My Recife Crystal Blue Eyedrop

[rockydoggy]

Yep--I've got a couple of each.

I like both the Recifes and the Airmails, though I find the Recife nibs more to my taste.

Also, on the Airmail that I use the most, I switched out the stock nib and feed for ones from a Sheaffer NoNonesense pen.

 

Please take a look at the Airmail 69T on the Fountain Pen Revolution website.

 

Does it not look almost exactly like a Récife Crystal? I don't suppose someone reading this has both?

[mrcharlie]

If it isn't an imposition, I'd be interested in seeing a picture of them side by side, both the pen bodies with section, and the two caps.

 

I've never been comfortable pulling a feed out of a section.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Wow. That pen comes VERY close. At the price I am tempted, but you can see even on the site pics that the nibs are not the same.

 

But since I missed out on a blue Recife hey. Maybe. Thanks so much for the link!

[rockydoggy]

I'll have to dig out my camera . . . .

 

In the meantime, I did a side-by-side comparison:

While the cap on the Recife is a bit longer than that on the Airmail, the two pens are exactly the same length capped and uncapped. The caps are, in fact, interchangeable; however, the Recife cap has a few more threads and thus the body seats a little deeper.

The clips and cap bands are nearly identical except that those on the Airmail are blank. The band on the Recife has the brand name and the clip on my Recife says "Disney" (this is a special edition made for Disney; I can't put my hands on my other Recife right now to check the clip on that one).

The sections are very similar, with that on the Airmail perhaps slightly thicker; but the difference is negligible if it exists at all.

The barrel of the Recife appears to be a bit larger around than that of the Airmail. It's unclear whether the Recife accordingly has a somewhat greater ink capacity or if the plastic surrounding the ink reservoir is thicker.

The Airmail barrel is imprinted "Wality"; that of the Recife says "Recife."

The biggest differences are between the cap crowns and, of course, the nibs and feeds.

 

In sum, the Airmail is nearly an exact clone of the Recife Crystal. (I'm assuming that the Recife predates the Airmail--I don't know when the Airmail first appeared, but I bought one of my Recifes back in the late 1970s.) In any case, if you're thinking of getting Airmail instead of the more expensive Recife, I'd say go for it. Hope this helps.

 

If it isn't an imposition, I'd be interested in seeing a picture of them side by side, both the pen bodies with section, and the two caps.

 

I've never been comfortable pulling a feed out of a section.

[mrcharlie]

The clip on my Récife cap has no words on it.

 

The cap bands on my Recife cap says "Modèle Recife déposé". It is weird to me that everywhere else on the pen (barrel, nib, box it came in) with the Récife name or logo, the first e has the acute accent, and the other words on the cap band have e's with both types of accent (grave in the first word, acute in the second), but the world Recife on the cap band does not.

 

The next time I have some income I will get the Airmail, assuming it is still available for less than $20, just out of curiosity.

[rwilsonedn]

As Rockydoggy suggested, I think the biggest difference is hidden: the feed. (Also the nib, but that's more visible.) The Airmail has, I believe, a very conventional vintage-style feed with little capacity to absorb ink. Hence it is subject to burping as the pen empties or the weather changes. The Recife appears to have a P-51-style high-capacity ink collector behind the feed, which pretty much eliminates bad behavior. (But it takes for ever to flush.)

I also agree with Rockydoggy that the Airmail becomes a much better pen if you substitute the modern feed from a Sheaffer no-nonsense for the original Airmail feed. Actually hari first suggested this to me. It makes a world of difference in the consistency of writing.

ron

[mrcharlie]

I assume you mean from the era when No Nonsense had a hard rubber feed, and not the era when there were plastic? How do you get it out of the NN section; just pull real hard or do you have to drive it out? It would be hard to push out from the back due to the cartridge nipple/adapter post/thing, wouldn't it? Is it the same feed as a sixties era student market Sheaffer Cartridge Pen, or is that a different diameter? Because I have a couple of those suitably damaged enough to be "parts pens".

 

Also, I might as well just use the NN unless it is a damaged "parts pen".

 

It is disappointing to hear that the Airmail feed is not so good.

[rockydoggy]

I was able to pull the nib and feed out of a NoNonesense pen, but it took some elbow grease--I used one of those gripper-things that they sell to help you unscrew stuck caps from jars. (My NoNonesense probably dates from the 70s or so; the feed's plastic.) I'm not sure about the match between the NoNonesense nib/feed and those in the Sheaffer student pens. At some point, I tried to remove the nib/feed from a student pen, but it wasn't budging and I didn't feel like messing with it.

 

By the way, let me add that I find Airmail nib/feed units generally ok. Actually, the main reason I wanted to change it out was to install a different nib. That at the same time I could put in a more robust feed that might help prevent possible blobbing was an added plus. I have other Airmails that I use with the stock nib/feed without major problems. In other words, you shouldn't get the idea that Airmail pens are defective.

[rwilsonedn]

I assume you mean from the era when No Nonsense had a hard rubber feed, and not the era when there were plastic? How do you get it out of the NN section; just pull real hard or do you have to drive it out? It would be hard to push out from the back due to the cartridge nipple/adapter post/thing, wouldn't it? Is it the same feed as a sixties era student market Sheaffer Cartridge Pen, or is that a different diameter? Because I have a couple of those suitably damaged enough to be "parts pens".

 

Also, I might as well just use the NN unless it is a damaged "parts pen".

