Noodler's Charlie Fountain Pen (Included With H.o.d.)

[inkstainedruth]

More than a burping or slight leaking problem. My Charlie hemorrhages ink. The cap is completely filled every time I unscrew it. Any ideas?

 

Sorry no-one answered your question before now.

I have some questions:

(1) How full is the pen? Eyedroppers have the tendency to burp with changes to air pressure if they're not full, and also somewhat to temperature -- especially with plastic barrels (I have the same issue with some Preppy eyedroppers). And it's amazing how much ink they dispel while burping....

(2) How do you store the pen when it's not in use? Nearly all the pens I own (no matter what the brand, material, or type of fill system), stay upright in a canister when inked but not in immediate use; the ONLY pen that I *don't* do that with is a vintage Sheaffer Balance Oversize (lever filler), because the feed dries out. I've found that I have to invert a newly filled Charlie pen for a bit when I first ink one up after a period of it being out of rotation in order to get the feed saturated. After that, the pen stays upright while I'm not actually writing with it).

Right now I have Heart of Darkness, Blue Ghost, and diluted BSB in Charlie pens. I did have a bit of dribbling and super-wet flow while writing with the one with HoD yesterday at times, but chalked it up to me warming up the barrel while holding it and pausing between words at times. With the pen filled with Blue Ghost, I had to keep the pen inverted for a little bit in order to get the feed saturated when I first filled it (I had just gotten the pen); then it was fine. I may need to check on (and possibly flush) the BSB-dedicated pen because I haven't used it much in the past couple of weeks; it's about 10% diluted (I just eyeball it when filling the pen) with distilled water to combat a bad tendency the ink has for feathering; I like keeping a BSB-dedicated pen because while I'm OCD about flushing, I'm not THAT OCD -- and eyedropper nib units are not as easy to flush; I don't want bad interactions between it and any other [non-Bay State series] inks....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[inerlogic]

I just got the charlie two weeks ago or so. After watching Nathan's "mic drop" video about BSB i decided i needed to buy a bottle, blue isn't my color, but i like the cut of that guy's jib.

I figuredo would need a pen dedicated just for BSB, so the 4.5oz dropper bottle with the free Charlie was a no-brainer!

 

Man i love that color....

And the Charlie is a great little pen. I have 6 pens inked up now with various inks, and i'm in the process of weeding those down, i have an extra Ahab i've not used yet and a Parker i used in HS 25 years ago that i just cleaned and put away for safe keeping. I'll probably keep 3 pens inked up. Twisbi Eco with Noodler's Hunter, Clear Ahab with bulletproof black and Charlie with BSB.

 

Just ordered a pen from Goulet's close-out section because it was bright green, i may ink that up to try it out.

 

Love the Charlie, it hasn't been empty enough yet for me to have burping issues. I like to top my pens up anyway so, i'll have no trouble filling it before it gets too low. it's the first pen i've ever used eyedroppered, i was nervous but, "free" is my second-favorite 4-letter "f" word.

Edited April 1, 2017 by inerlogic

[ak2k5]

i love heart of darkness , but the pen was useless .it was burping after writing one or two sentences.

[Donald2]

 

Sorry no-one answered your question before now.

I have some questions:

(1) How full is the pen? Eyedroppers have the tendency to burp with changes to air pressure if they're not full, and also somewhat to temperature -- especially with plastic barrels (I have the same issue with some Preppy eyedroppers). And it's amazing how much ink they dispel while burping....

(2) How do you store the pen when it's not in use? Nearly all the pens I own (no matter what the brand, material, or type of fill system), stay upright in a canister when inked but not in immediate use; the ONLY pen that I *don't* do that with is a vintage Sheaffer Balance Oversize (lever filler), because the feed dries out. I've found that I have to invert a newly filled Charlie pen for a bit when I first ink one up after a period of it being out of rotation in order to get the feed saturated. After that, the pen stays upright while I'm not actually writing with it).

