Kung Te Cheng...or Equivalents

[dcwaites]

Tell us how you are going to test it! We all want to see! Or at least I want know.

 

I vote for Aqua Regia. What should happen is that the paper is dissolved, leaving the writing floating in the liquor...

[truthpil]

That No Nonsense does look nice, and reminds me of the color. I saw it on eBay. I saw another one that was a kind of matte blue that made me think of this ink as well given its matte affect.

 

I don’t have any Wing Sung pens. I like the looks of the one 3008s that I just looked up on Amazon. I don’t have much frame of reference for Chinese pens. Tell me they’re better to write with than Jinhaos! Those things are built like a tank, but the nibs just don’t strike me as fun to write with at all. They kinda feel like they’re made out of tank material. Are the Wing Sung 3008s substantially different in terms of writing experience? They look a decent price on Amazon, but I still have quite a few empty Dollar pens sitting around and am not sure if I should add any more of that type of pen.

 

WS 3008s would not be nearly as durable as the metal Jinhaos and the stock nibs aren't particularly exciting. Their main selling point (for most of us anyway) is that you can put a Lamy Safari nib on them easily and the flow is better than on a Safari because they are piston fillers. I hate how dry some Lamy nibs write, but the extra flow with these seems to solve the problem. If you don't need a piston-filler for your Lamy nibs, then you probably can do without getting one of these. They are just decent cheap Chinese pens.

 

Some people really like J. Herbin Peale Noir. I don’t have it myself, but I’ve heard it’s quite well behaved, permanent, and dark black.

 

Perle Noir is my go-to black for use in vintage pens that I wouldn't dare expose to Noodler's inks. With vintage pens (which are usually wet writers) it gives a very dark and saturated line that also has decent water resistance. You could dump water on the page, wipe it off, and have a totally legible (although faded) document. While most Herbin inks are kind of thin and unsaturated in my opinion, Perle Noir stands out as quite saturated.

[elippman]

 

I vote for Aqua Regia. What should happen is that the paper is dissolved, leaving the writing floating in the liquor...

Hah! That reminds me of one of the earlier comments in this thread. I think it was Ruth who wrote that she expected that if you burned a piece of paper with KTC on it, the ink might hang in the air once the paper was gone.

 

Thanks for the feedback on the WSs and Perle Noir. I'm not a big user of black ink and have been looking for one standard, go-to black ink to keep in one pen. I have Noodler's HOD, but have not found it reliable for that purpose. It looks nice when it works, but it's finicky. Sounds like Perle Noir is on the list for a solid, permanent-ish black.

[truthpil]

Hah! That reminds me of one of the earlier comments in this thread. I think it was Ruth who wrote that she expected that if you burned a piece of paper with KTC on it, the ink might hang in the air once the paper was gone.

 

Thanks for the feedback on the WSs and Perle Noir. I'm not a big user of black ink and have been looking for one standard, go-to black ink to keep in one pen. I have Noodler's HOD, but have not found it reliable for that purpose. It looks nice when it works, but it's finicky. Sounds like Perle Noir is on the list for a solid, permanent-ish black.

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure KTC would survive the zombie apocalypse.

 

Perle Noir is a great value because standard Herbin inks can be quite cheap. I like that it's darker than Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black too. It's definitely worth getting a bottle.

[IndigoBOB]

That No Nonsense does look nice, and reminds me of the color. I saw it on eBay. I saw another one that was a kind of matte blue that made me think of this ink as well given its matte affect.

 

I don’t have any Wing Sung pens. I like the looks of the one 3008s that I just looked up on Amazon. I don’t have much frame of reference for Chinese pens. Tell me they’re better to write with than Jinhaos! Those things are built like a tank, but the nibs just don’t strike me as fun to write with at all. They kinda feel like they’re made out of tank material. Are the Wing Sung 3008s substantially different in terms of writing experience? They look a decent price on Amazon, but I still have quite a few empty Dollar pens sitting around and am not sure if I should add any more of that type of pen.

 

The 3008's IMO are a great value for a how well they function. They have agreeable ergonomics, good inkflow, descent nibs that aren't great, but have been dependable and decently smooth, and they have functioned well OOTB for me. They aren't like Hero 616's where you'll likely have to put micromesh to them. They are ready to go OOTB, and for that price it's quite impressive with how much ink they can carry.

