Geha Schulfüller Mit Reservetank

[Joker4Eva]

Hello, I've recently acquired a Geha Schulfüller and seeing I was free this morning, I attempted to write this review. Hope that you guys (and girls, of course) would keep in mind that this is my first review, and hope you would give me tips on how to improve future reviews.

 

Introduction

A few months ago, I suddenly had that urge to try out some old German piston-filling pens, and after stumbling upon the Geha Schulfüller, my interest piqued. Stumbling over a few sites (which did include eBay Germany), I decided to go ahead and bid on one.

It came in a huge envelope, and inside it was a Man's Eau de Toilette box. Opening that Eau de Toilette box revealed, no, not the smell of Jeanne Arthes Eau de Toilette, but a very filthy pen. A thorough cleaning with water helped it a lot, both cosmetically and functionally.

 

Appearance and Design

Alright, I will confess that I like the simple, black, cigar design of fountain pens, and would give extra points to the pen if it has silver trimming. I feel this scheme is evokes a sense of understatement for the pen and it's owner.

This Geha has that understated design that I like, but without silver trims. The barrel is made of black plastic, or resin, or whatever fancy name there is, save for the ink window, which has a bluish tint to it when it's empty. The barrel is blank, save for a serial number. Above, at the knob for the piston, is a small row of protruding molded plastic, which is supposed to aid in grip when refilling the pen, and the words "FK", which I have no idea what it's supposed to mean.

On the cap, it has a thin line of gold trim at the bottom of the cap, and another where the clip is affixed to the barrel. The clip is also gold-colored, made of goodness-knows-what metal. It's very sturdy, and you wouldn't have to worry of it falling out of your pocket, unless you forgot to take it out from your breast-pocket before a roller-coaster ride. The trimming on the cap is tarnishing, and I might want to polish it when I get back home next summer. The words "Geha-Schulfüller" and "MIT RESERVETANK" is also engraved onto the cap.

 

Construction & Quality

Well, for a pen that is older than I am, I must say it held up to the test of time well. Other that a few cosmetic scratches which one would be hard-pressed to find, the pen barrel and cap feels smooth to the touch. The only seam to be found is where the piston knob meets the barrel.

Construction-wise, the pen has been built the way a lightly-armored tank has. Light, but enough to take a beating from keys and coins in the pocket of it's owner. I would not however, put it in my pocket. Shaking this pen causes ink droplets to drip from the nib or perhaps feed of the pen. As the pen might be bumped around in my pocket, I'm worried the force of those bumps would cause a considerable amount of ink to drip out, and would cause a mess when opened up to use.

 

Weight & Dimensions

As I do not have a scale, I really do not know how heavy this pen is. However, it feels feather-like in the hand. As I use my fingers and wrist to write, instead of my arm, I prefer light pens. Size-wise, I seem to recall it being labelled as a small pen by forum members. Lengthwise, it is petit and fits my hand well, but it is too thin. It's width would make me opt for other pens (if I had any )when writing long texts, for example, drafts for reviews like this.

I do not usually post pens, as I feel it upsets the distribution of weight. This pen is no exception. Posting it really makes it top heavy, and alters my writing in a way I'm not used to.

 

Nib & Performance

The nib is a bi-color nib, and only has the words "Geha" in the middle of some flourishes stamped onto it. It's also as flexible as a Noodler Ahab, although I would say the Geha wins in terms of flexibility. Writing with some pressure creates a line almost 5 times as thick as the hairline it creates!

However, the nib is unfortunately a little toothy. I like pens whose nibs are buttery-smooth, so no points in this area.

The nib doesn't have any marking for size, but if I would hazard a guess, I'll put it as a fine. It's also removable like Pelikan nibs.

On the underside, there is a small green lever, which would activate the Reserve Tank. It's a clever little function, and the method of how it works is described here.

