Do you use a fountain pen?

[alorotom]

Useful to know as I do like the broad Jinhao nib I use daily at the moment but being on the cautious side and not being fully sure if what I ordered in the Jinhao actually materialised (!) I ordered a medium so may need to swap it at some point!

[Robbo 27]

alorotom said:

Useful to know as I do like the broad Jinhao nib I use daily at the moment but being on the cautious side and not being fully sure if what I ordered in the Jinhao actually materialised (!) I ordered a medium so may need to swap it at some point!

To change the nib is very easy. Take a 2 inch strip of sellotape and stick it across the nib. The push the tape and nib away from you and it will just slide off.

To put another nib in place you will see that there are two groves on the feed, the nib slides into place very easily.

The Lamy pens are bulletproof, I dont know of any faults, I bought my first one in 1979 and it was still working perfectly when I lost it in 2005.

[jinkster]

Ive got a Mont Blanc Starwalker and sadly they do not sell the range anymore - so may have to go to eBay.

I did buy this yesterday to see how I get on with it - so far very happy.

https://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/cross-aventura-...

[Robbo 27]

jinkster said:

Ive got a Mont Blanc Starwalker and sadly they do not sell the range anymore - so may have to go to eBay.

I did buy this yesterday to see how I get on with it - so far very happy.

https://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/cross-aventura-...

This post is not particularly for you, I suspect that you know what you are doing when it comes to buying Montblancs, but for others you need to take care when buying any Montblanc on eBay, there are so many fakes on there, I have just looked through 10 MB ads on ebay and 7 were definite fakes asking for all the money, the other 3 were probable fakes. Its not too bad if you are paying less than £10 for a pen than looks like a Starwalker such as this Baoer 79, at least its an honest deception.





But when you are spending £150 - £400 for a fake starwalker such as this one, then you might feel agrieved.



Some of these fakes are now very close to the real deal, very hard to tell the difference in photographs.

There are fountain pens forums were you can post a want to buy ad, If you really want a Starwalker that may be a safer place.

[Desiato]

Robbo 27 said:

The symptoms as described are a little different from the nib drying out through not being used for a while.

The feed is running out of ink due to ink not flowing from the converter whilst the writer is part way through a paragraph.

Pushing a tiny ball into the converter or, havent tried this for a while, a thin piece of wire, such as a fuse wire left inside the converter.

Just to give an update on this, I flushed it out with no difference but did notice that I could hold the convertor vertically, almost full of ink and it would just hang there. So I popped the ball out of an old biro and dropped that inside the convertor. Been working fine since!

Thanks again for the tips Robbo.

[Robbo 27]

Desiato said:

Just to give an update on this, I flushed it out with no difference but did notice that I could hold the convertor vertically, almost full of ink and it would just hang there. So I popped the ball out of an old biro and dropped that inside the convertor. Been working fine since!

Thanks again for the tips Robbo.

Good news, if I had listened better in Physics at school I would have been tought that it was something to do with surface tension, and the little ball or a piece of wire or a spring gets rid of it. Your solution of using the ball from a biro is very neat, a good idea.

On old lever filled pens when the old rubber sacs are replaced you can either use silicone or black rubber/latex, the silicone sacs have the same issues you describe but made even worse because you cannot easily see what is happening with the ink being stuck at the far end of the sac and away from the nib.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

Robbo 27 said:

The Writing Desk is one seller offering a good range and service

https://www.thewritingdesk.co.uk/fountainpenink.ph...

If you want the best value then the 100ml own label brand at £5.99 looks good.

Quick, decent service from the Writing Desk. The notebook and inks arrived promptly.

Having pre-rinsed the Jinhaos they're now all filled with different colour inks. My only observation is that the own label ink is permanent, and I'm a messy filler!

[Robbo 27]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Quick, decent service from the Writing Desk. The notebook and inks arrived promptly.

Having pre-rinsed the Jinhaos they're now all filled with different colour inks. My only observation is that the own label ink is permanent, and I'm a messy filler!

I know just what you mean about the concern of filling your pen from a tall 100ml bottle with permanent ink.

You may want to think about finding an antique ink well, charity shops often have them for a fiver, like this one,



holds about 15ml of ink, wont fall over and easy to use.

Could also use a thieved mini jam pot from a hotel.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

Robbo 27 said:

I know just what you mean about the concern of filling your pen from a tall 100ml bottle with permanent ink.

It's not the spillage so much, it's that I get it all over my fingers from handling the pen. Guess i'll just have to work slower and be more careful.

[Snails]

I won an auction for what I believe is a Sheaffer Lifetime Triumph 1250.

It looks like the one below, except mine is clipless, well, I think it is as the pictures in the ad weren't the best.



Does anybody have a clue as to what they are worth? I just liked the look of the nib and the striated effect on the body!

