Wet and Wise: Mysterious Garnet: Modest Standard

­Something a little different…a little special…a little “oh yeah!”

A Different Approach:

This will be a slightly different type of review. Most of fountain pen reviews on YouTube are over mass produced in factories, rolling off well-oiled production lines. But this pen is different. It’s as much a piece of art as it is a tool for writing. So you may notice that I’m using different terminology for some sections and not assigning scores.

Appearance:

I could just say “whoa!” and be done with this section. But you know me…I like to get into detail.

The aesthetic beauty of this pen doesn’t lie in its shape. I mean, it’s more or less an acrylic cylinder. The beauty lies in both its material and in its craftsmanship: the softly beveled edges, super smooth finish, and perfectly shaped section that provides me with a really comfortable writing experience.

The Mysterious Garnet has a simple design: A cylinder-shaped body and cap with that little minimalistic black rollstop which makes a great color combination with the pen itself and matches with the black Bock nib. No cap band. No clip. No finial or endcap. Although, if you want a clip, other shape of rollstop, or finial, it’s possible to add one on your custom order.

The section is the only piece that has any contour to it. It has pinch section which is a subtle hourglass shape that’s attractive and comfortable to use.

Wet and Wise Company uses a huge array of materials its pens, including all sorts of acrylics and ebonites and maybe a few pieces of wood here and there. This Mysterious Garnet is made with a Ruby Red Silky acrylic marked by pearlescent chatoyant. There are also a great selection of nibs to choose. It’s used the Bock nib in a number of grades and finishes. As you may know Bock is high quality German nib which provides very smooth and pleasant writing experience. After I tried different colors I chose a black Bock nib in Fine, and the black finish just looks so amazing alongside the acrylic. It’s a perfect compliment. And here is a quick tip about Bock nibs and swapping particularly number 6 size Bock nib. It’s fairly adaptable sort of nib that is available on a lot of different type of pens including this Wet and Wise fountain pen and it come in a variety different sizes so you get extra fine, fine , medium , broad , double broad and italic stub nibs. Calligraphy style. So if the pen ah you have is adaptable to a number six size nib you could easily swap it out then have it, you know be any size point size that you have and then you could order other pens that are in different point sizes. So I’m going to show you how to quickly do that. It’s very very easy. So what you would want to do is you’d want to take the barrel off the pen, remove the converter and then we’re going to remove the nib. You just have to be a little bit, just tender with it. Just to make sure that you’re not screwing up the nib or the feed. So you would do is you would take your index finger over the top of the nib you take your thumb right on the flat portion of the feed here and you would screw counterclockwise.  And the feed housing should come right out of the section here. And you would then take the replacement nib and then screw that back on until it gets nice and tight and you’re pretty much good to go from there. So you can see Red nib is nice too.

Craftsmanship

The fit and finish of this pen are flawless. All the threads are tight and marry together perfectly. The tolerances between the barrel, section, and cap are also perfect. All the edges around the top and mouth of the cap and the end of the barrel are evenly and gently beveled so they’re smooth to the touch.

Here attention to detail is apparent. Although the overall shape of the pen is simple, I’ve implemented some really great design choices. For example, the threads joining the section to the barrel are really long (it takes over seven full turns to remove the section). This is intentional to make the pen more suitable as an eyedropper.

Dependability

I use Bock nib for long time, and it never fails to write. I use Bock nib on my personal fountain pens. Well, I did have to prime the feed once after I let it sit unused for about a month. But other than that, I haven’t had any issues with hard starts or skipping. It’s not uncommon for me to switch pens every once in a while, and even after a good 30 to 45 seconds of my gawking at it, it doesn’t hard start. Just writes right away.

Comfort

Between the overall lightness of the pen and the long, thick section, I find the Mysterious Garnet to be one of the more comfortable pens I made. I never find the section to feel slippery, and I have no problem maintaining a light grip. I can write with it for a long time with no cramping.

In order for the cap to sit flush with the barrel, there’s a pretty pronounced step down from the barrel to the section. But here’s where some of my design choices show up to mitigate any issue. First, the section is pretty long. Second, I place the cap threads between the section and the step, providing even more distance between your fingers and the step. The threads are tightly spaced and not at all sharp. So when I write with the Mysterious Garnet, my fingers barely touch the threads and don’t go anywhere near the step, meaning that all I feel is smooth acrylic.

Measurements and Writing Experience

This is not my first steel Bock nib. All of them are exceptional. I find that this nib is pretty smooth, and enough wet for a fine nib. You can feel the nib running along the paper, and it’s good. A tiny little bit feedback is necessary. Sometimes very smooth nib ruins your handwriting because the nib slips on the paper and you don’t have that much control on the nib.

Conclusion

This is the point in my reviews where I usually talk about “value” and if a pen is worth the asking price. I can’t do that here. This pen is just as much a piece of art as it is a pen. The pen works flawlessly.

But there’s more to this pen. This pen didn’t come off an assembly line. A dude took acrylic rods, slapped them on a lathe, and bored, cut, drilled, and polished them to create a one-of-a-kind object. A dude who also spent time creating, testing, and perfecting the design. And there is a story behind each pen.

Trying to decide if a pen like this is worth its cost is like trying to decide if a painting or sculpture is worth its cost. I think the true value can only be assessed by the person who ultimately buys it.

You may love the way it looks. You may love the way it writes. You may love the way it feels when you’re writing. And you may love the fact that someone poured his time, talent, and heart into making it.