Chinese Pens Show And Tell.

[bobje]

If the plastic and metal slip together almost like friction fit, I used beeswax to solve a similar issue on a different Hua Hong. It seals, holds the parts in place, doesn't move around, but is also removable. I have no idea whether this is good practice in pen repair.

[brg5658]

In the post on Monday I received my newest Huahong pen. It's a bit more "artistic/gaudy" than the normal pens that I use, but it's tame enough that it doesn't look out of place in my shirt pocket or on my desk. The body is black acrylic/plastic with gold colored design elements, except for the grip/section which is a brushed matte silver-colored metal, and there is a bit of polished silver-colored metal on both the duotone nib and the pen clip. The nib is of the normal spectacular quality, and puts down a wet full medium line on the Staples paper (pictured).

I don't have my scale handy, but the pen dimensions are:

Length capped: 135 mm

Length uncapped: 116 mm

Length posted: 158 mm

I'm not completely sure of the significance of the design on the cap. For now I'm calling it the "Golden Dragon Lamp" design, as it appears to be a child or servant of some sort holding a decorative lamp above the heads of a man and woman for some sort of ceremony. Possibly a wedding? I admit freely my ignorance of traditional Chinese culture, and my Google searches didn't yield anything upon cursory review. Also on the cap is the Huahong logo centered below the clip, and just to the left of the clip is a brand mark in Chinese for the Huahong company (a co-worker was nice enough to translate the characters for me -- see pictures). One note, the characters (jin) "gold" and (bi) "pen" when used together as a composite character translate alternatively as "fountain pen".

Another great pen added to the little stash of Huahongs.

Best, Brandon

 

The full pen shot with a writing sample on Yellow STAPLES pad:

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb364/brg5658/Pens/huahong_golden_dragon_lamp_fullshot_zpsimyspknv.jpg

 

A close-up of the nib and the grip/section:

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb364/brg5658/Pens/huahong_golden_dragon_lamp_nib_zpshcecybnj.jpg

 

And, a look at the cap design all around, and the logos/branding:

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb364/brg5658/Pens/huahong_golden_dragon_lamp_capdesign_zpsh70fqso3.jpg

 

[Ian the Jock]

That's a pretty cool pen Brandon, thanks for sharing it.

I'll need to be getting myself one.

And

The Golden Dragon Lamp pen is the perfect name for it.

Cheers

Ian

Edited October 7, 2015 by Ian the Jock

[bobje]

Love the research on the Chinese characters, Brandon! Have seen this model in a few auctions, but have not yet won one. Fascinating cap, and the characters are stunning.

[Ian the Jock]

I've got another "glitzy" looking number that we'll need to come up with a name for, which I'll try and get on tomorrow.

In the meantime....

Here's another from the top pens list earlier in the thread.

It's the pen I carry in my navy suit pocket when I very, very occasionally attend something formal.

WOT! NO KILT???

OK, for the romantics...Its the pen I carry in my sporran when out eating wild venison and forest fruits.

 

Anyway.

 

Ian.

Edited October 8, 2015 by Ian the Jock

[Ian the Jock]

Something has gone wrong with the pictures, and I didn't think I had done anything different. It looks fine on my phone, but the pics are huge on my laptop. Is this something that the tech mods can fix?

[amarjit]

I've got another "glitzy" looking number that we'll need to come up with a name for, which I'll try and get on tomorrow.

In the meantime....

Here's another from the top pens list earlier in the thread.

It's the pen I carry in my navy suit pocket when I very, very occasionally attend something formal.

WOT! NO KILT???

OK, for the romantics...Its the pen I carry in my sporran when out eating wild venison and forest fruits.

 

Anyway.

 

Ian.

Again a nice review, Thanks

[brg5658]

Ian, another great pen. I have this one in red fireworks and in the matte blue metal finish, and they were only $10 each. It's no < $1 pen, but they are great writers. I haven't had any problems with dryness either, but I use Diamine inks almost exclusively -- with an occasional Noodler's or Private Reserve.

[richardandtracy]

Ian, the image does seem very big. For some reason the image size does not seem to be auto shrunk as it usually is to fit in the box. Is there any chance in future you could reduce the image size to 800-1000 pixels before uploading them? Should mean the problem can't happen.

