Many thanks to Lizzie at Studio Pens for sending me the Esterbrook Estie Raven Piston Filler to review. Esterbrook is one of the greatest names in American pen history. Founded in 1858, by their peak they were making 216 million pens a year.
Following a terminal decline in the 1970s the brand had a successful relaunch a couple of years back with the name as before with designs updated. And they haven’t looked back since.
The current classic Estie is inspired by the iconic Esterbrook designs of the 1930s, with the added use of some beautifully machined acrylic colours incorporated with fragments of diamonds in the resin mix which give the majority of the Estie range an intense and luxurious sparkle. The classic Estie is 149mm long when capped, 130mm when uncapped, 172mm when posted and weighs 24g.
So what is it about the Estie Raven Piston Filler that excites me? Well, as much as I really love the look of the multi coloured diamonte embedded Esties, they are pens that I feel might be described as beautiful, pretty and elegant where I’m looking for a pen that might be described as more masculine. I already have a black Estie with gold trim that is my EDC (Every Day Carry) and this has been my number one pen since the day I got it. Until now that is.
Allegedly named after the poem by Edgar Allan Poe the Raven is on trend as a piston filler and made of black acrylic resin that has been sand-blasted to give it a wonderful flat matte finish that’s accented with a high gloss black-plated Palladium clip specially engineered to easily slide in or out of a shirt pocket without assistance and two simple gloss rings – one above the ink window and the other found at the bottom of the piston filler cap thread.
The piston filler functions by unscrewing and removing the blind cap at the end of the barrel and pushing the piston button several times with a short pause in between each stroke. The ink will then fill inside the inner tube.
Please note that this pen will ONLY fill from the bottle. There is an alternative version of the Raven that takes cartridge and/or converter.
The Raven also features a black-plated Esterbrook branded #6 JoWo nib that can be swapped with other JoWo nibs including the Estie Flex Nib units! (More about that soon). It also includes a “Cushion Cap” closure system featuring a spring-loaded inner cap. This not only gives the cap a satisfyingly secure closure, but also prevents the nib from drying between uses!
As always, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and this look for me is spot on: minimal, sleek, elegant, stylish, masculine and traditional with a contemporary twist. Beautifully balanced in my hand the Raven writes like a dream and glides over the paper with a great ink flow.
The high quality finish actually reminds me of a B-21 Raider stealth bomber. And bizarrely I can also see this pen featuring as an accessory in a future James Bond film – maybe it’s because of the thumb triggered piston button! Who knows what dastardly things Q might do with the Estie Raven? I could go on… and on…
It goes without saying that I’m keeping the Raven and now have two EDCs. If you want to know more about this delight, here’s a link: Esterbrook Estie Fountain Pen Piston Filler Raven – Extra Fine
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