Noodler's Charlie, Love Or Hate It? What Do You Do With It?

[SoulSamurai]

I've heard you can reduce burping by holding an eyedropper nib-up in your hand for a moment before you start writing, so that the air has time to warm up and expand out through the nib and feed before you point the nib down and block the air's path with ink.

[Honeybadgers]

Yes, you can, but in reality, a properly heat set feed on an eyedropper is not going to burp unless there are large temperature changes (so don't leave an eyedropper in a car overnight where the temp will change more than 10-20 degrees)

 

I've still never had a charlie burp on me. Ever. Getting excessively wet in the last 1/8th or so of ink left is the worst I ever see. But I have had vintage pens "blowout" in the car when I accidentally left my backpack in the car overnight and it was a cold night/warm day.

[Honeybadgers]

Yep!

 

Pity though,because it writes well for a freebie!

 

Use it as dip pen?

 

Nah... How many to have? Too many and the ink dries in them before getting to use them...

 

Go and spend a few minutes properly heat-setting the pen and making sure the nib/feed are deeply inserted. Your burping problems should be all but alleviated.

 

The charlie is very purposefully made to be an eyedropper to minimize costs while still maintaining an ebonite feed (I've put hundred dollar flex nibs in a charlie) and that the pen be as renewable and resource-friendly as possible. None of noodlers products are cartridge fillers, apart from the refillable 308 cartridges for the ahab, but those are non-disposable.

 

One pen I'd like to see noodlers make, honestly, is an ebonite charlie or nib creaper. I like the ergos of the little guy, the the bioresin is just not to my tastes anymore.

[SoulSamurai]

One pen I'd like to see noodlers make, honestly, is an ebonite charlie or nib creaper. I like the ergos of the little guy, the the bioresin is just not to my tastes anymore.

I'd snap up an ebonite Creaper in a heartbeat. I love that little pen, if only it didn't dry out so easily.

[Honeybadgers]

I'd snap up an ebonite Creaper in a heartbeat. I love that little pen, if only it didn't dry out so easily.

Better machined threads (which are easier to do on ebonite) would solve the problem.

[inkstainedruth]

I'd snap up an ebonite Creaper in a heartbeat. I love that little pen, if only it didn't dry out so easily.

 

I keep hoping that some more colors of ebonite Konrads get made at some point. I'm not wild about the colors of most of the acrylic-body ones, and while I haven't had the odor issues that some people have reported with the resin ones, the one ebonite Konrad I have ends up getting put into rotation a whole lot more. I was really bummed that some of the really awesome ebonite colors on the Neponsets didn't ever filter down to the Konrad line.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[drgt]

...

I've still never had a charlie burp on me. Ever. ....

I heat set them and still burp. Maybe I did not do it right? Please tell us how it is done.

[Honeybadgers]

Make sure the feed is over-set beyond the nib, so remove the feed from the pen and set it "too far", and then re-set it again to the nib in the pen. that will get the nib nice and tight to the feed, and make sure they're deep in there.

Edited October 16, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[drgt]

Would you please be more specific?

I do not quite understand...

[Honeybadgers]

Would you please be more specific?

I do not quite understand...

 

sure,

 

(this is fine for the charlie, but don't do this for a vintage or more valuable ebonite feed - those are usually done with heat guns)

 

1.) remove the nib and feed from the creaper.

 

2.) obtain boiling hot water (off heat so it's not STILL boiling and you don't burn your hands)

 

3.) dunk the majority of the feed into the hot water, hold for 20-30 seconds

 

4.) remove from water, using a paper towel so you don't burn your hands on the hot feed, apply gentle pressure to the top of the feed (the part that comes into contact with the nib). allow to cool for 30-45 seconds while you hold gentle pressure.

 

Don't press too hard, you CAN snap the feed, and you can do this basically an infinite number of times, so it's better to be gentle and apply only a little more pressure each time

 

5.) repeat until you see a gentle, upward curve to the feed.

 

6.) assemble feed and nib together in pen. the further back inside the charlie in regard to the position of the nib, the drier the flow will be.

 

7.) dunk the tip of the nib and feed, up to the section, in the hot water again. 25-30 seconds.

 

8.) remove, and using a paper towel, firmly squeeze the nib and feed together for another minute. this will relax the feed just enough that it's still tight. Usually, a feed should have just enough space between itself and the feed to slide a piece of thin paper between, but I find the tighter the better with a charlie.

 

9.) ink the pen and see how it does. if it didn't work, disassemble and repeat.

 

Also, be sure to follow general practice with all eyedroppers, don't leave the pen somewhere where temperature is high enough to evaporate the water from the dye, or somewhere that has temperature swings greater than 20 degrees F, or if the pen is allowed to get much colder than room temperature, hold it upright in your closed fist for 10-20 seconds to warm the air up in the barrel. And refill the pen when it gets below about a third or until you have a reliable feel for when yours starts to burp.

[txomsy]

I've had very good luck with waterproof varnish, The one I use is the transparent outdoor varnish for walls and floors, you know, the one typically used to stop water leaks. I use a small brush to varnish the outside of the body up to the mouth and let it dry. That largely reduces water evaporation through the body plastic (it can now take over half a year for a pen to get dry). Coupled with a bit of silicon grease in the threads it works wonders.

 

What do I do with my charlies? I follow Nathan's "Infinite calligraphy for spare change" advice; I use them as non-standard crisp italics (typically 0.6mm or less) as I like tiny writing, to obtain italic line variation at those scales (a stub is hardly discernible at those widths).