The Deccan Advocate, in Olive.

The Deccan Advocate with flat ends. This is a handmade pen in a beautiful olive green ebonite with black specks. An eyedropper filler fitted with Kanwrite SSF 35mm M nib and KW multi-channel ebonite feed. The clip on this one is different from the black Advocate I have.

This originally came with a Kanwrite flex nib but the usual feed could not keep up with the flow. This prompted a change to a normal non-flex nib which I preferred anyway as an everyday carry pen. Recently swapped the old feed for the new Kanwrite multi-finned feed. Handmade in Hyderabad, India by Deccan Pen Stores.

What would you call it?

Wait, what?

The smallest offering from the Guider Pen Works stable, this is a working pen. Measuring a little over an inch, it's an eyedropper filler with a gold-plated Ricoh nib. Not a practical writer, by any means, but never ceases to raise eyebrows and bring out the smiles!

Seen here alongside a slightly bigger model.

Daily Analogue Companions

The Ranga Model 8, a black hard rubber (ebonite) eyedropper filler. I believe this is the smallest pen from Ranga that's a standard model. It's light and the perfect size for my hands. I like the section particularly, with its slightly tapered, hourglass profile. It came with a Kanwrite no. 35mm M nib and I modified the original configuration by replacing the standard feed with a Kanwrite #8* ebonite feed. Handmade by Ranga Pens, Tamil Nadu, India.

A note on the Kanwrite ebonite feeders: I sourced this directly from KW and I think will serve better than the standard #8 indian ebonite feeds which for me, dry out very easily if not fitted properly or even if carried in one's shirt pocket for too long. As of now, this is not an issue with these KW feeds. I plan to gradually replace all the indian #8 feeds with these from KW.

Paired with an HMT Janata, with Arabic numeral dial.

* The #8 sizing may be proprietary to Kanwrite.

The Deccan Advocate

The Deccan Advocate (round end) in black hard rubber. It came fitted with their stock Ambitious 35mm/No. 6 two-tone M nib. Eyedropper filler. Made in Hyderabad, India by Deccan Pen Stores.

This is quite the looker with it's smooth polished body and it's typical slightly tapered hourglass section. I faced hard starts and drying up early on and disassembly/reassembly of the feed and nib could not fix the issue. I changed the standard 'Indian' ebonite comb feed to an ebonite 'Calicut' feed I had lying around and this seemed to fix the problem. This combination turned it into a very reliable, smooth and balanced writer.

I need to get hold of more such feeds that are multi-finned similar to the Sheaffer style feeds.

Contours of the hourglass section

Close up of the stock Ambitious TT nib

Close up of the Calicut ebonite feed

The Guider Onyx (medium).

This is the medium size Guider Onyx, in Red/Pink rippled hard rubber. It houses a screw-in Schmidt F nib unit and can be used as an eyedropper filler as well as with a converter or cartridge. Handmade in Rajahmundhry, AP, India by The Guider Pen Works.

This is a well-balanced pen despite being a bit on the longer side. The nib is a smooth writer, coupled with the possibilities of it being used as an eyedropper filler for a larger ink capacity. It is a good idea to apply some silicone grease to the nib unit threads to avoid leaks at the section.

The finish on this pen is fabulous, as are all pens from the Guider stable.