My Thoughts On The Waterman Carène After Using It As A Daily Writer For The Past Few Years

[Nicholas Green]

Edited January 15, 2020 by Nick_Green

[Mercian]

I like the video, and find your comments as a long-term user of it very useful

I was very interested to see the pen’s large, finned ink collector.

 

The fact that its occasional hard starts are solvable by moving the converter’s piston to force ink in to the feed suggests to me that the problem is most-likely caused by ink sticking to the side of the converter (instead of falling down in to the feed). This happens as a result of the ink’s surface tension being higher than its weight.
It’s a problem I’ve had before now with converters that don’t contain agitators. I’ve experienced it with LAMY converters, and with Parker’s ‘deluxe’ twist converters, but not with Parker’s cheap slide converters, because those contain a ball bearing to break the surface tension of any blobs of ink that stick to sides or top of the converter.
Some people recommend cutting the end off a small spring (e.g. from a ballpoint) and placing that inside the converter so that it slides up and down inside it. I haven’t tried that myself yet, because I am scared that the spring might react with the ink and block my pens’ feeds with gunk. Maybe I’m being over-cautious, but then I do use iron-gall inks, and they can corrode lots of metals.

 

One minor pronunciation point - the second syllable in Carène should (in French) be pronounced to make the word rhyme with ‘Car-enn’, rather than with ‘Car-een’.

 

Cheers,

M.

[Nicholas Green]

Thanks.

 

Sorry about the pronunciation of the word Carène!

 

You could actually, maybe put one of the beads, which are used to plug cartridges into the cartridge converter to act as an agitator.

Edited January 15, 2020 by Nick_Green

[Mercian]

You could actually, maybe put one of the beads, which are used to plug cartridges into the cartridge converter to act as an agitator.

 

Ooh! Great idea! Thank you

[Nicholas Green]

I've just fixed the pronunciation and have uploaded the updated version of the video. Thanks for pointing this out!

 

As far as the agitator goes, I will try this in the future to see if it does indeed help. We will just have wait and see what effect the added agitator has on this aspect of the pens performance. I personally think its a flaw in the feeds design, but it will be great if Im proven wrong here!

Edited January 16, 2020 by Nick_Green

[pajaro]

I found that some converters with a ball inside would have the ball cut off ink flow, so I removed them. Other converters were made with a spring inside, and these worked well. Presumably the manufacturer chose springs that wouldn't degrade when exposed to ink. Or not, maybe.

 

I like the Carene in medium, fine and extra fine. Broad was a bit much for me, left handed and tending to write small.

[senzen]

The Carène is my accidental grail pen, to my eyes it's the most beautiful, and makes every other pen look a little boring; I stayed away from it for a long time because most general comments seemed to point out some problems, but I've had none. I do follow the advice of returning a few drops to the bottle after filling. The fine nib is smooth and seems to improve with usage, the medium nib is exceptionally smooth, I'm a light writer so no flexibility is fine by me.

 

They both offer the great advantage of consistently showing inks in a medium hue, so Asa Gao and at the moment Kon Peki look particularly nice. if it wasn't for the fact that I already have enough pens for the inks I like, I'd chase another one, a stub sounds interesting if it wasn't for its scarcity and price.

[DrDebG]

Earlier this year, my husband surprised with with a Carene (fine nib) for my birthday. Up to this point, I had several Watermans and only found the Charleston to be worth using. BUT, the Carene far exceeds even the Charleston and has become one of my top favorite pens. If I were ever stranded on a deserted island, the two pens I would want with me is my Montblanc 146 and my Waterman Carene - that is as long as I had an unlimited supply of numerous colors of ink and Tomoe River paper.

 

I will note, however, that the Carene is a bit fussy about lesser quality papers. If I have any drag, it will be because of the paper.

 

I haven't noticed the hard starts that you have noted above. I have noticed that after writing a long time, it may start "hesitating". I just give the pen a gentle shake and it starts right up.

[alexwi]

I agree.

 

I had a Carene in a matte charcoal finish that I used constantly for a while and never had any issue whatsoever with it. If anything, sometimes my fingers would find the section slippery, but still, it was a joy to write with it. Then my ex-wife "stole" it, making it hers (I knew I wouldn't get it back when she asked me if I could dig up the invoice because the finish was peeling off in a spot and wanted to send it to Waterman). Since I know just how very attached she is to this pen, I want her to have it.

 

I found another one a few years ago, in another color, but equally beautiful, but there have been so many other pens that I haven't had a chance to ink it yet.

 

At $220 or something like that, the Carene was probably the second pen I bought that I found well beyond my means at the time. The first one was a Waterman Preface, which I still have and use (and is also an amazingly good pen).

 

Alex

[RMN]

I like the video, and find your comments as a long-term user of it very useful

I was very interested to see the pen’s large, finned ink collector.

