New To The Forum - Eye Dropper Q(?)

[old4570]

Click Falcon

Serwex 77TR

Wality Thin Swirl

Fellowship 505FT

Click TM

 

A few of the eye dropper pens on Ebay , some of these are sold by the ten ( Ten pens ) ..

Question : Are they any good ? Do you need to buy 10 to get one or two good ones ?

 

I was thinking eye dropper for testing inks ... ( ? )

 

The only Pen I have that might be made in India is a Parker ... And the NIB on that pen looks ( ? )

I haven't written with it as yet , no ink .. Going to buy ink Monday ..

 

 

[mhguda]

They're cheap indeed, most of the ones I have were freebies (given with other, more expensive pens). Except for the Walitys, those I actually bought.

Their nibs tend to be in need of tuning, but once that's done the pens are fine. The Clicks and Fellowships are fine, nice pens. I found the Serwexes a little less, but they always wrote out of the envelope... and the nibs, while nothing very special, were smooth enough. I don't think I've ever had one that didn't work.

My recommendation would be to get the Fellowships. I like those just a tiny bit more than the others.

Good luck with venturing out on the slippery path of Indian fountain pens!

Let us know what you get and how you like them... oh and welcome to this nuthouse.

[mohit agrawal]

I have nice experience with all my wality pens. But with all these pens you might have to tinker a bit according to your liking. But in all this is nice experience, and for extra benefit these pens are quiet cheap so even if you break a few pen you would get nice experience.

 

Even the parker you have is nice pen.

[bugsydog55]

I have most of these pens and I do like all of them but there are some things to take into account. They are eyedroppers with ebonite feeds and can come with all the standard eyedropper issues. As stated above, the nibs are going to be a bit iffy and could require a bit smoothing. For me, the Click and Fellowship pens (these are made by the same company, just branded and named differently) have been pretty good right out of the packing. The Wality/Airmail pens can have some pretty awful nibs but can be made to work. The Serwex pens are what they are-I have several and they are OK but there are better pens out there. To your list I would add Camlin. These are generally decent pens with no bells or whistles that write just fine. The cost for these are rather minimal but you may not need to get a multi-pak and spend a bunch of money especially if you are just wanting to try one out for sampling ink and such. If you go through Fountain Pen Revolution you can get one or two of these pens for a bit more than you would pay from India and you wouldn't end up with a bunch of pens you may not like.

[sansenri]

I also ended up with some collection of ED freebies (mostly Felloship) coming as gifts with Ranga purchases

 

They are a starting point if you wish to try out ED but in general they are mostly disappointing:

 

Felloship 505 FT

a nicely looking demostrator, writes a fine line, scratchy tiny nib but can be brought to reason after some smoothing. The main draw back: extremely thin, one of the smallest sections I have ever tried. I cannot hold if comfortably for more than a few minutes.

 

Felloship blackbird

a nicer pen, more regular size (vintage regular, i.e. slightly smaller and thinner than a Pelikan 140 or M200), reasonably comfortable, no step down section/barrel and smooth threads (I find this important), nice stiriped ink window. Quite a nice nib, I probably smoothed it out on micromesh but not bad, F to M.The main draw back, the plastic stinks like hell, I could not use it in the first six months I got it... after more than a year the smell has tamed down but not disappeared completely.

I have a second Blackbird which oddly has a different body, the section and barrel are different, the ink window is also different, cap and nib the same.

The nib is slightly smoother on this second one.

 

Felloship Pillar

a nice looking pen very similar to a sheaffer nononsense, size is really nice (larger than the previous) the nib also reminds of the sheaffer (short and fat, larger than the previous). Works reasonably well, although the nib did need smoothing out. Main drawback: burps like mad, you need to be extremely careful, I was taken by surprise at least a couple of times staining all over the place...

I have a second Pillar, very rarely used but the clip is loose and looks as it will fall off.

 

Felloship Pinnacle

similar to the black bird, slightly smaller, shorter, smaller nib. The nib is actually nice, writes a very fine line and is rather smooth.

Smelly plastic like the Blackbird but not as bad, usable. The main drawback: a slight step down section to barrel but rather sharp, my thumb does not like that.

 

Oliver 22 regd

Identical to my second Blackbird, except for the cap, which has an ugly looking large metal band.

Not a bad writer. The main drawback: nasty smelling plastic again, the window is stained with yellow (I did not use yellow ink in it...)

 

Doctor Bamboo (or Bambon cannot figure out)

a rather strange pen, very fat compared to all the previous. Fat and short nib like the one on the Pillar. Writes decently.

The main draw back: the plastic is awfully cheap (soft) and looks as it will get scratched easily, Very sharp step section to barrel, barely usable for me.

 

One advantage on all these Indian pens: they mount ebonite feeds, which is not bad at all.

One disadvantage on all these I tried (besides the burping that I experienced on the Pillar): they dry out quickly, I fill them up, in most cases next day they are dry...I have mostly found them unsusable except for the day of testing.

 

Now, if you want a real ED, you should probably look at one of the more expensive indian pens (like Ranga, ASA, and some others).

My experience with Ranga ED is very nice, no burping at all, nice nibs particularly when choosing the German options, perfect closure, writes after many many days unused.

Edited March 25, 2018 by sansenri

[sansenri]

PS one additional thought: I would not use an eye dropper to test inks (although I understand your seach for a cheap option). The amount of ink that can go into an eye dropper, also needed to prime the ebonite feed, is huge.

If you just want to test, a converter is a much better option IMO. (I would not suggest dip pens as IMO the ink flow is different when coming from the pen than when dipping the nib)

[old4570]

Wow !

 

Thank you for the fantastic replies ..

I am noob , but wish to learn . I havent ventured into fountain pens for some 40 years .. ( I had a few as a teen )

Hmmm , possibly the wrong place to ask , but the Moonman M2 ?

Anyhow , my main consideration was for ink testing , so how the pen writes would be secondary ..

+ I thought the eye droppers might be easier to clean out ...

For some reason a lot of these Indian eye droppers are not sold as singles , ( $29 USD for 10 - not the end of the world - but do I need 10 ? )

 

Anyhow , thank you for the informative replies .. I have a few Chinese FP's and more on the way . ( Putting together a budget collection ) I have a small box full of pens ( FP ) and probably need at least another . Actually I might pop out and see about buying a suitable box .. ( I did buy some Parker Black ink - so now I have ink )

[bugsydog55]

I am also a huge fan of Chinese pens. The value you get for the money spent is nothing short of astounding. For the purposes you have in mind, you may just want to go that route. For just a couple of dollars US you can have a very good writer that would be easy to maintain and clean delivered to your door. Indian pens do have their charms, my personal favorites are the beautiful ebonite pens that come from there.

[old4570]

Ooops !

Lots of Chinese fountain pens ordered

 

 

 

Glare Collection - ( Rainbow ) Clear Transparent Eyedropper Fountain Pen > Forgot I actually did buy one .. $5 USD @ auction ..