Jinhaofold Centennial

[drathbun]

I got my Jinhaofold Centennial just before Christmas and did a YouTube video review. I got the classic "big red" finish because it was classic, but in comparison to my three Moonman M600(s) and three Kaigelu 316s, it really is lacklustre I'm afraid. It does write nicely and is lighter than the Moonman. The #6 Jinhao nib is easily changeable so it make the pen a good one for experimentation. I have been writing with it for a couple weeks and it is growing on me since my initial review. I do like the other finishes of off white and gray marble that are offered. I'm just not sure I will lay out the cash for this pen again when a Jinhao 159 will do the trick for my nib swapping fun.

 

[John Cullen]

So is the Moonman M600 and this new JInhao Duofold as big as the original centennial Duofold?

[drathbun]

So is the Moonman M600 and this new JInhao Duofold as big as the original centennial Duofold?

 

I don't have a Parker Duofold to measure but David Nishimura has its length at 13.7 cm and my measurements of both the Jinhao and the Moonman show 138mm long. I provide the complete measurements of the Jinhao in my video.

[WarrenB]

Thanks for the review, Drathbun. Informative! I like the colour maybe a bit more than you do, but I think I prefer the teardrop clip of the fake fake rather than the ball on the real fake. (I find ball clips tolerable in cases, but overall I feel they spoil the lines of a pen) On top of everything else mentioned, I'm still pretty indecisive...

[drathbun]

Thanks for the review, Drathbun. Informative! I like the colour maybe a bit more than you do, but I think I prefer the teardrop clip of the fake fake rather than the ball on the real fake. (I find ball clips tolerable in cases, but overall I feel they spoil the lines of a pen) On top of everything else mentioned, I'm still pretty indecisive...

I agree about the ball clip Warren. I like the sleeker designs myself. The finish on my Moonman M600s pens is just a bit more appealing than the flat orange of the Jinhao. I've got a Zebra G nib coming. Perhaps I'll make it into a flex pen!

[WJM]

I got mine yesterday.

 

On the first impression it seems well made. It's not very heavy, certainly way lighter than Kaigelu 316 (in it's original form) but for me it feels substantial enough. The cap finial is I think made of metal (the barrel finial, fortunately, is not).

 

I'd say Jinhao posts just slightly better than Kaigelu 316 and Moonman M600S, but still not terribly securely and becomes very long and back heavy when posted, so posting it still wouldn't be a preferable option.

 

The nib, feed and converter are all standard Jinhao stuff, so no surprises here. I've done some writing for testing purposes and the nib is... well, fine (I mean the quality and writing experience of course, the tipping size is typical Jinhao medium). Not great, not bad. Writes well enough, but it's nothing to go crazy about.

 

 

I think this photo here below represents the color best. The color is not a vivid orange (like eg. FPR Jaipur in orange), but more pale and understated.

Edited January 22, 2020 by WJM

[Dip n Scratch]

Well the Centennial didn't stay bone stock for very long after it arrived (5 min). After inking it with Hero 232 and writing a little while I removed the nib.

It currently sports a Wality nib. This has of course had a dose of the 'mesh. You may care to add a Bock nib.

 

BTW: Great photos by WJM of the same colour I ordered.

Edited February 10, 2020 by Dip n Scratch

[WJM]

I've seen today on eBay some new, different "Jinhao Duofold", priced ca. $16, available in a variety of nice acrylics. It's kinda weird because on the eBay photos the nibs are clearly not Jinhao and on one of the photos one pen has a different section than the others...

 

Anyone maybe has any information about those?

[Mech-for-i]

I've seen today on eBay some new, different "Jinhao Duofold", priced ca. $16, available in a variety of nice acrylics. It's kinda weird because on the eBay photos the nibs are clearly not Jinhao and on one of the photos one pen has a different section than the others...

 

Anyone maybe has any information about those?

