Platinum Centennial: Century The Prime

[Intensity]

What are these review rules to disagree with? I’ve even looked into the Reviews section to check, but there are no rules there other than those directing different formats of posts into appropriate subforums.

[A Smug Dill]

What are these review rules to disagree with?

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/248729-welcome-to-the-reviews-subforum/

 

A pen review should contain thorough details about a particular pen, personal experience of ownership, _...‹snip›... In the past, there have been postings in the pen review forum that do not follow these basic principles. Now, I would not go so far as to be strict and say that someone cannot post a "mini" review or "quick impression" write-up. Understandably some people can get quite excited about a newly acquired pen and want to share the enthusiasm, without having yet written a full review. If posting something like this, please be sure to return with more details to fill out the review.

To my way of thinking, just as a photo of an object only shows one side of it under particular lighting conditions to match the photographer's perspective and interests, an amateur user review of a product need not be thorough or comprehensive, or premised on ownership, but "should" cover just the aspects in which the reviewer is (keenly or sufficiently) interested in both discovering for himself and sharing with others. Without precluding the use of diagrams and photographic images, if someone just wants to talk about the writing experience and/or output of a pen, and by extension the aspects and factors that contribute to it (form factor, weight, balance, nib, ink flow, etc.) that ought to be sufficient as his review; the very roots of the word "review" point to his perspective only. It's not meant to be, and should not be required to be, a complete description that covers every viewpoint.

 

(the rest of my usual rant written, and then deleted before posting)

[Intensity]

Oh I see, I've totally missed that post. It seems to strongly recommend a set format but allows for "quick impressions" and "mini" reviews still to encourage people to put in more time. More than "well, I got this pen, and it's pretty cool, writes smoothly *insert a couple photographs* The End." The whole grading system is subjective anyway, but that's what reading reviews is like. The more reviews are posted on the same product, the more one can form a better understanding for a particular product. Even very subjective reviews have their merits.

[mke]

All reviews are subjective. Just look at the reviews praising Tomoe River 52g paper. Nobody ever mentions that the backside is absolutely unusable and that you can even read through several pages of it. It is OK for letters but in a notebook????

Now I wonder if the pen reviews are similarly useless. I know that a review is ... when I read someone giving a "x out of y" without ever explaining what the levels mean.

The best is if someone is pointing out some problems or some really good points. That helps.

 

Disclaimer:

I dislike posting pens and scratching names into pens or anywhere else.

[Intensity]

The main thing I don't like about Tomoe River is not ghosting but rather curling up and unevenness when it contacts water. Even normal writing can do that to some extent. It takes a while to flatten back very gradually in a closed journal. I think the reason a lot of people, myself included, don't mind the ghosting is that we just write on one side for TR journals. I have a B5 journal I got a couple years ago from PaperForFountainPens, and it's been excellent as a travel log, with writing only on one side. For me, way ink appears on TR is worth the downsides. Of course now I also really like Nakabayashi Logical Swing / Prime paper, but I don't think it's available in blank loose leaf--only lined. Still when I run out, I will stock up on more. It's significantly more opaque and does allow writing on both sides with minimal ghosting.

[A Smug Dill]

Give the Aurora and keep the Platinum.

I just might.

 

Platinum B is a nib size which I could get accustomed to - and I usually use Exropean Fs.

This Platinum B is not a signature pen sized nib.

The B nib on my Platinum #3776 "The Prime" could be tolerated, given it declares to be Broad and not Fine or even Medium, when used with an ink (such as Platinum iron-gall) that 'tames' the line width, I suppose. I personally find its output when reverse-writing far more pleasing to the eye, but what you said rings true; its line width in normal orientation is barely broader than the 18K gold F nib on my Pelikan M815 out-of-the-box (for which I seriously disliked that pen, especially because it lays claim to being Fine).

 

However, the step-down on this pen is sharp, and bothers me far more than any other Platinum pen (including ten other #3776 pens of various descriptions) I have ever used. It is also lighter in the hand than I'd expect of a metal-bodied pen (other than those made from anodised aluminium).

 

So far I don't hate the pen, but I'm also not really enjoying using it that much.

[mke]

> its line width in normal orientation is barely broader than the 18K gold F nib on my Pelikan M815 out-of-the-box (for which I seriously disliked that pen, especially because it lays claim to being Fine).

 

Hahahaha. Don't trust the Pelikan sizes - even EF is very broad. Pelikan pens seems to be intended for painting walls.

