Jinhao 51A, Another New ( Or Is It Renewed ) C/c Filling Hooded Nib

[penzel_washinkton]

Mech-for-i gave such an in-depth impressions of the pen, really appreciate your points.

 

I myself have received the Jinhao 51A, and I have the 618 as comparison. First of all I need to remind you that the Jinhao 51A is VERY cheap and you should take all my impression with the price in mind (under $5).

 

Build Quality & Finishing

 

- The finishing on the pen I received are rough. Unpolished in the bottom end of the pen and also sharp edges on the caps.

 

- The capping of the pen is one of the most unsatisfying feeling ever in my experience with fountain pens.

 

- Threads on the section to the barrel is good, as is the converter that came with the pen.

 

- Very lightweight pen, feels less substantial than the WS 618.

 

Writing Experience

 

- The seller advertised the pen as an EF but I believe that the size available is the Fine since it writes EF in line width that lays too thick for me.

 

- The pen has a sweet spot for writing

 

- Reverse writing is possible

 

- Using the Diamine Blue/Black, there is no flow problems with this pen.

 

Initially I really wanted to make this my EDC pen but alas, due to the pen laying a thicker line version of an EF , I was not pleased and would probably use the pen sparingly.

If they provide a finer nib then I am all up for it.

 

 

-

Edited July 15, 2018 by penzel_washinkton

[Mech-for-i]

• .......
• there is no clutch in the cap so while still a slip on, all the sealing is down to the inner cap and if you the user push enough into it , that stated the hood would likely survive better without the steel cutting on it

 

 

OK CORRECTION ... the cap do have a clutch after all, I was not noticing it .. it's the old 616 style clutch and as penzel puts it, the cap edge is kind of rough and sharp , though mine , other than the edge .. were all pretty well finished , the clip though is kind of rough especially on the folded ball which might catch on fabric when clipping .. its these usually hidden but critical for real use little things Jinhao seems to always neglect. There's reason why Hero always rank better on my part, they do after all take care of these little things so to speak.

[Mech-for-i]

..

 

Writing Experience

 

- The seller advertised the pen as an EF but I believe that the size available is the Fine since it writes EF in line width that lays too thick for me.

 

- The pen as a sweet spot for writing

 

- Reverse writing is possible

 

...

 

mine write a decent fine , reverse writing only marginally finer ( as expected ) but then that's the norm with these hooded nib, and mine write reasonably well without particular limitation of a sweet spot ( but I typically do not twist skew my pen when writing anyway ). The ED converted one do not blurp, but so much ink in the barrel means you do not want to store it nib down, just the weight of the ink pushing is enough to had it drip out over night ( only a couple of drop but it does drip ). Mine also do not seems to write wet, just normal flow , ink I am using is Pelikan 4001 Blue Black

[penzel_washinkton]

Reverse writing actually gave me the line width I wanted but I have never used a pen (especially hooded) in reverse writing mode as a daily basis.

[Mech-for-i]

 

51A burgundy Eye Dropper modded with a ( kind of not visible ) thin black O ring at the section thread and the transparent red barrel as reservoir, shown filled with water , write wetter than with C/C ( same pen comparing ) and will drip overnight ( ink creep ) if left nib down; measured to have roughly a bit over 4ml if filled ............... also shown is the rounded off and cut back hood exposing more of the feed and nib

 

and update - wooden barrel will not work on plastic coupler version but plastic barrel will work on metal coupler version ( the one wooden barrel come with )

Edited July 15, 2018 by Mech-for-i

[holgalee]

Thanks to Mech-for-I, I got some of these pens too. Have tried two and am having issues getting the ink to flow for one of them. I recall the Jinhao 991 and 992 pens have quite a bit of oil in the nib, feed and possibly converter, so I've tried to clean the pen ad well as I can. Guess I'll have to try again. Can the nib and feed/collector be removed? I can't seem to unscrew them from the section.

Edited July 21, 2018 by holgalee

[penzel_washinkton]

 

51A burgundy Eye Dropper modded with a ( kind of not visible ) thin black O ring at the section thread and the transparent red barrel as reservoir, shown filled with water , write wetter than with C/C ( same pen comparing ) and will drip overnight ( ink creep ) if left nib down; measured to have roughly a bit over 4ml if filled ............... also shown is the rounded off and cut back hood exposing more of the feed and nib

 

and update - wooden barrel will not work on plastic coupler version but plastic barrel will work on metal coupler version ( the one wooden barrel come with )

 

Is your Jinhao a gusher? Mine seems to be a very wet pen, pair that with the Diamine BB and the line it lay becomes very wet

 

Thanks to Mech-for-I, I got some of these pens too. Have tried two and am having issues getting the ink to flow for one of them. I recall the Jinhao 991 and 992 pens have quite a bit of oil in the nib, feed and possibly converter, so I've tried to clean the pen ad well as I can. Guess I'll have to try again. Can the nib and feed/collector be removed? I can't seem to unscrew them from the section.

