The ‘Himalaya’, From Fountain Pen Revolution

[Jamerelbe]

  On 1/12/2018 at 10:41 PM, Forsooth said:

I have a Himalaya - an excellent writer - but was wondering two things:

 

1. A #6 nib will never fit in this pen, correct?

 

2. The Himalaya's cartridge/converter is screw-on. Is there a source for a longer, more capacious version of this cartridge/converter? Maybe one without a plunger?

 

Thanks!

 

1. Correct - as Nail-Bender says (below), you won't fit a #6 nib onto this pen. The Darjeeling is the first FPR pen (I believe) that's designed to take the #6 nib - though I'm sure I read somewhere that the Triveni is being redesigned to do so too.

 

  On 1/12/2018 at 11:07 PM, Nail-Bender said:

 

A number 6 will never fit but the Creaper is a better nib anyway.

 

You can convert your converter to a sac.

There should be instructions on this forum.

 

2. You could *probably* do this with the converter, but I don't think you'll gain much capacity - it's not a standard international, but a plunger-piston converter, similar in design to the Noodler's Ahab but smaller. If you simply remove the convereter, though, you can use the pen as an 'eyedropper-filler', and get a *much* larger capacity.

 

Not sure about the obsession with the Creaper nib - I find Noodler's Creaper nib flexier than its larger (Ahab or Konrad) counterparts, but not significantly better (if at all) compared to the FPR flex nibs.

[Jamerelbe]

  On 1/13/2018 at 12:33 AM, DrPenfection said:

Based upon your review and the thoughts of others, I am thinking of order one. Generally I prefer stub nibs but some others in this post do not care for them. Has FPR improved their stub nibs at all?

 

Also, I live in a dry climate. I love my TWSBIs and other Chinese pens, but they are all dry starters for me. I occassionaly have the same problem with Lamys, but not very often, and not at all with all of my other pens. (And I do store all of my pens in an horizontal position, even in my briefcase.) Does the Himalaya have a cap that seals pretty well when capped?

 

Put me down as someone who doesn't *love* the stubs - I *like* them, but don't find they give much line variation. There's a thread somewhere on FPN (too lazy to search for it right now!) that has some discussion about how to modify them to suit, but it involves a bit of grinding, and I haven't been motivated enough to try it.

 

I have 3 of these pens - no, scratch that, I have 4, 3 acrylic and 1 ebonite, and they're all pretty consistent starters. The cap seems to provide a pretty adequate seal. Then again, I haven't had too many issues with TWSBI (except that my Minis are dry writers overall) - it's the cheap Chinese pens that seem (to me) to have more problems providing an airtight seal on their pens.

[ReadyFireAim]

  On 1/13/2018 at 4:19 AM, Jamerelbe said:

I find Noodler's Creaper nib flexier than its larger (Ahab or Konrad) counterparts...

WOW...I think it is obvious how much better the Creaper is than the Ahab/Konrad as do you.

How does nobody else see that?

 

So far as the Creaper/ FPR #5.5...

That may be a little less obvious and have to deal with setup but I believe the Creaper wins.

 

I think the FPR #6 is a little better than the Noodler's #6 but only by a bit.

 

All these things require proper setup.

[Jamerelbe]

  On 1/13/2018 at 4:35 AM, Nail-Bender said:

WOW...I think it is obvious how much better the Creaper is than the Ahab/Konrad as do you.

How does nobody else see that?

 

So far as the Creaper/ FPR #5.5...

That may be a little less obvious and have to deal with setup but I believe the Creaper wins.

 

I think the FPR #6 is a little better than the Noodler's #6 but only by a bit.

 

All these things require proper setup.

 

I haven't used my Noodler's pens in quite a while - my 2 Creaper pens were very prone to ink dry-out, and I usually have so many pens inked up that they weren't getting daily use, so it was a problem. The Konrad (an acrylic one) was even worse, and the Ahabs weren't much better - the ink in their reservoirs was evaporating at a worryingly rapid pace!

