William Shakour Titan, Torpedo Fountain Pen review

Now this isn't a Brompton bicycle related blog post in any way and is all about a fountain pen. If this is not your thing, I will not be too offended, however, it is a particularly fine pen and you might find it of interest.  

I think that regular readers will probably know that I do have a thing for fountain pens. I have owned and sold lots and lots of pens. I have written with pens by Montblanc, Conid and Graf von Faber Castell costing several hundred pounds to the trusty and affordable Lamy 'Safari.' It is quite rare for a new pen to grab my attention and affection so quickly but my recent purchase of one by William Shakour has certainly achieved this. The pen - as the blog title has announced - is a Titan 'Torpedo' and can be seen in the photo below. 

The 'Torpedo'

Before I tell you more about what I think about this pen, it is perhaps worth mentioning that about five years ago I had another by William Shakour - also Titan in size. Below you can see it next to a Montblanc 149 (a large oversized pen) making it look rather smaller. I really liked this pen as well but sadly it was taken from a backpack front pocket when I was at a conference. 

An older William Shakour pen next to a 149

I first came across William Shakour and his pens via a friend who had a couple of them in different colours to the blue one I had above. William is a one person operation and makes 3D prints of his various designs, sands them down and puts the finishing touches to them. He is enthusiastic about his designs and a complete gentleman to deal with. If you look up other reviews by many of the more prominent YouTubers, you will discover that he gets rave reviews - and rightly so. 

At the recent London Pen Show, I saw some of his newer designs in the flesh as it were, as well as seeing people mention them on Instagram and various other forms of social media. I liked the 'Torpedo' so once home I placed an order. I was very lucky with the timing as William had a spare moment to fit my order in and get the pen ready. He kindly sent some photos of my pen after it had been printed and where the sanding process was ongoing. 

A short while later, my pen arrived. It is a large oversized pen and I opted for a steel #8 nib that has William's custom design, I think lasered on. 

It is a wonderful looker

It is a large pen and further below you can see it next to a Lamy Safari - not a small pen by any means - for comparison. The proportions of the pen are wonderful as is its feel and balance in the hand. I have large hands and it is perfect but I know many with average sized hand who find it as comfortable. 

The finishing on the pen is to a very high standard and it is difficult to get your head around the fact that this is a 3D printed pen and not turned out of some fancy acrylic! The pen feels as it could withstand anything and there is a good thickness of material in the cap and body. 

William supplied my pen with a blue feed for my fine nib. He also supplied a spare white feed. (more on this later). The pen wrote beautifully once filled and the balance in my hand all made for a supremely comfortable and enjoyable writing experience. 

My pen is smoke grey and translucent. It has a great overall look.   

Next to a Lamy Safari

Of course, I did muck things up, as only I can. With that lovely white feed sitting there, I decided to take the nib out of the one the pen came in and have a go with the white feed. Not only did I break the lovely blue feed when trying to get the nib out, I bent the nib at almost a right-angle. Totally my fault. Sending a message to William, explaining what had happened, he took pity on me and sent a replacement. He would not accept payment for it. 

That white feed and housing!

While waiting for the replacement to arrive, I fitted an awful #8 titanium nib I had spare that was just about usable but had always been so scratchy a surgeon could perform an operation using it. Despite this, I still loved the pen. When the new nib arrived, all was well in the world and the pen is again...wonderful. The nib is a lovely, lovely writer and hard to believe that 18K isn't stamped somewhere on it. 

You won't run dry in a hurry

I am not sure how much ink it holds but it is an outrageous quantity that would keep you going for an age. The pen is filled via piston fill and this is again designed and made by William and was silky smooth.

I love this pen! I haven't used another since I got it and I know that we are going to become better friends as time passes by. I cannot really think of any minus points at all. Okay, if you like a clip (I personally don't care) it doesn't have one and put it down on a surface and it will roll. Saying that William does provide a pen rest - 3D printed by him. Mine would stay in a case or in my jacket pocket when I wasn't using it. 

You can see William's pens and order one via his Instagram. He has a full time job in addition to making these great pens, so patience is required if you don't see him at a pen show. I will certainly be ordering another in the near future and in the meantime, I will happily using this one. (I must confess that this was originally going to be a present for Mrs Orange. About 20 seconds after inking it, I knew she wasn't getting it)!

Until next time, stay safe out there people!