Jinhao 159 Italicized

[Pterodactylus]

[img=http://http://imageshack.us/a/img593/9031/1ykn.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img689/8214/jpyv.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img189/5071/tjr1.jpg

Edited July 18, 2013 by Pterodactylus

[Pterodactylus]

http://imageshack.us/a/img9/6789/pbl7.jpg

 

 

Used paper: Clairefontaine 90g/m2

Edited July 18, 2013 by Pterodactylus

[Koyote]

I now have two of these, and they both have the problems you referenced. If you weren't on another continent, I would beg you to regrind mine, too! Beautiful work.

[murfie]

Excellent review! I had a parallel experience with my own 159. It arrived a few weeks ago (A$9.95 from a Chinese based eBay seller that included registered airmail shipping!) and I experienced similar but not unexpected issues. Jinhao pens need a good flushing with a mild detergent solution before any ink is put into them. The tines were too close together and I also found smoothing was needed in the gap. Once done I had an excellent ink flow (7/10) with a good consistency.

 

After this I also reground the nib to a stub italic. Low cost Chinese pens are great subjects upon which to practice your nib shaping.

 

The nib is very firm with minimal flex. It is stamped "18K GP" which I take as 18 carat gold plating on a steel nib. I found that writing a couple of A4 pages caused my hand to ache from the huge barrel size. Most Jinhao pens have a press cap fit but the 159 has a threaded cap which seats very well and only requires ¾ of a turn to remove, making the exercise as quick as a press fit - but with much more security.

 

For the cost, it doesn't get any better.

Edited January 20, 2013 by murfie

[Pterodactylus]

Thanks Koyote and murfie :-)

 

I also think, don't be afraid working on the nib.

The pen is cheap enough, even if it is dead afterwards (which is not very likely if you work carefully) it doesn't hurt too much and you can gain a lot of experience.

 

Forgot to mention that also my pen was totally covered with oil on arrival.

First I gave it a ultrasonical bath, otherwise I think it wouldn't write at all.

 

I will try to improve the flow further (already widened the slit between the tines but maybe not enough).

I also have the impression it gets very dry when the (little) converter is more than half empty.

[Pterodactylus]

Excellent review! I had a parallel experience with my own 159. It arrived a few weeks ago (A$9.95 from a Chinese based eBay seller that included registered airmail shipping!) and I experienced similar but not unexpected issues. Jinhao pens need a good flushing with a mild detergent solution before any ink is put into them. The tines were too close together and I also found smoothing was needed in the gap. Once done I had an excellent ink flow (7/10) with a good consistency.

 

After this I also reground the nib to a stub italic. Low cost Chinese pens are great subjects upon which to practice your nib shaping.

 

The nib is very firm with minimal flex. It is stamped "18K GP" which I take as 18 carat gold plating on a steel nib. I found that writing a couple of A4 pages caused my hand to ache from the huge barrel size. Most Jinhao pens have a press cap fit but the 159 has a threaded cap which seats very well and only requires ¾ of a turn to remove, making the exercise as quick as a press fit - but with much more security.

 

For the cost, it doesn't get any better.

Hi murfie,

 

I would not call it a very firm nib.

There are a lot stiffer nails out there.

I did a quick doodle (see below) to compare the line variations of different pens.

 

When I compare the Jinhao 159 with the Noodlers Ahab, which is advertised as "Flex" pen I cannot get much more line variation out of it.

Sure, the Ahab is a Fine and the Jinhao a M (italic)....

 

Note:

Personally I would not consider the Ahab as a real flex pen and it took me a lot of time (including feed adaption) until it wrote ok.

During the process I considered throwing it to the bin, but as I imported it from the US i did not do it. ;-)

 

Below you find a Mont Blanc 342-B from the 1950ies (which is one of my all time favorite pens.... sorry that the feed touched the paper).

 

And last but not least a real flex pen a Waterman 45 BCHR safety pen with a broad flex nib from between 1900 and 1910.

 

 

One problem flexing the Jinhao is (my opinion) that if you write faster and flexing it all the time the feed could not keep up the flow (after some words).

But this is no issue of the pen, as it was for sure not designed flexing it (all the time).

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img41/6997/dp53.jpg

Edited July 18, 2013 by Pterodactylus

[KrazyIvan]

No issues with mine but it just begs for a regrind. I'll do mine later today.

[murfie]

I would not call it a very firm nib.

There are a lot stiffer nails out there.

I did a quick doodle (see below) to compare the line variations of different pens.

 

That's very interesting. Mine is that stiff I can't get any line variation whatsoever, so there's no point in posting a sample. Perhaps the inconsistency is par for the course for low cost pens?

[KrazyIvan]

I think I need to get a little more aggressive with the grind. I feel the line variation is a little soft. A little bit of railroading on that flex attempt.

 

http://distilleryimage2.instagram.com/b8378d34657811e2bc2222000a1f98f9_7.jpg

Edited January 23, 2013 by KrazyIvan

[Pterodactylus]

http://imageshack.us/a/img585/3264/9e1s.jpg

 

My pen is still to dry, especially when I write on this Clairefontaine paper it gets drier and drier.

Not related to the nib, I think the feed does not let enough ink coming down to the nib.

If if screw the converter half a turn down and the feed is satisfied with ink again and I can write a couple of lines again (I like it wet).