 

It was definitely easier to flex the smaller (Creaper) nibs than the larger (Konrad/Ahab) nibs - hence my preference. Glad to know I'm not the only one! I was pleasantly surprised to discover, though, that the FPR #6 was also fairly responsive from the get-go - the Noodler's #6 nibs seem to require some 'break-in' before they become easy to flex.

 

I haven't done a head-to-head comparison of the Creaper and FPR nibs, so I won't argue the toss over which is better (they're both pretty good) - for mine, unless you have an unwanted Creaper that can donate its nib, the added cost isn't worth it, just order the pen with a flex nib (for a $3 premium) and see how you go!

[IndigoBOB]

 

  On 1/12/2018 at 12:20 PM, TruthPil said:

 

Did the Himalaya turn out to be a perfect match for Kung Te-Chung? My concern is that the cap won't seal tight enough to keep the nib from drying out if left untouched for a couple days.

 

 

That's a good question. KTC works well with the Himalaya. I agree with Jamerelbe in saying it provides a pretty adequate seal. The increased wetness of the Himalaya further decreases the likelihood of drying out

 

I do agree with you in your concern as it doesn't have an inner cap like the TWSBI or the Jinhao 992, but I feel it does a good job, but I don't think it's going to do as good a job as those pens with inner caps.

 

My experience with the Himalaya concludes to the point of saying: it is a good pen, but the nibs can be frustrating. I had a good Medium nib initially, and I placed that on my Charlie pen with KTC and it works fantastically and is still inked. I ordered another 6 Mediums for experimentation: OOTB 2 had a scratchiness that even with micromeshing remained difficult, and after micromeshing lost a bit of feedback I prefer. 1 was squeaky to a degree I dislike, but did work very well, 1 had too much feedback for me and would require micromeshing, and 1 worked well with no problems.

 

I feel as the Pen Habit stated in one of his reviews of FPR pens, they are tinkering pens. If you're OK with that and are comfortable with tinkering then I think they are great for you. The nibs are hit or miss OOTB. For me, I'm not a big fan of that.

 

I did experiment with replacing the nibs with TWSBI Eco nibs, which proved to fit well, but were even wetter. The TWSBI nibs I tried (F, M, Broad) felt great but went through too much ink too fast.

 

So for me, I hit a ceiling with this pen.

 

I think if you have a TWSBI Extra Fine nib you like then this pen is gold to swap it in with as it won't use up too much ink. If you get a good nib from them, it's a solid pen. If you're comfortable or good with tweaking nibs to your liking this is a fantastic value.

 

The FPR Himalaya has been invaluable to my introduction to ebonite and indian pens, but right now I'm looking for something with a little more consistency and reliability closer to my TWSBI's, my Jinhao's (mostly with Jowo's), my Franklin Christoph Marietta, all of these basically being Jowo setups.

 

This is my experience. As with pens like this I don't think this is how it always is.

 

This has a potential to be a good KTC pen. What is nice is that, like my Charlie pen, it puts down a beautiful dark line of KTC that my Safari Medium can't match putting down only a lighter hue, which I don't like as much. The ebonite feed makes the difference between them.

 

I hope this helps. I'm sorry for the lengthiness. Let me know that you think, because I'm in the same boat you are. I do like my Charlie-FPR M nib-KTC combo, but I'm always looking for something better and a little more consistent and reliable. I think I may go the way of experimenting with what ASA has to offer, since I love ebonite pens and they offer german made nibs.

Edited January 13, 2018 by IndigoBOB

[truthpil]

  On 1/13/2018 at 4:23 AM, Jamerelbe said:

 

I have 3 of these pens - no, scratch that, I have 4, 3 acrylic and 1 ebonite, and they're all pretty consistent starters. The cap seems to provide a pretty adequate seal. Then again, I haven't had too many issues with TWSBI (except that my Minis are dry writers overall) - it's the cheap Chinese pens that seem (to me) to have more problems providing an airtight seal on their pens.

