The idea of handmade pens sounds intriguing, right? Well, Ranga is the maestro of the handmade fountain pen revolution and we bring you a detailed buying guide with reviews of its top 5 models.

Emerging from South India, Ranga has been hand turning fountain pens for over 50 years. So far they have a huge line of pens ranging from fountain pens to rollerball pens. This company is well recognized for the production of beautiful ebonite fountain pens.

The use of ebonite in pens adds durability and makes them last longer. Most expensive pens use ebonite. Ranga fountain pens provide you with fountain pens made of ebonite at a very affordable price range and a variety of attractive color combinations.

We have narrowed down the list of the top five Ranga fountain pens.

• Ranga Duofold Ebonite Pen
• Ranga Classic Ebonite Ultra Size Pen
• Ranga Premium Ebonite Pen
• Ranga Japanese Bamboo Ebonite Pen
• Ranga Aerometric Ebonite Ripple Pen

The Most Durable Ranga Fountain Pen

1. Ranga Duofold Ebonite Pen

With an exquisite feel in hand, this lovely pen packs high quality writing machinery that provides a flawless writing experience to its users.

The use of ebonite and alloy steel makes it a durable choice that can last for generations. The extraordinary craftsmanship with handmade effort adds to the beauty of this pen and the vintage adds a royal touch to your desk.

Ranga Duofold Ebonite Pen performs the same as an expensive ebonite pen at a low price, keeping your pockets happy. 

This pen uses a German Jowo Screw-In nib and Schmidt K5 Converter. These are the top performing components used in a fountain pen which makes this pen a great choice for long-time use.

The Positives

• High quality Nib and Converter
• The durability of the pen is due to high quality materials

The Negatives

• Variety of choices for nibs can be confusing for a first-time buyer

This high-performing pen with a stylish look comprised of two-toned funky colors can be your tool for everyday use, giving you a great writing experience.

Best Ultra Sized Ranga Fountain Pen

2. Ranga Classic Ebonite Ultra Size Pen

Ranga Classic Ebonite Ultra Size is a pen of whopping 6.5 inches when capped. The cap and barrel having 17mm diameter provide a broad and easy grip with a capacity of holding a good amount of ink for longer usage.

This pen allows flexibility in the choice of nibs. Initially, it comes with a fine tip nib, but if you prefer a medium nib that is also available. The ebonite feeder adds to the durability of this pen.

This is a clipless pen that has a mottled pattern comprising of blue, green, and orange colors with a mirror finish on it.

The Positives

• Easy and broad grip
• The thickness of this pen provides a good feel in the writer’s hands

The Negatives

• No clip

If you prefer a tight and sturdy grip with funky colors the Ranga Classic Ebonite Ultra Size pen is the right choice for you.

Best Acrylic Ranga Fountain Pen

3. Ranga Premium Ebonite Pen

A treat for the eyes, the Ranga Premium Ebonite Pen is the most beautiful of its kind. 

The use of acrylic allows the exposure of beautifully balanced and vibrant colors which makes this pen a showstopper. It’s also a great choice for a gift.

You have plenty of color combinations ranging from black to yellow. Along with a wide range of color choices, this pen also allows flexibility to choose different types of nibs from Extra Fine, Fine, Medium, Broad, 1.1, and 1.5 as per your choice and writing style.

The Positives

• Beautifully designed
• Smooth acrylic finish
• Variety of options for nibs

The Negatives

• High price tag

If you prefer writing in style, Ranga Premium Ebonite Pen could do the job. This stylish pen can be your everyday partner providing you with a smooth writing experience.

Best Bamboo Ranga Fountain Pen

4. Ranga Japanese Bamboo Ebonite Pen

An innovative design that looks like a wooden bamboo pen but in reality it is acrylic.

Ranga has created a very unique design for this model, as it portrays an abstract bamboo look created by using acrylics. The unique design and the beauty of this pen make it a great choice for a gift.

This pen comes with a variety of color options along with the flexibility of selecting a nib of the writer’s choice.

The Positives

• A unique bamboo look
• Variety of color options

The Negatives

• Not budget-friendly

This pen is a great choice if you wish to have the feel of a wooden pen while keeping the beauty standards of the acrylic colors.

Best Ranga Fountain Pen for Budget

5. Ranga Aerometric Ebonite Ripple Pen

Are you one of those people who lose their stationary often and can’t risk spending a huge amount on pens, but you also want a good quality pen to make your writing more enjoyable and stylish? Ranga Aerometric Ebonite Ripple is a perfect choice, a combination of everything.

Keeping the quality intact and your wallet happier, this pen provides the experience of an expensive pen at a low price tag. 

Initially, this pen is a clipless model with a fine nib but customers have the flexibility to request a clip version and to change the nib to one of their choice.

The Positives

• Budget-friendly

The Negatives

• Aerometric / Squeeze filler mechanism needs a little care

It’s a great choice if you wish to keep your wallet happy and if you can be careful with the filling mechanism.

Selecting the Right Nib for Your Fountain Pen

Selecting the right nib for your pen is the most critical part of buying a fountain pen. It can be quite daunting for beginner or intermediate fountain pen users. A nib that doesn’t suit your writing style can lead to a disappointing experience.

Ranga provides you with the flexibility of selecting the nib at different sizes, let’s look into each of them and their specialties and narrow it down to the one you need.

