What Is This Pen?

[antichresis]

The listing is unhelpful.

 

[vikrmbedi]

shape wise looks inspired from parker vector and nib inspired from pilot varsity

 

looks like a use and throw type pen. 3 refill probably means 3 in one filling system( cartridges , convertor and eyedropper) . A pic on the listing shows it as an eyedropper.

 

in your pic there is a simple convertor installed. As all the parts in this convertor are made out of clear plastic you can see the inner channels etc.

 

just my two cents.

Edited February 26, 2017 by vikrmbedi

[k3eax]

It seems to me that the pen could be a piston-filler.

[richardandtracy]

I think it's more likely to be a twist c/c fill where the c/c can be removed to form an eyedropper. My only question is, can the barrel finial be twisted to turn the c/c as if it's a piston filler.

 

If you get one, let us know, if you would.

 

Regards,

 

Richard

[Seele]

I have bought some, one from eBay and another from Taobao.

 

On Taobao, the seller called it an SKC F10, along with some other pens under the SKC label. Now, SKC is a Taiwanese pen manufacturer of great repute but never looked into international distribution seriously like TWSBI, and these sure aren't theirs.

 

The pen from eBay came without packaging, but the one from Taobao came in a simple cardboard box bearing a passing resemblance to that used by Lamy with slots, and also a cardboard to divide the box into two triangular sections, one containing the pen and the other an eyedropper. Printed at the ends of the box is "Penton" at one end and "派頓" at the other, and on the side "SKC 更名為（派頓）PENTON", or "SKC with name changed to Penton".

 

This suggests that someone in China used the name SKC to pretend to be the same as the Taiwanese firm, but had to change its name after they got caught out.

 

But for this particular pen, it's designed for use with cartridge, converter, or eyedropper: the presence of the O-ring behind the barrel thread is meant for sealing the barrel, even though the barrel/section thread is much coarser than most eyedroppers.

 

My example from eBay exhibited a crack in the section, so the seller is sending me a replacement. I have not used the identical one bought from Taobao, but I certainly hope that the fault is an isolated occurrence.

[antichresis]

I have bought some, one from eBay and another from Taobao.

 

On Taobao, the seller called it an SKC F10, along with some other pens under the SKC label. Now, SKC is a Taiwanese pen manufacturer of great repute but never looked into international distribution seriously like TWSBI, and these sure aren't theirs.

 

The pen from eBay came without packaging, but the one from Taobao came in a simple cardboard box bearing a passing resemblance to that used by Lamy with slots, and also a cardboard to divide the box into two triangular sections, one containing the pen and the other an eyedropper. Printed at the ends of the box is "Penton" at one end and "派頓" at the other, and on the side "SKC 更名為（派頓）PENTON", or "SKC with name changed to Penton".

 

This suggests that someone in China used the name SKC to pretend to be the same as the Taiwanese firm, but had to change its name after they got caught out.

 

But for this particular pen, it's designed for use with cartridge, converter, or eyedropper: the presence of the O-ring behind the barrel thread is meant for sealing the barrel, even though the barrel/section thread is much coarser than most eyedroppers.

 

My example from eBay exhibited a crack in the section, so the seller is sending me a replacement. I have not used the identical one bought from Taobao, but I certainly hope that the fault is an isolated occurrence.

Hey, thank you! This answers pretty much everything!

 

A question though, is this a "normal" pen or one that has a wick in the feed? (like a Varsity, Petit1, etc)

[DeanKW]

I have two of these pens, I got both off ebay. They come with an o-ring and a twist converter. In order to put the converter in, the o-ring must be removed. Rather than a standard international converter, it appears to be a parker-sized converter*.

 

It has a normal feed, not a wick feed. The nib and feed pull out. Removing the nib from the feed is not easy and may damage them. The pen comes in Fine and Medium, though both mine are fine. The tines on both of mine came very misaligned.

 

The barrel finial does not come off.

 

*I will confirm that the converter is indeed Parker-sized later in the week.

Edited March 11, 2017 by DeanKW

[antichresis]

I have two of these pens, I got both off ebay. They come with an o-ring and a twist converter. In order to put the converter in, the o-ring must be removed. Rather than a standard international converter, it appears to be a parker-sized converter*.

 

It has a normal feed, not a wick feed. The nib and feed pull out. Removing the nib from the feed is not easy and may damage them. The pen comes in Fine and Medium, though both mine are fine.

 

The barrel finial does not come off.

 

*I will confirm that the converter is indeed Parker-sized later in the week.

Thanks, Dean! How does it write? Are people better-off buying something else?

 

By wick I meant something like the one in the photo below. There's a sort of fiber that is embedded between the feed and nib, it helps combat dry-out in my experience but is a beast to clean.

 

[Seele]

Antichresis,

 

If you can get it for little money, it could well be something to write- or play with for a while, and if it falls to bits, the financial loss is minimal. Besides, if the barrel cracks, you still end up with a converter that can be redeployed somewhere else.