 

Thanks for this information. I recently got an ebonite Himalaya but have only inked it once without any drying out problems or hard starts. I was just concerned about with KTC because that's an ink that is prone to hard starts and drying on the nib if the seal isn't perfect.

 

  On 1/13/2018 at 4:35 AM, Nail-Bender said:

WOW...I think it is obvious how much better the Creaper is than the Ahab/Konrad as do you.

How does nobody else see that?

 

I hear you, my Creaper nib is much easier to flex than my Konrad nib and a lot more fun to use in general. It's also a bonus that the Creaper nib fits in so many pens. I've had it work well in various Jinhaos and will try it in my FPR pens as well.

  On 1/13/2018 at 5:26 AM, Jamerelbe said:

 

I haven't used my Noodler's pens in quite a while - my 2 Creaper pens were very prone to ink dry-out, and I usually have so many pens inked up that they weren't getting daily use, so it was a problem. The Konrad (an acrylic one) was even worse, and the Ahabs weren't much better - the ink in their reservoirs was evaporating at a worryingly rapid pace!

 

Yep, same here. The ink evaporation issue with Noodler's pens is what had sworn me off on them. I never use my Konrad because it's just too hard to get the flow right and the Creaper only gets used for single-day projects because the ink will dry out inside the pen and be tough to clean out if I leave it in there for a even just a few days. I think the flex on the Creaper is just a tad softer than on the FPR flex nibs, but they flex an equal amount. The Noodler's nibs are definitely thinner than the FPR nibs.

[truthpil]

  On 1/13/2018 at 7:47 AM, IndigoBOB said:

 

 

 

That's a good question. KTC works well with the Himalaya. I agree with Jamerelbe in saying it provides a pretty adequate seal. The increased wetness of the Himalaya further decreases the likelihood of drying out

 

I do agree with you in your concern as it doesn't have an inner cap like the TWSBI or the Jinhao 992, but I feel it does a good job, but I don't think it's going to do as good a job as those pens with inner caps.

 

My experience with the Himalaya concludes to the point of saying: it is a good pen, but the nibs can be frustrating. I had a good Medium nib initially, and I placed that on my Charlie pen with KTC and it works fantastically and is still inked. I ordered another 6 Mediums for experimentation: OOTB 2 had a scratchiness that even with micromeshing remained difficult, and after micromeshing lost a bit of feedback I prefer. 1 was squeaky to a degree I dislike, but did work very well, 1 had too much feedback for me and would require micromeshing, and 1 worked well with no problems.

 

I feel as the Pen Habit stated in one of his reviews of FPR pens, they are tinkering pens. If you're OK with that and are comfortable with tinkering then I think they are great for you. The nibs are hit or miss OOTB. For me, I'm not a big fan of that.

 

I did experiment with replacing the nibs with TWSBI Eco nibs, which proved to fit well, but were even wetter. The TWSBI nibs I tried (F, M, Broad) felt great but went through too much ink too fast.

 

So for me, I hit a ceiling with this pen.

 

I think if you have a TWSBI Extra Fine nib you like then this pen is gold to swap it in with as it won't use up too much ink. If you get a good nib from them, it's a solid pen. If you're comfortable or good with tweaking nibs to your liking this is a fantastic value.

 

The FPR Himalaya has been invaluable to my introduction to ebonite and indian pens, but right now I'm looking for something with a little more consistency and reliability closer to my TWSBI's, my Jinhao's (mostly with Jowo's), my Franklin Christoph Marietta, all of these basically being Jowo setups.

 

This is my experience. As with pens like this I don't think this is how it always is.

 

This has a potential to be a good KTC pen. What is nice is that, like my Charlie pen, it puts down a beautiful dark line of KTC that my Safari Medium can't match putting down only a lighter hue, which I don't like as much. The ebonite feed makes the difference between them.

 

I hope this helps. I'm sorry for the lengthiness. Let me know that you think, because I'm in the same boat you are. I do like my Charlie-FPR M nib-KTC combo, but I'm always looking for something better and a little more consistent and reliable. I think I may go the way of experimenting with what ASA has to offer, since I love ebonite pens and they offer german made nibs.

