I got two of the Balance pens when Sheaffer intriduced them in the late 90's and are similar in appearance-but different colors and a different size)than the ones in the 30's. I also have a Balance edition called Millenium. I have found these pen to skip badly. Has anyone else had this experience?

O yes, just search the forum and you will find several posting on the subject of skipping new Balances. I had one too. I couldn't find out what was wrong with it. Tried both converter and catridges. Even went for a nib/feed replacement under warrenty. The skipping continued... until I did run a thin piece of mylar between the nib and the feed and flushed several times with dishwashing soap/water mixture. My skipping Balance no longer skips.

Ruud

I love Sheaffers, but I think they misfired with these pens. I have only purchased the 14K gold nibbed "Classic" editions. I found them a bit scratchy. The caps never posted properly, and to me they seemed cheap. The nib is a bit flexy, but then I prefer a stiffer nib. I know the more upscale 18K versions with the two-toned nibs had a lot of problems with the feeds and also with the caps splitting and cracking, etc. I think these pens hurt Sheaffer's reputation.

Dave

I have a ballpoint and a rollerball in this series:

The ballpoint is wonderful; it's a little bit heavy but it writes very well and is a great looking pen. It outperforms my pilots and parkers in the ballpoint area.

The roller ball suffered a chipped and cracked cap and is retired. The performance was great but the plastic quality wasn't terribly durable.

I think these pens were an excellent idea. They are particularly nice looking and really call back to the Balances of old. That said, there were indeed some quality issues on some of the pens that made them problems.

I have 4 Balance II FPs (plus a couple of converted RBs).

All four have 18ct nibs and I have never had any skipping problems with any of them, in fact the all write very smoothly, with a line just the right width for me.

Can't pretend they are perfect, of the 2 Millennium Balances, one ended up with a cracked cap (at the base of the clip), went off to Shaeffer under warranty, as they couldn't repair the pen they returned the cracked one and sent me a Crimson Glow one as a replacement. As I now exercise more care with the original one the crack hasn't got worse and it is still in regular use.

I like these pens a lot and at least one will find it's way into my rotation fairly regularly (would be more often if I didn't have so many nice pens).

Andy

That's what makes them such faithful reproductions of the vintage Balance pens--the caps on those pens don't post worth a @#%!@, either!

Good luck,
Don

I don't care that the caps don't post on either my vintage or modern Balance pens. I don't post. To me, it unbalances most pens and makes them less comfortable for long periods of writing.

I have 6 modern Balance pens. All but one are fountain pens. None of mine skip. One has a Binderized nib. Another stub was customized by another nib meister. I have a range of nib widths. All are smooth. All write with a consistent even flow. They are definitely among my favorite modern pens.

I am not a fan of the current piston style Sheaffer converter. I ordered a supply of the older, squeeze-type converters from Pendemonium. I find that some inks cling to the walls of the newer converters causing ink starvation. I never have that problem with the old converters or with cartridges. I use the new converters only for pen cleaning.

I carry a pen case that was a free gift with a Swisher order years ago. In it are my dark green modern Balance with a modified stub nib loaded with Noodlers Sequoia, the matching roller ball with a black refill and a vintage green striped Balance pencil. That combination meets all my writing needs on the go.

Hmm, my buddy's regular 14K nibs were the smoothest we've encountered

I have several and find them all smooth. I took one to the office today and is on rotation.

I have two of these pens (Crimson Glow and Cobalt Glow) and they both wrote perfectly right out of the box. I think they're beautiful too look at and delightful to hold. Like one of the previous posters, I don't post so I can't really address that issue.
Cheers
skyp

I have all the models (except the Disney Edition) and most write perfectly.
I have a couple of Mediums that tend to skip now and then, but I like them so much I over-look it.

I have the Limited Edition lever-filler Balance II and it has the smoothest medium nib I've ever come across. A very nice pen indeed, and no problems whatsoever.

