What Chinese Pens Are You Using Today?

[inkyleftie]

A newly purchased Jinhao 159, wrote straight out of the box, fairly wide, wet medium nib - very impressed so far.

[reval]

A Jinhao X450 and a Jinhao 159 (I am still in love with the last one).

[estonian]

I too just got a Jinhao X450 and was impressed at how it appears and writes.

As mentioned above, it did start skipping a bit and the converter has a loose spring in it that rattles.

I am thinking that the spring worked loose somehow. It also is in the wrong place I think. It's between the pad on the end of the rod and the end of the converter that plugs into the section. It's taking up some of the same space as the ink.

Maybe I can take it apart and see if I can figure out where it goes.

When it writes, which is most of the time, it's a beauty and I wonder why I spent so much on my other pens.

It's a damn well made pen with a wonderful feel.

 

In the same shipment I got a Jinhao 800, principally because I wanted an inexpensive EF nib. It's a tad wider than I had hoped but still a very attractive useful pen.

 

I think I got them both for about $12.00 shipped.

Strangely enough my X450 does not have that spring at all. As for the skipping problem, I think in my case it might be caused by an air bubble forming in the tip of the converter. If I twist the converter enough to remove the bubble, it writes without problems until enough ink is used up for another bubble to form. I will try it with another converter when my other chinese pens arrive, deinked it for now for the exam season.

[richardandtracy]

Kaigelu 356 (to see if the c/c ball corrodes further) and the rather good K323. I have finally done a review of it and will post when I have pictures sorted.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

 

 

[ldfph44]

There's a tiny loose spring in the converter of my X750, but I just assumed it's there to aid the flow of the ink.

 

I was having flow problems with this pen when I received it, and ended up removing the feed and replacing it with a feed from a Sheaffer No-Nonsense. Seems to have improved it, but I also stubbed the nib, which was too much on the broad side for me.

 

LDF

 

 

I too just got a Jinhao X450 and was impressed at how it appears and writes.

As mentioned above, it did start skipping a bit and the converter has a loose spring in it that rattles.

I am thinking that the spring worked loose somehow. It also is in the wrong place I think. It's between the pad on the end of the rod and the end of the converter that plugs into the section. It's taking up some of the same space as the ink.

Maybe I can take it apart and see if I can figure out where it goes.

When it writes, which is most of the time, it's a beauty and I wonder why I spent so much on my other pens.

It's a damn well made pen with a wonderful feel.

 

In the same shipment I got a Jinhao 800, principally because I wanted an inexpensive EF nib. It's a tad wider than I had hoped but still a very attractive useful pen.

 

I think I got them both for about $12.00 shipped.

Strangely enough my X450 does not have that spring at all. As for the skipping problem, I think in my case it might be caused by an air bubble forming in the tip of the converter. If I twist the converter enough to remove the bubble, it writes without problems until enough ink is used up for another bubble to form. I will try it with another converter when my other chinese pens arrive, deinked it for now for the exam season.

[estonian]

There's a tiny loose spring in the converter of my X750, but I just assumed it's there to aid the flow of the ink.

 

I was having flow problems with this pen when I received it, and ended up removing the feed and replacing it with a feed from a Sheaffer No-Nonsense. Seems to have improved it, but I also stubbed the nib, which was too much on the broad side for me.

 

LDF

Good to know there's a working fix for these pens. I ordered a X750 a few days ago myself, just so I could compare it to the X450. I'm also waiting for another X450 in the mail(the seller sent me the wrong colour last time and opted to resend another one free of charge), so I'm planning on doing some butche...I mean repair work on this one.

[ParkerNutter]

I left the Jinhao Century Mk2 at home today, but I think it's probably the best Chinese FP I own. At least its the most enjoyable to write with.

 

Still carrying the Baoer 79 "star walker clone" today and I haven't given it a final judgment yet. But it was well worth the price I paid for it (under $12 shipped, if I remember correctly).

 

One thing that I can say, in my very llimited exposure to Chinese pens, they tend to work much better as a cartridge pen, rather than a converter pen. At least that's been my experience.

[ParkerNutter]

Kaigelu 356 (to see if the c/c ball corrodes further) and the rather good K323. I have finally done a review of it and will post when I have pictures sorted.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

Based on your review, I will probably order a Kaigelu shortly.

 

Or I might splurge and order a Duke 209 and Baoer 388 to go along along with it

 

Too bad the Hero was inferior. They seem to go cheap on some models for some reason.

[richardandtracy]

I've since seen that the Duke 209 is available in stainless steel, and also with two sections, one holding a Chines bent caligraphy nib & the other a silver version of the nib I reviewed (still embossed with '22K GP' though!). That could be interesting.

 

Today my pen is the Baoer 388. Getting used to it, but a couple of times I've had to use what I'd call excessive force to get the cap off.

