Italix 'parsons' Essential' Fountain Pen.

[papabear16]

Just because I felt like it ...

 

Untitled by papabear163, on Flickr

[Tom Traubert]

I have blue black in mine at the moment. It's glorious.

[23Larsen]

We are going to introduce to our range two new models, these are up market premium quality that will compete with pens costing around £500 ($800 USD). We will add the lines at the end of July. No pictures yet, but will show here when available. They are:

 

'Italix Imperium State' with 18k solid gold two tone nib medium at £169 inc VAT or £141 (export) about $232 USD. Italic version with stainless steel two tone in our usual variety of nib types at just £89 inc VAT or £74 (export) about £122 USD. This pen if offered by a premium brand would be sold at about £380 or $627 USD. Des: Large weighty fountain pen, sprung clip, screw cap, all brass with diamond cut high gloss lacquer finish. Gold nib pens are grey lacquer, the others are plain black lacquer.

 

'Italix Vipers Strike' with 18k solid gold medium nib (no italic options to start with) at £95 inc VAT or £79 (export) about $130 USD. This pen if offered by a premium brand would be sold at about £175 or $288 USD. Des: Slim (ish) pen with textured black barrel, polished bright work, 18k gold nib.

 

All the praise for the Parsons Essential has me very interested. Looking forward to see these pens, sounds really good!

[papabear16]

I have blue black in mine at the moment. It's glorious.

 

It's become a real favorite of mine. Among other things, I sign court papers with it.

[Blue_Moon]

Mr. Ford,

Will you have pictures of these prior to the end of July? Can't wait to see what they look like!

[pjford]

We have added a Parson's Essential with a solid gold 18k nib (medium non italic only) at £79.50 plus VAT

[migo984]

We have added a Parson's Essential with a solid gold 18k nib (medium non italic only) at £79.50 plus VAT

That's very good news. Will there be other nib widths in the future?

[pjford]

That's very good news. Will there be other nib widths in the future?

If we can get a broad 18k then we can make other solid gold italic derivitives, we will have to see what becomes available to us.

[migo984]

If we can get a broad 18k then we can make other solid gold italic derivitives, we will have to see what becomes available to us.

Keeping everything crossed. If a fine italic or medium cursive stub became available I would buy both.

[danieln]

I have to share my disappointment with the Parson's Essential. The hype around the pen really convinced me to get one. I got the broad italic and loved it, at first. I got it a couple of weeks back. Since then I tried to make it work but it was just impossible. The pen either stops writing altogether (depends on paper and ink) or at least gets so dry that it skips quite a bit and gains a ridiculous amount of feedback - as if you write with a dried out pen. It varies, but usually this happens after a half to one and a half page of continuous writing. The only thing there is to do is to saturate the feed or let it sit overnight. Then it is ready for another half-page of writing. Very cool pen, and very useless.

[cbaytan]

If your pen worked well for two weeks, then the problem is not the pen, problem sounds like an ink clot or tines clogged with paper particules. It needs a good cleaning, brushing the feed with a toothburh and cleaning the nib slit with a brass sheet will give it a go again: If you don't have a brass sheet nor intend to buy one you can use paper to clean the slit. Make sure C/C sits well. Good luck.

http://www.gouletpens.com/Goulet_Brass_Sheets_p/gpc-brasssheets.htm

[pjford]

I have to share my disappointment with the Parson's Essential. The hype around the pen really convinced me to get one. I got the broad italic and loved it, at first. I got it a couple of weeks back. Since then I tried to make it work but it was just impossible. The pen either stops writing altogether (depends on paper and ink) or at least gets so dry that it skips quite a bit and gains a ridiculous amount of feedback - as if you write with a dried out pen. It varies, but usually this happens after a half to one and a half page of continuous writing. The only thing there is to do is to saturate the feed or let it sit overnight. Then it is ready for another half-page of writing. Very cool pen, and very useless.

As we stated in our email to you:

'send it back and we will either repair it or exchange it. If on the other hand we cannot find a reason, our only option will be to refund your purchase.'

If you send it back by standard airmail, it will cost no more than £3. There is no point in struggling to make a pen work if there is a fault with the pen. It should flow well and glide over the paper.

[Blue_Moon]

I have to share my disappointment with the Parson's Essential. The hype around the pen really convinced me to get one. I got the broad italic and loved it, at first. I got it a couple of weeks back. Since then I tried to make it work but it was just impossible. The pen either stops writing altogether (depends on paper and ink) or at least gets so dry that it skips quite a bit and gains a ridiculous amount of feedback - as if you write with a dried out pen. It varies, but usually this happens after a half to one and a half page of continuous writing. The only thing there is to do is to saturate the feed or let it sit overnight. Then it is ready for another half-page of writing. Very cool pen, and very useless.

 

Any man-made thing will not be perfect, so there may be a lemon in every 1000 pens or so sold. I've got three Parson's Essentials and a Churchman's Prescriptor, with nary a problem. Contact Mr. Ford. He provides excellent customer service, and I'm sure he will be able to help you.

 

Edited to add: I started this response an hour ago, and got interrupted. I'm just now getting back to it, and I see that Mr. Ford has already responded with his outstanding, as usual, service. BTW, I'd like to add that there's no reason to complain about it on the forum, if you've already had contact with Mr. Ford, and he already offered to make things right for you.

Edited August 14, 2014 by Blue_Moon

[danieln]

If your pen worked well for two weeks

No it did not.