- Stuart

I have two Balance II FPs, a Crimson and a Cobalt, and haven't had flow/scratch problems with either. The Cobalt is a replacement for my Millennium, whose barrel broke in two when it rolled off a desk. I was really disappointed when Sheaffer sent that replacement because I loved the midnight blue color of the Millennium, but alas... I do enjoy writing with both of them.

I have a Balance II (cobalt blue) with 14K nib. Nary a problem skipping, one of my best-writing pens out of the box.

As I think about it, I have seven Balance II FP's - regular production crimson, cobalt, amber and emerald; plus the lever fill LE, Milennium and Aspen. All of the colors are lovely. Five have stub nibs, the other two have a F and a M nib respectively. Needless to say, I like the pen model's style, and all of my pens have written as I expected out of the box. I have had all my Balance II's for several years, and they have all been problem free. I do not know if I was just lucky, but I had assumed their excellent performance was a tribute to Sheaffer quality.

I also want to comment that I seldom see anyone talk about the Balance II's size. I like larger pens, and the Balance II is actually a large pen, easily comparable to a Duofold Centennial or a Stipula O/S Etruria. It has a unique section that facilitates a good, comfortable grip. Like Mary, I find the length and balance of the pen unposted to be great for long term writing.

I have a Crimson Glow Balance II pen. Mine suffered from hairline cracks in the cap, which were replaced under warranty. But I also replaced the nib with an original Lifetime nib (instead of the modern "FeatherTouch" that they put on the pen) and a Sheaffer NoNonsense hard rubber feed. Now it is a very nice writer!

Sheaffer designed a beautiful pen in the Balance II, but they should have paid more attention to the nib and the feed.

Interesting, my Cobalt came with the Lifetime nib. Maybe Sheaffer released various configurations.

Oops, I think it came with an incorrect FeatherTouch nib (since the pen has a white dot), but now I am not so sure anymore. Anyway, the vintage nib is much better than the one that came with the pen.

Edit: I just checked, FeatherTouch indeed. I don't understand why they didn't put the correct marking on the nib. I also think that it would have been nice to have the barrel imprinted, like on the original Balance pens.

The 14k nibs seem to be better than the 18k nibs. I'm not sure why. My Sheaffer Balance II pens with the 14k nibs are exceptionally smooth writers. The pens with 18k nibs are good but not exceptional.

I was using my Cobalt Glow Balance II yesterday for some short notes when it stopped writing altogether. This is the only problem I have ever had with this pen and it seems to be fine now. This pen has been in storage for a little while.

I was mainly using my Dark Blue Millennium Balance II until recently. I was on the phone and was holding the pen with my non-dominant hand, and I can still see it, the pen rolled off my left hand bounced on its end and then bounced on its nib; so off to be re-aligned, with a little modification.

Both pens have Feather-Touch 18K nibs. The Millennium is a medium and the other is a fine. I have never really enjoyed medium nibs but I would hate to admit what I paid for the Millennium.

Both of these pens write a little to the wet side and I find both to be very smooth.

Though the pen is not here to double check, I have no remembrance of the Millennium not posting the cap properly. This is not the case with the other.

Not only does the Cobalt Glow Balance II’s cap rock back and forth when posted, but the section does not seem to fit the barrel very well. Inevitable the barrel and the section will shift while I’m writing. I have found that with just the right tension, I can over come this. It just seems and I have not way to verify this, that barrel is slightly out of round.

I just did one little test. When I screw the barrel on to the Balance II I can wiggle it back and forth until the two are fully together. When I try this with my Aurora Ipsilon there is no movement what so ever.

So I think there was some problem with either the design or the molding process mainly involving the barrel. But don’t quote me on this.

Thanks for all the information. Now that I know some have cracked I will probably not post these pens again. But I like them both ways and always have.

TTFN
Pat

Yes, unfortunately Sheaffer never was the same again after they were Textron'ed ...

The Balance II is a very nice pen, but it could have been much nicer if they got all the details right. I realize that a GF clip and cap band would probably have been too expensive, but they could easily have made some other improvements (like a hard rubber feed).