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What the Sport should have been: the Kaweco Supra Fireblue

It’s almost sacrilege to say it, because the Kaweco Sport is a true icon, but the Supra I have in front of me here is in many respects a better pen, and in my opinion probably the best competitor to the Schon P6 if you’re looking for a metal pocket pen.

Where the Supra shines is first in its #6 steel nib, which on my example at least arrived beautifully tuned and gloriously smooth. No out-of-the-box fettling required. That’s a draw with the Schon, and in my eyes definitely a step up from the tiny Bock 060 on the Sport.

Capped, the Supra is a tiny, chunky little thing, in the mould of Kaweco’s Liliput, but a much more usable diameter. It’s close enough to the Schon P6 to be a true size rival, and meaningfully smaller than the Sport.

Uncap it and of course it’s unusably small.

But, by design, the Supra lets you screw the cap on the back to post and add usable writing length.

In this respect it’s like the Schon, but unlike the Schon the Supra is actually a convertable, extendable pen, too.

Screw in a middle section tube and the Supra is suddenly not a pocket pen, but full-sized, including the ability to use a converter.

In this form it’s definitely longer than the Sport when capped, but much more usable, without the faff of posting the cap to write.

Of course you can still do that, and create a really long pen!

Capped, the Supra makes for a near-featureless form. It has rounded ends and no facets or other adornment, so unlike the Sport it will certainly roll off a table. But it goes easy into a pocket and looks sharp.

Sharp is a good word to use, actually, because there are a few edges to catch the finger. With the extension tube inserted, there’s a step midway down the barrel, and the step up from the section is a bit edgy too.

Remove the extension tube and instead there’s a step between cap and barrel.

The cap threads are good, and take a 3.5 turns to remove, tolerable because they spin freely. They too are a little sharp, and the section (while perhaps broader than that on the Sport) is not long enough to keep your fingers clear of them.

Nonetheless, I found comfort to be OK, and I was happy using the Supra as part of my normal pen rotation rather than reserving it for emergency or backup use.

Branding is minimal — just a laser-etched logo in the domed steel of the pen end, and a little more round the barrel.

But anyone who has heard of Kaweco’s ‘fireblue’ range before will immediately recognise this pen. Legend has it that the Kaweco CEO personally blowtorches the steel body of these pens to bring out the subtle blues and greys — and occasional oranges — of the fireblue finish.

It may wear off in time, but for now it is rather pretty. I was certainly happy to pay the premium.

The finishing and construction overall feels great, a precision product. All the sections fit together well, seamless joins are really seamless, weight and balance are good (if you like metal pens).

And you should hope so too, because this is not a cheap pen. I ordered mine with a fine nib from Andy’s Pens for £142. A lot of this price is the Fireblue finish, and the standard Steel Supra is about £105. That’s still an uplift from the brass, steel or aluminium Sports, but given the larger nib and extension section I think the price is fair. Incidentally the Schon P6 also retails in the UK for about £105, but bear in mind Schon too charges a premium for special finishes. The faceted Schons shown in one of the photos above are $260 each.

I like the Supra. It’s a better pen than the Sport. It’s versatile, and the Fireblue finish is lovely. Simple as that.

9 Comments

  1. Debi Humphrey

    Great review. I love my Fireblue Liliput! This one is pretty, too, and tempting. However, the #6 nib you like so much is a deal breaker for me. I have fairly small hands, short fingers, and the longer nib puts my hand too far off the paper to be really comfortable. Different strokes! Beautiful pen, though.

  2. Ryan Dotson

    I got the dual-tone gold nib for my Fireblue Supra and it’s drop-dead gorgeous – to look at and to write with. Highly recommended!

  3. KdW

    Just ordered the brass version of this pen. Probably use it a lot as pocket carry (currently carrying a brass sport) but may be also just a pen I’ll use a lot at work. Really beautiful pen and reviews seem all promising! Looking forward in receiving it. Firehouse is gorgeous as well but I like brass (and the patina it develops).

    • KdW

      Anthony, forgot to ask. Do you use it mainly in long form (with converter) or in short form? And as a pocket carry or also just as a “normal” pen?

      • Anthony

        So far it’s about half and half. I keep it inked with a cartridge, so it’s easy to swap between lengths. I’m not heading out of the house as much as I used to due to lockdown so I don’t always carry a pocket pen.

  4. philipzxcvbnm

    All this talk of screwing and unscrewing the parts of the pen puts me in mind of Christopher Lee assembling his pistol out of a cigarette lighter, fountain pen and other bits and bobs in The Man With The Golden Gun.

    I have a Sport but rarely use it. If I were to buy another Kaweco it’d probably be the Dia 2: now that’s a good-looking pen.

  5. mehandiratta

    Does a large nib really matter ?
    I wonder.

    As far as design or aesthetics are concerned I agree they have to be proportionate. But then this is this justified that a pen with smaller nib makes it any less worthwhile than the pen with larger nib.

  6. nosleepingdog

    Beautiful pen! Has the patina worn noticeably since your review?

    And in one of the photos there are three pens, from L: a ystudio pen, the Kaweco, and a third which is ??

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