AFAIK , those are not Jinhao at all , its some generic OEM , Jinhao do had a few new finishes but not those. So far as I know it, there's the initial 4 colour options, the Ivory , Grey Mottled , Solid Orange Yellow, Solid Brick Red Orange, then came the Koi ( red and white ) and the Koi ( black and pale yellow , this colour seems sold out already ) and also the flaming swirls ( pretty much all sold out , this one small batch ) - all of them had the same ball clip with Jinhao logo, the same Jinhao embossed logo button on the top of the cap and the same single cap band with " JINHAO " stamped there

 

Jingao 100 Century Flaming Swirls , on Flickr

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 7, 2020 by Mech-for-i

[Hanoi]

How many Chinese brands are their own manufacturer or is it the case that Jinhao is a brand name (among numerous others) from a single manufacturer? This pen is obviously a Parker Duofold imitation but I would try it for less than 10 bucks. I find it strange that the Chinese don´t bother to use some brain power to design something as simple as a pen differently from a product made 100 years ago.

Edited June 11, 2020 by Hanoi

[Jerome Tarshis]

The Chinese have manifested 5000 years' worth of brain power, some of it devoted to buying and selling. I have no special interest in Chinese fountain pens, but I have a warm feeling for Norman Haase (hisnibs.com) and in the better part of twenty years' following his Web site I have seen God's own plenty of Chinese pens that look nothing like any well-known Western pen. To me quite a few of those pens are in the most excruciating bad taste, but taste tends not to cross various lines, of nation or class.

 

What we see here on FPN is the result of pen hobbyists' wanting to buy a pen that looks very like, for example, a Parker Duofold Centennial or a Parker 75 or a Lamy Safari ,and pay less money for it. It is the purchasers' brain power that might be rewarded by a little more branching out. Or not.

 

The Japanese can be accused of manufacturing too many homages to Montblanc, but they tend not to be, I suspect because the pens are made to a high standard of quality.

[Mech-for-i]

As far as pen style goes pretty much everybody copy everybody ... Is not the original Parker Duofold a copy of the established ( then ) Waterman Flat Top and every piston filler is in some fashion a copy of the original Pelikan and every cigar shaped one can trace the style back to pre fountain pen days travelling steel pen ...

 

And as Jerome had put it its the consumer that keep rewarding the Mfr for these act of cloning ; copying and then some

 

I do not condone outright cloning but if its only generalized styling and copying ... Well all pen Mfrs are guilty of that in some fashion

Edited June 16, 2020 by Mech-for-i

[Dip n Scratch]

I wish I had not seen the cracked ice pen. Now I wish I had one. The only thing wrong with this pen is that the OE nib is on the broad side.

[sansenri]

If an injection moulded Jinhao (which, I suppose, isn't certain) is the same price as a CNC turned Moonman, I can't see a reason to bother with the former.

 

I'm glad the style is making a resurgence, though. I live in hope of another Ranga group buy on Ebonite Emperor pens.

Waiting for that one too...

 

But I think I mentioned already

Edited June 16, 2020 by sansenri

[Helen350]

The nib on my cream colored Centennial is smooth. The material is a turned acrylic resin. The resin is not the

same as the Moonman, however, I have been pleased writing with it. Purchased it from a seller in the US. I

also own the Moonman M600S as well. The resin is a bit better, and looks nicer. I really like them both, and

currently have one of each. A couple of nice YT reviews:

 

(Doug Rathbun - FPN member)

[Dip n Scratch]

OK: I give in. Where can you get the Cracked Ice Centennial?

[Helen350]

OK: I give in. Where can you get the Cracked Ice Centennial?

 

Is this the one you are referring to? Seller: industrial*equipment

Jinhao Centennial Duofold Resin Fountain Pen Medium Nib 0.6mm-0.7mm Gift Pen

 

[Dip n Scratch]

The seller doesn't ship to the UK. So I must wait until they can or other sellers have this variant.