Do you use a fountain pen?

[ClockworkCupcake]

I ordered a pair of "Parker style" converters on eBay the other day, for a grand total of £3.49 inc postage.

They arrived today and there was a bit of a bonus included.



The pen isn't a Parker, just "in the style of" a Parker Vector by the look of it. Somewhat unexpected.

The converters themselves were meant to have a small plastic ball bearing in them, according to the product photos, but do not. So we shall see how effective they are.

Edit: Just to be clear, it was an eBay "Buy it Now" offer for two converters. No mention was made of the pen and it was a complete surprise.

[Robbo 27]

ClockworkCupcake said:

I ordered a pair of "Parker style" converters on eBay the other day, for a grand total of £3.49 inc postage.

They arrived today and there was a bit of a bonus included.



The pen isn't a Parker, just "in the style of" a Parker Vector by the look of it. Somewhat unexpected.

The converters themselves were meant to have a small plastic ball bearing in them, according to the product photos, but do not. So we shall see how effective they are.

Edit: Just to be clear, it was an eBay "Buy it Now" offer for two converters. No mention was made of the pen and it was a complete surprise.

Never heard of that one before. It may be worth while flushing the converters with soapy water, the little ball is there to reduce surface tension and break up the ink.

The proper Vector isnt a bad pen for its price

[ClockworkCupcake]

Robbo 27 said:

Never heard of that one before. It may be worth while flushing the converters with soapy water, the little ball is there to reduce surface tension and break up the ink.

The proper Vector isnt a bad pen for its price

I've been over the pen with a loupe and there isn't a single identifying mark on it anywhere. Not on the cap, or the nib. Not a thing. Obviously not a Parker, but also not a Hero, Baoer, or Jinhao either as they always mark their nibs. Very odd.

[ClockworkCupcake]

I have my eye out for a Sheaffer Sagaris in Blue Metallic for when I sell my TVR. It's odd, but although I can pick up a brushed chrome one for £17.99, the cheapest I can find the Blue Metallic is £48 (and as much as £64 from some sellers).

[giblet]

Stumbled across this thread after I was thinling of buying a ink pen. Can anyone recommend a decent pen for around £30-£40?

Edit - browsed back a few pages, saw the recommendations for the Jinhao ones and ordered a X750 plus compatible cartridges from Amazon. Should be delivered by this evening.

Edited by giblet on Sunday 30th July 00:52

[Robbo 27]

giblet said:

Stumbled across this thread after I was thinling of buying a ink pen. Can anyone recommend a decent pen for around £30-£40?

Edit - browsed back a few pages, saw the recommendations for the Jinhao ones and ordered a X750 plus compatible cartridges from Amazon. Should be delivered by this evening.

Edited by giblet on Sunday 30th July 00:52

I doubt that you will be disappointed, this pen works well and is great value.It should cost you less that £7 delivered with cartridges, the pen will arrive with a converter to take ink. Before you use the pen, flush the pen with warm water and a little detergent using the converter and then dry the pen as much as you can, blow through any water still in the nib section. Carry on with cartridges if you wish but many prefer bottled ink - you have better choice of colour and writing performance.

If you want to spend more money, and some do, I can recommend a TWSBI Eco, a piston filled pen,which will cost around £30 delivered.

Good luck, perhaps you will come back with some pics and thoughts on what you think about your new pen.

[Robbo 27]

ClockworkCupcake said:

I have my eye out for a Sheaffer Sagaris in Blue Metallic for when I sell my TVR. It's odd, but although I can pick up a brushed chrome one for £17.99, the cheapest I can find the Blue Metallic is £48 (and as much as £64 from some sellers).

Andys Pens are doing a set for £48, FP and BP, boxed

http://www.andys-pens.co.uk/sheaffer-sagaris-set-9...

His advert is in dark red but he may be able to order the blue

[giblet]

Robbo 27 said:

I doubt that you will be disappointed, this pen works well and is great value.It should cost you less that £7 delivered with cartridges, the pen will arrive with a converter to take ink. Before you use the pen, flush the pen with warm water and a little detergent using the converter and then dry the pen as much as you can, blow through any water still in the nib section. Carry on with cartridges if you wish but many prefer bottled ink - you have better choice of colour and writing performance.

If you want to spend more money, and some do, I can recommend a TWSBI Eco, a piston filled pen,which will cost around £30 delivered.

Good luck, perhaps you will come back with some pics and thoughts on what you think about your new pen.

Worked out at around £15 as I chose Amazon Prime same day sellers since I was feeling impatient. Thanks for the tips on setting it up. I'll report back once I've used it for a few days.

Edit - they are cheaper on eBay, might grab a different one just to compare them.

Edited by giblet on Sunday 30th July 14:53

[alorotom]

Has anyone else had issues with the Jinhao sellers on eBay lately ... ordered 6 pens across sellers and none have arrived 3-4mths on and previously all had been received within 2-3mths tops (including odd orders for just cartridges)

I know Royal Mail is rubbish in my area but surely it can't just be me??

[Robbo 27]

alorotom said:

Has anyone else had issues with the Jinhao sellers on eBay lately ... ordered 6 pens across sellers and none have arrived 3-4mths on and previously all had been received within 2-3mths tops (including odd orders for just cartridges)

I know Royal Mail is rubbish in my area but surely it can't just be me??

Over 3 months is just unacceptable, its time to get your money back.Most i have had to wait is 2 months.Its odd that the problem exists over a number of sellers, I take it that the address on paypal is perfect and that there are no other issues, I used to have stuff delivered to work until I had a couple of completely empty boxes placed on my desk with work type sellotape around them.

