The Worst Pen Ever

[DonLeone]

Paid 3 euros for an unnamed, brandless pen with copper nib that smelled as if it had been filled with orange juice.

 

It didn't write, it merely cut paper. Any bit of pressure would bend the tines. Yes it had been filled with orange juice for some odd reason.

 

I had my fun taking it apart and trying to fit dip nibs on it.

 

On the same day, from the same seller I bought an ERO pen that seems to have been made in the 60's, for the same price. One of my best every day writers. Never lets me down.

[FountainPenCowgirl]

I've had a few clinkers. Topping the list probably would be an Ohto Dude, simply because it never, ever released any ink. Not even a drop. Sadly (for me, a freak for this color), it's my one "purple" pen,

Edited December 10, 2014 by FountainPenCowgirl

[bobaroo]

Conklin All-American

 

The pen wouldn't write at all from new, after a bit of work on the nib it writes temperamentally... It's as though the nib was fashioned from old tin cans. I hate this pen, my most regretful purchase ever.

[Tas]

Conklin All-American

 

The pen wouldn't write at all from new, after a bit of work on the nib it writes temperamentally... It's as though the nib was fashioned from old tin cans. I hate this pen, my most regretful purchase ever.

 

Oh my. What a world. I'm so sorry for you.

 

I'm sketching with mine now, a recent purchase from The London Pen Show. Kicking myself for not buying two or three. This is an utter dream to sketch and write with.

 

It and it's cousin the Crescent Filler are some of my smoothest nibs. I adore Conklin nibs.

 

 

[Fuzzy_Bear]

Mont blanc? Hahahahaha!

 

Just kidding. Cheap little pen I bought off eBay. Wow beautiful, but the section just broke one day.

[SoulSamurai]

Picked up a Shnieder at a local stationary store for a few dollar a couple of months ago because I had never heard of them and the nib looked a bit interesting - kind of like a mini architect nib. Couldn't get the pen to write, threw it away with no regrets - it was VERY cheap after all.

[sidthecat]

A Waterman L’Etalon: big, clumsy rigid nib and a desperately hard starter. I flogged it at the LA Pen Show and bought something I liked.

[LanceSaintPaul]

It's the pen I couldn't afford, so it must be crummy & I saved myself the hassle, smart as I am....

[dukkimoon]

I can't seem to love my Lamy 2000 (F). I've given it a good try, and I really can't get myself to like it.

[dukkimoon]

Also, I bought a Noodler's Ahab, and the smell never dissipated. It was so strong.

[displacermoose]

Cross Bailey. Bought it long before I knew about Jinhao or I would never have bought it. It is the only pen, Chinese or otherwise, that I have not been able to coax at least marginal performance out of. The nib either is starved or burping and it makes a truly appaling noise, rather like stray cats in the summertime.

[Witsius]

Noodler's Ebonite Konrad comes to mind. Also, I had a Pilot Prera that basically fell apart after just a couple of months of use. That is just ridiculous given the cost of the pen. I have a charcoal Lamy Safari that is totally unusable out of the box. The feed looks slightly misshapen, and the nib won't lie on the feed properly, nor will the tines align at all. Lamy USA will charge me $9.00 shipping to repair/replace the pen. It's not worth it, and I'm tired of dealing with the vendor that sold me the pen, so that pen will likely just go in the trash.

 

Experiences like those make me just want to go back to using gel pens all the time. They write every time I take them out. The Uniball Signo 307's are great.

[dogpoet]

Noodler's Ebonite Konrad comes to mind.

 

Leaking more ink out of the viewing windows than you can get to come out of the nib?

[Witsius]

 

Leaking more ink out of the viewing windows than you can get to come out of the nib?

 

 

No, just had to constantly fiddle with it to get it write, and it leaked ink into the cap even though the pen didn't leak while writing. Weird.

[dogpoet]

They're like snowflakes: every Konrad has its own unique issues.

[peterg]

A Royal City. A cheapest of the cheap Chinese pen.

 

It looked reasonable on E-Bay, black apparently hard rubber. You know, the 1920's stick pen.

In reality it was cheap plastic with a solvent welded section. The barrel shattered and there was no tipping on the nib. Nothing could be/ was worth saving.

 

It's only redeeming feature was the box which looked quite period. Might still have that somewhere!

Edited October 18, 2017 by peterg

[pajaro]

The worst pen ever is the pen one writes with, then caps and picks up shortly and finds the pen dried up and a hard starter.

[ac12]

Noodler's Nib Creeper and Konrad.

I could not get the pens to stop dripping. No amount of fiddling with the nib and feed could slow down the ink flow to where the pens would not drip ink as I wrote.

[s_t_e_v_e]

I've had worst nibs but not necessarily worst pens. What I mean is that the nibs are abysmal but the pen itself is gorgeous.

Montegrappa steel nibs are hit or miss, leaning more towards the latter. I bought two Montegrappa Ducale (very well made pens) and nibs on both were junk. They were horribly scratchy and dry to a point where they barely wrote. I had to spend about an hour on each nib to get them tuned well.

[georges zaslavsky]

Aurora88 and Delta with fusion nibs