What Chinese Pens Are You Using Today? 2020 + 21

[WarrenB]

and as for the vacumetic mechanism ... well I had both , the original/ early batches that use the bladder / diagram ; and the piston pump , both function as they should but indeed the piston pump is working with less effort , drawing ink more efficient, & quick. But also magnitude easier to service , CLA ( Clean, Lube, adjust ) and AFAIC , this piston pump vacumetic filling is currently the easiest and most user friendly filling mechanism that any fountain pen new offered on the market , you basically just stick the pen into the ink bottle ( one handed ) and just pump the button a few times and then that's it ; it just work and work each and every time .. I've had no issue with them.

You just sold a pen. New EDC here I come.

[Retro-user]

A newly arrived Jinhao 51a with a fude nib will be my drawing pen for the day. My first pen with a hooded nib. So far I'm impressed.

 

j51a_fude.jpg

Re: the pen stand - resembles an old-fashioned plumbing fixture. Your creation?

[AmandaW]

Re: the pen stand - resembles an old-fashioned plumbing fixture. Your creation?

 

No, not one of mine, I am working on some, but I'm not ready to show them yet.

 

I won that little stand in a mini raffle held at the West Australian Pelikan Hub each year. All the people attending are asked to bring along something to put on the prize table, then numbers are drawn and, in order of drawing, each participant selects something. The ''prizes'' are small things, usually pen related, that someone doesn't want, but someone else always does eg inks, note books, sometimes inexpensive pens (I gave away my Ahabs - one each year for a few years). It's lots of fun, kudos to our organisers for thinking of it. The little stand was actually one of a pair which I shared with another FPN member, I treasure mine.

[TravelCommons]

A Hong Dian Black Forest with an EF nib. Bought it for ~US$6 on AliExpress at the beginning of the month. Arrived 3 weeks later in a little cardboard box inside a padded mailing envelope.

 

I flushed it with some soapy water, after which I filled it with plain water and put it nib down on a paper towel. This drew out a shadow of red ink with which maybe they used to QA the nib. I then filled it with DeAtramentis Aubergine. It writes great -- smoothly puts down a nice line. Interestingly, the converter has a short spring in it, maybe to break the surface tension of the ink. I've seen other bits of metal before in, say, Pilot's CON-40 converter. But this is the first time I've seen a spring in a converter.

[linkoiram]

A Hong Dian Black Forest with an EF nib. Bought it for ~US$6 on AliExpress at the beginning of the month. Arrived 3 weeks later in a little cardboard box inside a padded mailing envelope.

 

I flushed it with some soapy water, after which I filled it with plain water and put it nib down on a paper towel. This drew out a shadow of red ink with which maybe they used to QA the nib. I then filled it with DeAtramentis Aubergine. It writes great -- smoothly puts down a nice line. Interestingly, the converter has a short spring in it, maybe to break the surface tension of the ink. I've seen other bits of metal before in, say, Pilot's CON-40 converter. But this is the first time I've seen a spring in a converter.

I opened mine up the other day and found out the convertor spontaneously cracked and it was leaking. I haven't taken it out of the house in months.

[Ted A]

Interestingly, the converter has a short spring in it, maybe to break the surface tension of the ink. I've seen other bits of metal before in, say, Pilot's CON-40 converter. But this is the first time I've seen a spring in a converter.

A spring seems relatively common in Chinese converters. I have several pens with them.

Edited October 30, 2020 by Ted A

[Ted A]

I opened mine up the other day and found out the convertor spontaneously cracked and it was leaking. I haven't taken it out of the house in months.

did the converter come with the pen? The nipple connecting the feed and the converter differs in size on some Chinese pens. This can cause the collar on the converter to split

[Mech-for-i]

I've been using the Hong Dian 920 White with rose gold trim for a week , pretty understated but yet still an eye catching pen , I've not having any problem with Hong Dian's converter but YMMV

 

Hong Dian  920, on Flickr

[basterma]

Hero 767 with blue Hero 233 ink.

[mb146]

Great Buy.

 

Baoke Fountain pen- a surprisingly great buy! This pen was nicely packaged and came with a presentation box containing two black international cartridges and one convertor for the price of $4.46. The pen looks like a re branded Jinhao 156.

 

The pen is made of brass with a black lacquer finish. It is not too heavy and is well balanced given its weight and dimensions. The pen has similar dimensions to a Montblanc 144 Classic fountain pen and has a heavy spring loaded clip which reminds me of some of the Visconti pens.

 

I strongly suggest that the pen be flushed out (water and dish washing soap solution) before use in order to remove any manufacturing factory residue. The nib is a medium European  style nib without much flex. The nib lays down a nice consistent wet line without any problems and is a pleasure to use.

 

It has is a slip on type cap, with a nice cap liner to prevent the nib from drying out. It closes with a satisfying click. It posts well. There is a sharp step down between the pen body and pen section, but it does not bother me because of the way I grip the pen.

[Helen350]

Lanbitou 3059 (white) - M. nib.  Ink:  Diamine Sherwood Green

[Mech-for-i]

to keep it the spirit, I take out my Selmy Christmas Special 2018 pocket pen for a spin inked with Lamy Petrol ..

 

Selmy Christmas Special 2018, on Flickr

[Helen350]

Moonman P135 - Bent nib.  Ink:  Architekt Herbes alla Roma

[eliweisz]

Wing Sung 670 M

[Helen350]

20 hours ago, eliweisz said:

Wing Sung 670 M

 

Been giving thought to purchasing this Wing Sung.  I love the color yellow!!

[Helen350]

Jinhao Shark - M. nib (Green)  Ink:  Chesterfield Emerald

Jinhao Shark - M. nib  (Pink)    Ink:  Dryden Designs Luscious Pink

Jinhao Shark - M. nib  (Blue)    Ink:  Iroshizuku Kon-Peki

[eliweisz]

3 hours ago, Helen350 said:

 

Been giving thought to purchasing this Wing Sung.  I love the color yellow!!

It's a good pen. Solid. A lovely writer.

[Gloucesterman]

3 hours ago, Helen350 said:

 

Been giving thought to purchasing this Wing Sung.  I love the color yellow!!

Ditto regarding the purchase of a yellow one. The only issue for me is that I prefer the Jinhao one as the cap, below the gold lower band is also yellow. I have purchase two other ones, an orange and a blue that appear somewhat similar to the Aurora Aurolide for the blue and the orange one reminds me of the new Esterbook I bought several years ago.

 

Both of the Jinhao were good writers right out of the box, or envelope in both cases!

[mjkerpanr]

So, I got a Jinhao Dragon for Christmas and I've been using it fairly regularly since I got it. Out of the box, it writes way better than I expected, but it's very heavy (all that decorative metalwork weights a ton), so it works better for making quick notes than for longer writing sessions. Next up is to get some Diamine Red Dragon ink for some thematic matching.

[Ardakilic]

I have been using Lanbitou 286 (Zodiac variant) for a while.

 

I got it as a joke in the first place, to compare with Jinhao 500, Scrikss 419 (a Turkish Pelikan m150-lookalike) and my Pelikan m205.

 

 

It has an unexpectedly decent and smooth medium nib, and is a rather good wet writer.

 

The engraving is real on the body, and it's not a painting. Also, the tip of the cap has a red eyed dragon  

 

 

Got it at $2.7 from Aliexpress, along with the other stuff I needed. Liking it so far.