 

Regards,

 

Richard

[Ian the Jock]

Ian, the image does seem very big. For some reason the image size does not seem to be auto shrunk as it usually is to fit in the box. Is there any chance in future you could reduce the image size to 800-1000 pixels before uploading them?

 

Regards,

 

Richard

Sure Richard.

After tea I'll delete this lot and re-do them.

Thanks

[richardandtracy]

Don't think you need to re-do them, just thinking of future posts, that's all.

 

Regards,

 

Richard

[Ian the Jock]

Ian, another great pen. I have this one in red fireworks and in the matte blue metal finish, and they were only $10 each. It's no < $1 pen, but they are great writers. I haven't had any problems with dryness either, but I use Diamine inks almost exclusively -- with an occasional Noodler's or Private Reserve.

Show us the red one Brandon

 

I want one but I'm not sure if the ones I'm looking at are the same pen.

I want the fireworks one, but there appear to be others that are similar.

 

Ian

[ian1964]

Ian slightly off the subject, how did you get the ink to be both black and blue? It's really impressive. Cheers.

[penrivers]

 

Thanks for the information. I am impressed that you know how to grind your own nibs. I may have to find a way to do that someday.

 

 

 

 

Use dremmels and varsitys, you will find the wisdom.

[Ian the Jock]

Ian slightly off the subject, how did you get the ink to be both black and blue? It's really impressive. Cheers.

I think its a trick of the light, in both the scan and the photograph.

The ink is diamine majestic blue and for some reason, which is unknown to me, the red sheen is showing as black.

 

Ian

[Ian the Jock]

Use dremmels and varsitys, you will find the wisdom.

I had my first nib grinding experiment the other day, when after being prompted by Bob, I decided to have a go at turning a Baoer 051 with a med IPG nib into a medium cursive italic stub.

The results and photos of which, will follow in the next day or 2.

 

Ian

[ian1964]

I think its a trick of the light, in both the scan and the photograph.

The ink is diamine majestic blue and for some reason, which is unknown to me, the red sheen is showing as black.

 

Ian

Well that's pity because I really like it. Thanks anyway.

[brg5658]

Show us the red one Brandon

 

I want one but I'm not sure if the ones I'm looking at are the same pen.

I want the fireworks one, but there appear to be others that are similar.

 

Ian

 

Sorry for the horrible picture quality, but I think you get the idea. I purchased this red one from jewelrymathematics on eBay. I have had good experiences with his customer service, and the shipping is free and speedy (usually here in 7-10 days).

 

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb364/brg5658/Pens/red_picasso903_zps7lhcew01.jpg

[Ian the Jock]

 

Sorry for the horrible picture quality, but I think you get the idea. I purchased this red one from jewelrymathematics on eBay. I have had good experiences with his customer service, and the shipping is free and speedy (usually here in 7-10 days).

 

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb364/brg5658/Pens/red_picasso903_zps7lhcew01.jpg

That's the one Brandon, thanks.

I'm going to get a red one, as I really like this pen.

It has an elegant, classy look about it, and writes beautifully.

Thanks again

Ian

[Ian the Jock]

As promised, a bit of a different show and tell today.

A few nights ago bobjpage sent me a link to a clip where the chap from Noodlers was showing how to grind your own italic/stub nibs, and Bob had already achieved success using a Jinhao pen following the instructions.

I decided to have a go myself.

I made life hard for myself as my snips were blunt and more "mashed" the tip off than snipping it, which gave me a bit more work getting the nib into some kind of decent shape than should have been the case. (the new snips arrived today, so that won't happen again).

I was knocked out at how well the nib writes after my efforts.

I was corresponding with Bob throughout, and he pointed out that you could see the difference in the line quality at different stages, so I've put on the pic that I sent to Bob.

After that pic, I tinkered a bit more, changed the ink, and arrived at where I am now.

So

The pics....

 

I thought today I'd do a bit of a comparison with my other 2 stub nibs, an Italix broad cursive italic stub, and a Twsbi 1.1 cursive italic stub.

I was looking to achieve something a bit finer than these 2, and I've pretty much succeeded as you can see from the pic below.

Incredible what can be done with a pen that cost less than $1.50 and 45 minutes of tinkering.

 

 

THERE IS NOW NO SUCH THING AS A POOR WRITING CHINESE PEN.

(Not that I've come across any yet anyway. )

Cheers

Ian