 

It is disappointing to hear that the Airmail feed is not so good.

It's not a bad feed, just a very simple one. The pen should write quite well until it gets down to about half full. Then either you need to top it up again, or you need to be careful, because the warmth of your hand will expand the air in the barrel, and force more ink than the feed can absorb out onto the nib. Some people deal with this by simply holding the pen nib-up while warming it with their hand, before writing. Some people just watch the ink accumulation on the nib and blot the nib with a tissue before it can drip on the paper. Once the pen is warm, you can write it clear down to empty with no problems.

To answer your question, I usually scavenge feeds from the inexpensive NoNonsense calligraphy sets. Not the most recent ones with the new feed designs, which I haven't tried, but the older ones. As you point out, the nipple makes it a little tricky to get the feed out. I've been most successful by pulling carefully. You can drive the feed out with appropriate tools, but that tends to damage the tip end of the feed where it reaches up into the cartridge. Not a big deal to just snip off the damaged part, but it seems a shame.

ron

[kayester]

You are right that they are hard to find in the US. Add that they are expensive compared to Indian eyedropper pens. But the example I have is well made, a wonderful writer, and without any of the vices that some ED pens have.

ron

I bought mine at Joon in NYC before they closed. It is currently my daily writer - writes well, holds a lot of ink (I get more than 50 composition book pages from a single fill) and seems bulletproof. I fill it with an oral hypodermic. I think they are no longer being made, which I am sorry about.

[mrcharlie]

I think they are no longer being made, which I am sorry about.

 

They are no longer called "Crystal" but they seem to be available on http://www.recifeonline.fr/ under "Amber Collection" and then model "Reservoir Set". It is hard to be sure from the minimal information on their site or in their webstore, but the barrel may be amber tinted in color and not clear now, but other than that is the same pen.

 

First click on the little British flag button near the bottom of the page to get the site in English before trying to navigate. They no longer have any point size selection and my understanding is you can only get a Medium nib now. Currently 90 Euro plus whatever they will charge you for shipping from France.

 

I don't know if there are any US dealers that still stock them; not that I've been able to find. Recife lists US dealers but most of them seem to be the types of shops that would be selling their leather products, not their writing instruments. You see a decent looking Crystal pop up on eBay now and again.

 

Recently (starting with 2013 or 2014 catalog) there was a J. Herbin fountain pen that is basically this same pen with a differently shaped barrel (the back end was shaped differently, if I remember right it went to a somewhat pointy end instead of round shaped end), and was also only available in M nib. It is already gone from the J. Herbin website, I see, so nevermind.

Edited December 5, 2014 by mrcharlie

[torstar]

Bought a Recife a decade ago.

 

A very good pen, the dimensions are excellent for my hand and likes, it just wasn't going to crack my top 10 for the rotation.

 

And a long and patient cleaning is required to put it back into use when the spirit moves me.

[mrcharlie]

And a long and patient cleaning is required to put it back into use when the spirit moves me.

 

Don't you flush it with water before putting it away?

 

Mine is no problem to flush, and no problem to ink next time. But it has rarely sat un-inked for more than a few days in the past couple years.

[kayester]

no posts in almost three years! I love it andhave been using my Crystal almost every day for years. If the value of a pen is measured in the overall experience including how well it writes, how it looks and feels in the hand, little things such as how often it needs to be refilled - with this pen about 1/4 as often as anoy other fountain pen I use or have used, then this pen is priceless.

 

Was it more expensive than other pens I was looking at? I think not, since the dealer I bought it from generally knocked 1/3 off the price for me. Both the pen and I have outlasted that dealer.

 

If Recife started making these again, I'd buy another new one.

[BMG]

I've got a Récife as well, a Mercuri Godron. Bought it in Paris in the late ’90s and used it sporadically since then. Until last February, that is, when I had the nib reground from a European F to a Japanese EF width, and really love it. It sees more action now.

 

Here are a couple of pics from before the regrind (haven't taken any since):

 

http://i.imgur.com/1kwVJ.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/x2G3o.jpg

Edited July 9, 2015 by BMG

[torstar]

Oh no.... now that's it's in my head I'm gonna have to dig my Recife out and put it back in the rotation.

 

It's a good thing, but I really didn't need all this extra pressure....

[torstar]

 

Don't you flush it with water before putting it away?

 

Mine is no problem to flush, and no problem to ink next time. But it has rarely sat un-inked for more than a few days in the past couple years.

 

Nah, I don't clean out my pens, I pick the rotation on whim and caprice and if a pen drops out so-be-it, it just gets forgotten.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Thank you to both replies.

 

That's a heck of a feed capacity. I eventually just filled it with Aurora Black and its is as good as I remember it.

 

Not much mention of this brand on the board.

 

I eyedropped a few Ahabs, correctly and working great, and then recalled somewhere I had a pen that was intended to do this.

 

I have one. Yes, it's a monster feed, which is good in an eyedropper. I wish I'd gotten a blue!

[ayjayar]

I have one! In red!

 

Do any other Recife owners feel COMPELLED to match ink and pen color?

 

I forget how OCD some of us are. Of course you have to match the ink color to the barrel. ;-)

[artkaye]

The feed and nib easily disassemble for a thorough cleaning and soaking. I haven't done it in a couple of years but I had a problem with some stubborn ink dried in the feed and the warm water soak cleared up the problem.