 

 

Thanks for the thorough response (the longer the better in my opinion)! I do love the wetness of this pen, but if the seal isn't as good as on pens with inner caps, then maybe I should look elsewhere for a dedicated KTC pen.

 

It's interesting that the ECO nibs were so wet in the Himalaya because my ECO stub nib was so dry in the original pen that KTC wouldn't flow at all. I put a wet FPR medium nib in the ECO and got immediate results with a very wet line, however the feed will run dry every so often and need a good flick to restore flow.

 

It seems like the best KTC pen would be one with an ebonite feed like on the Himalaya and a cap with an inner cap that seals tightly.

Looking forward to hearing about any experiences you have with KTC in an Asa pen. I have been avoiding them because the models with German nibs and converters seem a little pricey (yet understandably so).

[Honeybadgers]

  On 1/13/2018 at 4:35 AM, Nail-Bender said:

WOW...I think it is obvious how much better the Creaper is than the Ahab/Konrad as do you.

How does nobody else see that?

 

So far as the Creaper/ FPR #5.5...

That may be a little less obvious and have to deal with setup but I believe the Creaper wins.

 

I think the FPR #6 is a little better than the Noodler's #6 but only by a bit.

 

All these things require proper setup.

 

The thing is that the rest of the pen attached to the creaper feels so underwhelming in the hand. It's thin, which I don't mind, but somehow just doesn't feel like anything, whereas the #6 nib pens feel more substantial.

 

The #5 creaper nib has less metal and smaller shoulders so it flexes far better, like a true vintage semiflex. But it's just so let down by the body. The boston safety shows off the creaper nib way better.

[Jamerelbe]

  On 1/13/2018 at 7:26 PM, Honeybadgers said:

 

The thing is that the rest of the pen attached to the creaper feels so underwhelming in the hand. It's thin, which I don't mind, but somehow just doesn't feel like anything, whereas the #6 nib pens feel more substantial.

 

The #5 creaper nib has less metal and smaller shoulders so it flexes far better, like a true vintage semiflex. But it's just so let down by the body. The boston safety shows off the creaper nib way better.

I thoroughly agree re the Creaper pen - the nib is let down by the body (I too find it a bit thin), but the nib is pleasant to use - I just haven't felt the need to transplant it into a FPR pen, given my appreciation of their flex nibs.

 

Personal preferences come into this, I know, but I'm really happy with these pens: I haven't found them prone to dry-out, and they're wet writers without being excessively gushy. I usually have at least one or two inked up and in use at any given time.

[DrDebG]

  On 1/13/2018 at 7:47 AM, IndigoBOB said:

 

 

 

That's a good question. KTC works well with the Himalaya. I agree with Jamerelbe in saying it provides a pretty adequate seal. The increased wetness of the Himalaya further decreases the likelihood of drying out

 

I do agree with you in your concern as it doesn't have an inner cap like the TWSBI or the Jinhao 992, but I feel it does a good job, but I don't think it's going to do as good a job as those pens with inner caps.

 

My experience with the Himalaya concludes to the point of saying: it is a good pen, but the nibs can be frustrating. I had a good Medium nib initially, and I placed that on my Charlie pen with KTC and it works fantastically and is still inked. I ordered another 6 Mediums for experimentation: OOTB 2 had a scratchiness that even with micromeshing remained difficult, and after micromeshing lost a bit of feedback I prefer. 1 was squeaky to a degree I dislike, but did work very well, 1 had too much feedback for me and would require micromeshing, and 1 worked well with no problems.

 

I feel as the Pen Habit stated in one of his reviews of FPR pens, they are tinkering pens. If you're OK with that and are comfortable with tinkering then I think they are great for you. The nibs are hit or miss OOTB. For me, I'm not a big fan of that.

 

I did experiment with replacing the nibs with TWSBI Eco nibs, which proved to fit well, but were even wetter. The TWSBI nibs I tried (F, M, Broad) felt great but went through too much ink too fast.

 

So for me, I hit a ceiling with this pen.