You can see this also on the scan, before I started to write i screwed the converter down --> Wet line.

Then it becomes drier and drier.

On the last line it skipped at the "for" (when flexing it) and when I tried to write "money" it stopped writting.

So I screwed down the converter again (and had a wet line again).

 

Does anybody know if it´s possible to get the feed out of the section?

And if yes how it´s done?

I think I have to modify also the feed to make it wet enough.

Edited July 18, 2013 by Pterodactylus

[murfie]

http://mbm47.net/fpn/159sample.jpg

Most of the Jinhaos that I have purchased have tended to be quite dry writers without a bit of work. Opening the tine gap and doing some smoothing in-between usually works wonders.

[Pterodactylus]

Thanks for your response and the writing sample of your enhanced Jinhao nib.

Writes really nice with a lot of character.

I like the color. :-)

Looks similar to Diamine Red Dragon in my eyes.

 

I will give smoothening the slit a try.

 

How do you smooth the slit?

 

Normally I would use fine sandpaper (after disassemble the nib/feed) but without disassemble it the feed is in the way....

[KrazyIvan]

If I remember right you can just pull the nib and feed out. There is a thread around here where someone put in a different nib (Bock or Knox, I don't remember which) in the pen.

[Pterodactylus]

http://imageshack.us/a/img835/9092/8gln.jpg Edited July 18, 2013 by Pterodactylus

[krbmsw]

Mine was smooth and wet right out of the box. I've thought about buying a second to play with stubbing it...or sending it off to be stubbed by someone who knows what they're doing. But at around $9 a pop (U.S.) it could be fun to try it myself.

 

Enjoy your toy.

[Pterodactylus]

Hi krbmsw,

 

thanks :-)

 

It will be definitely fun grinding the nib.

 

I found it not that difficult when I started grinding nibs.

You will definitely need a good triplet to start (this is not optional).

I have a Belomo 10x triplet which I can recommend (I also have a 20x one but a 10x will fit best in 99% of the cases).

 

I use my Zwilling whetstones originally bought for knife grinding.

For the rough grinde I use a 1000 stone (Western graduation 1000 equals about 3000 Japanese water stone grade)

With my 8000 stone I do the fine ginding (Western graduation 8000 equals about 12000 Japanese water stone grade)

With the 8000 stone I can grind a mirror finish on a blade, and also on a nib.

For the finish I use a leather strap (glued on a wood block) with a polish paste.

With this I can do a finish to make it as smooth as a baby bottom (most of the new nibs out of the factory feels like a rasp compared to this finish).

I can not recommend using machines like a Dremel or similar, you don't have enough control with it and it's much to rough.

I have to smile every time I read when people say gold nibs are smoother than steel nibs, as you neither write with gold nor with steel.

You write always with iridium, and on which material the iridium blob is soldered is irrelevant for the smoothness.

 

It is a lot of fun working on nibs :-)

 

If you have a good spatial sense and some experience (e.g. from regrinding cheap pens), you will never need an external source for grinding your nibs again.

The shapes you can grind to a nib are limited, at the end it's only a blob of iridium sitting on a gold or steel nib.

There is no mystical miracle as some people think.

A nib meister has only the advantage of a huge amount of experience (speaking only with respect to grind a nib not other mods).

Most of the times I copy shapes of excellent vintage nibs. I prefer nib shapes from the 1950ies Mont Blanc nibs.

Very soon you will be able to copy the grind of every nib you like. :-)

And bad finished (automatically created) nibs on new pens (and most of the new nibs has not a perfect finish) will be no problem anymore.

[chitinid]

I have three or four Jinhaos, and oddly enough I always have the opposite problem, which is that they're way too wet.

 

Edit: Never mind, one of them has hard starts, seems like a baby bottom issue, while one practically gushes. I have two more, but they aren't inked right now.

Edited January 31, 2014 by chitinid

[I like mango cheesecake]

I have a 159 that I reground into a stub as well. I too had QC problems in that the iridium ball was not centered, nor was the slit. Both were off center. I reground it in such a way to correct that. I now has a 1.1mm stub to it. writes much better.

 

here is a pic of my preliminary work before I finished it off:

 

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/maxthedog/Jinhao%20159%20nib%20grind/DSCF9282a_zps24a01d5e.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/maxthedog/Jinhao%20159%20nib%20grind/DSCF9282_zps907ed49e.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/maxthedog/Jinhao%20159%20nib%20grind/DSCF9281_zps328bd170.jpg

[lahlahlaw]

I have a 159 that I reground into a stub as well. I too had QC problems in that the iridium ball was not centered, nor was the slit. Both were off center. I reground it in such a way to correct that. I now has a 1.1mm stub to it. writes much better.

 

here is a pic of my preliminary work before I finished it off:

 

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/maxthedog/Jinhao%20159%20nib%20grind/DSCF9282a_zps24a01d5e.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/maxthedog/Jinhao%20159%20nib%20grind/DSCF9282_zps907ed49e.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/maxthedog/Jinhao%20159%20nib%20grind/DSCF9281_zps328bd170.jpg

Nice job!! That looks like a true professional job. What did you use to grind?

 

I just got my 159 today but unfortunately it is perfect, no justification for re-grinding:(