I took advantage of a very good offer and got a nice new Valor. Even after a generous discount it's the costliest pen I've ever bought. But it seems to be worth every penny--lovely design, just the right weight, sturdily built and stylish except that the (fine) nib is crazily wet. I notice others have talked about the wet nib; mine seems to be like those that are really really wet.

So off it goes to Sheaffer for inspection and, I hope, adjustment or nib replacement.

I'll keep you all posted shall I?

cheers,
eric

Yes, let us know. I'm thinking about buying a Valor - I love the design.

Erick

Yes it's an interesting design. I've seen it described as a big pen. Well, yes and no. Unposted it's only 6mm or so longer than a Legacy or a Pelikan Epoch. But it has the most enormous cap I have ever seen, so capped it's quite imposing. Posted, well you can imagine.......

cheers,
eric

I too just obtained the most expensive pen in my collection, a brand new Valor in Black with Gold Trim, also a fine point nib. My experience is the exact opposite of yours, My nib is very dry, and a bit scratchy, but it does not skip. I am hoping it will smooth out with time. It is very different than My Legacy Heritage, which is extremely wet, so much so, that I sent it off for nib modifications.

I would go so far as to say Sheaffer inlaid nibs tend to run wet. All the Targas I own as well as my Legacy are juicy writers and quite smooth. I suspect an attempt to get the nib to write dryer might have to be done via a nibmeister rather than Sheaffer.

You're right--and certainly the gold inlaid nibs. I too have a Legacy that has a nice generous flow. But this Valor is way beyond that--it's almost blobbing on the page if I'm not careful.

I do like the pen, however, which is why I haven't been able to part with it yet.

cheers,
eric

Hmmm, almost a month since I sent the pen off, and no news yet. Perhaps the switch to PA is slowing things down.

I have noticed that the inlaid nibs are pretty wet as well. My Targa was pretty wet but I carefully narrowed the slit on it to make it behave as I needed it to in order to keep up with the speed of my writing.

Note, I don't recommend this if you're terribly attached to the pen. I took a chance partly because I figure I may as well make mistakes with something cheaper than something nicer later. I was successful... others maybe not so much.

-Zac

my Valor was very wet as well, then i started using pelikan ink in it and now behaves a lot better... it's just right for my taste!

Still nothing from the good folks at Sheaffer. Over a month now. C'mon guys......

I have sent my Preludes and a Heritage for nib exchanges more than 2 months ago, and paid for the exchanges more than a month ago. I still haven't got anything from them yet.

purpledog

Just a quick note...we are backed up on repairs right now, we've got over 200 in queue.
We recevied 15 pallets of parts/tools/benches from Ft. Madison a couple weeks ago and
we've just now got it all sorted. I think we have in excess of 32k pens and many, many,
many, many nibs. Not to make excuses but 89 years of pen parts is a bit of a daunting task
to sort.

You will get your repairs, don't worry!

If you have any questions please email sheafferpens@hamptonhaddon.com

Thanks.

David

Thanks for the update. I can hang in, but I do miss the wee chappy.

cheers
eric.

Got a postcard this morning from the "new structure" in PA. We're looking at "up to 10 weeks to process [my] request for service." So we're in for the long haul on this one. I'm "RA #138" which, I imagine, means there are 137 people in front of me.

cheers
eric

Hopefully, I can get back my pens in less than 10 weeks.

purpledog

Don't worry, it won't be 10 weeks. Jim and I have spend a LOT of time on cranking out repairs
and we've added additional hired help to get the repairs backlog reduced significantly in the next week.
We had 320 repairs in queue last week, I think we've moved through quite a few, say 100 or so
and another 100 should be done next week.

So I returned from my hols to discover my Valor had arrived on June 5--about two and a bit months turnaround. The gushing and blotting nib has been replaced with aone that writes very nicely. Also included was a nice note indicating that Sheaffer regretted the delay caused by the change to the new "structure." Evidently, though, Sheaffer did not regret the the delay enough to neglect to include an invoice for $10.00 for S&H, which was a bit of a surprise. Perhaps this too is part of the new structure.

Still, since I'm in a good mood after my trip I can concentrate on the Valor being a lovely pen.

cheers
eric.

Thank you for the update Eric.
I must get me a Red Valor.I am a big fan of Sheaffer inlaid nibs.
I hope you will have many years of joy with this pen.

Wet or dry? Is it just me or are Valors a bit more affected by the paper than other FPs? On good paper and with Sheaffer's own black ink cartridges mine lays down a nicely wet line but on other paper can be scratchy or skip a little bit. Tried Pelikan blue black and found the same. Ditto Sheaffer blue. Gone back to the black and just try to avoid the scratchy papers.

I use this pen unposted, but then find I have to do the same with almost every pen, even smaller ones like Parker Sonnets.

Thomas

Edit: sorry - this has got slotted into the wrong space! Message still useful, hopefully.