zoom nib close up

Their nibs are liked by the masses and feature a distinctive feedback as they are put to write over paper without being scratchy at all. They include a fine nib with a plastic feed and housing as a complimentary gift with this pen. The nib that is selected by the user comes installed with an ebonite feed and hence offers very pleasingly wet writing experience.

I would have liked if the nibs were tuned before shipping, as both had the tendency of skipping amidst writing. A bit of nail file application did the job for me.

Pen is well balanced with no additional/unwanted weight on either side. Personally, I would have liked it more if it was slightly heavier uniformly.

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Looks and finish

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To my eye, the Ice Blue variant looks very attractive and takes the point for this attribute. It is iridescent and reflects light when viewed from different angles. Although we have seen it in other brands, still they have implemented it well, while I must add here that the other variants are not so interesting atleast for me. We need to grow from mottled/rippled ebonite.
The design as mentioned earlier is simple and has got a cylindrical shape with conical tapering ends at both sides.

The cap and barrel are not linearly flushed and that was not a part of the design intention. The end part of the cap rests slightly higher than the level of barrel and there’s a step up in the barrel which is wisely done 5 millimeters away from the last thread so that it doesn’t interfere with most gripping styles. The cap opens in perfect 2 turns and has a metal ring towards the end to protect it from cracking in case of a fall.

The section is girthy and very comfortable for long writing sessions without any fatigue to the fingers. There’s a flare towards the writing end of the section, which guides your fingers to stay at place.

Close up of section threads and barrel step-up

The clip is springy and quite functional. which slides easily into shirt pockets and pen loops without damaging the elastic material. Also it could be removed and the top finial could to screwed to flush with the body of the cap unlike their other models.

Being a hand turned pen, it’s pretty well polished and finishing is done well without leaving lathe marks. Threads are very well finished and don’t offer much resistance while capping / screwing.

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Size comparison

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L to R- Sheaffer No Nonsense, Kanwrite desire, Airmail 69T, Kanwrite Legacy (Capped)

L to R- Sheaffer No Nonsense, Kanwrite desire, Airmail 69T, Kanwrite Legacy (Uncapped)

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Hand written review
(Some corrections were made later)

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To be released

The following statement(s) were directly copied and pasted as in whatever I was told by Mr. Sandeep Awasthi

We are upgrading our pen and nib range step by step as our next in line are Metal pen models, a biggest #9 nib, the new ink filler you already seen in Legacy now will work to develop a sterling silver pen next in line as well as Titanium nib (very soon already developed)

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