What Chinese Pens Are You Using Today?

[sodul]

Thanks for the clarification on the oversize pen. I got both pens from the same vendor for under $2 shipped. For the 443 they claimed a gold bib, which is very obviously steel. The oversize I ne was sold as ‘Hero - Yangtze 1980s’. The pens were shipped in the same padded envelope without protection from each other. Luckily neither pen seem to have suffered from shipping. I agree that the pen seems higher quality than the WingSung 590. The plating on the clip and cap bands seems to hold up to time much better. Interestingly enough both the 590 and this oversize have the same dragons breathing fire towards a sun on the cap ring band as well as very similar finials designs. The 590 took me a little while to get working, this one worked right away.

[Mech-for-i]

The 443's dagger nib is probably one of the better sample of how Hero try to made a uniquely daily Chinese writing nib, its of their own design and had an almost flat frontal profile and the nib is both stiff, and springy with constant positive feedback, it actually work very well in writing Chinese but not so for cursive .. AFAIK, Hero never made the dagger nib in gold. I really like the 443 all steel flighter styling its totally retro modern

[Tefolim]

  On 12/15/2017 at 7:32 AM, sodul said:

Vintage chinese pens, probably from the 1980s but both in excellent condition with not sign of corrosion whatsoever. The clear sacs where kind of 'dusty' inside and it's pretty clear that they have been in storage for a long long long time and never inked.

 

The slim one is a Hero 443 with an interesting flat design nib but a nail and with lots of feedback. The filling system is not working too well and only sucks 0.4mL of ink, most of it stays in the section and never reaches the sack.

 

The oversize one is a Hero - Yangtze with a good sized medium nib, but very boring and stiff. The aerometric style filler is the same color as the nib and quite large but also works well: it fill all the way to the end of the breather tube. The cap posts very securely and deeply which means it is not ridiculously big while writing and fairly balanced.

 

 

I'll keep the oversize pen because, well I like oversize pens, but I might try a nicer Jinhao nib on it if I can pull the current one. The 443 will probably enter my shirt pocket pen rotation for a while since it writes well enough and has a spring loaded clip.

Yangtze River/Changjiang is the product of Chongqing Pen Factory, which co-operated with Wingsung in 1980s. 50% Wingsung 613A was made in Chongqing. Bankrupted in 2004.

Chongqing had a patent of a kind of special 360º fountain pen which is different from Sheaffer's, Parker's, Sailor's, Hero's and Liangbo's 360º or 180º fountain pen.

[sodul]

Tonight I've been practicing doodling with a Hero 329 inked with Hero 234 Carbon Black, and a WingSung 233 inked with Hero 233 Blue

 

 

I will probably never use the 234 in vintage or nicer pens as it has carbon sediments, which makes it pretty black and water resistant. My Baoer 801 ended up pretty clogged up with it. I ended up transferring some ink into a 5mL vial and add a smudge of dish soap. This seems to work very well and now both inks are rather wet and the pens start the first time even after a few days.

 

For reference Hero is not the same company for pens and for inks.

 

[Tefolim]

  On 12/18/2017 at 10:19 AM, sodul said:

Tonight I've been practicing doodling with a Hero 329 inked with Hero 234 Carbon Black, and a WingSung 233 inked with Hero 233 Blue

 

 

I will probably never use the 234 in vintage or nicer pens as it has carbon sediments, which makes it pretty black and water resistant. My Baoer 801 ended up pretty clogged up with it. I ended up transferring some ink into a 5mL vial and add a smudge of dish soap. This seems to work very well and now both inks are rather wet and the pens start the first time even after a few days.

 

For reference Hero is not the same company for pens and for inks.

 

Hero Fountain Pen and Hero Ink belong to different companies, however, both of the two companies belong to Hero Group.

 

Hero Fountain Pen(Shanghai)'s own ink brand is Doctor, while Lishui subcompany's own ink brand is Dux.

[Mech-for-i]

  On 12/18/2017 at 10:19 AM, sodul said:

Tonight I've been practicing doodling with a Hero 329 inked with Hero 234 Carbon Black, and a WingSung 233 inked with Hero 233 Blue

 

I will probably never use the 234 in vintage or nicer pens as it has carbon sediments, which makes it pretty black and water resistant. My Baoer 801 ended up pretty clogged up with it. I ended up transferring some ink into a 5mL vial and add a smudge of dish soap. This seems to work very well and now both inks are rather wet and the pens start the first time even after a few days.

 

For reference Hero is not the same company for pens and for inks.

 

 

Yeah, the 234 is an ink that can catch the un-suspecting alright, its so far as I've encountered the only vintage styled carbon ink that's still around ; that is it use really really coarse ( compare to the nano particle today ) carbon mixed with resin , this is what makes it so tough an ink but also its way way not really friendly with fountain pen, but then in its own home market use, people are accustomed to its property and they use their pen daily in volume and continuous replenishing almost daily so that kind of usage never get them any trouble but still its common knowledge among Hero ink users that the 234 need to be used with cautious approach.

[Mech-for-i]

today I have my pair of Gui-Guan 910 pocket pen inked up for rotation

 

[pomps]

Not really what I am using today, but a gift to my wife so she can use at work and lure her co-workers into FP

Edited December 22, 2017 by pomps

[llmarmalade]

I got my Jinahao Cloisonne Pen and my Picasso 916 today. Yay. Happy Christmas to me. It came really fast. I wasn't expecting it until mid-January. I still can't figure out how to post pictures so no pics.

The Jinhao definitely isn't the wettest writer. It writes very similar to the 250 and has a similar price point. It has a very pretty ceramic base with paint but it is a very delicate pen. I imagine the paint could wear off easily. It also absolutely will not post. Don't even try. It's a heavy pen so I wouldn't need to post it. But it's pretty and at 2.75 I'm pretty happy.

The 916 is gorgeous. It is extremely wet and even though it said in the listing it is a fine though the nib is printed as a Med. It definitely writes more like a medium. I noticed a tiny bit of skipping but I just started using it. I'll have to write with it more to see what is going on. It is very small and thin especially in the section which might be a problem for some people. I have tiny hands so it isn't an issue. It posts fine and seems to be a decent weight. Not super heavy or light. A very classy pen. I really liked that the converter comes apart for cleaning. That is a touch that sets Picasso apart from other brands (cough Pilot converters). It also looks like it will scratch if you breathe on it due to the shiny finish so this isn't the pen to have to knock about. So far I have to say the Picasso is worth the raves. I may pick up the 908 one that comes in pink. I think Picasso deserves some extra love. It doesn't seem to get the same attention as some of the other brands.

[WJM]

Baoer 388 filled with Hero Ink No. 64 Black

 

Finally after little work with the nib this pen is actually usable, although still the nib is not exactly what I would call smooth.

 

Edited December 24, 2017 by WJM

[RMN]

This topic is now locked and a new version for 2018 can be found at:

 

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/331278-what-chinese-pens-are-you-using-today-2018/

 

 

Enjoy

 

 

D.ick

Moderator