Jump to content

Twsbi Mini Ef - First Impressions

mvarela

By mvarela
in Fountain Pen Reviews

 Share

Recommended Posts

mvarela Extremely Rare

mvarela

Posted
Posted

So, yesterday I got my TWSBI Mini EF, and after playing with it for a few hours, here are my first impressions. I'm rather new to FPs, so I don't feel able to provide a full review...

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7283/9519922776_87e4d7c6ad_h.jpg

 

 

Some pictures of it:

 

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3668/9517136177_ca26199d59_b.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3827/9519923946_43d576a717_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7381/9519924472_a61f33c07c_b.jpghttp://farm8.staticflickr.com/7418/9519925246_1917c3201f_b.jpghttp://farm8.staticflickr.com/7310/9517138863_32ea691456_b.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 29
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • mvarela

    10

  • perrins57

    5

  • Pen2009

    2

  • Cyclopentadiene

    2

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Mathemagician Near Mint

Mathemagician

Posted
Posted

sorry you seemed to have a hard starter, I love my Mini and have found that wet inks work really well in it, as long as they arent too wet. I personally had been using Bad Blue Heron and now 54th Massachusetts in it and have had no problems, though borealis black feathered oddly. Gorgeous handwriting by the way, really a great review.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cyclopentadiene Mint

Cyclopentadiene

Posted
Posted

Blimey that handwriting is amazing! Superb mini review. Appreciate the pics too :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mbankirer Extremely Rare

mbankirer

Posted
Posted

Nice review. Great penmanship!

As for the hard start and skipping....did you rinse out the pen before inking it? A lot of clean water with a drop of dish washing soap helps get all the dusts and oils out and flushes the nib?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mvarela Extremely Rare

mvarela

Posted
  • Author
Posted

sorry you seemed to have a hard starter, I love my Mini and have found that wet inks work really well in it, as long as they arent too wet. I personally had been using Bad Blue Heron and now 54th Massachusetts in it and have had no problems, though borealis black feathered oddly. Gorgeous handwriting by the way, really a great review.

Thanks for dropping by and for the tip. I will try some wetter ink, and see how that goes. If it is still dry, I'll try adjusting the nib (though I find that a bit intimidating, I must say)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mvarela Extremely Rare

mvarela

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Nice review. Great penmanship!

As for the hard start and skipping....did you rinse out the pen before inking it? A lot of clean water with a drop of dish washing soap helps get all the dusts and oils out and flushes the nib?

Thanks!

I did rinse it quite thoroughly before inking it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
warblerick Extremely Rare

warblerick

Posted
Posted

I have the same pen, with a fine nib. I now have it inked with Organics Studio Charles Darwin (black) which is billed as waterproof and fast dry. I really don't care too much about the waterproof quality, but the fast dry is great. Also, with this ink, it seems very wet coming out of the pen, so much so that the fine nib behaves more like a medium, but dries instantly. Odd but I find it very satisfying. You might try this ink in your EF mini. I think it would eliminate your skipping and hard starts, if you didn't mind it writing like a fine nib instead of an extra fine. I use mine to write daily notes in my Rhodia #11 pads which are pretty small (2.9x4.1 in.), so my writing has to be fairly small also.

 

I also have the pen in the clear demo in 1.1 stub, and have had no issues with skipping or hard starts in either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mvarela Extremely Rare

mvarela

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I have the same pen, with a fine nib. I now have it inked with Organics Studio Charles Darwin (black) which is billed as waterproof and fast dry. I really don't care too much about the waterproof quality, but the fast dry is great. Also, with this ink, it seems very wet coming out of the pen, so much so that the fine nib behaves more like a medium, but dries instantly. Odd but I find it very satisfying. You might try this ink in your EF mini. I think it would eliminate your skipping and hard starts, if you didn't mind it writing like a fine nib instead of an extra fine. I use mine to write daily notes in my Rhodia #11 pads which are pretty small (2.9x4.1 in.), so my writing has to be fairly small also.