 

Pelikan/Sailor

EF/MF

F/M-B

M/B+

 

It is the same with Parker Duofold nibs.

[A Smug Dill]

Don't trust the Pelikan sizes - even EF is very broad.

I don't. That's why I tend to refrain from buying gold-nibbed Pelikan fountain pens, of which I have two: one was from Nibsmith.com on the premise that Dan Smith customised it for me (and he did a great job of it) as part and parcel of the order, and the other is the M815 that I hated for months, until the comparison of line widths against the Broad nib on my Platinum #3776 Century "The Prime" prompted me to treat it with some manicure aids. I think I kinda fixed it now.

 

I'm not going to subject the nib on my "The Prime" to any such treatment, though. A Platinum nib deserves more respect than my ham-fisted tuning and regrinding, because I can trust Platinum to deliver to its own published standard.

[Honeybadgers]

I haven't reviewed anything with scores yet (scores are in my eyes objectively meaningless. Because we're measuring something subjective)

 

And I've yet to be chased out or crucified for doing so.

 

Pelikan is weird. Their Steel nibs follow convention pretty darn well. The EF is dead nuts with a JoWo EF, their mediums are a picturesque medium line, but when you get to gold they just seem to go berserk.

 

I don't have the best experience with the hand ground 3776's (I don't know if most of them are machine ground or hand ground, but I do know the UEF is hand ground based on the number of them I've seen all having wildly varying geometry on the grinds) but I'm guessing (and hoping) that the one you got, gil, would be held to a hell of a lot higher standard than the $75 model.

Edited July 30, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[TSherbs]

Write whatever kind of review you want. If it is sincere and at least semi-informative, no one will mind. All inputs can be helpful in their own way. And I like number ratings cuz sometimes I get fed up with verbiage.

[mke]

> number ratings

I give it a 4/10. But most of the users using them a 2/10.

Does it help? Certainly not.

 

Without giving a detailed explanation what each of the levels means, using levels is (...) 🤣

[TSherbs]

> number ratings

I give it a 4/10. But most of the users using them a 2/10.

Does it help? Certainly not.

 

Without giving a detailed explanation what each of the levels means, using levels is (...) 🤣

These things help me. Like I said, sometimes numbers convey positions more succinctly than words (verbiage). I consider the rating of "8 out of 10" for nib smoothness more helpful than this sentence: "I find this nib smooth." But, of course, no one is arguing here for numbers alone. Even numbers need units and scale.

[mke]

@TSherbs

Your answer deserves a 10/10. 😀

Understood your reasoning!

[TSherbs]

 

 

 

and sometimes emojis are best!

[A Smug Dill]

Keeping the body of "The Prime" silver edition shiny and free of tarnish is going to be a maintenance nightmare. *sigh*

[mke]

> Keeping the body of "The Prime" silver edition shiny and free of tarnish is going to be a maintenance nightmare. *sigh*

 

The CEO of Waldmann (Silver) Pens once told me that there is a German old-saying "Silver has to be used or needs to be cleaned" - this is a kind of word game in German which can not be translated but sounds funny in German.

 

However, I can tell you from my experience with silver pens: they are fingerprint magnets, you can clean as much as you want, they never look like on the photos which you saw before buying.

 

You got a silver cleaning cloth with it? NEVER wash it - it works best when it became black from silver oxide(?) If you wash the cloth, it doesn't work anymore.

 

Accept the reduced shine - silver feels warm in winter and cool in summer - a very special feeling. I really like it.

 

That I like silver pens, you can see on my blog (search "mkepens waldmann" in Google images).

[A Smug Dill]

No cleaning cloth in the retail package. In the massive box, there is (of course, the pen itself, and) a pen stand, a bottle of Platinum Blue-Black, an ink cartridge, a silver-coloured CONVERTER-700, and a rather heavy book titled 100-Year Timeline Platinum Fountain Pen that's printed on glossy 100gsm(?) paper.


Source: Platinum Pen

Edited August 1, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[mke]

This book is on my wishlist.

 

A silver cleaning cloth is recommended.

[A Smug Dill]

OK, I've measured the line widths coming out of the Broad nib. The vertical strokes leave lines approximately 0.6–0.7mm wide, and horizontal strokes 0.25–0.35mm wide.

[Honeybadgers]

Interesting, it sounds stubbish

 

 

Just do a damn review, Gil. We're all dying to see more pictures.

 

Do it how you want. Just show us what it looks like and more on how it writes!

Edited August 4, 2019 by Honeybadgers