 

The fact that its occasional hard starts are solvable by moving the converter’s piston to force ink in to the feed suggests to me that the problem is most-likely caused by ink sticking to the side of the converter (instead of falling down in to the feed). This happens as a result of the ink’s surface tension being higher than its weight.

It’s a problem I’ve had before now with converters that don’t contain agitators. I’ve experienced it with LAMY converters, and with Parker’s ‘deluxe’ twist converters, but not with Parker’s cheap slide converters, because those contain a ball bearing to break the surface tension of any blobs of ink that stick to sides or top of the converter.

Some people recommend cutting the end off a small spring (e.g. from a ballpoint) and placing that inside the converter so that it slides up and down inside it. I haven’t tried that myself yet, because I am scared that the spring might react with the ink and block my pens’ feeds with gunk. Maybe I’m being over-cautious, but then I do use iron-gall inks, and they can corrode lots of metals.

 

One minor pronunciation point - the second syllable in Carène should (in French) be pronounced to make the word rhyme with ‘Car-enn’, rather than with ‘Car-een’.

 

Cheers,

M.

 

 

The cheap Parker converters, as well as the OLD Lamy ones, were made of soft plastic. The high gloss versions are creating static electricity which makes airbubbles stick to the wall. Indeed adding an agitator will help. Some brands actually add one. MB uses a small spring coil. Instead of a ball, you could take (a small part of) the spring of a cheapo ballpoint and use that. Problem with balls in a converter is that they could block the mouth when expelling.

 

 

D.ick

[Left FPN]

I really am not so sure on the ball blocking mouth aspect.

 

Cartridges have been manufactured in their millions and they have the ball which is polyethylene so will float to the top when the pen is in use.

[Nicholas Green]

I really am not so sure on the ball blocking mouth aspect.

 

Cartridges have been manufactured in their millions and they have the ball which is polyethylene so will float to the top when the pen is in use.

 

 

I agree, the feed's post should keep the ball out of the neck of the cartridge converter. I always fill my pens fitted with cartridge converters in the same way I would fill a piston filler, so this wouldn't be a problem for me.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Nick_Green

[senzen]

I agree.

 

I had a Carene in a matte charcoal finish that I used constantly for a while and never had any issue whatsoever with it. If anything, sometimes my fingers would find the section slippery, but still, it was a joy to write with it. Then my ex-wife "stole" it, making it hers (I knew I wouldn't get it back when she asked me if I could dig up the invoice because the finish was peeling off in a spot and wanted to send it to Waterman). Since I know just how very attached she is to this pen, I want her to have it.

 

I found another one a few years ago, in another color, but equally beautiful, but there have been so many other pens that I haven't had a chance to ink it yet.

 

At $220 or something like that, the Carene was probably the second pen I bought that I found well beyond my means at the time. The first one was a Waterman Preface, which I still have and use (and is also an amazingly good pen).

 

Alex

You can find some finishes at around $160, and if you're really patient and use a price tracking tool, I've seen them from $80 used to $135 new.

[ian1964]

Thanks for the video. I have only one main criticism of the pen as daily writer and that is that ( maybe only my pen) the cap seemed to become lose after a while. Not loose as to fall off but sort of annoyingly slack. It would clip into place and remain on the main pen body but then move freely of its own accord. I found it really off putting.

[Bill Wood]

I’ve a couple Carenes and love them both. The medium is a touch broad for myself, but a great pen nonetheless.

 

ive tried everything to increase the ink flow, and for my liking a small bit of photo flow wash in the converter was the ticket for me. Other than that a majority of my other pens are ink droppers.

 

-Bill

[Madeline]

If it is not too late to revive this thread (?).... Do all models of the Carene have a lacquered brass barrel, or do some of them have a resin or synthetic barrel?

 

I had thought they were all brass until I started looking for one and then ran into a couple descriptions (maybe older Carenes?) that did not seem to be made of brass.

 

(My apologies if my searching did not lead me to the right thread, or if it's too late to be adding to this one!)

[Left FPN]

All lacquered Carenes have brass thereunder.

 

I would think the chrome, gold/yellow and leather finishes are much the same.

[Madeline]

Thank you, Force!

 

Do you think the same is true of the Carenes that have sterling silver caps? (Maybe those are among the older Carenes?)

[Left FPN]

Thank you, Force!

 

Do you think the same is true of the Carenes that have sterling silver caps? (Maybe those are among the older Carenes?)

While I have never stripped down these caps I also suspect the underlying material is brass.

[I-am-not-really-here]

if you are looking at the Item Specifics section of an eBay listing for a Carene, there is no guarantee that the seller has chosen the correct entry nor even that eBay has correct data for the model. And while those fields are often editable not all sellers take the extra steps to do so or have sufficient knowledge of what they are selling.