What Chinese Pens Are You Using Today?

[Manalto]

This just in from China: Another Jinhao X450. What can I say? I love this model. Total cost, including shipping, was $2.84. I inked it up without washing it or tuning the nib in any way and it wrote so buttery smooth. I may tune it to write just a weeee bit wetter.

 

 

It looks snazzy in white. My pen today is the same as yours except black with the confetti sparkles. My only complaint is that, when I want to clip it to my shirt pocket, I need to recruit the help of a crowbar and two burly neighbors.

 

 

My Jinhao X450 writes a bit rough - not smooth like my others; anything "easy" I can do to make the nib write a bit smoother?

 

Draw loops, circles and figure-eights on an ordinary brown paper bag with the pen inked. This has worked well for me with a lot of Chinese nibs that need a little breaking in.

Edited December 23, 2015 by Manalto

[dcwaites]

My Jinhao X450 writes a bit rough - not smooth like my others; anything "easy" I can do to make the nib write a bit smoother?

 

Jinhao usually smooth their nibs very well. It is most likely that the nib tines are mis-aligned.

You need to be able to examine the nib with a 10x quality loupe. Once you have worked out which way they need to go, you gently use your thumb and finger nails to push them in the opposite direction till they line up again.

Some people can just run their fingernail across the tip of the tines to work out the mis-alignment without using a loupe.

[oneill]

Hi All; Its obvious there are still a boatload of Jinhao and Baoer {same company }users on these pages and why not for the prices one pays for any of their pens the overall quality is to say the least very good,as I have said many times on these pages if it doesn't write then flush it out using cold water with a drop of ammonia plus a smaller drop of dishwashing liquid, that nearly always fixes the problem.Should you have other issues of nib aligning etc type into You tube what your

problem is and I am sure some smart xxxx will have posted a solution to your

problem. Trust Me

[richila]

12-24-15 by Richila , on Flickr

Jinhao x450 with Levenger Shiraz in my Journible of the book of Matthew

[Manalto]

Should you have other issues of nib aligning etc type into You tube what your

problem is and I am sure some smart xxxx will have posted a solution to your

problem. Trust Me

 

xxxx = bloke?

[Sailor Kenshin]

Just emptied an open-nib orange Jinhao 599 of glitterfied Diamine Deep Magenta. Wondering what to load next. Hero 616? Hooded 599? And what ink? Glitterfied or not?

[Manalto]

Wondering what to load next. Hero 616? Hooded 599? And what ink? Glitterfied or not?

 

But of course - you want to be ready for New Year's.

[magnus919]

Extreme Noblest ink!

[bobje]

Richila, I can see the impact of practice on your handwriting!

[DrDebG]

Today, for Christmas my daughter (who lives in China) gave me a Hero 9076, Confucius, a Picasso Bamboo with black cap, a Picasso Bamboo with gold cap, a Hero 751, and two Boku fountain pens. She said the Boku pens are from Japan, but she bought them in Shanghai.

 

I cleaned them all and inked them. All of the write very well except the Hero 9076. It looks like I need to do a bit of tweaking.

 

If any of you have information on the Boku fountain pens, I would appreciate your sharing it. This is a picture of the black Boku with hooded steel nib.

[richila]

Richila, I can see the impact of practice on your handwriting!

Thank you so much!

I got a Hero 8009 in my stocking and the nib is so fine that I can write on a legal pad with no bleed through.

I also got a Jinhao 500 for my J. Herbin Vert Empire.

[Inky.Fingers]

[magnus919]

Some more of my precious bubble packs from China have arrived.

 

I did some journaling today with three different (new to me) pens to make sure all were in good working order:

 

• Baoer 388 in a polished metal finish.
• Jinhao 599, in transparent green plastic.
• Yet another Jinhao X450 (I really like this model). This is one is just plain black with gold trim, the kind you can get for 99 cents shipped. For that reason, it's likely to sit on my desk at work where I won't be too terribly hurt if someone borrows it and forgets to return it.