 

I also unsuccessfully tried to unscrew the grip part, don't know if it's possible or not

[Mech-for-i]

Well, my 51A is wet alright but not really a gusher, its more like it lean towards being wet

[penzel_washinkton]

I see, might be because of the pen+ink combination

[holgalee]

Finally managed to switch the nib of one of the Jinhaos for a spare Hero nib. The rest of my Jinhaos write fine and smooth lines (one of them is a bit more wet than the rest), so I'm quite pleased.

[vojtahlad]

I purchased one. I love the design. Especially, the ball-ended clip and the wooden barrel are sweet. In my eyes, this is the best looking "homage to Parker 51" ever.

 

Unfortunately, the writing experience is below standard. The ink flow is seriously inconsistent and the pen is able to produce wet and dry words in a single sentence. The written text looks nervous and formless. Such a shame.

 

My experience: great to look at it, bad to write with it.

[lovemy51]

i think the aerometric design filling system would have made it better. not bad looking, tho -especially the wood barrel model.

[holgalee]

I purchased one. I love the design. Especially, the ball-ended clip and the wooden barrel are sweet. In my eyes, this is the best looking "homage to Parker 51" ever.

 

Unfortunately, the writing experience is below standard. The ink flow is seriously inconsistent and the pen is able to produce wet and dry words in a single sentence. The written text looks nervous and formless. Such a shame.

 

My experience: great to look at it, bad to write with it.

 

Voljtahlad, try dismantling the nib, feed/collector and section, and giving those a thorough clean. I had flow issues with some of mine as well but after cleaning, those issues disappeared and the pens became wonderful to write with. Jinhao and a few other chinese pen makers (excluding Hero) seem to have quite a bit of oil left over from the manufacturing process.

[Mongoosey]

I picked up a couple of the 0.5 Fine unhooded nib versions, Wood and plastic. These look fascinating.

 

I like the Parker 51 style and shape, but prefer an unhooded nib so I'm enthusiastic especially for the price. I know a hooded nib is good to prevent drying out, but if I'm in a situation like that I just cheat and use a Schmidt Easyflow9000 .

 

I do wonder if it's the same nib as the jinhao 992, which was quite nice, and also if it's swappable.

 

 

With such positive reviews this is a nice new fun one.

 

 

[penzel_washinkton]

I think this is one of the underrated Jinhao pens. Not getting too much of a spotlight but it really writes well for a $3-$5 pen

[truthpil]

I tried a wood one out in the store the other day and was impressed with the balance and feel. I nice first pen for someone getting into hooded nibs.

[bass1193]

I tried a wood one out in the store the other day and was impressed with the balance and feel. I nice first pen for someone getting into hooded nibs.

I'm so jealous that you can try in a store! If I'd had that chance, I wouldn't have bought the plastic one. The plastic connector, as opposed to the metal one on the wood models makes a tremendous difference in balance, which is why I would recommend the wood ones especially considering they're the same price.

[truthpil]

I'm so jealous that you can try in a store! If I'd had that chance, I wouldn't have bought the plastic one. The plastic connector, as opposed to the metal one on the wood models makes a tremendous difference in balance, which is why I would recommend the wood ones especially considering they're the same price.

That's one of the benefits of living in China (there are many disadvantages for sure). The wood version was much lighter than I had expected, but still pretty solid construction.

[Holon]

The plastic connector, as opposed to the metal one on the wood models makes a tremendous difference in balance, which is why I would recommend the wood ones especially considering they're the same price.

 

The resin version has the same connector as the wooden one. They are a bit more expensive, but the acryl is quite nice (I have the brown/autumn version and the hawaii gradient is on its way)

[bass1193]

The resin version has the same connector as the wooden one. They are a bit more expensive, but the acryl is quite nice (I have the brown/autumn version and the hawaii gradient is on its way)

Yeah for sure! Just got the brown/orange gradient from Bobby last Friday, and it's fantastic! Worth way more than $8!