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Wing Sung 590: S.b.r.e. Brown And I Say, "great Pen"


k3eax

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Both of mine afforded me the opportunity to heat set the nibs and the feed and now write beautifully. I'd never heat set a nib. What an easy and useful skill to add to the tool box if you plan to collect fountain pens.

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Now I have yet another pen to add to my list of "if I'm in the mood for a giant pen" wishlist of pens I can afford. It might even give me the opportunity to learn how to do basic tweaks, which I've never had to do yet. (I buy Chinese pens almost exclusively. I must be doing something very right.)

If anyone has a spare Hero 812 in white that they're willing to part with, please PM me. I'm trying to find one for my collection.

 

"He thought the pen was mightier than the sword... Until he went to war and met a soldier with a sword."

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  • 1 month later...

I wanted to share my experience with this pen as an extra point of reference. I'll start by saying that the experiences of those here in conjunction with S.B.R.E. Brown's review convinced me to get this pen. I purchased mine through eBay seller sseariver2009 for $6.84 (shipped)--what a steal! It took about 2 weeks to get from China to Connecticut.

 

The packaging was pathetic/nonexistent and the pen smelled faintly of mildew. It probably sat in some warehouse in Hangzhou for 10 years, so I'm not surprised. I took the pen apart, rinsed it in some soapy water, reassembled it, and aligned the tines slightly. The sac holds a pretty large volume of ink (compared to a Hero 616) and the feed on mine is definitely very well machined ebonite. The metal on the pen is in nearly perfect condition and the pen writes flawlessly with a little bit of feedback.

 

I'd say the Wing Sung 590 lays down the same line width as a Lamy 2000 F nib when both are filled with Lamy Blue. In fact, my 590 is a good deal wetter than my Lamy 2000. The 590, however, isn't excessively wet and it performs respectably even on newspaper. The nib is somewhat flexible and I get a bit of line variation; applying pressure definitely makes this a very wet writer.

 

That's been my experience with the Wing Sung 590. It's worth the risk buying if for < $7 shipped. You might luck out and get a fantastic pen!

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  • 4 weeks later...

It's not a bad pen for a fiver. The nib is an absolute turd, though. Buy a Jinhao nib for a buck, and you're off to the races. You can find packs of these nibs for 5/$6 on the 'bay, and they punch several stories above their weight.

 

NB: Mine still faintly reeks of mildew a year later. Soaking all the parts of the pen in not-so-dilute ammonia helps, just slightly.

"I was cut off from the world. There was no one to confuse or torment me, and I was forced to become original." - Franz Joseph Haydn 1732 - 1809
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  • 1 year later...
  • 1 month later...

I have been following this pen for some time. I have a couple dozen Wing Sung pens from the 1990s (or earlier) and while some were duds, some were very suited to my tastes. Much more so than Hero or Jinhao, for example. So I finally decided to take a chance and order one of these -- $3.93 postpaid to NE US of A from cute.panda. It arrived in 13 days. The panda just threw it in a (slightly) padded mailer so the box got crushed but the pen was intact. It looks like it's been around for a while but the only real damage is to the clip. It had a dark, burnished look to it which I rather like, but it feels quite rough so I am guessing a steel clip is rusting through the plating which may not look so nice in a few years. I have seen something similar on a few Sheaffer Dollar Pens. But generally I expect it will outlast some current Wing Sungs such as the 3001 that loses its plating in a day.

 

The box was a bit musty. The pen likewise until I unscrewed the section and got a whiff of the ink sac. So it spent about three hours in warm water and Dawn. It is better now but not entirely tamed. Perhaps I should have used one of Herbin's perfumed inks.

 

Instead, I filled it with Herbin Perle Noire and gave it a try. It is very nice but a bit odd. The feel seems to vary markedly with the paper, as in much more so than other pens I own. It is always smooth. On some paper it feels heavenly, on others odd. It is VERY wet. Generally it seems to glide over the paper as though on air, yet does not slither around on me like many other ultra-smooth nibs. It also has a very soft feel to it. Overall it feels quite luxurious -- comparable to $100 pens. It pretty much felt that way out of the box, but a slight nib alignment made it even smoother and wetter. The feed on mine, by the way, feels quite hard.