As an owner of a few Lamy Safari type pens, I was eager to compare the Jinhao copy to the Lamy original. My early assessment is thus:

 

The Jinhao definitely feels like a cheap knock-off. This is really brittle plastic, the kind of stuff they use in low-end children's toys. My plastic Safari, on the other hand, feels quite rugged. I prefer the Lamy clip to the cheaper Jinhao. Overall, just feeling it in my hand, the Lamy feels like a higher quality pen.

 

And then I wrote with the Jinhao.

 

Taking advantage of the included international converter, I did some journaling with the Jinhao (as I've done a number of times with the Lamy) and was surprised at how well this thing wrote without so much as tweaking the nib/feed alignment or washing the pen out or anything. This pen would be a fantastic way to get kids in on fountain pens. But I've already ordered more for myself.

 

I was going to try a nib swap but I only have #6's around. This appears to be a #5 if I'm not mistaken. I don't have any of those around.

 

I also got a ten pack of Jinhao blue ink cartridges. I usually use bottled inks but I wanted to start keeping cartridges around to include in the giveaway-type pens. I used the cartridges in the Baoer 388 and the combo seemed a little dry, though I've not yet tried that pen with bottled ink so I want to get more time with it before I can figure out if it's the ink or the pen setup that needs work.

[magnus919]

Another bubble pack showed up today!

 

• Jinhao 886 (M) - Wow! I didn't expect to like this one so much. Aside from eye-popping colors, it's very lightweight, feels good in the hand. For marathon writing sessions, this might be a good one.
• Hero 007 (F, though I'd call it an EF) - What a piece of (bleep). I already bent it trying to fill the squeezy bulb converter. If you're into laser-fine nibs, you might like it though. I'm glad I only paid $0.89 for it.
• Baoer 801 (F) - I had to check my shopping history to see what this was. There are no identifying marks on it. If you have small hands, like a weighty pen, and a fine but wet nib... check this one out. It's got a narrow body to it but mostly metal construction, so it feels dense. I was expecting something dry & scratchy but this thing was happy to lay down some wet lines. I was surprised.
• Jinhao 1200 ( - EXTREME NOBLEST!!! OMG, such bling... I have to find an excuse to use this to disrupt a business meeting. And it's not bad to write with, either. But you have to be kind of ornery to write in public with it.

[rafizip]

 

It looks snazzy in white. My pen today is the same as yours except black with the confetti sparkles. My only complaint is that, when I want to clip it to my shirt pocket, I need to recruit the help of a crowbar and two burly neighbors.

 

 

 

Draw loops, circles and figure-eights on an ordinary brown paper bag with the pen inked. This has worked well for me with a lot of Chinese nibs that need a little breaking in.

Thanks, I will definitely give this a try - pretty easy to accomplish.

[rafizip]

 

Jinhao usually smooth their nibs very well. It is most likely that the nib tines are mis-aligned.

You need to be able to examine the nib with a 10x quality loupe. Once you have worked out which way they need to go, you gently use your thumb and finger nails to push them in the opposite direction till they line up again.

Some people can just run their fingernail across the tip of the tines to work out the mis-alignment without using a loupe.

Okay, if the brown paper bag doesn't work, I will give this a try. Appreciate the help.

[dcwaites]

I always check for mis-alignment before trying any smoothing. If the nibs are mis-aligned, no amount of smoothing will fix the problem, although you may end up creating some baby-bottom on one tine. As well, if you can re-align the tines, then you normally don't need to do any smoothing.

[TSherbs]

inked up my x750 for the first time in months, what a great feel (with a cheapo Knox stub, to boot!)

[cakibler]

I am using a Sheaffer Ferrari and a Cross Townsend of late vintage. As far as I know both are now made in China. I think most pens are.

[Piper 987]

I have many Chinese pens including a couple of Jinhao 159's. Both are very smooth and I love the size and weight but for some reason, one of the nibs lays down a rather thick line for what is supposed to be a medium nib. I had purchased ten Jinhao nibs for a few dollars, intending to practice grinding them into finer nibs (or whatever).

 

However, I recently received a Ranga dip pen that came with an awesome 'Wality' fine nib and a spare nib and feed. So I swapped out the overly wide lined 'medium' Jinhao nib for the spare Wality fine nib and Hesto-Presto... a totaly awesome, fine nibbed Jinhao 159!! A little tweaking to get the wetness perfect and it is now one of my favourite daily writers.