Why Are Cross Pens So Underrated?

[Gomer]

My only experience with a Cross fountain pen is a Bailey that my wife bought some time in the past and forgot about.

 

 

I put some Quink blue black in it and it wrote awful.  Maybe that's why it was put away.  She doesn't recall.  The tines of the medium nib were not only badly aligned, but the gap between them was huge.  The ink just spilled out on the paper.  I don't think she caused this because the steel nib is really stiff.

 

Anyway, I spent some time tweaking it and now it writes OK.  I really like the feel and looks of it and I will use it.

[sandy101]

Send it back to Cross, and they will probably fix/replace it. 

 

I sent them a 12 year old Century II that was leaking, and they fixed it for the cost of postage.

 

 

[Gomer]

2 hours ago, sandy101 said:

Send it back to Cross, and they will probably fix/replace it. 

 

I sent them a 12 year old Century II that was leaking, and they fixed it for the cost of postage.

 

 

I never even thought of that.  It writes fine now, so there's no need.

[goodpens]

I bought a Cross Bailey Light (f) on a whim at Staples. It writes surprisingly well and I enjoy it as an inexpensive, reliable writer.
 

I have been refilling cartridges, but I need a convertor. Wish it had come with one or that Staples carried them; apparently the store no longer carries them. 

[bayindirh]

1 hour ago, goodpens said:

I bought a Cross Bailey Light (f) on a whim at Staples. It writes surprisingly well and I enjoy it as an inexpensive, reliable writer.
 

I have been refilling cartridges, but I need a convertor. Wish it had come with one or that Staples carried them; apparently the store no longer carries them. 

 

Finding Cross converters is a dark art. The official distributor in my country claimed that Cross no longer produced converters. I've bought a carton (6 of them) from another seller who imported the converters themselves. They're the latest production batch with the new logo and blister packaging.

 

Strange.

[Darthagnon]

If you're in the UK, WH Smith is running a buy 2, get 1 free on Cross fountain pen converters. £7 each. I got 2+1 free (for Cross Bailey Lights I picked up too, but might send those back, as I can't tell if they're "Fine Nib" as advertised; M on the box). Free one I'm keeping for when I get an actual good Cross fountain pen.

[BromoGNU]

On 7/12/2021 at 5:59 PM, bayindirh said:

The second one can take more abuse since it has a nail nib.

Huh, I have a LOT of fountain pens, and I have found cross steel nibs are definitely mid-pack for stiffness (Edison's steel is by far the stiuffest of my collection)
But compared to a coupe of vintage pens, they for sure dont have that bounce.

I have a gold nibbed townsend, and it is not stiff at all, it's downright soft.

I have a Peerless that for its Sailor nib, is both smooth as butter (not the traditional sailor 'feedback'), wet writer and a slightly wider than normal medium nib.  And it's not a stiff nib either.

[BromoGNU]

On 7/15/2021 at 1:39 PM, sandy101 said:

The only beef I have with Cross is their cartridges - expensive and with only three colours available - blue, black and (hard to find) blue-black. A convertor gets around that problem quite nicely.     

I am in agreement here - though to be fair, I have found the black ink from Cross to be very well behaved.  It is almost like a blank ink version of Waterman Serenity Blue, which is possibly my favorite "go to" for ink.

THe nibs on the Century and Century 2 are fine.  I saw a lot of conflicting information whether they were made in house or bought from other pen makers (considering Cross has had 2 owners during these threads, all of it could be true at one time or another).

I heard the townsend was using a Pelikan nib.  I have a stainless and gold nibbed Townsend and the smoothness of the nib would make me think that.

I have a Peerless (Darth Vader as I am a dyed in the wool Geek) - and the nib doesn't feel like a Sailor nib as it is buttery smooth, but the shape and feed design are definitely with that family resemblance.  I highly recommend Peerless to any pen enthusiast as an example of really good pen design.  If someone is a fan of Sailor, this will feel NOTHIGN like that.  But look at the picture so wee the resemblance.

 

[bayindirh]

On 7/19/2021 at 6:13 PM, BromoGNU said:

Huh, I have a LOT of fountain pens, and I have found cross steel nibs are definitely mid-pack for stiffness (Edison's steel is by far the stiuffest of my collection)
But compared to a coupe of vintage pens, they for sure dont have that bounce.

I have a gold nibbed townsend, and it is not stiff at all, it's downright soft.

I have a Peerless that for its Sailor nib, is both smooth as butter (not the traditional sailor 'feedback'), wet writer and a slightly wider than normal medium nib.  And it's not a stiff nib either.

 

I'm not sure the steel nibs we refer to are the same nibs. The "Original Century" I have has a gold nib, and it's certainly soft. However, the new "Century Classic" which has the same size of the "Original Century" has no flex at all. It's not like a Lamy, Parker or anything like. It's an absolute nail with no flex.

 

Peerless' steel nib is not the same nib with the "Century Classic". It's not made by Sailor. The pen and the nib I'm talking about is this one:

 

And the nib has a big spread like it. It writes wet, bold and comfortable. But flex, it's not included, in any amount you might imagine.

