Do you use a fountain pen?

[Robbo 27]

markoc said:

My Cross ATX was delivered today with a pot of green Mont Blanc ink.

Three things of note.

1) Further to my first effort at filling the doodah I am now covered in ink, which is reminiscent of my school days
2) Writing with a fountain pen again is utterly fantastic!
3) My colleagues think I'm nuts.

Big thanks to this thread for getting me back into it!

For those that dont know what a Cross ATX looks like, pic below.

Good looking modern design, very smooth nib, some people have trouble with the slippery section but thats the only criticism I have heard.

Nice choice of ink too, is that the Irish Green? Perfect for one month today.

[Robbo 27]

Cpt Stirling said:

The Montblanc shops have a tray of testers, same pen but with 10 different nibs. Harrods also has the same service, in their Writing Room.

[Cpt Stirling]

Seems like a good excuse for a trip up to the smoke. Thanks again.

[Wildfire]

Got to this very late. I have gone back to fountain pens. I have a Pilot Capless Decimo with a fine nib and a Kaweko Sport AL on the move. I prefer the Japanese nib and it's finer and has a bit more flex.

[Snails]

Which of you lot won the auction for a Parker 51 listed simply as 'Parker fountain pen'? £30. I wasn't paying attention and missed the end of the auction.

[markoc]

Robbo 27 said:

For those that dont know what a Cross ATX looks like, pic below.

Good looking modern design, very smooth nib, some people have trouble with the slippery section but thats the only criticism I have heard.

Nice choice of ink too, is that the Irish Green? Perfect for one month today.

Yep Mont Blanc Irish Green. Lovely colour, and my gramps being Irish would have been proud!

I've found the nib to be very smooth. I had the rollerball ATX as a gift ten odd years ago until some scrote nicked it from my desk. I got on OK with the metal section so wasn't too concerned with it being slippy. For extended writing it could be an issue - but the days of me writing sides and sides of notes in meetings are long gone.

Anyone interested, the best price I could find was from Pen Heaven.

[The Mad Monk]

My Jinhaos have just arrived. Where is the best place to buy ink?

Do they really need flushing lots of times before using?

[Robbo 27]

The Mad Monk said:

My Jinhaos have just arrived. Where is the best place to buy ink?

Do they really need flushing lots of times before using?

There is only a limited choice to buy ink on most high streets, these two online sellers offer a good choice at fair prices, partly because the old privately owned stationers have almost disappeared.

http://www.thewritingdesk.co.uk/fountainpenink.php

https://www.bureaudirect.co.uk/pens/inks-refils-ni...

Fill the pen with lukewarm water, flush and go from there. This is intended to remove any oils inside that pen as a result of the manufacturing process, I havent found that Jinhao pens to be critical on this however.

I hope that you enjoy the pens and get as much pleasure as I do out of writing with a fountain pen.

Current pen in use is one from 1935, given to my grandmother to mark the jubilee of George V.

[The Mad Monk]

Thank you Robbo.

The pens arrived - two different orders - direct from China without a word of instruction with them. I suppose Google is my friend here?

[AlexC1981]

Just move the slider to the bottom, dip the nib in your ink, then slide the piston upwards sharply. This should fill the converter. A quick dab on a tissue to get off the excess and you're away.

You might have the converter where a twist action moves the piston up and down.

I flushed through two of my Jinhao's, but didn't bother with the third. I don't think you need to unless it doesn't work perfectly and you need to make sure you dry it thoroughly or your first use will be a bit watery.

[AlexC1981]

djt100 said:

So my Jinhao 126 and 250 Arrived yesterday, The 250 in Brushed Stainless with gold bands and the 126 in chrome plate.

I like both of these pans and the 250 writes nicely ( i feel nicer than my Waterman Hemisprere) So i'm a complete convert to the 250 however the 126 just leaks ink. anyone else experienced anything similar ? did i just get a dud? I'm using Waterman Cartridges ?

No leaks from my 126.

[Pints]

AlexC1981 said:

Just move the slider to the bottom, dip the nib in your ink, then slide the piston upwards sharply. This should fill the converter. A quick dab on a tissue to get off the excess and you're away.

Is this the preferred / advised method? I always draw it up slowly, as though filling a syringe.

[wong]

Pints said:

AlexC1981 said:

Just move the slider to the bottom, dip the nib in your ink, then slide the piston upwards sharply. This should fill the converter. A quick dab on a tissue to get off the excess and you're away.

Is this the preferred / advised method? I always draw it up slowly, as though filling a syringe.