 

Filling Mechanism

The only pens that I have, which also uses this piston filling mechanism are 5 Reform 1745s, and there's one which has an outstanding piston mechanism. That Reform 1745's piston feels like it was lubricated with the tears of a unicorn, and feels buttery smooth. The other Reform 1745s' piston stiffness ranges from a little tight to as stiff as rusty gears

Back to the Geha. It's piston mechanism is a little stiff, and can NOT compare to the butter-smooth piston of that Reform 1745. It takes some force to twist it, and the skin of your fingers won't be rubbed sore, or even come off, but it's far from being well lubricated.

(I've been meaning to dismantle the pistons of the Reform and Geha to lubricate them, but I've found no way to do so. Can anyone please tell me how?)

 

Cost & Value

I won this pen for EUR 15+, and seeing that I paid USD 26 inclusive of shipping for my Ahab, I'll say it was a pretty good deal for an old, albeit not vintage pen (I mean, even I am younger than this pen!). I tend to gravitate to the lower-priced end of the spectrum of fountain pens, so I'll consider it a stepping stone to more expensive pens, including a Pelikan, TWSBI or Lamy, which I hope to acquire one day.

 

Conclusion

It is a very nice experience, being able to own a pen which is older than I am, but to buy another? No. The combination of the toothy nib, narrow barrel, and droplets of ink would make me decide against another one. I would happily welcome others to try this pen as an everyday note-taking pen, as I'm intending to do so with this pen, but until I know how I should transport it without fear of ink getting all over the place, I would not carry it in my pocket or pencil case.

 

 

Pictures:

[Scribblesoften]

Thanks for the nice review. I would love to see a writing sample to see the nib's performance. In some pens the piston can be lubricated to perform more smoothly. I don't know if that is possible with your pen. Perhaps one of the experts will chime in.

[Hex]

Don't give up on Geha, they are one of my favorite pens. In fact I am about to sell a Pelikan 30 because the Geha equivalent is far better.

Your pen is a student version, the serial number was so they would not be stolen or so I have been told.

The FK on the knob refers to the nib and stands for fine, ball type,,,I think.

 

Don't give up on them yet in fact, let me send you a PM with an offer to try another.

I love infecting others with my disease :roflmho:

[Joker4Eva]

Schribblesoften: I would love to provide you a writing sample, but I don't think I can/want to, as (i) I don't have a scanner on hand, and (ii) my handwriting is horrible :bonk:

 

Hex: Thanks for the offer. Would however, prefer to have an exchange. That way I can see what you're raving about, and you can know what I mean. I'm actually saving up for a Pelikan M205. Wait, I already have that money, but splurging on a pen almost 4x it's price is making me consider about it for a very long time. And I'm also looking for an excuse to get it.

[Hex]

Schribblesoften: I would love to provide you a writing sample, but I don't think I can/want to, as (i) I don't have a scanner on hand, and (ii) my handwriting is horrible :bonk:

 

Hex: Thanks for the offer. Would however, prefer to have an exchange. That way I can see what you're raving about, and you can know what I mean. I'm actually saving up for a Pelikan M205. Wait, I already have that money, but splurging on a pen almost 4x it's price is making me consider about it for a very long time. And I'm also looking for an excuse to get it.

 

An exchange sounds good and I sent you a PM. In my humble opinion, the Geha I am thinking about will out perform the Pelikan.

[tawanda]

I love my Schullfiller! I also have a very similar pen made by Montegrappa. In fact, I am a huge fan of 1950s'-70's German Piston fillers. I managed to snag most of mine four+ yrs ago, when FPs were not very popular and FPN had half the number of members it does today, so got them for a song! As far as I am concerned, German FPs made in this era, will stand up to modern pens any day. They just keep going and going, have terrific nibs, and hold gallons of ink. What's not to like? :-)

[rockydoggy]

I've got a Geha filled with Pelikan b/b in rotation right now. My pen looks exactly like yours except the clip on mine has a Geha emblem at the top and is curved like the Pelikan clip. The nib on mine (marked "MK") is great; and you're right, it has a decent amount of flex. I stumbled onto this when I was in a buying craze 3-4 years ago and there seemed to be a lot more German sellers on US ebay than there are now. I think I got my Geha along with an old Kaweco Sport (another wonderful vintage pen) in a cluster of German piston-fillers for about $50 or so. Talk about dumb luck.

