Cross Spire

[ac12]

@Sharper

You might be able to get Cross to replace the nib for you as a repair.

Give them a call or drop them an email.

 

All you can do is search the internet for shops that have the spire or its predecessors, which is what you are looking for.

Maybe the Google search engine can find web sites with it.

 

gud luk

 

* * * * *

 

As for the "cartridge only" design, that would be a Cross marketing decision. If marketing wanted a converter, the engineers could design one.

All I can say is we on FPN are a small minority of the people that buy Cross pens. So even though it is important to us, we do not carry the marketing weight of their target market...whatever it is.

 

I my case, the target market is "the pen as a special gift."

It looks great, and it fits a smaller womans hand well.

 

BTW, the pen does write rather well and feels just fine for me. But then I like slimline pens, because I have a small hand.

Accordingly there are a bunch of FAT pens that I don't like because they are FAT and uncomfortable for me to hold. The Lamy 2000 is one such FAT pen that is uncomfortable for me to use.

Edited February 27, 2014 by ac12

[Biber]

Montgomery pens has the Spire in black, gold, and chrome for $160.

[Biskoiq]

Honestly, I prefer the original spire more than the new one. The new design seems to be too... I don't know, but I think a plainer, more simple design looks better. I own the (New) Cross Classic Century FP+Pencil set, too. Really like thin pens.

[Pens by J. I. Schmidt]

I wonder if it would be hard to turn into an eyedropper?

[ac12]

I wonder if it would be hard to turn into an eyedropper?

 

With a metal barrel, probably not a good idea.

Also not sure about the end where you would post the cap. If that is a separate piece, then you have that joint to deal with.

[Biber]

 

With a metal barrel, probably not a good idea.

Also not sure about the end where you would post the cap. If that is a separate piece, then you have that joint to deal with.

 

I suppose if one were clever enough, a sac of some sort could be rigged up to the butt end of a converter to turn it into a bulb filler.

[tryphon]

The Metropolis was a fantastic pen, and very reasonably priced. I am sorry it was discontinued very quickly!

[Vic557]

I've had 2 Spire FP, both leaked at the cartridge seal, one actually leaked across the barrel onto my fingers as I write with it. Anyone else had this problem? I'm about to send the second one back to Cross.

[Ravenmoon]

I nabbed a gold Spire on eBay, not realizing it was a cartridge only model. I've refilled the cart with a syringe, but...phooey. None of the converters I have handy will fit, not even the MontVerde mini. I love the look of it (though it is a little small; I adore my 4 (yes 4!) Townsends), and it writes just fine (if not exceptionally), but I probably would have passed had I realized there was no converter for it....

[atc729]

I nabbed a gold Spire on eBay, not realizing it was a cartridge only model. I've refilled the cart with a syringe, but...phooey. None of the converters I have handy will fit, not even the MontVerde mini. I love the look of it (though it is a little small; I adore my 4 (yes 4!) Townsends), and it writes just fine (if not exceptionally), but I probably would have passed had I realized there was no converter for it....

 

You said you had Townsends, so I'm assuming you have the green converter? I have read that the green one fit in the Spire and Centruy I. I was curious if that was true, but I'm assuming by your post that it isn't?

[Ravenmoon]

No, it's a good bit too wide. The converter won't even fit down the barrel! Sheaffer converters (aerometric or the newer plungers) don't fit into the barrel, the Sheaffer Slim converter just fits, as does the MontVerde mini, but the Sheaffer is a flat-top, so it won't fit into the section. The MV is close, but the "shoulder" at the top it to wide for the section. The Cross slim cartridge has a 'neck' that is easily 3 or 4 times longer than that on the MV mini or international 'standard' cartridge.... It's an odd bird, to be sure...

[Braxfield]

Picking up this discussion after three or four years (!) I wonder if anyone actually built their own converter for the Spire. I have to say the fact that Cross failed to provide one cannot have helped the model to succeed. Cutting a pen off from the universe of specialty inks--the oxygen of the contemporary pen scene--seems daft. I have decided to get over my needle phobia and have just ordered up a couple of syringes, but mucking around with spent cartridges is not my idea of fun.

 

I agree with the view that Cross would do well to take advice from FPN. (I know that "Cross" may be an inexact term, given that ownership of the brand currently resides with investors in CA, but there must be someone in charge). We may not be representative of the market as a whole, but we must have some collective insight into what makes a pen work. The current strategy is a strange mixture of brilliant innovation and chuck-it-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks marketing. "Cross - it's how we feel" could almost be the motto of the fan club.

[ac12]

Cross probably envisioned it for people that would NOT use bottle ink, which is the majority of the customers they probably sell to.

 

However, something happened, as the VERSION 2 of the Classic Century has been made slightly larger in diameter, and a converter IS available for that pen. The first version of the Classic Century has the same "no converter' issue as does the Spire.

[RMN]

Cross has made some very slim fountainpens, like the Spire and at least one version of the Century that do not take converters and even do not take their regular cartridges. You will need their slim cartridge.. The normal cartridge is like a 3 stage rocket, the slim has two.

 

 

I don't think they will be available in many stores.

 

 

 

D.ick