Waterman Carene Opinions

[Left FPN]

Then there are the wool pullers...Don't make me Laraf

[RMN]

what is wrong with it, Force?

 

 

D.ick

[Left FPN]

what is wrong with it, Force?

 

 

D.ick

You take a standard Black Sea Gloss which can be purchased for say £120 new or £30 to £50 mint s/h and have it engraved....then you list it as Special Edition for £350

 

If I had my Special Edition Ivory engraved Alex Ferguson...what would it fetch.

 

Edited May 9, 2013 by Force

[RMN]

That is a BIN price with a normal auction with it. Nothing wrong with asking a high BIN price. Nobody is forced to buy at that price.

If someone is foolish enough to go for it, probably they think the pen is worth it and the seller has a lucky day.

 

I don't, so I won't bite.

 

Edit: why don't you try? You could state that the pen is in the colour of his hair.....

 

 

D.ick

Edited May 9, 2013 by RMN

[Left FPN]

That is a BIN price with a normal auction with it. Nothing wrong with asking a high BIN price. Nobody is forced to buy at that price.

If someone is foolish enough to go for it, probably they think the pen is worth it and the seller has a lucky day.

 

I don't, so I won't bite.

 

Edit: why don't you try? You could state that the pen is in the colour of his hair.....

 

 

D.ick

and the Reserve not met = £5 less than the BIN

[RMN]

 

That is a BIN price with a normal auction with it. Nothing wrong with asking a high BIN price. Nobody is forced to buy at that price.

If someone is foolish enough to go for it, probably they think the pen is worth it and the seller has a lucky day.

 

I don't, so I won't bite.

 

Edit: why don't you try? You could state that the pen is in the colour of his hair.....

 

 

D.ick

and the Reserve not met = £5 less than the BIN

 

Okay, did not see that part. Never buy on Ebay, myself

 

 

D.ick

[RMN]

@ Force: I see the words: reserve not met, but where do you see that the reserve is 5 GBP less?? Or is that a guess?

 

I have been searching that ad, but could not find more. I am not used to Evbaying, so I don't have a clue about this.

 

D.ick

[georges zaslavsky]

it is a decent pen for the money

[ronlakin]

I bought one yesterday. Amber Marine with medium nib. The pen looks stunning, although I notice the end of the barrel doesn't quite line up with the nib. I gave it good flush with cold water and filled it with Waterman Florida Blue. The pen is a nice size and reasonably weighty. The section is slightly narrower than on my Pelikan 800 but it weights more than the Pelikan. The nib is very smooth. When first filled the pen lays down a lovely wet line and writes without any skipping. But there is a problem. A few pages of A4 later it all changes. It becomes a very dry writer and skips constantly, especially on the up stroke. Flush it out, refill and the pattern repeats - a beautiful writer for a couple of pages then it dries up. Giving it a rest doesn't change anything - it remains dry until refilled. It's stunning looks, good weight and balance doesn't make up for flow problem. Suffice to say I'm more than a little disappointed. I'll send it to Waterman and hope they can fix it under warranty.

[RMN]

Hi Ron

 

Did you buy it new? Or pre-owned?

 

Are you using a converter?

 

If new: I hope you did give it a proper cleaning?

 

And the behaviour you are describing is typical of converters.

It has to do with the airbubble forming in the converter. Bacause of the type of plastic these converters are made of they have a high adhesion, so the aitbubble stays in one place and the ink can't get past. While writing fiddling a bit with the converter will start the pen again for a while. It annoys me so much I hardly use converters these days. Luckily Waterman BlueBlack is one of my favourite inks, so I use cartridges. There are some tricks to get a converter "fixed", like flushing with a very mild detergentsolution prior to filling, which lowers surfacetension, or getting a metal coil or a little cartridgeball inside.

 

D.ick

[mbankirer]

You can find the "discontinued" colors at discounted prices, sometimes...need to get stub nib for any line variation, but I love the 'heft' and the beauty of the Carene.

[mbankirer]

[Left FPN]

Has anyone determined precisely how much writing can be accomplished with a Carene as there are a few variables to consider...as with any pen.

 

1. Ink type.

2. Quantity of ink in the tank.

3. Nib size.

4. Paper quality.

 

The Carene section holds a lot of ink. To fill I place the section into the ink bottle, draw up a full converter, invert the section (nib up) and leave it a minute or so for the air to rise. Wind the piston in until ink appears at the breather hole. Place it back into the ink and wind the converter back in 1 turn, injecting ink back into the pot. Now wind the piston out and draw up another load. When the piston reaches its max, wind it back in a turn or two. All done, a full Carene.

 

Did it come with the new style converter with a black plastic nipple end.