 

One thing I might contribute has to do with the complaint that it seems to dry up as soon as you have used up the ink on the feed. I found that mine had to be immersed very deeply into ink in order to draw any up into the sac. At first I thought the problem was a leaky sac. After all, people have suggested the smell is from the sac deteriorating. But, no, you just have to dip the nib deeply. In this case it meant tipping the bottle just so and letting the nib strike bottom.

 

I have small hands and write with the pen posted. I have no problem with the size or balance of the pen when posted.

 

So I am tremendously happy with mine and regret that others have not been so fortunate.

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The Wing Sung 590, like almost all the 90 sized ( oversized ) fountain pens like Lily 403, Doctor 90 etc ... are all pens , in those days , designed not for writing but ink drawing / painting / Art Calligraphy ( not the type as latin based language but usually large text on rice paper that depict the Text as a primary element in a painting ) This generally explain why their behavior was so different from general use Fountain Pen , say Wing Sung's own ; they were more likely suitably be used just like a brush

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Thanks! I really like it for normal handwriting but perhaps others would not. In any case, I can say that it is wet and smooth and does not skip (until it runs out of ink). And I meant to say that it looks like a big Sheaffer No Nonsense pen to me. Also, mine writes medium-broad.

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I have 3 of these. all 3 are kind of junk. Really typical older chinese build quality, a little corrosion on the brass bands, clips not quite aligned, assembly kind of weak, all 3 have very dry, skippy nibs, and the threads all feel terrible.

 

It's just not a good pen. Compared to the modern stuff china is pumping out, these pens are junk. It will take a more normal #6 nib and writes okay, but is still prone to drying out.

Edited by Honeybadgers

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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  • 1 year later...

Mine arrived today. Yes, it's BIG, but ugly? Not in my eyes. It's obvious that the pen is quite old, but it definitely has not yet been used. Oh, and no smell, either! I filled it with ink (Hero 203) and it wrote first time. The nib is not as great as my Jinhao 911 and 992, or some of my other favourite Chinese pens, but it is definitely no worse than my Parker Vector. It's wet, but not excessively, and has a good flow, too. There's a tiny bit of line variation, but I am not after that, anyway. All in all I'm happy with it. It can do with a bit of polishing, but that's about all!

 

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there is reason why these over sized pen not popular even in its home country but then one must realize that none of them are actually designed for writing, but even in tha regard it ultimately fails as its far more suited and better to just use a brush for the traditional ink painting / sketching / calligraphic art ( not calligraphy ) its tailored for

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there is reason why these over sized pen not popular even in its home country but then one must realize that none of them are actually designed for writing, but even in tha regard it ultimately fails as its far more suited and better to just use a brush for the traditional ink painting / sketching / calligraphic art ( not calligraphy ) its tailored for

I use mine daily as an EDC for general purposes. It seems to be no more suited for use as a "brush" than any other pen with a medium nib. Now, perhaps fitted with a fude nib, it could serve an artistic purpose?

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Can the sac be removed and replaced with a converter? Has anyone done this? I don't like sacs but love the feel of this pen.

 

C

Oh, I know this of myself

I assume as much for other people

We’ve listened more to life’s end gong

Than the sound of life’s sweet bells

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Can the sac be removed and replaced with a converter?

 

C

Is there an easy way to do that?, no. That will require extensive retrofit. machining a nipple for the converter and suitably attaching it to the end of the section.

In case you wish to write to me, pls use ONLY email by clicking here. I do not check PMs. Thank you.

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Can the sac be removed and replaced with a converter? Has anyone done this? I don't like sacs but love the feel of this pen.

 

C

 

 

Just pull the big metal part off the sac and use it as a squeeze converter. it's actually quite good when used that way.

 

But no, you can't. I pulled the feed on one and it has no nipple. It works well if you pull the metal section off.

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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Got it. Thanks.

Oh, I know this of myself

I assume as much for other people

We’ve listened more to life’s end gong

Than the sound of life’s sweet bells

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I bought one of these a couple years ago based on SBRE Brown's video. Glad I'm not the only one who got one reeking of mold. I never used it for fear of infecting my ink :lol: Maybe I should wash it up, get some kind of biocide pumped through it, and give it a go...

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I just grabbed a couple myself which worked out to be $13.83 AUD which I think at the moment works out to be about 42c US

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