Right now I have Heart of Darkness, Blue Ghost, and diluted BSB in Charlie pens. I did have a bit of dribbling and super-wet flow while writing with the one with HoD yesterday at times, but chalked it up to me warming up the barrel while holding it and pausing between words at times. With the pen filled with Blue Ghost, I had to keep the pen inverted for a little bit in order to get the feed saturated when I first filled it (I had just gotten the pen); then it was fine. I may need to check on (and possibly flush) the BSB-dedicated pen because I haven't used it much in the past couple of weeks; it's about 10% diluted (I just eyeball it when filling the pen) with distilled water to combat a bad tendency the ink has for feathering; I like keeping a BSB-dedicated pen because while I'm OCD about flushing, I'm not THAT OCD -- and eyedropper nib units are not as easy to flush; I don't want bad interactions between it and any other [non-Bay State series] inks....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

I just ordered 5 various colors of 4.5 oz. bottles of Noodler's ink that come with the Charlie fountain pen. Do you think that the pen will not burp if I put a generous amount of silicone grease on the rubber gasket and threads near the gasket?

[Honeybadgers]

i love heart of darkness , but the pen was useless .it was burping after writing one or two sentences.

 

You need to tune any pen you get from noodlers. It's easy to stop the burping with 30 seconds and some boiling water.

 

 

I just ordered 5 various colors of 4.5 oz. bottles of Noodler's ink that come with the Charlie fountain pen. Do you think that the pen will not burp if I put a generous amount of silicone grease on the rubber gasket and threads near the gasket?

 

 

the barrel always seals well. You barely need any grease at all on the threads.

 

The issue is that people buy these pens and expect them to be perfect from the factory. They need to be heat set and cleaned. When you get the pen, clean it with water and dish soap, and then dip the nib and feed (assembled in the pen) in boiling water for 15-20 seconds. remove from the water and press the feed tightly to the nib (not down on the nib, up on the feed) with a paper towel for another 15-20 seconds. Your burping problems should be gone. My charlies all run down to 1/4 before they burp, which is about standard for any eyedropper (and still means you get 2 or 3ML of ink to write with.

 

My only complaint about the charlies is that they are very prone to staining. Even my non-BSB dedicated one stained with diamine blue velvet.

[SteveID]

You need to tune any pen you get from noodlers. It's easy to stop the burping with 30 seconds and some boiling water.

 

 

 

 

the barrel always seals well. You barely need any grease at all on the threads.

 

The issue is that people buy these pens and expect them to be perfect from the factory. They need to be heat set and cleaned. When you get the pen, clean it with water and dish soap, and then dip the nib and feed (assembled in the pen) in boiling water for 15-20 seconds. remove from the water and press the feed tightly to the nib (not down on the nib, up on the feed) with a paper towel for another 15-20 seconds. Your burping problems should be gone. My charlies all run down to 1/4 before they burp, which is about standard for any eyedropper (and still means you get 2 or 3ML of ink to write with.

 

My only complaint about the charlies is that they are very prone to staining. Even my non-BSB dedicated one stained with diamine blue velvet.

 

To me, that's one of the best things about the Charlies, which is that I can use any staining ink I want in them, any of the Baystate's or anything like that, and who cares? It was a free pen, I can flush it with straight bleach if I want to get the staining from Baystate blue out of it, and it's fine.

Nathan originally described the Charlie as being issued in response to the Charlie Hebdo attacks, and constantly uses the term "artists" in connection with this pen' s intended users, and while it can be a nail it IS a perfectly adequate sketch pen, and with the eyedropper fill it has plenty of ink in it and is a great knockabout pen to throw in a sketch case and to do use for drawing on the go. I must say I get a little bit more line variation than the original poster on this thread does, maybe it's just because I have a very heavy hand. They tend to skip, and the nib tends to need cleaning because they're sharp & hard, but for the amount of money you spend on them they're worth every penny. And I don't mean that sarcastically.

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

This is a great thread, thank you.

 

My Heart of Darkness plus Charlie is in the mail. I'm very excited.

 

But I hadn't realised it was an eyedropper pen when I ordered it so I didn't get any of that silicon grease.

 

Is there some other grease I could use? Something I would have in my home?

 

What about the yellowing of the plastic at the threads that I see in some reviews of this thread. What causes this?