[alorotom]

Yeah I have sought refunds but supposedly the sellers have also sent replacements which haven't come!!

Bought probably a dozen or so other things as well in the same time period without issue ... might have just been very unlucky or there is some local pilfering postie with a penchant for cheap Chinese fountain pens and ink!

[ClockworkCupcake]

I'm kind of done with the cheap Chinese pens now I think.

As Robbo said a while back, you tend to get to the point as a new collector where you slow down on just buying everything and start to find out what you like and what you want to collect.

[alorotom]

Don't disagree at all ... I love my white 159 and it's used everyday of working week my issue is that the only 'upgrade' I can see to this is a MontBlanc and I'm not sure I want to spend that on a pen at the moment (for no other reason than it lives in my work bag and get bashed around in the car, airports, trains, etc....)

[Robbo 27]

You have both hit the nail squarely on the head. part of the problem is that the Jinhao 250/450/750 and the 159 are very good at what they do and great value. You need to spend a lot of money to get something much better. I have two Montblanc 149s that cost £650 each, superb pens and very well made but it is just as easy to drop or get scratched or lost as my 159s. A 159 cost me around 1% of the Montblanc price, it isnt as good to use but its not that far behind so the 149s dont get much use, and I am passed the days when I need to impress myself or others by the pen I am using.

By the same token, I have a friend with an Aston, he gets a lot of racial abuse when he is out driving plus vandalism to the car so its turned into a high days and holidays car and all other journeys are in his Focus.

You have some spectacularly good pens CC, to lose them whilst you are out would be a loss that goes much beyond the financial aspect.

I have gone down from 300+ pens to around 30, including about 10 Jinhao pens, I can see me selling another 10 including the Montblancs and I will be happy at concentrating just on the pens that mean something to me.

[ClockworkCupcake]

Robbo 27 said:

You have some spectacularly good pens CC, to lose them whilst you are out would be a loss that goes much beyond the financial aspect.

Oh, absolutely. I doubt the ones most important to me will ever go out of the house. For "out and about" use I'll continue to use cheaper more replaceable pens.

I just meant that I think I'm done on buying more Chinese cheapies, unless it is to replace ones lost, damaged or given away.

Edited by ClockworkCupcake on Sunday 30th July 17:24

[Desiato]

Robbo, or anyone else, could you give me some advice regarding my Jinhao 159 please?
It writes lovely, but I keep having to turn the converter screw to force ink down towards the nib.
Any suggestions on why it is doing this and how to cure it please?

Thanks,

Mick

[ClockworkCupcake]

Desiato said:

Robbo, or anyone else, could you give me some advice regarding my Jinhao 159 please?
It writes lovely, but I keep having to turn the converter screw to force ink down towards the nib.
Any suggestions on why it is doing this and how to cure it please?

As a first port of call, I'd suggest pulling the converter out, flushing the section and nib through with water, then gently blowing through it.

[Robbo 27]

Desiato said:

Robbo, or anyone else, could you give me some advice regarding my Jinhao 159 please?
It writes lovely, but I keep having to turn the converter screw to force ink down towards the nib.
Any suggestions on why it is doing this and how to cure it please?

Thanks,

Mick

Hi Mick

Can I check the circumstances. You fill the pen, then start writing, can you manage much more than a couple of lines before it runs dry, is it more or less than a couple of lines?


Hold the pen nib down, remove the barrel, is the ink at the top of the converter, if it is, go to #2

A few things to try

1. If you have access to a cartridge that fits try that.

2. If you dont, then empty the ink from the pen, and flush it through with warm water with some detergent in it, couple of drops of washing up liquid or shampoo.

3. Fill again with ink, I would strongly suspect that your problems are fixed.If they are not you can post it to me and I will try a few things including resetting the nib. None of my 159s do this.

4. Are you using Diamine ink?

5. Jinhao converters are ok but not the best, they can leak air, do you have an alternative?

[Desiato]

Thanks Robbo,

Answers in the order of the questions.

I can write probably a short paragraph or so, you gradually notice that the ink flow is dying out.

To fill the converter completely is quite difficult, I virtually have to submerge the whole nib plus a little of the part you hold. There tends to be a small air gap.

I think I have some international cartridges so will try one of those. It's a pain though as I use Waterman brown ink. Still, not end of the world.

I did rinse it through with warm water and washing up liquid when new but I can easily try this again.

Thanks for the advice, I will try the above tomorrow and report back.

Thanks,

Mick

Robbo 27 said:

Hi Mick

Can I check the circumstances. You fill the pen, then start writing, can you manage much more than a couple of lines before it runs dry, is it more or less than a couple of lines?


Hold the pen nib down, remove the barrel, is the ink at the top of the converter, if it is, go to #2

A few things to try

1. If you have access to a cartridge that fits try that.

2. If you dont, then empty the ink from the pen, and flush it through with warm water with some detergent in it, couple of drops of washing up liquid or shampoo.

3. Fill again with ink, I would strongly suspect that your problems are fixed.If they are not you can post it to me and I will try a few things including resetting the nib. None of my 159s do this.

4. Are you using Diamine ink?

5. Jinhao converters are ok but not the best, they can leak air, do you have an alternative?

[Robbo 27]

Desiato said:

If you want to put it in the post to me I will have a look, the most likely issue is the converter, if thats the problem I will put a new one in the pen and send it back.

Send an email and I will give you the address, going out now but happy to pick this up on Monday.

I wouldnt worry about it, whatever the issue might be its fixable.