[emiliovillegas]

Nice review and nice pen too. Thank you

[Joker4Eva]

tawanda: I feel the same way about old German piston fillers too! I especially like school pens, except for the Montblanc No. 32 (although I hear a distant voice asking me to bid on it! :bonk: )

 

RockyDoggy: I also think it should be placed in my EDC, but the possibility of ink leaking into the cap is something I would not like to face. However, it hasn't leaked ever since I ink her yesterday. Might be that problem. If it is, then I think I've found a new EDC pen!

 

emilliovillegas: I noticed that your profile states you're currently in Freiburg! Is that true? I stayed there for about 4 months this year, and I love that town!

[amberleadavis]

Nice review. I too would love to see the photos of with writing.

[Joker4Eva]

Seeing that quite a few want to see a writing sample, I feel obliged to provide one. :/

[Scribblesoften]

Thanks for the written sample. The line variation from the hairline to the after flexing is quite dramatic. If you have a loupe, you might look at your nib when it is writing smoothly and then again when it is writing roughly. Sometimes, the tines on flexible nib pens will overlap when they return to the hairline state. I don't know how to fix this but I have observed it. I think you have a great pen. Enjoy it.

[Joker4Eva]

I might narrow the scratchiness to the paper that I'm using, though. It's some generic, A4 loose leaf paper which, according to the label, is made of 70% recycled materials and is decomposable. Far cry from Moleskines and Rhodia Notebooks which I've heard, many in this forum use.

[majorworks]

If you hadn't said this was your first review, I'd never have guessed. Very well done!

 

As others have mentioned, the KF means "Kugel Fine." No linguist here, but I'm pretty sure "kugel" simply means "ball," as in a rounded tip.

 

I envy your score on this pen! I like these old second-tier/school pens from Germany. The fact that you got a nice flexy nib in the bargain is pretty sweet.

 

I've got a couple of old Kaweco school pens that I got for very little, polished them to a high sheen, and played with the nibs a little until they wrote pretty smooth. One is a piston filler with a KF nib like yours. The other is a cartridge filler that actually has the smoother nib.

[Pinkys.Brain]

Thanks for the nice review. I would love to see a writing sample to see the nib's performance. In some pens the piston can be lubricated to perform more smoothly. I don't know if that is possible with your pen. Perhaps one of the experts will chime in.

 

The GEHA Schulfüller is really easy to take apart for maintenance. And when well cleaned and lubricated it is a very smooooooth piston. Alsmost too smooth.

 

http://i49.tinypic.com/2nk6ird.jpg

[rockydoggy]

Thanks--photo it's really helpful.

 

 

The GEHA Schulfüller is really easy to take apart for maintenance. And when well cleaned and lubricated it is a very smooooooth piston. Alsmost too smooth.

 

[tenney]

Have you played with the reserve tank?

[Montblanc owner and lover]

seems nice for such a pen

[Joker4Eva]

majorworks: I find it a little odd that Geha decided to stamp information about the nib on the piston, and not on the nib itself! It makes little sense to me, seeing that it is so much easier to change the nib rather than the nib AND the piston!

 

Pinksys.Brian: Thanks a million for that picture! I'll be trying to dismantle it soon, as I wanna try to lubricate the piston. It works, but it's far from being buttery smooth. Thanks a million for your advice! Btw, would you by any chance know where I can get a small tub of silicon grease cheap here in Germany? I don't have a tub on hand, and was thinking of acquiring a TWSBI Diamond 540 just because it comes with a small tub of silicon grease.

 

tenney: I have played around with the Reserve Tank feature, but I haven't tried using it in a real life situation yet. It works smoothly and I think is a very handy feature on this pen. I'll come back to you after I've tried it out in real life!

Edited September 9, 2012 by Joker4Eva

[tenney]

If the piston is a cork rather than rubber, it will loosen up over time being inked (or filled with water) which will be absorbed a bit into the cork.

 

Montblanc of that era also had the nib size on the piston knob. My guess is that was done so that you knew that the nib and pen came that way from the factory.