 

I use new (old style) and old converters in all Watermans and never had this problem...Edson, Carene, Exclusive, Executives etc

Edited May 24, 2013 by Force

[ronlakin]

Hello RMN,

I bought it pre-owned to replace my old Waterman CF which needs a new converter. The previous owner has provided all the packaging and the original reciept. It's 3 months old and I trust change of ownership does not affect the Waterman warranty. I am using a converter and did give it a flush out with cold water before filling. However, after reading a few posts on FPN I decided to flush the pen out again, this time with tepid mildly soapy water. I noticed that nearly all the water was exiting via the breath hole. To force water through the nib I covered the breath hole when expelling the water. I then flushed with clean water to remove all the soap, I have to admit it took more flushing than I expected before all the bubbles had gone. It's much better than it was. It's still not perfect and not as wet as my old CF. I'll probably give it another good flush out before deciding whether to send it off to Waterman.

Your comments on the converter aspect are quite interesting. I never gave the converter a second thought but after reading you post I filled another pen (Parsons Italix Essential) with the same ink (Waterman Florida Blue). The converter in the Italix doesn't have a ball or spring but if I invert both pens at the same time the air bubble rises though the ink much more rapidly in the Italix than it does in the Carene. The Italix never skips and has consistent ink flow from just filled to empty. Maybe there is something about the Wateman converter which is contributing to the problem. I have seen converters with a spring or ball but not one for a Waterman pen.

Edited May 24, 2013 by ronlakin

[Left FPN]

With the receipt you should have no problems with returning it. I suspect all they will do is change the section anyway.

 

Ref the button alignment to the nib, that is an easy fix. Turn the nut (the very last brass item were the converter fits in) on the section a very small amount either way to start with then try the barrel. If it is worse, turn the nut the other direction. The nut may be tight, but as it's a new pen I suspect it will move with ease.

[MKIM97]

I'm bringing this topic back from the dead because I have a problem. I was able to acquire an amber Carene (fine nib because it was less expensive than the stub) from JML, and although I love the pen, it leaks.

 

I tried it with the Serenity Blue Waterman cartridge it came with, and at first, it leaked a bit at the "horn" - when it was uncapped, there would sometimes be a bit of ink smeared on one side of the nib and a little droplet of ink on the section just below said "horn". After using it a while, it seemed to go away.

 

Then I tried using Diamine Ancient Copper with the converter. When it was uncapped, the same problem occurred except instead of a droplet of ink on the section, it was a swath. Thinking it was because of the ink, I switched to Diamine Bilberry, and the same problem occurred. It seems to me that ink got out at the "horn", and spread along the section via capillary action along the inside surface of the cap. I'm not doing anything harsh to the pen; it's just being set down on the desk. I did notice that when capped, the cap doesn't sit perfectly still. It wiggles ever so slightly when pushed, so I'm thinking maybe that's causing the inside of the cap to touch the nib and cause ink to spread. I don't think it's a manufacturing defect, as the wiggling is really very slight.

 

I'm going to try filling the converter directly when it comes time to refill in an attempt to make the nib section less saturated, and see if that helps. I don't want to shell out the cash for a new nib section, nor do I want to go through the hassle of returning it/getting it fixed. From reading other users' experiences, I wonder if the Waterman ink worked well because the ink itself is well behaved, or because it was in a cartridge. I'd really appreciate input from other Carene owners.

[Left FPN]

Having removed two nibs from their grips and studied their shape and how they fit, if there is insufficient adhesive on the 'horns' then ink will travel up them. In addition, if there is too much adhesive it could get onto the feed and prevent ink flow to the nib. It's a fine line with the adhesive. Fortunately on the two I re-assembled all seems well.

 

As for the lose cap, the Crimson that I have just re-worked has a very lose cap (hardly a click when fitted) and it has been lying on my desk a week or so now without any ploblems. I assume somewhere inside the nib touches it at times. If your cap only has very small movement the nib will not be touching the cap, the grip will prevent that.

 

I would say the problem is the fitting of the nib into the grip. That is either a return to NRW where they will probably only swap the complete section or you remove the nib, clean out the old adhesive and refit it yourself.

 

On the topic of nib option cost, I understood that all nib sizes are the same, whether sold on the pen or separate.

 

Pictures showing where the adhesive must be,

 

 

Edited August 17, 2013 by Force

[MKIM97]

Thank you for the helpful reply! Your explanation certainly seems correct, especially having now seen (again) your disassembly. I don't trust myself to repair the nib, so I suppose a return or replacement is in order. That or hope the problem magically goes away.

 

I thought nib sizes would all be priced the same, too, but JML's Amazon store had the fine listed cheaper than the other sizes. Maybe prices will be leveled when he returns from his August disappearance.