Noodlers #10 Dixie Rebellion Red Ripple Konrad

by Tony Thomas

I am a fan of Noodler's pens. They are affordable, well made, and a tinkerer's dream. They have their origins in India and I love Indian pens. They are easy to break down and clean and can be easily customized by just adding a new nib. I know that some people think they are finicky and temperamental, but I have found them to be very reliable once they are set up correctly.

The object of this review is the #10 Dixie Rebellion Red Ripple Konrad. I would like to thank Luxury Brands (Noodler's distributor) for making this pen available for review. 

The #10 is a piston filler with a very simple mechanism. It is very easy to fill and it stores a fair amount of ink. This pen has an ebonite body with an acrylic ink window and is a very attractive medium-sized pen. The pen cap is solid-black, there is a silver colored band at the bottom of the cap and the body is figured reddish brown and black ebonite with a solid-black blind cap. The clip is also silver-colored and is quite stiff. The pen is about 5.5" long, the cap width is about 9/16" and the body is about 7/16" at its widest point. The grip section is about 3/8". It weighs only .6 oz. when filled with ink.As the pen is made of ebonite, it has a faint rubber smell.

I found it warm and comfortable to hold and the cap posts securely and deeply. Out of the box, it was fitted with the #6 Noodler's fine medium-flex nib. In my writing tests, I found it to be a smooth writer with good ink flow. As with other Noodler's flex pens I have used, it requires quite a bit of pressure to get any line variation. If you write with normal pressure, you will get a uniform fine/medium line. I pulled the nib out slightly to make it flex a bit easier. However, if you want to flex a lot, you have to take it slow otherwise you will experience some railroading. 

The #10 Konrad has a lot of things I like in a pen:

Nibs can be easily replaced with any #6 nib.
Easy to disassemble for cleaning and maintenance.
Piston filler mechanism.
Holds plenty of ink.
Machined ebonite feed.
Great pen for the pen tinkerer.

All in all, it is a wonderful value for an ebonite piston-filler.

Full Disclosure: In compliance with FTC 16 CFR Part 255. I hereby disclose that the manufacturer or retailer mentioned in this article provided the product for review purposes with the knowledge that I would provide a full, unbiased and impartial review.