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Interesting/different Fountain Pens


WLSpec

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I was circling back to this thread after not thinking about it for a while to mention Jinhao Shark pens. I've had 12 of these for a while and I am delighted by their performance and low price. These are very playful pens, shaped like sharks and very colorful, (marketed towards children a lot no doubt) with hooded nibs and an ink window. What surprised me was that these $1-3 pens come with a converter! Most pens in this very low price range are either disposable or only come with a cartridge, but ll 12 of these little guys came with a converter. I was able to fill them and use them without much worry, and I didn't have to buy a separate converter or fill an empty cartridge up to fill them with bottled ink. I thought this was rather unique, and a great aspect of these pens.

I'm not sure if that was only because they came with the set, but nonetheless a nice touch.

 

Many inexpensive Jinhao pens come with converters, including the 991, 992, 159, X450, X750, and 250. For that matter, so too does the Baoer 388. In fact, I've seen very few Chinese pens in the under-$5 price segment that could NOT fill from the bottle.

 

For example, Jinhao's swan pens:

 

61xY21xduCL._SL1000_.jpg

 

Alas that Jinhao's cartridge and converter are not quite to the same spec that standard International c/c, because these Jinhao pens are often quite a bit cheaper than international converters sold a la carte.

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I will throw the suggestion of the 1930s Eversharp Coronet. It introduced a bold Art-Deco look into the industry. It also had two available innovative features. Some of them had an ink shut-off valve which was engaged by screwing the cap down. Due to materials available in the 1930s, the seals tended to be short lived, but with modern materials the seals work like a champ. The other (self fitting point) was a sliding block on the nib which allowed the end user to adjust it from stiff to full flex. The latter nib design is still very sought after today, and drives up the value of pens, even if in (otherwise) poor condition.

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  • 1 month later...

Here's an interesting one: The Montegrappa Gnomo. I don't see Montegrappa pens often because they're not for me, and I don't hear about them much on FPN, but I was scanning though Nibs this morning and saw this. It's a super compact pen, reminiscent of the Franklin Christoph 33 in that the whole body comes out of the cap, but then the cap screws on to make a full sized pen. The section looks awfully thin and not particularly comfortable, but whether it performs well or not, it is very interesting.

montegrappa-gnomo-red.jpg?itok=0FF3fE6s

montegrappa-gnomo-yellow-closed-small_0.

And another cool couple: Ranga Bamboo and Eboya Ricchiku. These are both interesting because of their bamboo like design, which I haven't seen much of - not conventional. Ranga also makes the sugarcane, also interesting.

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Schon DSGN's pocket pen is fairly unusual in that it carries a #6 nib in a tiny footprint (3.5" when closed, but over 5" when posted). I have grown to like it quite a bit, the design is addictive.

 

There was mention of the OMAS 361 on an earlier page, which writes flexibly in normal position and firmly in reverse position. I got an OMAS VS that is (I think) supposed to do the same thing; however, although the flexible side works very nicely I haven't been able to get much out of reverse mode.

 

Has anyone mentioned the Pilot Miu? The whole pen is made of metal, the section is very long and is one piece that includes the nib (that may not be the best description, but here's one on eBay at the moment: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Myu-701-PILOT-Fountain-Pen-Nib-F-1979s-Japan-Vintage/124083433170?hash=item1ce3f2eed2:g:Y0oAAOSwXMheRp2a )

Edited by Paul-in-SF
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Schon DSGN's pocket pen is fairly unusual in that it carries a #6 nib in a tiny footprint (3.5" when closed, but over 5" when posted). I have grown to like it quite a bit, the design is addictive.

 

There was mention of the OMAS 361 on an earlier page, which writes flexibly in normal position and firmly in reverse position. I got an OMAS VS that is (I think) supposed to do the same thing; however, although the flexible side works very nicely I haven't been able to get much out of reverse mode.

 

Has anyone mentioned the Pilot Miu? The whole pen is made of metal, the section is very long and is one piece that includes the nib (that may not be the best description, but here's one on eBay at the moment: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Myu-701-PILOT-Fountain-Pen-Nib-F-1979s-Japan-Vintage/124083433170?hash=item1ce3f2eed2:g:Y0oAAOSwXMheRp2a )

Saw the Schon pens at the Philly show lately. Some really cool colors there, and the #6 nib is cool. Yes, the MYU and M90 were mentioned earlier I believe.

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That Gnomo is adorable, or so I thought until I saw the prices on ebay - $469 -$600. Yowza!!!

It's hard work to tell which is Old Harry when everybody's got boots on.

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Hmm. That's kinda like the old safety pens (and the modern Noodler's Boston Safety). The idea (at least for the Noodler's version) is that the nib stays immersed in ink when capped, so it never dries out. Otherwise, it's just an eyedropper with a gimmick). I have one of the Noodler's pens, but I don't use it a lot because it's a PITA to flush (can't soak it because it's ebonite, except for the nib and a rod inside the cap that's supposed to help with keeping the nib from leaking). And because the first ink that worked well in it was Noodler's Luck of the Draw LE, and I'm not overly enamored of the color (I had hoped to use Kung Te Cheng in it, but it didn't work any better in that than it did in one of my regular resin Konrads).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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I've always found this one interesting. Beena Magic.

 

You turn the end cap (like a piston filler) to extend / retract the nib unit. It takes about 3/4 of a turn to complete the action.

 

I'm not 100% sure what the utility but it's kinda fun. More on this pen here.

 

 

WriterShelf_Beena_Magic_retracted-extend

The MB Boheme does the same thing. Has that been mentioned here? Interesting retractable nib pens

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In addition to the coin, matchstick, button, and lever fillers, Richard Binder has described a "hatchet" filler. It has a little hatchet-shaped piece of metal hidden in a slot in the barrel. You pull it out of a slot in the barrel, pivot it, and push on the hatchet blade, and its "poll" compresses the j-bar, the same as you would with a wooden match or coin or subway token.

 

Heck, here's the whole page.

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Thanks for the link. That's a great overview of all the different fill systems and how they work.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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In addition to the coin, matchstick, button, and lever fillers, Richard Binder has described a "hatchet" filler. It has a little hatchet-shaped piece of metal hidden in a slot in the barrel. You pull it out of a slot in the barrel, pivot it, and push on the hatchet blade, and its "poll" compresses the j-bar, the same as you would with a wooden match or coin or subway token.

 

Heck, here's the whole page.

Thanks, quite interesting

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i mentioned this pen in another thread but lets do it again. i've always admired the montblanc boheme for the mechanics of it. there's so much going on...snap open the top, drop in a cartridge, snap the top back and turn and the nib comes out. fantastic design, pretty pen, too. i own the xl version. i wanted a hand filling pen without the jewel on the clip.

JELL-O, IT'S WHATS FOR DINNER!

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