This is my second brass Delike pen, my first was the Alpha (Delike’s answer to the Kaweco Brass Sport) which underwent a significant renovation to remove the coating and the deeply annoying ‘War & Peace” motif.
Happily, this pen has no such motif or coating and does not require a complete strip down and renovation; it is, in fact, an interesting pocket pen. It is clearly ‘inspired’ by the Kaweco Lilliput and possibly also the Supra but as this is a pocket pen that sits neatly between the two of them, I think I’s fair to say that Delike saw an opportunity and took it.
As the images show the size of the Element sits it neatly between its Kaweco cousins making it a nice average sized pocket pen and of the three of them it is the one I find most usable. It is still a little narrow for my tastes, but I’ve used for a few days and I think it’s a pen I could get used to.
Moving on to the pen itself; it arrived in a deep blue Delike tin and inside this is a bespoke foam liner that holds the pen securely ensuring it did not suffer on its travels.
The pen is made from solid brass and is approximately 10mm diameter, 120mm long capped, 112mm uncapped and 152mm posted. Each piece is machined from solid brass so there are no finials and no decorative engraving that I can see; only the surface of the barrel and the cap are finished with a slight ridged pattern which I find makes it easier to hold the pen. The section is shaped, it has a waist, to allow somewhere for your finger to rest while writing and unlike the barrel and the cap it does not have the ridged finish; which would be a nice touch to improve grip et cetera.
The cap screws on and off and despite having no liner it appears to make a good seal, I left the pen for a day or two and experienced no skipping or hard starts. Once you have removed the cap you have the option to screw it on to the end of the barrel to extend the pen. Whilst I found this shifted the balance of the pen making it back heavy, for some reason I found this also made it easier to write with the pen. The threads on the barrel that enable you to do this are a lot like those on the Lilliput in so far that they are quite shallow and don’t really look up to the task but just like the Lilliput they are.
The nib is small and from a simple side by side comparison I would say it is the same size as those found on the TWSBI Eco; I then looked at the feed and it’s well set and correctly aligned.
So how does it write? Well the first thing I did was fill the ‘Platinum’ style converter with Diamine Oxford Blue and from there I primed the nib. After that I tried the Element both posted and unposted and it writes very nicely. The nib on mine is very smooth and it glides across the page and I noticed no scratchiness or feedback of any sort. If anything, the nib in mine is a bit generous with ink making it a wet writer; all in all, it is a nice pen to use.
For anyone who wants a good, inexpensive pocket pen this pen should be on your short list especially if you find the Lilliput too small. The only things I would change is to continue the ridged surface on to the section and the lack of a clip. Whilst I’m not a clip user I do like them because they make excellent roll stops and judging by the amount of travelling this pen did on my desk it needs one.
In short, I would recommend this pen to anyone wanting a pocket pen; it’s a tough little pen that will survive in your pocket or you bag and being brass you won’t need to worry about damage. It’s not expensive and it writes nicely so for me it ticks all the essential boxes for a pocket pen.
Disclaimer: This pen was purchased with my own funds at retail price. The opinions expressed in this review are my own; and I am not connected with either the retailers or manufacturers in any way.
The Indian Marmalade Company 