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Penbbs 308


inkeverywhere

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If only Penbbs offered a medium nib!

 

They did for a short time for model 266 but stopped selling it do to an engraving error (Maden in China instead of Made), it probably will come back eventually.

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I have a transparent purple PENBBS - I ordered a 308, but it has 266 engraved on the cap band. Do I have the wrong pen? Is there any difference between the two models?

Will work for pens... :unsure:

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I have a transparent purple PENBBS - I ordered a 308, but it has 266 engraved on the cap band. Do I have the wrong pen? Is there any difference between the two models?

You have the right pen. Penbbs just recycled cap bands from 266 production for the 308. The difference is the 266's threads are on bottom of the section and 308 moved the threads up because 266 had the issue with people unscrewing the section when they try to uncap the pen due to the thread location.

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You have the right pen. Penbbs just recycled cap bands from 266 production for the 308. The difference is the 266's threads are on bottom of the section and 308 moved the threads up because 266 had the issue with people unscrewing the section when they try to uncap the pen due to the thread location.

 

Whew, that's a relief! I was confused when the box said 308 but the cap band had 266 inscribed on it. It's a great pen!

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Has anyone had trouble with these pens skipping?

 

Although my stock nib is incredibly smooth, it skips like crazy and is unusable as is. I checked it out under a loupe and it appears to be a case of baby's bottom.

I hope mine is just a fluke, because I really love how the pen feels and would like to get another.

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Penbbs' s nib can be changed with Wing Sung' s Lucky 2000 & 2002' s nib.

 

I' d like to test Chinese #28 nib on it.

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They seem to have a number of interesting models, like a piston filler, the 267 desk pen and the 323, where the colour I wanted, a gorgeous neon green with swirls, is out of stock...

 

Do they all have the upturned 'waverly' nib?

 

Here I am, just coming to terms with the re-born Wing Sung pens, and now I have PenBBS pens sprung on me.

Will it never end?

 

And they have inks! Does anybody know what they are like? What about PenBBS Blue 217? What is it like?

Edited by dcwaites

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“Them as can do has to do for them as can’t.


And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.”


Granny Aching

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They seem to have a number of interesting models, like a piston filler, the 267 desk pen and the 323, where the colour I wanted, a gorgeous neon green with swirls, is out of stock...

 

Do they all have the upturned 'waverly' nib?

 

Here I am, just coming to terms with the re-born Wing Sung pens, and now I have PenBBS pens sprung on me.

Will it never end?

 

And they have inks! Does anybody know what they are like? What about PenBBS Blue 217? What is it like?

 

The Waverly style nib is all the rage with Chinese FP nerds right now, as are demonstrators in every color imaginable.

Piston fillers are just starting to become a thing, but I have yet to see one in the wild.

 

The Penbbs inks are really nice and they behave a lot like Diamine inks (some bleed and feather, but quite nice overall).

I haven't tried #217 yet, but just finished my first fill of #66 "Sea Blue" and it is a fantastically complex blue-black. The Penbbs folks really know what they are doing and I have high expectations for 2018.

 

 

As the amount of Yuppies and rich college kids with refined tastes increases in China, I bet we are going to see more and more great pens and inks coming out of the country.

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Well, its not recent either, this form of WA nibs had been around since the 60's its just that its not known outside of China since its primary use and the form is obviously optimized for writing Chinese and especially Quasi-Calligraphy in everyday writing. Which is in itself quite different than full Fude nib or the Pilot WA ( I have them all and know this from experience ) of course for any who do not have extended period of writing in Asian language(s) this would not be easily discerned; as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, in the form of Kenji, Hangul, Hiragana, Katakana all place different demand on the text flow and usage with any pen or brush. Not less in calligraphy form.

 

Actually the rage of recent Chinese ( home market ) fountain pen nibs is more like the Bladed Grind which is more or less a specialist grind that border on Architect fused with Sailor NM but with a very sharply defined point and vertical stub edge and much shorter ball rear than the Sailor's .. not a grind easily mastered and can be a bit of a disaster when using it for Latin based cursive writing ( if the person had no prior experience with these kind of nib )

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Has anyone had trouble with these pens skipping?