Before start looking into the nib options you need to ask yourself a few questions like, ‘What is your writing speed?’ ‘Do you prefer a smooth or rigid writing feel?’ ‘How do you write, is it big and bold or neat and concise?’

The nib options that Ranga offers are Extra Fine, Fine, Medium, Broad, 1.1, and 1.5. 

Extra Fine

Extra Fine is the size zero of a fountain pen nib. This is suitable for writers who tend to have small and neat writing styles. The tip of this nib is small and delicate which would spread lesser ink on the page, drying it quicker.

Fine

This is a commonly used size of nib, with the size of the tip between 0.30mm to 0.45mm.

The fine nib is best suited for people with quicker but small and neat handwriting.

Medium

This is the default nib size for most of the fountain pens on the market. It is a neutral choice that can serve multiple users. 

It’s not too small nor too broad, making it the best option for general purpose writing or signatures.

Broad

Spreading the ink and flaunting the colors, this nib spreads more ink on the paper, allowing quick and gestural writing.

The broad nib is best suited with fountain pen-friendly paper that can handle the volume of ink, allowing it to be used for quick signatures and journaling. 

1.1

Also known as a Stub or Calligraphy nib, this is best suited for calligraphy and artistic writing styles.

The tip of this nib is different. It has a rectangular shape instead of a round ball tip. This type of tip makes it easier for a broader vertical stroke and a thinner horizontal stroke as required in calligraphy.

1.5

1.5 size nib is also known as a flex nib. This is a vintage-style nib that provides the softest writing experience but also the slowest one.

This is mostly used by professional writers as the newbies would write with a force more than it can handle and break the nib.

Benefits of Using Ebonite in Pens

Ebonite has a natural feel along with the amazing quality. 

This material is chemical resistant and useful for fountain pens that have greater contact with acidic inks. This resistance of ebonite won’t allow the pens to be damaged or leave stains.

On the contrary, pens made of acrylic or aluminum can be damaged by the ink.

Ebonite is also very easy to form into different shapes. It’s malleable so simple tools like a lathe can help form it into a pen. As Ranga makes handmade pens, this material allows them to be easily formed into a shape of the craftsman’s choice.

Ranga Fountain Pens

A maestro of ebonite pens emerged from Thiruvallur, (45Kms from Chennai) South India in 1970 by M.S.Pandurangan.

M.S.Pandurangan who happens to be 65 years old today, learned the art of pen making at the ripe age of 13 years old.

His enthusiasm and passion for making pens led him to this successful business of exquisite pens which are now sold all over the world.

In the early years, the use of ebonite in pens was only practiced in Japan. Pandurangan, with high experience in ebonite pen making, introduced this idea in his hometown. He adapted the handmade practices for better results without compromising the quality.

M.P.Kandan the descendant of M.S.Pandurangan teamed up with his father in the pen making business and revolutionalized the products according to the demands of the modern era.

One unique thing about Ranga pen company is that they deal directly with the customers and take up their orders individually. This allows them to pay maximum attention to each pen and create it according to the customer’s expectations.

They use high quality German Bock, Jowo, and Schmidt screw-in nib units and Schmidt K5 converters for exceptional performance. Ranga is the first company to use these German nibs and converters in a handmade pen.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do Ranga fountain pens come with an ink cartridge or converter?

Most of the Ranga fountain pens come with a converter, as it is easier to use allowing you to fill the ink of any color you wish, creating minimum plastic waste with multiple uses. 

An ink converter being a better choice, Ranga uses two types of ink converters in its pens, the Schmidt K5 Converter and plain Aerometric /Squeeze filler mechanism. The latter is used in budget-friendly pens keeping low production costs without compromising the quality.

What color choices do I have?

Ranga has a wide range of pen choices and each pen model has a different color palette to choose from. 

Most of their pens are a combination of multiple colors giving a vibrant and shiny mirror look.

The widest options of colors are available with Ranga Premium and Japanese Bamboo Ebonite Pens, as they make use of acrylic which allows them to use a wide range of vibrant colors gracefully.

The color options in these acrylic models are:

• Solid Blue
• Black/Yellow
• Blue/Pink
• Solid Green
• Blue/White
• Black/Red
• Green/Yellow
• Solid Pink
• Blue/Green/Orange
• Solid Orange
• Blue/White/Green/Orange
• Orange/Black
• Green/Pale Pink
• Blue/Pink/Pale Yellow

Ranga Duofold Ebonite pen displays a mixture of white, brown, and black colors. Ranga Aerometric Ebonite and Classic Ebonite Ultra Size pens use a combination of two colors, the former being brown and green and the latter being blue and green.

Wrapping it Up

Now that you have a selection of Ranga fountain pens you can now distinguish between their specifications and choose the best one for you.

If budget is not a constraint you should definitely go with Ranga Premium Ebonite Pen as it is an all-rounder, packing high quality nibs and converters. It’s stylish with beautifully balanced colors made with acrylics. Not to mention, it also has a great feel to it.

Another great choice for an acrylic pen is Ranga Japanese Bamboo Ebonite Pen. If you’re looking for something unique with a little touch of bamboo, the design of this pen makes it a great choice.

If you tend to lose your pens often or the nature of your job involves a lot of traveling, you should go with a budget-friendly option, the Ranga Aerometric Ebonite Ripple Pen. This beautiful pen isn’t expensive, so losing it may not cause you too much stress.