[inkstainedruth]

I don't have any current model Cross pens.  I do have a couple of Cross Solos (at least one of which is marked "Made in Japan" on it and like them a LOT -- I've read that one of the Japanese pen companies made all the Solo nibs).  

And I have a Cross Verve, which I keep meaning to ink up again -- if for no other reason than to try and teach myself to hold it high enough on the section/hood that I don't get ink all over my hands from the stupee two-piece nib....  In my defense, I found it in a thrift store which specializes in arts and crafts supplies and only paid a buck for it, and then someone in my local pen club gave me a screw in type converter for it -- the Solos having the push-in type ones....  But every now and then I look at the prices of Verves on the Bay of Evil and wonder who is more nuts -- the people jacking up the prices on them or the buyers willing to pay 3-figure amounts for one.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[sciumbasci]

I didn't know Cross had such a nice pen. The Verve looks indeed stylish and elegant with that nib. Kind of a mashup between a hooded nib and a triumph nib, but done right. 

 

Horrible prices tho for second hand items. 

 

I wonder why it was discontinued. 

 

Perhaps the average buyer just wants a classic looking pen. 

[Estycollector]

Friends gave me a Cross Calais. Absolutely nothing wrong with this pen. Feels quality. 

[inkstainedruth]

On 7/21/2021 at 5:26 AM, sciumbasci said:

I didn't know Cross had such a nice pen. The Verve looks indeed stylish and elegant with that nib. Kind of a mashup between a hooded nib and a triumph nib, but done right. 

 

Horrible prices tho for second hand items. 

 

I wonder why it was discontinued. 

 

Perhaps the average buyer just wants a classic looking pen. 

I suspect because of the two piece nib and people getting ink all over their hands from the feed.  Also, it's a very fat pen.

Apparently when the model was first released, there was some swanky party in a club in NYC to celebrate.  Personally, I suspect that the big honchos at Cross are STILL regretting that decision.  As for me, I'm glad I just paid a buck for the pen.... 

The Solos, OTOH, I really like.  The red one has an F nib and was bought from the estate of a friend who did calligraphy and illumination and bookbinding.  I liked it so well that when I saw a vendor had some others for sale at the Ohio Pen Show a few years ago I decided I needed another one.  By the time I got back to that person table on Sunday morning only the bright blue one was left, but it has a B nib.  Someday I'd like to get some other colors -- I recall the purple one and and yellow one being attractive pens as well, and it would be fun to complete the range of nibs as a set.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[AL01]

 

 Maybe because they are not fully made out of plastic?

 

 It seems like metal fountain pens are never as popular as plastic ones.

[Mangrove Jack]

The Cross Solo is a very nice inexpensive pen. Made by Pilot in Japan, I think, and both my Solo FP's write extremely well and have never skipped a beat in 10 years.

The Cross Solo ballpoint too is a very well balanced and stylish pen.

[Inkyways]

Cross pens are general pens prized at low level. But it's higher-end lines of pens are solid and comes with  good quality gold nibs.

They are from a source of well known nib manifacrure for Pelikan pens  I hear.

That's the reason why one of the cross pens was the dedicated special editions to the White House as an official  president pen. 

Cross pens are having a very big range of pen lines and those includes many variety of pens. 

Within these naturally they might be using  many mass- produced parts from china.

Ball points pens and nibs and refills are very low quality. So  they are for for the lower quality markets. 

I have many ball points and they writes with a similar  quality to value I pay.

[NoUserFree]

There can be no going back.

Made in USA or Made in Ireland if you want to buy one.

[savroof]

I have a royal blue and polished chrome/silver at the cap/clip/nib, and even though it’s made in China, it’s a smooooth writer! Steel nib! I was really impressed! BUT, I guess the cap to body is a bit loose, as it dries out cartridges pretty quickly; only flaw. I LIKE!!!!😃 Med. nib. Maybe $60.00 range a few years ago I bought it? I always HATED those iconic VERY SKINNY ballpoint and mech. pencils, always gold, 10K, 14K, 18K(I think) pens. Like writing with a long toothpick! But EVERY YUPPY had two in the desk stand. PLEASE bring back the 80’s!!! When the world was FUN! And Americans were HAPPY!!! U2 on the radio! Life was GOOD! REMEMBER HAPPY??? 😞

[sandy101]

The Peerless is am excellent flagship pen. Beautiful Japanese nib and costs less than most other brands' flagships.

 

It's got the most exciting nib of the Cross stable. The rest are reliable writers, but are rather dull.

 

Great pens for everyday office use.

 

If you want more flat such as flex or line variation, then Cross isn't it.

[inkstainedruth]

16 hours ago, savroof said:

PLEASE bring back the 80’s!!! When the world was FUN! And Americans were HAPPY!!! U2 on the radio! Life was GOOD! 

Depending on the station, U2 is STILL on the radio....  It's just that they're not Top 40 stations....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth