This was a pen I was prepared to like. At $12, it's a bargain. Its small size, however, will keep it from becoming a personal favorite. But for some folks, this new Delike wood fountain pen can be a real winner.

I love the wood. After my positive experience with the Moonman M1 wood and brass pen (which I suspect is manufactured by Delike), I’ve tipped over the edge in my appreciation for wood as a pen material.

The wood is dark, subtly-figured, smooth, warm and perfectly finished. In short, wonderful.

I picked the darker wood (黑檀) because the section is black plastic and so fits visually with the body of the pen. At a casual glance (or in lower light) it looks like the section might be wood.

The metal threads in the section add quality. The converter fits snugly, works well and come apart easily for cleaning. I don’t love the little spring in the converter to push the ink around.

The use of screw-in nib units is also a plus. I like the idea of being able to swap in the bent fude/art nib.

The cap, however, is a bit thicker-walled than I expected. Other pens with caps that fit flush with the barrel have thinner caps. The step-up from the section to the barrel is correspondingly pronounced and sharp-edged.

The threads on the body are smooth and appropriately course. The cap comes off in just under 1.5 turns. A plastic insert inside the cap should help keep the nib from drying out.

Visually, the cap outweighs the barrel more than I really like. But I find the rounded ends of the cap and barrel just about perfect. There’s zero branding on the pen (save the nib) so it’s beautifully clean.

Compared to other pens, the Delike Wood is small, just 12.5cm capped and 11.3cm uncapped. It’s also light, at 12.7 grams uncapped and 20.1g with the cap on.

I was planning on comparing the pen to the Delike New Moon as well but remembered that I gave that pen to a friend. I found that it was just too small to write with comfortably.

And that’s the big flaw with this pen. It’s just too small in my hand to be comfortable. The pen doesn’t post well and becomes ungainly when you try. Plus, wood-on-wood sounds like a recipe for trouble.

That said, the pen writes well. I got it with an EF nib and smoothed it a bit on a micromesh pad for good measure. It probably didn’t really need it.

The nib and feed perform flawlessly, laying down a consistent correct amount of ink for a fine line. The combo is not wet, but it never skipped. Loaded with Noodler’s Zhivago, the pen wrote very nicely in a Spanish MiquelRius 90g extra opaque paper notebook.

The size does get tiresome for longer writing sessions. It’s a small pen. And for that reason, I’ll probably look for a friend to give the pen to. Someone who will appreciate the wood. Seems I have a hard time holding onto nice things made of ebony.

The pen is ¥76, or about $12, on Taobao.

I hope that Delike will rethink this pen and make a larger version 2.0.

I also hope they’ll put some work into the Delike brand.

Yes, the branding kinda sucks.

To be honest, Delike as a brand is not all that attractive.

As a transliteration of the Chinese name 得力克, Delike is confoundingly accurate (the Chinese being pronounced roughly duh-lee-kuh). But to me it comes off sounding forced.

Delove? Delite? Delike?

The brand is also presented inconsistently between products.

The logo is heavily reminiscent of Toyota. It feels old. At least they don’t use a thumbs up symbol.

Newer nibs have dropped the "e" from Delike. A typo?

From the product photos on the Taobao reseller page, it seems even the company isn't so keen on the brand.

Overall, I’d guess that Delike will reinvent themselves before too long.

Perhaps like Kaco. Their pens are kind of pricey but the branding feels fresh, if a little insistent.

But as a manufacturer, Delike is heading in a terrific direction. Two thumbs up. I can’t wait to see what they come up with going forward.