Advocate BHR ED

[bentnib]

Raw ebonite (hard rubber) fountain pen, eyedropper filled, fine nib. Made in India.

 

This impressive pen arrived this morning from FPNer Hari (hari317) in Mumbai, India. I've been keenly awaiting itrs arrival, and so have filled it and started writing.

 

First things first – this is a big pen – 157mm long capped, 148mm uncapped. In the accompanying images it appears alongside a black Sailor 1911M and a blue Pilot Prera, and dwarfs them! It is turned from raw black ebonite, and the only hint of bling is the stainless steel clip; there are no rings or sleeves on this version. There are a few minor imperfections in the ebonite, but within reasonable limits. Rugged, simple lines; very pleasing to my eye. Screw cap (fine thread with 7.5 turns to remove! - some would shy away from that, but you can leave it cap off for some time without restarting problems). It is not a heavy pen, and though I don't have anything on hand to weigh it with, I'd say it weighs little more than the 1911M. Well balanced it feels good in my relatively small hand. With a nod to another FPN thread on the smell of ebonite; yes, up close it smells like what it is – vulcanised rubber – but only up close, and not problematically (it will not clear a room!!).

 

It swallowed ~3.5ml of ink on the first fill; and I can't yet report on how long that might last. Getting the ink flowing was relatively straight forward after filling (with Waterman blue-black), and though it initially seemed reluctant to flow to the tip, a quick dip and write solved that problem.

 

As with the hand-made pen dimensions, nib width apparently varies somewhat. At my request Hari fitted and tuned the narrowest 'fine' he had. It puts down a moderately wet line roughly comparable to that of the Sailor 1991M's H-M nib. The gold-plated steel Advocate nib is quite stiff, but smooth. On some inferior papers it tends to bleed a lot of ink; on medium – higher grade papers it is well behaved.

 

At USD$40, I'd rate this pen as very good value for money. It's likely to be a keeper in my much thinned out FP collection :-)

 

(Please excuse the mobile phone photo's, and colour cast).

 

 

 

Advocate at top - below Sailor 1911M, Pilot Prera

 

 

 

 

 

Some Pablo Neruda in Waterman blue-black (and my scrappy handwriting) from the Advocate:

 

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2009 by bentnib

[katfisch]

I assume the nib is gold plated steel?

[bentnib]

I assume the nib is gold plated steel?

 

Yes it is.

 

Putting other nibs in these pens also seems straightforward enough if you're so inclined (and able) it seems.

Edited March 19, 2009 by bentnib

[shrujaya]

Dear bentnib...

 

I am glad that you purchased an Advocate...and gladder that you like it...I have six of them! and each one is a good writer... and starts at the first stroke even after a week's layoff... and can write almost endlessly...really cool pen ... and I am sure your pen is going to be a keeper... enjoy...

 

Regards,

 

Shrujaya

[gyrosan]

Your thorough review and picture comparison are much appreciated. As much as Pablo Neruda's poem

 

Kind regards,

gyrosan

Edited March 19, 2009 by gyrosan

[bentnib]

Your thorough review and picture comparison are much appreciated. As much as Pablo Neruda's poem

 

Kind regards,

gyrosan

 

Glad to be of assistance (and meet another Neruda admirer!).

 

regards

 

 

 

[rwilsonedn]

Thanks for the great review! Now if I can just find an Advocate somewhere ...

One question, now that you've been using the pen for a while. Does it announce that the ink level is getting down by leaving drops on the paper? It seems like most EDs do that, and the larger the capacity the more they do it. But some don't seem to. So I wanted to ask.

ron

[bentnib]

Thanks for the great review! Now if I can just find an Advocate somewhere ...

One question, now that you've been using the pen for a while. Does it announce that the ink level is getting down by leaving drops on the paper? It seems like most EDs do that, and the larger the capacity the more they do it. But some don't seem to. So I wanted to ask.

ron

 

Hi Ron

 

Not so far, but it has such a big tank I may not be so close to the bottom yet! I'll let you know if that changes.

 

I must say though after writing quite a few pages of longhand since the review, I'm liking it more all the time. I'm warming to its rugged aesthetic charm more as well - it looks like the old fashioned charmer that it is :-)

 

I bought this pen from Hari on FPN, and he may be able to source some more???

 

lawrie

 

 

 

[bentnib]

One question, now that you've been using the pen for a while. Does it announce that the ink level is getting down by leaving drops on the paper? It seems like most EDs do that, and the larger the capacity the more they do it. But some don't seem to. So I wanted to ask.

 

Hi Ron

 

Having such a large ink holding capacity, it has taken quite a while to get to the bottom (or nearly) - and yes, it does have a tendency to want to blob when it gets close. Thanks to your message I realised what this rush of lemming-like ink was about, and re-filled. I've been writing with the pen daily to varying extents for about 12 days on one tank - for one used to converters, that's quite a difference! The only thing that comes close is my Pilot Prera fine (= EF) on a cartridge, which puts down such a thin line the cartridge lasts ages.

 

Lawrie