 

I think if you have a TWSBI Extra Fine nib you like then this pen is gold to swap it in with as it won't use up too much ink. If you get a good nib from them, it's a solid pen. If you're comfortable or good with tweaking nibs to your liking this is a fantastic value.

 

The FPR Himalaya has been invaluable to my introduction to ebonite and indian pens, but right now I'm looking for something with a little more consistency and reliability closer to my TWSBI's, my Jinhao's (mostly with Jowo's), my Franklin Christoph Marietta, all of these basically being Jowo setups.

 

This is my experience. As with pens like this I don't think this is how it always is.

 

This has a potential to be a good KTC pen. What is nice is that, like my Charlie pen, it puts down a beautiful dark line of KTC that my Safari Medium can't match putting down only a lighter hue, which I don't like as much. The ebonite feed makes the difference between them.

 

I hope this helps. I'm sorry for the lengthiness. Let me know that you think, because I'm in the same boat you are. I do like my Charlie-FPR M nib-KTC combo, but I'm always looking for something better and a little more consistent and reliable. I think I may go the way of experimenting with what ASA has to offer, since I love ebonite pens and they offer german made nibs.

 

 

Thank you so much for your post. Your discussion answered several other questions I had. The reason I gave up on Noodler's pens is that I don't have time to "tinker". I want a pen that writes well from the start without a lot of messing with the nib, etc.

 

I think I will save my money and buy another Franklin Christoph.

[DrDebG]

  On 1/13/2018 at 4:23 AM, Jamerelbe said:

 

Put me down as someone who doesn't *love* the stubs - I *like* them, but don't find they give much line variation. There's a thread somewhere on FPN (too lazy to search for it right now!) that has some discussion about how to modify them to suit, but it involves a bit of grinding, and I haven't been motivated enough to try it.

 

I have 3 of these pens - no, scratch that, I have 4, 3 acrylic and 1 ebonite, and they're all pretty consistent starters. The cap seems to provide a pretty adequate seal. Then again, I haven't had too many issues with TWSBI (except that my Minis are dry writers overall) - it's the cheap Chinese pens that seem (to me) to have more problems providing an airtight seal on their pens.

 

Thank you so much for your response. I really do like stubs, so for me this is an important question - one which will probably decide for me.

 

I think I will save my money and purchase another Franklin Christoph.

 

Also, if I had been more careful in my reading I would have noticed that the feed is ebonite. I am highly latex intolerant, so ebonite is something I can't handle without major reactions (i.e. I can't breathe). I have to be really careful about everything I use.

[truthpil]

  On 1/13/2018 at 7:26 PM, Honeybadgers said:

 

The thing is that the rest of the pen attached to the creaper feels so underwhelming in the hand. It's thin, which I don't mind, but somehow just doesn't feel like anything, whereas the #6 nib pens feel more substantial.

 

The #5 creaper nib has less metal and smaller shoulders so it flexes far better, like a true vintage semiflex. But it's just so let down by the body. The boston safety shows off the creaper nib way better.

 

I wholeheartedly agree...thankfully the Creaper nibs can be bought by themselves without the pen (or at least that was the cause the last time I checked).

[truthpil]

  On 1/13/2018 at 9:43 PM, DrPenfection said:

 

I think I will save my money and buy another Franklin Christoph.

 

Do you mean that you'd get a Franklin Christoph pen and put a flex nib in it?

I haven't yet even tried an FC pen, so I'm wondering what flex options are available.

[IndigoBOB]

  On 1/13/2018 at 9:43 PM, DrPenfection said:

 

Thank you so much for your post. Your discussion answered several other questions I had. The reason I gave up on Noodler's pens is that I don't have time to "tinker". I want a pen that writes well from the start without a lot of messing with the nib, etc.

 

I think I will save my money and buy another Franklin Christoph.

 

 

You're very welcome. I'm glad you didn't go for it only to be surprised by a reaction to the ebonite feed ... That would be awful.

 

It's hard to go wrong with F-C. I have the Marietta inked now. I like how F-C has a good variety of options along varying preferences of different people. It's hard not to find something that fits you.

