Sheaffer Intensity (In Cornflower)

[keybers]

Hello FPN! (first post)

 

I present to you Sheaffer Intensity in "cornflower" color. The pen is discontinued, AFAIK, but maybe someone will find this useful.

 

http://myroslava.net/z/sheaffer_intensity/sheaffer_intensity_cornflower_1.jpg

 

It has a medium nib and is a very wet (and reliable) writer. That said, the images that were available of it on the website where I bought it made it look better than it is. I hadn't expected the stark contrast between the turquoise stripes and the metallic ones. Also, the metallic stripes on the body do not align with the more widely spaced ones on the cap:

 

http://myroslava.net/z/sheaffer_intensity/sheaffer_intensity_cornflower_2.jpg

 

To add insult to injury, the cap also has a metallic stripe that is wider than the rest of them. I suppose it is there for engraving or something, but the end result is a very haphazard, untidy design.

 

http://myroslava.net/z/sheaffer_intensity/sheaffer_intensity_cornflower_3.jpg

 

The section is metallic. All unpainted metal parts are, naturally, a fingerprint magnet.

 

http://myroslava.net/z/sheaffer_intensity/sheaffer_intensity_cornflower_4.jpg

 

So, looks-wise, it's a disaster. But I like the way it glides over the paper, and the way it can be left inked-but-unused for several weeks without much dry-out. The Sheaffer converter has reasonable capacity, and the pen doesn't need to be "primed" as the amount of ink in the converter decreases.

 

Other negatives are the metal threads on the body coming against the plastic ones inside the cap—don't know how long it will last. Also, on the rare occasions when I take the pen out into the wild, the cap tends to unscrew slightly all on its own, with the pen in its own pen pocket and not just being banged around in the bag; and sometimes the barrel also unscrews from the section. The unscrewing is more pronounced when I clip the pen over the edge of the pen pocket. Maybe that is also due to the fact that I'm afraid to screw it together _too_ tightly, because of the metal-on-plastic thing.

 

So, the pen is really unsuited to what we pen freaks want from our pens in all but one way: it writes very well. Well, there is a second way, half-ways: it does show that what you are carrying is not everyone's regular pen, and it is machined well enough that it doesn't look like a cheap Chinese attempt at bling. But bling it is, and nonsensically designed bling at that. Maybe that's why it was discontinued.

 

I've so far mostly kept it inked with Diamine Aqua Blue, in keeping with the turquoise theme of the pen. However, this ink, once a bit dried-out, becomes more aggressive, sort of eating through paper that had heretofore endured ink pretty well. So, as this pen cannot be a daily writer and ink is bound to stay there for some time unused, I plan from now on to relegate it to desk duty for infrequent color-marking with something like Diamine Cerise.

Edited October 22, 2017 by keybers

[Honeybadgers]

Honestly... I dig the looks. And cornflower is really a perfect description of the color.

 

Plastic cap threads are actually a fairly solid method of making a cap smoother. I love the insert in my delike brass pen, it keeps the cap from scratching the barrel, the engagement is glassy smooth, and it's survived months of hard abuse happily.

[keybers]

Honestly... I dig the looks.

 

Well, as I said, the vendor site pics showed it a bit more muted, with respect to the difference between the cornflower parts and the metallic part. I'm not sure I would have bought it if had seen the pen in person (or better pics).

 

That said, if someone likes the looks of it, maybe it will get walked out from time to time...

[prashant.tikekar]

I have one in carbon fiber and it is a lovely writer.

[Tweel]

Thanks for showing us this pen. I hadn't heard of it, but I like what I see -- it's a very nice piece of modern decorative design. As part of that, I believe the asymmetry in the cap stripes, and "steps" between the cap stripes and barrel stripes, is deliberate design rather than accidental untidiness. By all means, take that pen for a walk!

[perfectstranger77]

I have one in carbon fiber and it is a lovely writer.

 

Me too and it also suffers from cap and barrel unscrewing if carried in my backpack. For me it is a great writer as long as I use wet ink, otherwise it is a hard starter...

[prashant.tikekar]

 

Me too and it also suffers from cap and barrel unscrewing if carried in my backpack. For me it is a great writer as long as I use wet ink, otherwise it is a hard starter...

Mine has no problem in cap unscrewing and ink flow.

[mke]

I bought the violet one some days ago - and I am surprised how well it writes.

The pen in this review is certainly not well described as cornflower blue. It is more like Indigo.

 

Compare cornflowers (from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Centaurea_cyanus_3.jpg)

 

and indigo

 

Edited December 9, 2018 by mke