 

 

As we stated in our email to you:

'send it back and we will either repair it or exchange it. If on the other hand we cannot find a reason, our only option will be to refund your purchase.'

If you send it back by standard airmail, it will cost no more than £3. There is no point in struggling to make a pen work if there is a fault with the pen. It should flow well and glide over the paper.

Yes I know, thank you. I am waiting for PR Tanzanite, should arrive soon. I will give it one more shot, then I'm sending it back to you.

 

 

 

Any man-made thing will not be perfect, so there may be a lemon in every 1000 pens or so sold. I've got three Parson's Essentials and a Churchman's Prescriptor, with nary a problem. Contact Mr. Ford. He provides excellent customer service, and I'm sure he will be able to help you.

 

Edited to add: I started this response an hour ago, and got interrupted. I'm just now getting back to it, and I see that Mr. Ford has already responded with his outstanding, as usual, service. BTW, I'd like to add that there's no reason to complain about it on the forum, if you've already had contact with Mr. Ford, and he already offered to make things right for you.

The problem with this thread is that there is almost no one reporting any problems with the pen. When it arrived I was thrilled but as soon as I started writing more than a few sentences it just didn't live up to the expectations. I searched outside of the forum and found a few people reporting this same issue. That is why I thought it necessary to post it here. So I really believe that there IS a reason to "complain" about it on the forum, as you put it.

 

Edit: I do realize that it is simply a bad luck to get a faulty pen. I do not blame anyone, this is not rant, I just think it can be always just as useful to hear negative comments on pens as well as positive, that's all.

Edited August 14, 2014 by danieln

[cbaytan]

No it did not.

 

 

So you need to send the pen back, after chatting with Mr. Ford at the website, you don't need to send heavy cap and barrel, just section, nib and feed and C/C would be enough for saving mail charges. Good luck

[Blue_Moon]

 

The problem with this thread is that there is almost no one reporting any problems with the pen. When it arrived I was thrilled but as soon as I started writing more than a few sentences it just didn't live up to the expectations. I searched outside of the forum and found a few people reporting this same issue. That is why I thought it necessary to post it here. So I really believe that there IS a reason to "complain" about it on the forum, as you put it.

 

Edit: I do realize that it is simply a bad luck to get a faulty pen. I do not blame anyone, this is not rant, I just think it can be always just as useful to hear negative comments on pens as well as positive, that's all.

 

The problem is that in reporting it on this forum, you failed to report that you had already had contact with Mr. Ford, and that he had graciously offered to make things right - any way possible. That leads people to believe that you were stuck with a faulty pen, which is not the case. I can understand you wanting to report your own experience, but you only reported some of your experience - not the whole experience, which is Mr. Ford's willingness to do what is necessary to make you happy.

[danieln]

 

The problem is that in reporting it on this forum, you failed to report that you had already had contact with Mr. Ford, and that he had graciously offered to make things right - any way possible. That leads people to believe that you were stuck with a faulty pen, which is not the case. I can understand you wanting to report your own experience, but you only reported some of your experience - not the whole experience, which is Mr. Ford's willingness to do what is necessary to make you happy.

Yes I see what you mean. Not at all my intention, my apologies if my initial post gave anyone such impression. I will report back once the problem is resolved.

[Fabienne]

Yes I see what you mean. Not at all my intention, my apologies if my initial post gave anyone such impression. I will report back once the problem is resolved.

 

From the post above, regarding both sides, this is why I come back to FPN for my social kick. It is truly refreshing to read adult well bred discourse rather than suffer through juvenile drama for the love of a concept. I never hesitate recommending FPN to anyone who is interested. I never recommended forums where people badly behaved no matter how much I liked the product. So good for everyone on this thread, and thanks to the mods and admins who keep the tone.

 

So saying I will probably bop someone with a virtual beer bottle over some fine point one day , BUT I do want to say three cheers for good behavior.

[knarflj]

 

From the post above, regarding both sides, this is why I come back to FPN for my social kick. It is truly refreshing to read adult well bred discourse rather than suffer through juvenile drama for the love of a concept. I never hesitate recommending FPN to anyone who is interested. I never recommended forums where people badly behaved no matter how much I liked the product. So good for everyone on this thread, and thanks to the mods and admins who keep the tone.

 

+1!

[Theo Moore]

I'm looking to get some quick advice on this thread from Parson's Essential users. Last Christmas, I bought a few of the Italix pens for my friends, all in fine cursive stub. I was very surprised by the thickness of what arrived, however, which I would call a medium to a medium-broad.

 

Although we are a bit past 30 days, Peter Ford has kindly allowed a change of all three pens. However, because we already took the finest option, I wonder whether specifying a fine round will be any better.

 

Here is a picture sent to me by the recipient. The Parson's is top, followed by a 0.5 pt tip pen, and regular ballpoint pen.

http://i.imgur.com/4AOcYxI.jpg

 

I am hoping that it was Ford's grinding it into a stub that made the tip so thick, and if we go with a regular fine, it should be smaller.

 

For comparison, here is papabear's picture, from this post:

 

Notice that the fine stubs we used to create our picture look even broader than the broad stub above. Though I don't have the pens myself, I can confirm that before I gave them, the thicknesses you see is representative over different inks and papers.

 

I'm quite confused about what I should be asking---to me, a fine round is probably the safest choice, but I don't understand how our fine stub is so much thicker.