 

 

  On 1/14/2018 at 12:59 AM, TruthPil said:

 

Do you mean that you'd get a Franklin Christoph pen and put a flex nib in it?

I haven't yet even tried an FC pen, so I'm wondering what flex options are available.

 

 

They have that beautiful 14k flex nib. I would love to try that out sometime, but right now it's a bit out of my price range for just one nib, but I love how it's a standard #6 size, which can fit a lot of pens.

 

The nice thing about F-C is they have amazing customer service and a lifetime warranty of upgradable pens (with regards to their nibs) . They were so kind to me in trying to find the best pen in their line up for me. For the price of their pens I wouldn't have kept any if they didn't fit just right.

[half_inked_one]

I can fully recommend Franklin-Christoph flex nib - and in their own S.I.G. Flex version. Nice and springy, does not require lots of force to flex. Compared to Himalaya: Himalaya flex nib expects some pressure to start flexing - before that is just juicy, nice Fine; when you press, it easily goes wider and says "yo, that's fun, let's play a bit more!". Himalaya gives a bit of feedback - something like a sharpened pencil, but not scratchy.

F-C SIG Flex - gives a bit of line variation even without pressure (SIG specifics); if you push it a bit, it goes softly wider, but I am not experienced enough to test how far can I push it. Smooth, no feedback, delicate with the paper. For now I feel like driving a sports car which has power 5x more than my regular car - it is fun, but if I push it too much and too fast, I will end up on a tree; but I know there is more than my skills allow now.

Remember - I am not an experienced user of flex nibs, just the beginner and I may - and often am - wrong.

[truthpil]

Where might one purchase one of these FC SIG Flex pens??

[half_inked_one]

The best is at their website

http://www.franklin-christoph.com/flex-nib.html

[truthpil]

  On 1/15/2018 at 9:48 AM, half_inked_one said:

The best is at their website

http://www.franklin-christoph.com/flex-nib.html

Thanks, I couldn't find that when looking around their page earlier.

 

Judging by the writing samples, it doesn't seem to flex as far as the FPR nib although I'm sure the flex requires much less pressure. Actually, I've got vintage semi-flex nibs that are more flexible than that and cost about the same but with the pen included.

[Jamerelbe]

  On 1/15/2018 at 10:07 AM, TruthPil said:

Thanks, I couldn't find that when looking around their page earlier.

 

Judging by the writing samples, it doesn't seem to flex as far as the FPR nib although I'm sure the flex requires much less pressure. Actually, I've got vintage semi-flex nibs that are more flexible than that and cost about the same but with the pen included.

 

If you do a search on YouTube for JoWo flex nibs you'll find some additional info on these - my understanding is that the name notwithstanding, it's really a 'semi-flex' at best. The notches provide more 'give' to the writing experience, but it doesn't look like they'll do much when it comes to producing line variation. The FC Sig flex is, I believe, simply a re-grind of the 'base' flex nib recently developed by JoWo (Edison Pens sell these, among others).

[Jamerelbe]

Folks, I think we have to remember we're not comparing apples with apples here (so to speak): the FPR Himalaya is a $30 pen ($33 with flex nib option) - and for mine, what you get for that price is a pretty decent pen. It *will* require tinkering - and with the ebonite nibs provided you *will* get a fairly wet writer, no matter what nibs you swap in. The cheapest Franklin Christoph pen is at least 5 times the price (more if you buy it with a gold customised flex nib!) - so it shouldn't be surprising that you get a more refined pen.

 

Another thing to think about, when you're talking about the wetness (or otherwise) of the Himalaya pen is that FPR have two kinds of ebonite feed: a 'regular' feed and a flex feed. The latter has a wider and/or deeper ink channel. You'll probably only have received the latter if you ordered the pen with a flex nib, but it's worth bearing in mind.

 

Oh, and one more thing: heat setting the nib and feed to reduce any potential gaps between them may also help to reduce flow - though for me, the wetness is part of the appeal!