I don't think it matters. You just want to get the most ink in the converter. A converter generally has <1ml, a cartridge usually 1-2mls, and people don't want to fill up all the time. You can do this with the converter on pen, then dipped in ink, or just the cartridge by itself, dipped in the ink bottle. Personally I fill the converter with a syringe.

[wong]

Any advice for reshaping/grinding nibs?

I think i'm going to buy a job lot of Jinhao 159 pens ~ some sellers do packs of 6. These Jinhao's are advertised as having medium/broad nibs on different websites, but I think they are all the same nib (size 6). Is it just filing/sanding? How hard can it be?

[Robbo 27]

wong said:

Any advice for reshaping/grinding nibs?

I think i'm going to buy a job lot of Jinhao 159 pens ~ some sellers do packs of 6. These Jinhao's are advertised as having medium/broad nibs on different websites, but I think they are all the same nib (size 6). Is it just filing/sanding? How hard can it be?

Generally speaking, the 159 nibs are good to use from the start, available in broad and medium sizes, probably fine too but I looked today and couldnt find one on eBay.

At the price that is being charged for these pens it is hard to justify sending it away to a nib specialist who will charge you £25 to make whatever nib shape you want. That would be the common advice for a much more expensive pen.

If you want a nib that is something other than Fine, Medium or Broad then go for it, many people who try to alter a nib end up failing but at £4 a pen it is not the end of the world.

I have looked on youtube to see if there are any helpful instructional vids on how to change the shape of the nib and couldnt find any, which surprised me. There are plenty on smoothing and adjusting but I think that you want more than that.


The downside to reshaping the nib is that you will loose that round ball of metal on the end of the nib which makes a smooth writing pen easier to achieve, but if you want a stub, itallic or an oblique then thats the price you pay.

I would be interested to hear the result and to learn how you did it.

Edit...I have had a look around to see if there was anything published that gave a 'how to' guide on reshaping your nib, this was the best I found;

http://www.marcuslink.com/pens/aboutpens/ludwig-ta...

Edited by Robbo 27 on Saturday 18th February 13:20

[AlexC1981]

Pints said:

Is this the preferred / advised method? I always draw it up slowly, as though filling a syringe.

I seem to get more ink up if I do it quickly. I think because the seal between the piston ring and the cylinder isn't quite as good as it could be.

If slow works, then go slow should save on wear and tear.

[Robbo 27]

AlexC1981 said:

I seem to get more ink up if I do it quickly. I think because the seal between the piston ring and the cylinder isn't quite as good as it could be.

If slow works, then go slow should save on wear and tear.

If you want the maximum capacity fill from a converter, do as you describe above. After that, point the pen nib upwards, push the plunger upwards so that the air is pushed out, put the nib back in the ink and pull the plunger back again.

Personally, I think it is a lot of fafff for not much benefit .

[AlexC1981]

wong said:

Any advice for reshaping/grinding nibs?

I think i'm going to buy a job lot of Jinhao 159 pens ~ some sellers do packs of 6. These Jinhao's are advertised as having medium/broad nibs on different websites, but I think they are all the same nib (size 6). Is it just filing/sanding? How hard can it be?

I had limited success with my Jinhao Y6. It had a smaller nib to start with than the 159, so you might have a better starting point if you are trying to make a stub.

I followed the guide here:

http://www.marcuslink.com/pens/aboutpens/ludwig-ta...

The result for me is usable, but not good enough to use regularly. As you can see below it skips a bit. The horizontal line is a bit too thick, but it's difficult to get it thin without making it sharp. I used a 3000 grit knife sharpening stone at first, then used micro mesh sheets in 4000, 6000, 8000 and 12000 grades to polish.






You might have more success, I wasn't particularly careful when I did mine.

[Robbo 27]

That looks pretty good to me Alex.

A popular nib requirement for those wanting to write chinese characters is to have an XF or XXF nib. I once had a Sheaffer that had a very fine nib but even that was too broad for the person who bought it and wrote small and wrote in Chinese.

These nibs work well on intricate characters, my only concern is that the 159 lays down a lot of ink and the feed is designed to cope with medium or broad nibs. It is just possible that it may flood, producing more ink than a very fine nib can lay down.

If Wong is wanting to modify the pen to suit his writings he may be better starting with a fine nib and honing it down from there.

BTW I saw a XF nibbed pen sell for £0.12 including postage from China, this was early morning on ebay. It was lime green so not everyones taste but hard to imagine that anyone can sell any manufactured item for 12p including postage.

[Pints]

Am I correct in thinking this is the Parker IM? It's not identical to the images I've seen on parkerpens.net and I feel certain that I've had it for longer than the indicated period of production.