Crack Developed In 3776 Section

[A Smug Dill]

The Oshino has been a giant disappointment, to say the least! I wish I could focus on the nib, which is actually quite nice, but it's overshadowed by these apparent structural issues.

 

 

The nib and feed can be removed and transplanted into a different Platinum #3776 Century, if you really feel that way. By that, I mean it might have a nib that is uncommon as an option (e.g. Soft Medium, as on my Oshino), or customised by a nibmeister, or just happen to gel with you and earn your trust like no other factory-fitted Platinum nib of the same nib width grade, and so you want to focus on (enjoying the use of) that particular nib, as opposed to just buying a new pen that distracts you less with imperfections in the pen body and then focusing on the nib that comes fitted on it instead.

[ahtzib]

 

 

The nib and feed can be removed and transplanted into a different Platinum #3776 Century, if you really feel that way. By that, I mean it might have a nib that is uncommon as an option (e.g. Soft Medium, as on my Oshino), or customised by a nibmeister, or just happen to gel with you and earn your trust like no other factory-fitted Platinum nib of the same nib width grade, and so you want to focus on (enjoying the use of) that particular nib, as opposed to just buying a new pen that distracts you less with imperfections in the pen body and then focusing on the nib that comes fitted on it instead.

 

Yes...if I have an opportunity to transplant my nib (both uncommon and nibmeistered), indeed I will do so--though I hasten to add that I'm not especially excited about the prospect of additional expense for an already costly special edition FP.

 

However, such an operation is incumbent on finding a stable and reliable 3776 cap + section + barrel combo, in any case. So there's that. And I would just emphasize that my concern is not really about superficial imperfections, generally speaking, but more about structural soundness.

Edited August 24, 2020 by ahtzib

[A Smug Dill]

However, such an operation is incumbent on finding a stable and reliable 3776 cap + section + barrel combo, in any case. So there's that. And I would just emphasize that my concern is not really about superficial imperfections, generally speaking, but more about structural soundness.

 

The Platinum #3776 Century does come in 'Jupiter' ebonite (which I don't have).

 

Then there are the Kanazawa-haku models (of which I have two out of three). For whatever reason, most of the time when there are structural weaknesses leading to cracks in the resin that we hear about online, it's with see-through or (in the case of Pelikan) white plastic, rarely dark opaque ones. (However, I posted about one such case recently, and it also has to do with Platinum.) I'm pretty sure the resin under the gold leaf on the models is dark and opaque.

[ahtzib]

On 8/23/2020 at 5:59 PM, ahtzib said:

 

Yes...if I have an opportunity to transplant my nib (both uncommon and nibmeistered), indeed I will do so--though I hasten to add that I'm not especially excited about the prospect of additional expense for an already costly special edition FP.

 

However, such an operation is incumbent on finding a stable and reliable 3776 cap + section + barrel combo, in any case. So there's that. And I would just emphasize that my concern is not really about superficial imperfections, generally speaking, but more about structural soundness.

 

Well, it turns out that I did have the opportunity to transplant my nib! 

 

Turning to one of my favorite innovators in the fountain pen community, Flexible Nib Factory, I found what I was looking for: a way to put a 3776 nib in a completely different pen. I came across FNF a while ago when I was desperately looking for a way to get a couple of #6 Jowo nibs working consistently. (I've tried many Jowo nibs that all suffered the same maddening ink-starvation issue.) Anyway, using the FNF ebonite feed and housing, I've been able to keep my awesome Franklin-Christoph pens writing at peak performance; this is an upgrade I cannot recommend enough.

 

So, I thought, what if FNF made a Jowo-compatible housing that fit the 3776 nib and feed? And when I looked...it turns out they do! As always, the FNF housing was machined to utter perfection; the most difficult part of the operation was actually getting the nib and feed out of the 3776 section. (It's a very tight tolerance). But the transplant only took a matter of minutes in the end, and my FC20-3776 hybrid was ready to write!

 

Overall, things went about as expected:

• FC designs their pens to be used as high-capacity eyedroppers, so that was great.
• The nib wrote much wetter in ED mode than using c/c in the 3776, which was no surprise...and a welcome change.
• You can get a lot of mileage out of a FC ED fill, but once the ink level drops below half there is an ever-present risk of "burping" or nib-flooding. 

This latter point--the eventual flooding--is something I find intolerable because it's hard to predict and creates a mess (always at the most inconvenient moment). So I decided to switch the nib back to the original 3776 pen, resulting in the following observations:

• First, with the nib out of the 3776 section, I was able to confirm that the hairline crack does not, in fact, seem to extend all the way into the interior of section. That was a relief!
• Though I'm not aware of making any obvious changes in the course of swapping things around, the newly-reinstalled 3776 nib wrote quite a bitter wetter and with more noticeable flexibility than before. Though I really liked the nib before, it's definitely much better now.

In conclusion: The Jowo/3776 housing from FNF creates a lot of potentially delightful options for moving a 3776 nib around to various pens at a reasonable cost (as long as one doesn't damage the feed during the initial removal, of course). The main limitation, I should note, is that the FNF housing only works for non-converter situations (like the FC eyedropper). The FNF housing does not have an extension for the 3776's feeder stem, so a converter cannot be secured to it. However, if the tradeoffs for using an ED are not a bother, then this is a solid option to upgrade various Jowo-nibbed pens to a 3776 nib. (Also note: A different FNF housing is needed for the 3776 music nib.) While this FC-3776 setup turned out not be quite ideal for me, I was glad to have the opportunity to experiment a bit!