 

I have found 3008's trustworthy, however they still do have that "cheap" feeling to them as if they aren't "finished/complete products". The stiff twist of the cap is what peeves me about their make as well as a lack of an inner cap like the 3003's.

 

I like the 3008's as beat around pens, ink testing pens, and I even feel comfortable about using them as an EDC, but they leave me wanting something...

 

... something like the build quality of the Wing Sung 698 and 618, which I think are "finished/complete products" but the prices do reflect that.

 

WS 3008s would not be nearly as durable as the metal Jinhaos and the stock nibs aren't particularly exciting. Their main selling point (for most of us anyway) is that you can put a Lamy Safari nib on them easily and the flow is better than on a Safari because they are piston fillers. I hate how dry some Lamy nibs write, but the extra flow with these seems to solve the problem. If you don't need a piston-filler for your Lamy nibs, then you probably can do without getting one of these. They are just decent cheap Chinese pens.

 

 

Perle Noir is my go-to black for use in vintage pens that I wouldn't dare expose to Noodler's inks. With vintage pens (which are usually wet writers) it gives a very dark and saturated line that also has decent water resistance. You could dump water on the page, wipe it off, and have a totally legible (although faded) document. While most Herbin inks are kind of thin and unsaturated in my opinion, Perle Noir stands out as quite saturated.

 

+1.... For my Lamy's I have to use wetter/lubricated inks. I've had success with Jentle Shigure, and do keep a vista Inked with Aurora Black since its low maintenance.

 

It's annoying how much better my 3008 will write over my Lamy safari with most of the inks I test them with and at the end of the day I need a pen that isn't scratching, and between these two it's often the 3008 that writes smooth and wet and the Safari that writes dry with scratching on certain angles strokes because of the nib construction and dry inkflow.

 

---------------------------------

 

I was going to order Perle Noir, but it dropped to second on my list, replaced by Take-Sumi after I enjoyed the sample so much. But it is a good value in that 100 mL bottle.

[truthpil]

Yeah, I see what you mean about the italic spreading out the ink too much.

 

More good news...on good, non-absorbent paper this No Nonsense fine italic combination has about equal saturation to the School Pen medium I was using earlier. I just compared the pages with both inks in a Black 'n Red notebook and they are almost identical in color and saturation.

 

The No Nonsense is also much larger than the School Pen and Noodler's Charlie and has what I think is a more comfortable girth to the barrel and section. It's a nice, semi-fat pen.

Edited April 5, 2018 by TruthPil

[elippman]

That was my thought when looking at it. I don't have huge hands, but I do find larger pens more comfortable to hold. This one looks a lot more comfortable than my school pen. It's not bad, but it's a little bit on the small side down at the grip. Given all the writing maladies that come with being a lefty, having something that is more comfortable to hold helps a lot.

[IndigoBOB]

This is very good news.

[truthpil]

Well, the Sheaffer No-Nonsense with fine italic nib wrote perfectly with KTC all the way to the last drop.

I cleaned out the pen yesterday with no issues at all. Even the cartridge fully cleaned out without staining!

 

It looks like one of those medium-nibbed pens on eBay has my name on it....

[elippman]

Given how wet these old Sheaffers are, I'm considering looking for a fine-nibbed version. If it can put out that much ink but keep it in a fine line, that might make the color even more saturated.

[truthpil]

Given how wet these old Sheaffers are, I'm considering looking for a fine-nibbed version. If it can put out that much ink but keep it in a fine line, that might make the color even more saturated.

Incidentally, the same seller with the translucent violet medium-nibbed version has the same model with a fine nib available. I'll post an update once the medium-nibbed pen arrives.

[truthpil]

Given how wet these old Sheaffers are, I'm considering looking for a fine-nibbed version. If it can put out that much ink but keep it in a fine line, that might make the color even more saturated.

Incidentally, the same seller with the translucent violet medium-nibbed version has the same model with a fine nib available. I'll post an update once the medium-nibbed pen arrives.

[IndigoBOB]

Incidentally, the same seller with the translucent violet medium-nibbed version has the same model with a fine nib available. I'll post an update once the medium-nibbed pen arrives.

 

 

Looking forward to it.

 

I would definitely love to be able to use the ink away from my house in something else besides the Noodler's Charlie.

 

I picked up a PenBBS 309, am very impressed by the pen, but it doesn't have the wetness to handle KTC.