Separately, thanks for the notebook recommendations, embarrassingly, I did the usual PH thing and ignored all advice and found a notebook with 120gsm pages, seems very good quality and has a pen clip, which was something I really wanted! I can report that there is no bleed through and no feathering, I'm actually very impressed for the money.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thick-Classic-Notebook-Pe...

Edited by Snails on Monday 14th August 12:41

[Robbo 27]

Snails said:

I won an auction for what I beleive is a Sheaffer Lifetime Triumph 1250.

It looks like the one below, well, I hope it does as the pictures in the ad weren't the best.



Does anybody have a clue as to what they are worth? I just liked the look of the nib and the striated effect on the body!

If its as good as that example then approaching £150. Things that would reduce the value are initials on that very wide cap band and cracks. I hope that the nib is good, replacements are hard to find.


They look fantastic, a nice find.

The notebook looks good too, 120 gram paper is unusual, only seen one thicker in notebook form at 130 and that was meant for artists using watercolours.

If the pen needs a service I would send it away for attention, I can let you know a couple of people but there is a good vid on the pen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmF0CnazNK4

Edited by Robbo 27 on Monday 14th August 12:55

[Snails]

Robbo 27 said:

If its as good as that example then approaching £150. Things that would reduce the value are initials on that very wide cap band and cracks. I hope that the nib is good, replacements are hard to find.


They look fantastic, a nice find.

The notebook looks good too, 120 gram paper is unusual, only seen one thicker in notebook form at 130 and that was meant for artists using watercolours.

If the pen needs a service I would send it away for attention, I can let you know a couple of people but there is a good vid on the pen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmF0CnazNK4

Edited by Robbo 27 on Monday 14th August 12:55

Thanks, the ad was very sparse on details, but the seller did send me some dip test pictures and the nib looks in reasonable order. No idea on condition, but I'm expecting to need to get it serviced, but if it does fully work that would be a nice surprise. I paid £35 + postage, which didn't think was too bad.

[Robbo 27]

Snails said:

Thanks, the ad was very sparse on details, but the seller did send me some dip test pictures and the nib looks in reasonable order. No idea on condition, but I'm expecting to need to get it serviced, but if it does fully work that would be a nice surprise. I paid £35 + postage, which didn't think was too bad.

The price is a bargain.

The filling mechanism is complicated, if it needs to go away there are a few options:

You can contact Stef at grandmia pens by commenting on his You tube, I would have though that if you wanted a restoration to the level shown on his vid then it is going to be as least as expensive as the purchase prece.

Classic pen Engineering http://www.classicpenengineering.co.uk/ should also be good for this and finally Eric Wilson, i dont have his business card to hand but if you scroll up this thread I mentionned his contact details. I would have thought that you would be looking around £25 assuming no major parts are needed.

There is another colour variant in carmine red, also a stunner.










The wide banded cap is called a jewellers band, these pens were sold in US jewellers and the idea was that the owners name would be engraved on the band.

[Snails]

Thank you, I will have a look at those when I get home. Fingers crossed it doesn't need a service! The wide band doesn't appear to have any engraving, but I'll have to see what arrives.

[jinkster]

Robbo 27 said:

jinkster said:

Ive got a Mont Blanc Starwalker and sadly they do not sell the range anymore - so may have to go to eBay.

I did buy this yesterday to see how I get on with it - so far very happy.

https://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/cross-aventura-...

This post is not particularly for you, I suspect that you know what you are doing when it comes to buying Montblancs, but for others you need to take care when buying any Montblanc on eBay, there are so many fakes on there, I have just looked through 10 MB ads on ebay and 7 were definite fakes asking for all the money, the other 3 were probable fakes. Its not too bad if you are paying less than £10 for a pen than looks like a Starwalker such as this Baoer 79, at least its an honest deception.





But when you are spending £150 - £400 for a fake starwalker such as this one, then you might feel agrieved.



Some of these fakes are now very close to the real deal, very hard to tell the difference in photographs.

There are fountain pens forums were you can post a want to buy ad, If you really want a Starwalker that may be a safer place.

Thanks for the info. I’ll keep a look out for a genuine one.

[Robbo 27]

Best of luck, it is very difficult to tell a fake from the often dodgy ebay pics but this youtube vid might help

ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5F7lQu2IZ8

Some people take the view that paying £10 for a fake is okay but paying £250 is not, each to their own on that.

Edited by Robbo 27 on Wednesday 16th August 06:50

[Snails]

This was waiting for me when i got home:





There is a slight mark on the nib to the right-hand side, which can be seen in the photo, but it looks in good order. I haven't tried it out yet as all my ink is at work, fingers crossed.

[ClockworkCupcake]

Snails said:

This was waiting for me when i got home:

Lovely looking pen.

[Robbo 27]

It look great, and I have never seen one without a clip before.

Next is the big question, keep it looking as it is with the patina - or return to like new,

[Snails]

Thanks, I read that the early ones made during the war, which I think this is, were gold over silver on the band and the patina is silver particles working their way through the gold to the surface? I sort of like the patina, so it will stay for now.