Do you use a fountain pen?

[Robbo 27]

julian64 said:

Update. put it in warm soapy water and blue ink went everywhere, so obviously been used at sometime in its life.



now I'm faced with a cartridge looking thing which I think is a capillary filling system. Any ideas how to recover it from decades of the same ink gumming it up. A little how do you fill it would come in handy too

My father held onto his parker 51 which he thinks was more reliable and still uses.

If you have one of these, a rubber ear bulb, they will be perfect for the next step.




Inside that black tube is a mass of perforated plastic that is designed to soak up ink and then release it to the nib.

It will be caked in dried on ink and need a really thorough clean.

I am trying to avoid any suggestion that means that the dart is in water, this could soften the glue that holds it in place and I have never seen a good reinstaement of the dart, they always look a mess. Think about masking tape to stop it coming in contact with water

Working from the back of the pen you want to try and flush water and dried ink through the pen, the ear bulb is perfect, if not look around for something else such as a drinking straw or plastic tubing or a rubber hose, something that you can push over the capillary and make a good seal.

Then try and push loads of water through the pen, you will also be clearing out the nib section at the same time so all good.

This is going to take some time.

Leave it over night with some ink water in the pen and then repeat in the morning.

You will soon be ready for the pen to be back in use.

The next step is to get rid of the water in the pen, ideally you just want air. Put the hose/straw back on the pen and blow down the tube untill all the water is out.

The standard way of filling the pen is to put the capillary end into a bottle of ink and leave it for 20 seconds. The capillary is coated with Teflon and should wipe clean with a tissue. If you have a straw that fits over the pen put the nib end into the ink and suck ink through the pen and up into the straw, do this over a sink obviously, you are going to make a mess when the straw is removed.

You now know that the pen is full to the brim with ink, you dont know that with the standard dip method that you are supposed to use.

The pen was the flagship model of the parker line up, ahead of the 51. The 61 was let down by the use of polystyrene - the wonder plastic of the day, the 51 used Lucite a much more durable material. The 61 is prone to shinkage and cracking which lead to the loss of the dart and it didnt hold the ink in the pen.

61 nibs are generally superb, best of any modern Parker, the trouble with the pen is that it is not easy to live with. Changing colours is a pain, you wil need to repeat the cleaning process is above and they like to be used each day, if they dry out then again you have to do a deep clean, and you are always risking losing that dart. Therefore you cannot use an ultrasonic cleaner.

I suggest that you never use any of the new highly saturated inks, permanent inks or inks with shimmer in them, keep it simple with a washable ink by Parker or Waterman.

If you have any silicone grease I would put a tiny amount on the barrel threads, if you havent clean them with a toothbrush and put a drop of fairy liquid on them.

Good luck with pen, it can be hard work.

[julian64]

Hmm disaster. Pen cleaned out fine after a few hours of passing water through it. Filled it with ink and it was working fine.
.
.
.
I then put the cap back on left it a few hours and went to use it again. Although it was writing well I noticed a small amount of ink on my fingers. On very close inspection there is a longitudinal hairline crack no more than a mm in the body of the pen and ink was managing to escape through it.

I suspect for all the effort in getting the pen back to life again its life is now very short lived.

Edited by julian64 on Sunday 19th March 09:57

[AndyS2]

After reading this thread and not having written with a fountain pen for years, I decided to order a couple of Jinhao pens off Ebay. First to arrive was a 599 for £1 delivered. At first it seemed a little light weight and plasticy, but it's comfortable to hold and writes really nicely. Then about a week later the X450 arrived, and this is like a Roll Royce in comparison, much more weight to it and the quality is staggering for £2.01 delivered! Highly recommended.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251917594565?_trksid=p20...

[Robbo 27]

julian64 said:

Hmm disaster. Pen cleaned out fine after a few hours of passing water through it. Filled it with ink and it was working fine.
.
.
.
I then put the cap back on left it a few hours and went to use it again. Although it was writing well I noticed a small amount of ink on my fingers. On very close inspection there is a longitudinal hairline crack no more than a mm in the body of the pen and ink was managing to escape through it.

I suspect for all the effort in getting the pen back to life again its life is now very short lived.

Edited by julian64 on Sunday 19th March 09:57

This is a problem, probably due to the polystrene cracking over the years.

You have a choice, and given that it was your fathers pen I would spend some money on it.

Not entirely sure what you mean by the body of the pen . If you mean the barrel (the thing you unscrewed) then a replacement is available at a cost of £16, a very easy fix.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/322428185362?lpid=1...

If you mean the nib section, the part is also available but I would send it off to a specialist such as

http://www.classicpenengineering.co.uk/

Derrick may weld up the crack - or seal it by another means or find you a replacement hood. The cost may go up to around £25 but you will have a pen that is worth around £50 and probably more to you because of the connection.

[Robbo 27]

AndyS2 said:

After reading this thread and not having written with a fountain pen for years, I decided to order a couple of Jinhao pens off Ebay. First to arrive was a 599 for £1 delivered. At first it seemed a little light weight and plasticy, but it's comfortable to hold and writes really nicely. Then about a week later the X450 arrived, and this is like a Roll Royce in comparison, much more weight to it and the quality is staggering for £2.01 delivered! Highly recommended.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251917594565?_trksid=p20...

The Jinhao 450 is available at very low prices, even in the more attractive colours.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JINHAO-X450-Sky-Blue-Marbl...

As I have said previously, you have to spend 10x the price, at least, to match the quality from European brands

[E24man]

I have to say, and I'm hoping I speak for others on here, a huge thank you to Robbo for all the great advice and information he is freely and generously imparting on this thread.