[truthpil]

 

I picked up a PenBBS 309, am very impressed by the pen, but it doesn't have the wetness to handle KTC.

It might work if you swap out the stock nib with a JoWo #6 that is to your liking.

[IndigoBOB]

It might work if you swap out the stock nib with a JoWo #6 that is to your liking.

 

 

You know, I did put a Goulet #6 Medium in and the flow was not wet. My Noodler's Black didn't perform great. I don't know if it is this specific pen or not.

 

So I put Heart of Darkness in it and the light flow seemed to work very well. Typically with a Jowo Medium, even on TWSBI's (580 and Eco) I have, HoD lays down too thick of a line, but with this 309-Jowo it's just right.

 

 

I do have a 308 on the way I may try it out with. But I am hesitant to try the KTC with them because of the drier writing experience of the 309 and the lack of an inner cap on any of the PenBBS's.

 

But I haven't had any drying issues with the 309 yet and the tolerances on the cap do seem tight.

 

I am very impressed by the PenBBS 309 so far. This is the first Chinese pen since my Jinhao x750 where I feel it can be a fully functioning pen to very high standards well above the price range.

 

We'll see how the 309 holds up over time.

[thudthwacker]

I've actually been having a really good experience with Kung Te-Cheng in a Lamy Safari with a medium nib. I'm on my third fill (with other inks having taken up residence between them), with no issues at all thus far. No clogging, no problematic starts, no untenable difficulties flushing the pen (I've done a much more extensive job that I usually do, including several rinses with a pen flush solution in addition to the standard water flushes, but it's not like I felt the need to run out and buy an ultrasonic cleaner or anything). And, while I like the color and the density of the ink on the page, I've really fallen in love with the performance. It's smooth to write with, dries fairly quickly, and once it's dry, it's unmovable. Even the one other bulletproof ink from Noodler's I have, Hunter Green, will smudge a tiny bit after it's dry. KTC may as well have been printed on the page. It's kind of ruined me for a lot of other inks, because I'm a klutz and keep resting my off hand on the previous verso while writing on the recto, and that regularly leave smudges with every ink I own except KTC.

[truthpil]

And, while I like the color and the density of the ink on the page, I've really fallen in love with the performance. It's smooth to write with, dries fairly quickly, and once it's dry, it's unmovable. Even the one other bulletproof ink from Noodler's I have, Hunter Green, will smudge a tiny bit after it's dry. KTC may as well have been printed on the page. It's kind of ruined me for a lot of other inks, because I'm a klutz and keep resting my off hand on the previous verso while writing on the recto, and that regularly leave smudges with every ink I own except KTC.

You just described both me and my thoughts about this ink to a T!

Nothing is as permanent and smudge proof as KTC and the smooth writing experience is just outstanding. My issue is that I can never return from the bathroom or kitchen with sufficiently dry hands, so some water always gets on the page and messes things up with mere mortal inks.

Now, if only this new KTC pen would get here!

[elippman]

Since I've been experimenting with other inks lately, I too have notice the things that I miss about KTC when I'm not writing with it. Foremost is how quickly and permanently it dries. As a lefty, there are few inks that I won't at least smear the dot on the i when writing, but KTC has been perfect on that front. It's worth the occasional hard start to get that effect.

 

By the way, I also ordered a Sheaffer No Nonsense (F) from ebay. I couldn't find the one that your seller was selling, TruthPil. In fact, I only found one No Nonsense with a fine nib at all, and it was in Romania. I ordered it. It should be arriving in early May (hopefully). Not sure what to expect of an ebay pen, as I haven't bought many that way, but it will be interesting to see how an older Sheaffer fine nib works with this ink. Hopefully, it'll give me a more concentrated line without being much more cloggy (one can hope!). We'll see.

[truthpil]

It's odd that the item didn't pop up. Here's the fine nib violet one I was talking about :

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162945336876

 

Maybe the issue is that it's through eBay UK, but shipping is still worldwide.

 

I'm expecting at least another week for mine.

[elippman]

Odd how that works. I can see it if I click your link, but if I go to ebay and search for it, it doesn't show up. Perhaps ebay is national? The one you link to is British, so maybe that's why it wasn't coming up. Too bad though. I paid almost the same amount for a used pen. If it ends up being a lemon, perhaps I'll fall back on this one. I just got a notification for mine. Estimated arrival--18 May.