 

I also have the pen in the clear demo in 1.1 stub, and have had no issues with skipping or hard starts in either.

Thanks for the tip! I'll try to get my hands on some of that ink...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nomadhacker Rare

nomadhacker

Posted
Posted

Nice review and again, very nice handwriting.

 

I'll agree with the other posters. Sometimes newer pens need a little extra flushing. My Lamy Studio for instance. Took several times of flushing to get it going without hard starts and skips. A little dish soap goes a long way :)

 

Also, if it does keep up hard starting on you, get in touch with Philip from TWSBI. The company is really good about helping with adjustments and getting you up and running.

http://stubblefield.me Inks Available for Sample Exchange: Noodler's Black, Blue Black, Apache Sunset, Private Reserve Black Cherry, Sherwood Green, Tanzanite, Velvet Black, De Atramentis Aubergine, J. Herbin Lie de The, 1670 Rouge Hematite, Bleu Ocean, Lamy Turquoise, Rohrer & Klingner Salix, Sheaffer Skrip Blue-Black, OS Red Rubber Ball, Parker Quink Blue (India version)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
coffeetoofull Rare

coffeetoofull

Posted
Posted (edited)

I read a FPN Topic on TWSBI pens, which said that sometimes air is captured in the filling process. This can result in making the ink difficult to start. I own two TWSBI Minis, and after using them for sometime have no problem with start-ups or a continuous line. At first I tried filling my TWSBI about 2/3 full. This allowed the pen to break-in, and now it works perfectly.

Best Writings To You, coffeetoofull

Edited by coffeetoofull
Link to comment
Share on other sites
mvarela Extremely Rare

mvarela

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Nice review and again, very nice handwriting.

 

I'll agree with the other posters. Sometimes newer pens need a little extra flushing. My Lamy Studio for instance. Took several times of flushing to get it going without hard starts and skips. A little dish soap goes a long way :)

 

Also, if it does keep up hard starting on you, get in touch with Philip from TWSBI. The company is really good about helping with adjustments and getting you up and running.

 

 

I read a FPN Topic on TWSBI pens, which said that sometimes air is captured in the filling process. This can result in making the ink difficult to start. I own two TWSBI Minis, and after using them for sometime have no problem with start-ups or a continuous line. At first I tried filling my TWSBI about 2/3 full. This allowed the pen to break-in, and now it works perfectly.

Best Writings To You, coffeetoofull

 

Thanks guys! I'll give it another good flush with some soapy water, and see if that helps. I'll also try a wetter ink, just in case.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cyclopentadiene Mint

Cyclopentadiene

Posted
Posted

I must admit whereas my Vac700 was raring to go the 580 bold nib took a few days working in. Other than that plain sailing.

 

Best wishes,

Badger

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 3 months later...
mvarela Extremely Rare

mvarela

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

A couple more pictures of the Mini. After using it for a few months, I only appreciate it more and more. The skipping and hard starts were due to the PR Tanzanite, apparently. I've since had it inked with Quink Blue/Black and Diamine Damson, and it writes flawlessly.

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7413/11340591055_4be9054d50_h.jpghttp://farm6.staticflickr.com/5518/11340589435_ceab82e39e_h.jpghttp://farm8.staticflickr.com/7295/11340692604_136040de8d_h.jpg

Edited by mvarela
Link to comment
Share on other sites
MannyBA Near Mint

MannyBA

Posted
Posted

Very nice handwriting indeed.

Glad you are happy with your mini.

I have a TWSBI 580 and a VAC 700 and am very happy with them. I've been thinking about getting a smaller pen to carry in my jeans pockets so the mini might be it.................

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33583
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26772
    5. jar
      jar
      26105

  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      Links to web pages or articles about Chinese typesetting, signwriting, etc.

      By Shanghai Knife Dude · Posted

      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By A Smug Dill · Posted

      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By adamselene · Posted

      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By A Smug Dill · Posted

      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By adamselene · Posted

      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o

  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More

  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...