 

The attempt to impersonate another manufacturer of greater repute notwithstanding, this F-10 is still an honest design to offer a simple, original, no frills pen for writing and little else. On both my examples the nibs are all straight and smooth, so DeanKW's experience might not be totally typical after all. Judging by my experience, the use of a relatively brittle material for the barrel - which I suspect is plain polystyrene - for lower production cost would be its Archilles' heel.

 

From the same stable there are a few others models, some are of more derivative designs, so to speak; some might employ higher grade materials too. I wonder if they would eventually find their ways to more accessible trading platforms such as eBay,

[DeanKW]

Thanks, Dean! How does it write? Are people better-off buying something else?

 

 

I re-inked mine to give you a better answer. Okay, I just dipped them. I never had any flow issues with the pen (using the converter), so I didn't see the need.

 

 

 

On both my examples the nibs are all straight and smooth, so DeanKW's experience might not be totally typical after all.

 

 

After aligning the tines (which took about 30 seconds), they write well. The tines are smooth, just required to be adjusted a tad. They have a clear feed, which not too many pens do. If you like the aesthetic, it's not a bad choice. I originally disliked the red, but after using it (exclusively) with red inks, the feed is lightly stained red and it looks good.

 

http://i.imgur.com/J7TtVSJ.jpg?1

 

It's a pen that is decent to good, but I don't see too many people falling in love with it. There are nicer looking demonstrators, though this is certainly not a bad looking one. For $1 to $2, you won't regret your purchase, but you probably won't wax poetically either. If you want a demonstrator to use as a beater, this is one of the better choices. It looks much nicer than the Jinhao 599, one of the only comparably priced demonstrators.

Edited March 14, 2017 by DeanKW

[Seele]

DeanKW,

 

Clear feed seems to be the fashion these days, just like the Victo-built Wing Sung Lucky pens; the feeds on mine got stained by Pelikan 4001 Violet too.

[DeanKW]

DeanKW,

 

Clear feed seems to be the fashion these days, just like the Victo-built Wing Sung Lucky pens; the feeds on mine got stained by Pelikan 4001 Violet too.

 

What do you mean Victo-built? Are you referring to the Wing Sung 659? I love mine. It's currently inked or I'd tell you if the feed was stained. I don't remember any staining, but I have only used blue inks in it.

 

What pens other than this and the Wing Sung 659 have clear feeds? I can't think of any off the top of my head.

Edited March 15, 2017 by DeanKW

[Flippy]

That looks like a Pilot nib that comes from the Petit. It looks as though Pilot made a piston-filler Petit.

 

Josh

[Seele]

 

What do you mean Victo-built? Are you referring to the Wing Sung 659? I love mine. It's currently inked or I'd tell you if the feed was stained. I don't remember any staining, but I have only used blue inks in it.

 

What pens other than this and the Wing Sung 659 have clear feeds? I can't think of any off the top of my head.

 

The current Wing Sung pens are built by the Green Stationary company, better known for its trademark Victo; it is a practically autonomous firm but within the Hero group of companies. The best known ones are the 659 and 698, both with clear nibs.

 

Another pen with clear feed I can think of, off the top of my head, is the Sailor High Ace Neo; at least my example has it.

[antichresis]

Seele and Dean, thank you for sharing your experience with the pen. Very helpful to everyone who is interested.

[Zookie]

Wearever made clear feeds years ago. You can still get them (used of course) on ebay.

[richardandtracy]

Just reminded me, clear collectors on P51's.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[rockydoggy]

I bought a handful of these several weeks ago. Interesting, fun pens. The o-ring is apparently for when the pen is used as an eye-dropper. I gave it a shot and that'll be the last time I try that experiment. The couple of pens that I filled that way sprung leaks, even with silicone grease. However, when using the enclosed convertor, all of the pens that I tried wrote well--in fact, really well. Another surprise was that the pen takes Parker cartridges (why Parker?). One final observation: The seals on mine as well as the flow to the nibs are great. I've been able to use ink that has tended to stall out in pens with even a slight air leak or where the feeds are a bit finicky. Right now one is filled with a batch of 54th Mass. that's proven balky in most other pens; no problems so far. Given that the plastic on these pens seems anything but robust, I'm not expecting them to last forever. However, I've given some away as gifts, and I'm keeping a few inked with colors I use for editing that I can grab and go. (But why Parker of all cartridges?)

[Seele]

rockydoggy,

 

Parker cartridge standard is pretty much a de-facto standard in China, as Parker gave Hero the rights to produce the 45. That said, many ostensibly C/C pens produced there did not seem to show that their designers were staying off the bottle - or something - as they were produced in a wide variety of fittings, and no cartridges were ever manufactured in those sizes. I see them as pens with removable filling units rather than true C/C pens, and it's a good thing Penton/SKB decided not to get all weird in this respect.

 

Oh, another thing. The converter supplied in this Penton F10 has the helicoid drive long enough to allow for the steel agitator to be taken out; some other converters I know of do not allow that, or the piston shaft would get out of mesh with the helicoid drive.

Edited March 19, 2017 by Seele