[ClockworkCupcake]

Robbo 27 said:

The Jinhao 450 is available at very low prices, even in the more attractive colours.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JINHAO-X450-Sky-Blue-Marbl...

As I have said previously, you have to spend 10x the price, at least, to match the quality from European brands

I would not recommend the Sky Blue Marble. I have that one and it looks very cheap and naff - the design simply doesn't work and looks like the transfer print that it is. By contrast the Lava Red X750 I have really works and gives a real impression of depth and material, rather than just a print on plastic.

The Jinhao X450 itself is a good pen though. Mine tends to dry out after a few days though, whilst the X750 doesn't. Although that could be because they have different ink in them - the X450 has Parker Quink Permanent Black in it, and the X750 has Waterman brown in it.

[Robbo 27]

E24man said:

I have to say, and I'm hoping I speak for others on here, a huge thank you to Robbo for all the great advice and information he is freely and generously imparting on this thread.

My pleasure but it is very kind of you to say so, thank you.

[wong]

Grinding your own nibs.

I used Ludwig Tans article and this one - https://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread.php/10567-So-...

I couldn't wait for the Jinhaos to arrive, so I bought several Platinum Preppys. F 03mm and M 05mm. I tried an F nib but it was to scratchy and lays down even less ink ( a Japanese F is more like a Western EF). The M nib turned out great.

How do you post up pictures from my Android phone/google account?

[julian64]

Robbo 27 said:

This is a problem, probably due to the polystrene cracking over the years.

You have a choice, and given that it was your fathers pen I would spend some money on it.

Not entirely sure what you mean by the body of the pen . If you mean the barrel (the thing you unscrewed) then a replacement is available at a cost of £16, a very easy fix.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/322428185362?lpid=1...

If you mean the nib section, the part is also available but I would send it off to a specialist such as

http://www.classicpenengineering.co.uk/

Derrick may weld up the crack - or seal it by another means or find you a replacement hood. The cost may go up to around £25 but you will have a pen that is worth around £50 and probably more to you because of the connection.

Nope it is the nib section. Thanks for all your help with this but I think its the end of the road. Its a nice pen but I echo my previous problems of large hands and almost disposable nature of its use. Even if I were to send this off and get it repaired I would likely never use it at work as it would likely not last the month.
I don't like leaving something unrepaired but I feel if I try to unscrew it against the glue/sealant holding it the crack with enlarge or shatter. Gently heating it up in hot water didn't help, and even 50 deg in an oven didn't help. I dared not go higher. I think it likely the nib section will need replacement if I try any tougher means.

Thanks again for all your help.

[wong]

Then the Jinhaos arrived -
450 - this has a slight tripod grip. Unfortunately the nib is rotated about 20 degrees and has a D section to the feed so it can only be placed in one position.
750 - great, deep red colour.
599 Metal (Lamy Safari look a like) - great, feed and nib can be rotated.
599 demonstrators (traditional nib) these have a glued feed and nib - not removeable. One is positioned correctly and one is rotated out ¬ 10 degrees.

All the Jinhaos write well, but I find them a little "wet".

I was so impressed with the Preppys, I decided to explore Platinum. I found a Plaisir which is basically a Preppy with a metal cap and barrel. All parts are interchangeable with the Preppy and it looks smarter for use at work.

Then I found Rakuten and have ordered some more Platinums - PGB 3000 Cool and Balance. They have a semi flex steel nib. And a 3776 Century Chartres Blue. This is semi transparent and is available with a soft fine gold nib. Its about the cheapest gold nibbed pen out there. The more expensive Platinums make a big deal out of their "slip and seal" cap, but its also on the 2 pound Preppy as well.

Dam this thread....its to addictive.

[wong]

Worked out how to download my first image to PH



Tried another Preppy M nib and that was a little smoother.
Will start on the Jinhaos soon.

[Boring_Chris]

I don't think I've used any form of pen on a regular basis since about 2001, when I left college.

[Shaw Tarse]

Boring_Chris said:

I don't think I've used any form of pen on a regular basis since about 2001, when I left college.

Now is the time to start...

[SystemParanoia]

Shaw Tarse said:

Boring_Chris said:

I don't think I've used any form of pen on a regular basis since about 2001, when I left college.

Now is the time to start...

Yeah, don't be boring

[ClockworkCupcake]

My Hero 448 arrived today, after exactly 3 weeks wait. I thought it would never arrive.

Initial thoughts: The pen is *very* slim, which is fine for my slender hands. This does mean that the only option for inking it is to use the (very flimsy) supplied converter as standard cartridges will not fit.
The nib is Fine but no more so than the Hero 616.
Flow was good, but when I tried it again several hours later it had dried out and I had to gently suck on the nib to get it flowing again (Quink Permanent Black isn't poisonous, I hope!). Hopefully this is just because the pen is new and it won't dry out so soon again.

[ClockworkCupcake]

In other news, I found my 1980's Parker 45 Flighter fountain pen and have reunited it with its matching ballpoint.



The thing that lets them down is that they are both engraved with a name I no longer use, which is a shame.

[The Mad Monk]

ClockworkCupcake said:

In other news, I found my 1980's Parker 45 Flighter fountain pen and have reunited it with its matching ballpoint.



The thing that lets them down is that they are both engraved with a name I no longer use, which is a shame.

Why did you change your name?

[JiggyJaggy]

I purchased a Porsche TecFlex gold/ss fountain pen today. It looks great. Can't wait to receive it. Stock pic below:

[ClockworkCupcake]

JiggyJaggy said:

I purchased a Porsche TecFlex gold/ss fountain pen today. It looks great. Can't wait to receive it. Stock pic below:

That looks cool. Let us know how it feels and writes.