Is This For Real?

[Neverland76uk]

I came across this unknown brand stonegraph with a golden flex nib... it looks like a scam... but if its not i would want one of those!!! anyone ever heard of those?

[NinthSphere]

It's a real thing. It's also obviously a Jinhao x450/Zebra G hack with a mark-up.

 

edit: If that's not sufficiently clear, it's a steel dip nib in a pen that'll cost you a few bucks.

Edited December 1, 2018 by NinthSphere

[Honeybadgers]

steel dip nib that will rust. Great pens, but make them yourself from a $2 jinhao x450 and a $1 zebra G dip nib (buy a pack, they last about 1-3 months before rusting)

 

these scam pens are starting to appear everywhere.

 

the "testimonial" facebook posts actually say the someone put drawing ink in his pen after having problems with parker ink. I'm sure it worked great... for like 15 minutes!

 

 

These are jinhao 450's with cheap chinese made comic G nibs jammed in them. They're worth maybe $4 and the seller would still be turning a profit.

Edited December 1, 2018 by Honeybadgers

[Neverland76uk]

wow I saw them for 25 pounds (30 usd ish) and priced down from 40+

 

I think i will pass... might attempt to find that vintage flex after all...

 

Oh and thanks for your quick responses!!!!

Edited December 1, 2018 by Neverland76uk

[Honeybadgers]

they're chinese garbage (not implying that chinese pens are garbage, nor is the pen they're selling, which you can make yourself for under $5 garbage, it's just the practice of charging fivefold what they could be selling it for and still turning a profit)

 

they're "marked down" because the price they're selling it at is severely marked up. Chinese scams pull this constantly. Look at any watch sold from a chinese brand and they're always $30-60, "marked down" from over $400. But you never, ever seem to find them for any price other than 40-60.

 

This is a new chinese practice called "dropshipping". When you're looking at pens, if you've never heard of the name, look on ebay. they're usually rebranded jinhaos.

 

Make no mistake, if you've got a pair of pliers (need to squeeze the base of the dip nibs to make them fit easily) you can make a great flex pen with a jinhao 450 and a pack of zebra G nibs for under $10 (and have a pack of 10 nibs, which should last a couple years.) A little maintenance intensive but they work astoundingly well.

Edited December 1, 2018 by Honeybadgers

[Neverland76uk]

Make no mistake, if you've got a pair of pliers (need to squeeze the base of the dip nibs to make them fit easily) you can make a great flex pen with a jinhao 450 and a pack of zebra G nibs for under $10 (and have a pack of 10 nibs, which should last a couple years.) A little maintenance intensive but they work astoundingly well.

 

what is the maintenance on those? Why is it more intensive?

[Lomi]

 

what is the maintenance on those? Why is it more intensive?

Zebra G Nib that installed in them will rust easily if you leave it for an extended period of time without cleaning it and removing any moist from it, so process after each use of this pen (if you really want it to live as long as it can) would be to suck up ink from the feed back into the convertor, remove feed and nib section and clean it in towel, then install back, feed and nib on jinhao x450 can be pulled pretty easily with only fingers if you do it regularly.

[Honeybadgers]

 

what is the maintenance on those? Why is it more intensive?

 

They aren't made from stainless steel, they're made from high carbon steel and chrome or titanium plated.

 

The carbon steel lets them be extremely flexible and tough but comes at the expense of corrosion resistance. Even if the outside of the nib isn't visibly rusted, the nib slit itself isn't coated, so the rust begins here and works its way to the point, which results in a "scratchy" nib. this means it's time to replace.

 

A zebra G nib will need to be thrown out every 1-3 months of regular use. A box contains 10 for around $10-15 (I do find the titanium models to both write better and last a little longer but they cost nearly double, around $20 a box for 10) so as long as you're willing to replace the nib every other month or so, a box could last up to two years. It's honestly not a bad deal.

 

The pens themselves are not perfect with flow, though. Plastic feeds meant for a medium nib are not going to keep up wonderfully with a dip nib. They're surprisingly good, but not perfect. The best option is to get a noodlers ahab and heat set the big fat ebonite feed to a dip nib. That'll give you an amazing experience (but the nib still needs routine replacement and when you store the pen un-inked, it MUST be either kept with the nib out or completely and utterly dried before putting away for long term storage)

 

Try it out with a jinhao x450. pick one up for $2, pick up a box of zebra G nibs for $10. take some pliers and gently squeeze the base of the g nib until you feel it "give" (don't worry there's a LOT of room for error in this and it'll work fine. the more you squeeze the easier it'll fit) and then slide the nib and feed together into the pen. You'll probably need to use the converter to force ink up into the feed to "prime" it from time to time, but you'll have the gist of how a pen like that writes. keep it for a month or so until the nib wears out, use it all you can, they're amazingly fun for drawing and sketching. If you still enjoy it, get a noodlers ahab and look up how to heat-set feeds using hot water, and heat set the ebonite feed to the dip nibs. that feed and converter will keep up great and stops the need for priming. It will still need the nibs "squished" at the back to make 'em fit, but it's a really trivial task.

 

If you still REALLY enjoy that and want a pen that can just accept the dip nibs after you enjoy your ahab, desiderata makes proper nib units that accept the dip nib without squishing, but you're up over $70 for one and a pen that takes JoWo nib units.

 

I will say that they're great art tools and can even be used for normal writing in good notebooks, but they're not great for everyday due to the sharpness of the nibs, they lay down hairlines but tend to be quite wet (so bad paper tends to feather and bleed badly) and the extra maintenance.

 

I have a noodlers ahab dedicated specifically to zebra G dip nibs and it gets a lot of use. But it won't be for everyone.

[Neverland76uk]

thanks for your detailed response. Sounds like a thing to occupy myself with over xmas...