 

Regards,

 

Richard

[robofkent]

Having sold off all my more expensive pens lately, I am back on the Chinese pens again. Today I have been using a Baoer 388 "Sonnet" and have another Jinhao 159 on order as I gave the last one away to a friend.

[TataiFromIndia]

Hero,baoer,jinhao,wingsung ,lily ,duke and many others.Had others too. Those were either lost or broken.But the brand I love most is Hero.No other Chinese brand offers such quality,reliability and smoothness .Buy hero pens to see the difference.

[hari317]

is LILY still available in Kolkata?

[TataiFromIndia]

yes.But dont remember the shop.Hooded chinese pens are common.

[richardandtracy]

Made a slight mistake today. I have my Jinhao Century Mk 2, and half my Bookworm 675/Yiren 601. The reason? I've been re-painting the black bits of the filigree of the Bookworm in the study and had the rest of the pen in the bedroom. I remembered to pick the cap & section up, but left the barrel in the study. It's not much fun writing with the section & c/c only after the Jinhao ran out.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

 

 

[estonian]

There's a tiny loose spring in the converter of my X750, but I just assumed it's there to aid the flow of the ink.

 

I was having flow problems with this pen when I received it, and ended up removing the feed and replacing it with a feed from a Sheaffer No-Nonsense. Seems to have improved it, but I also stubbed the nib, which was too much on the broad side for me.

 

LDF

Good to know there's a working fix for these pens. I ordered a X750 a few days ago myself, just so I could compare it to the X450. I'm also waiting for another X450 in the mail(the seller sent me the wrong colour last time and opted to resend another one free of charge), so I'm planning on doing some butche...I mean repair work on this one.

Changing the converter did not fix the skipping problem, so as you suggested, the problem had to lie within the nib and feed. The feed had two tiny channels in the part that takes the ink from the converter, one of which had collapsed, so I opened it up with a razorblade, ground the nib a bit and voila, no more skipping. Provided a smooth writing experience for the rest of the day

[KrazyIvan]

I currently have three Chinese pens inked. A GLM956 (I found out from this thread that GLM is short for Guanleming!), which is rather scratchy and tends to cut out paper fibers - the weird thing is that it varies how scratchy it is and I can't figure out what causes this. It gets less scratchy if I use very little pressure, but I have poor motor function and if I use that little pressure, I end up with waves instead of lines!

Another is the Wing Sung 322 with a nib that appears somewhat "inspired" by Shaffer. I like this one, it writes well, and seems reliable. Most Wing Sungs I have have been good.

The third is another Wing Sung, a 612. I think everyone can figure out which model inspired that one... It too is rather scratchy.

 

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/1386/fpnk.jpg

 

I also have the Lily combo, which I enjoy using, although it is not currently inked. One problem is that the space "wasted" on a ballpoint causes this pen to have a fairly low capacity for ink. Also, the ballpoint part has dried out, and I've no idea where to get refills.

 

I noticed the scratchy GLM 956. It looked to me that the nib had a bit of tarnish and I just buffed it with those nail buffing sticks on the finest grit and it is very smooth now.

[Redbarchettayyz]

Used German pens mostly today, although did do some underlining with a Jinhao x750 flighter filled with Noodler's Habanero orange. More chinese pens tomorrow, as my Crocodile CR28 (Outre/Boheme wannabe) showed up today and it's gonna get the full day test tomorrow. Just need to pick an ink.

[richardandtracy]

Todays pens are the Jinhao Century Mk2 & the Kaigelu 356.

 

The K356 convertor does have a problem. The ball in it is metal and it is corroding quite badly when in Pelikan Turquoise ink. It's amusing to see a turquoise line with a green thread going through it - the Copper Carbonate produced as the brass ball corrodes is insoluble and the sludge is fine enough to come through the feed to be written with just like any other ink. I shall have to dismantle this c/c and put in the ball from one of my few used cartridges.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

 

 

[mercurius]

Fascinating thread. I haven't come across these pens before.

 

One question: do they all work with cartridges and if so, which makes of cartridge will fit?

[richardandtracy]

Almost all the pens discussed here come with cartridge convertors which allow the use of bottled ink or can be removed so that International size cartridges can be used instead.

Pens with fixed filling systems are in the minority, and tend to be restricted Hero hooded nib pens (like the Hero 616, 100, 329 & 330). These pens can only be used with bottled ink. However as it's much cheaper per cc to buy bottled ink than in cartridges, that's no great hardship, and the range of colours in bottled ink is much greater than in cartridges. For a look at the range of bottled inks in the UK see http://www.diamineinks.co.uk/listings.aspx?brandid=3 and http://www.thewritingdesk.co.uk/ink.php . Note that the Diamine range of cartridge colours on their page is probably as wide as any ink manufacturer's.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.