[Honeybadgers]

Don't worry about it. Just use the pen and have fun (clean the nib/feed with dish soap and make sure you heat set them first). Silicon grease isn't super mandatory for your first 5-10 fills of the pen since it comes pre-greased. You can buy pure silicon grease (NOT SILICONE, SILICON - one is a bathroom sealant glue, the other is an inert lubricant. it should be with plumbing supplies) at any hardware store for very cheap. Silicon grease is very useful in maintaining almost every fountain pen. Piston fillers, some converters that can be disassembled, all eyedroppers will need it.

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

Thanks for the advice about the grease.

 

I got the Charlie pen and inked it up with Heart of Darkness yesterday. So far, I adore this pen! It's everything I want in a take-with-me pen and I found myself putting it in my pocket without thinking twice (something I've never done with a fountain pen before). Definitely not my every-day writing pen.

 

The line it makes is much thicker than I like. I don't know if it's the ink or the pen but it feels 'wet' - like the ink is rushing out of the pen in a controlled way. But that's okay because the ink dries quicker than I expected. Less than five seconds for a smudge test.

 

I wish it was a fine or extra fine nib. Can I get nibs for this?

 

The real test of this pen will be if I stash it in my hair. I have long hair, often in a bun, and I usually stash my work pens there because woman's pockets don't seem to be made to put stuff in them and allow the human to move. Although I do think it's funny that I don't mind an ink-explosion on my clothes, but heaven forbid if I have one in my hair... hmmm... I need to have a talk with myself about this.

 

I'm going to use it more around the house before taking it to work because I'm nervous about this burping issue.

[wallylynn]

You, your skin, or your hair will be fine. HoD will wash away easily. Any problem will be your clothes. It will be PERMANENT on cellulose: i.e. cotton. And no, it will not bleach out.

[Honeybadgers]

it will take just about any nib even remotely approaching a #2 vintage or #5 modern size. I have even fit vintage #1 nibs in it. Just make sure you heat set the feed whenever you change nibs.

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

You can buy pure silicon grease (NOT SILICONE, SILICON - one is a bathroom sealant glue, the other is an inert lubricant. it should be with plumbing supplies) at any hardware store for very cheap. Silicon grease is very useful in maintaining almost every fountain pen. Piston fillers, some converters that can be disassembled, all eyedroppers will need it.

 

Would something like this do? https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00QO22FMO/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&psc=1

[Honeybadgers]

 

Would something like this do? https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00QO22FMO/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&psc=1

 

No, don't touch a pen with dielectric grease. They often have lots of additives. The stuff in my shop has several non-silicone additives for corrosion impedance.

Edited February 27, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[wallylynn]

I use this one. (on pens, plumbing, and other) Seems more expensive than I remembered.

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Danco-Perfect-Match-Silicone-Grease/dp/B000DZFUPC/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?keywords=lasco+silicon+grease&qid=1551279151&s=hi&sr=1-1-fkmr1

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

 

No, don't touch a pen with dielectric grease. They often have lots of additives. The stuff in my shop has several non-silicone additives for corrosion impedance.

 

Oh. That's a pity. It would have been nice to use something I already had to hand.

 

I guess I need to go shopping.

 

I wish I had a good excuse to buy another bottle of ink with a Charlie pen and get some grease at the same time, but I now have a comfortable amount of ink and don't really need any more for a couple of years.

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

I use this one. (on pens, plumbing, and other) Seems more expensive than I remembered. https://www.amazon.ca/Danco-Perfect-Match-Silicone-Grease/dp/B000DZFUPC/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?keywords=lasco+silicon+grease&qid=1551279151&s=hi&sr=1-1-fkmr1

 

sweet. Thanks.

[Honeybadgers]

 

Oh. That's a pity. It would have been nice to use something I already had to hand.

 

I guess I need to go shopping.

 

I wish I had a good excuse to buy another bottle of ink with a Charlie pen and get some grease at the same time, but I now have a comfortable amount of ink and don't really need any more for a couple of years.

 

I mean, silicone grease is a very useful substance. it can be used in place of dielectric in lots of places, lubricating parts that can't have fixed fluids (like plastic bushings on a flexible lamp) or coating knives to prevent rust, etc.

 

It has an infinite shelf life and costs just a couple bucks.