Huge Pen...

[Rasendyll]

Thought this might intrigue people. A work colleague handed me this "Golden Dragon", which they brought back from China. It's Huge-pictures show my new MB149 (more of this later) for comparison:

 

 

 

How does the Golden Dragon write-not at all well-the manufacturers appear to have forgotten to cut a channel in the feed! Sometime I might track down my fine jeweller's saw and have a go myself. Nib is a giant steel one (if the 149's is a No 9 nib this is a 12 or 13) with fairly generous tipping.

 

Just thought it might give people alaugh-oh, it also has the largest aerometric filler I've seen.

[Camander_Bun_Bun]

That is awesome! Too bad it does't write...

[Taurean]

Wow, that's big. Congrats on the new 149.

[EMM]

Lots like it has much higher quality than a jinhao... hilarious that it doesn't though.

[watch_art]

it looks like there's a slit, just that it misses the tipping.

[Rasendyll]

There is a slit in the nib-and it's not off centre-the photo is a bit deceptive on that point as I was in the office with an old camera (not very good), but they've omitted to cut a channel in the feed itself!

 

 

Re the new 149, which I shall review when I've got to know it nbetter-it's a modern one with a B nib, lovely to write with and gives a nice characterful line. Now there quality and finish are everything one could hope for

[watch_art]

OH DUH! I wasn't paying attention! Well, that's not so bad. You can cut your own feed channel.

[Rasendyll]

It'll be my first go at cutting a feed channel. Have a fine jewellers saw somewhere (when I find it), will have a careful go with that. Feed is actually ebony and appears hand cut, except the bit they forgot.

[rwilsonedn]

You might also be able to cut the channel(s) you need with a fresh razor blade or utility knife. Some modern Chinese feeds have rather complicated patterns of channels, by the way. They have one set of channels to bring the ink from the reservoir up to a kind of buffer area, formed by cutting channels radially around the feed. Then another set of channels, not connected directly to the first set, carries the ink from these radial grooves up under the slit in the nib. I guess this design gives the pen more consistent flow and more resistance to surging.

ron

[Rasendyll]

Thanks for the tip, though this one looks like it's hand cut and very simple in design. Razor blade is a great idea.

[kauloltran]

one of my cheap chinese pen did not write at all due to the same reason. I managed to get to to write by pressing down really hard on the nib so the nib splits in half like when you write with a flexible nib. After this operation, I got the nib to write pretty well. Though the nib is rather scratchy, I'm happy with what I did to save the pen instead of throwing it in the trash. I would hate to gift someone a pen that does not write.

Edited May 7, 2011 by kauloltran