 

Although my stock nib is incredibly smooth, it skips like crazy and is unusable as is. I checked it out under a loupe and it appears to be a case of baby's bottom.

I hope mine is just a fluke, because I really love how the pen feels and would like to get another.

 

My 308 didn't skip but was dry to the point of being unpleasant. I disassembled the pen and tried flossing to widen the tine gap but overshot and ended up too wet and too wide. I then narrowed the tine gap and ended up with okay line width and adequate flow but now I've got skipping.

 

Most of the above I can blame on my lack of tuning skills but the reality is the nib was unacceptably dry out-of-box. The pen body itself is quite nice though. I'll probably try another PenBBS at some point and hope I have better luck with out-of-box nib performance.

Edited by rollerboy
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Oh wow these look great! I ran across some on eBay today and they're definite eye candy. I may bring one home soon...

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Has anyone had trouble with these pens skipping?

 

Although my stock nib is incredibly smooth, it skips like crazy and is unusable as is. I checked it out under a loupe and it appears to be a case of baby's bottom.

I hope mine is just a fluke, because I really love how the pen feels and would like to get another.

 

I don't have any PenBBS pens (yet...) but I did have a similar problem with a Caliarts Ego. I used a 3-part nail buffing pad to fix it. They have 3 surfaces, Coarse, Fine and Buffing. A few longitudinal strokes on the Fine surface removes enough metal to reduce (but not eliminate) the baby bottom. You need a little BB to give a smooth writing feel. Then buff on the buffing side. Watch what you are doing with a loupe.

Don't forget to put a few drops of water on the pad with your finger before using it.

fpn_1412827311__pg_d_104def64.gif




“Them as can do has to do for them as can’t.


And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.”


Granny Aching

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I go back to my 3 differenr 266 / 308 and carefully check the nib with the help of light table and loupe. Found no sign of BB but observed thay one of the nib do seem to be gitted too tight in and forcing the tinrs closed. Currently none of them are inked but they had all gone through 2 filling before. Try dip and write with them and reconfirm my past observation that the ink flow lean towards the dry side. But OK when writing the home language; likely not that great for quicker cursive.

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I found that with a Hero Yangtze 1980 pen that just arrived. The tines were very tight, and I assumed it was suitable for writing Chinese characters, but was too dry for Roman Cursive.

fpn_1412827311__pg_d_104def64.gif




“Them as can do has to do for them as can’t.


And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.”


Granny Aching

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Yep, I think you both hit the nail on the head. These are tuned for writing Chinese characters. Thanks for corroborating my experiences with the 308. I'm happy to know I didn't get a dud. When I use the pressure required for the strokes in Chinese, it does the job marvelously. I guess I'll just use a western nib in this pen for English writing.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have to admit that my enthusiasm for this pen is steadily diminishing.

 

First of all there is the issue above about the nib writing too dry for comfortably writing western scripts. With the stock nib I have to push down as hard as with a ballpoint to maintain consistent ink flow. This issue is somewhat forgivable though because you can easily change the nib.

 

Now permit me to tell my tale of 308 woe from this morning...

 

On my frist attempt to use this pen I tried filling it with the stock converter by dipping the nib in ink. No ink was drawn into the pen after repeated attempts, even when most of the section was submerged.

 

For my second attempt I just filled the converter directly from the bottle and put it back in the pen. The converter drew in ink this way without issue, but once in the pen an unweidly amount of ink amassed at the end of the nib and retracting the converter didn't change anything.

 

Attempt 3: I accept that something's wrong between the converter and pen, so I try a vintage Parker 45 squeeze converter. It fits on the section but is too wide for the barrel to be put back on.

 

Attempt 4: I try a modern cheap Parker plunger type converter. It has the exact same issue as the vintage one.

 

Attempt 5: I give up on converters and try a Lamy cartridge. The nipple can't puncture the end of the cartridge no matter how hard I push.

 

Attempt 6: I try a short Parker cartridge, assuming that a long one would have the same problem as the converters. In this case the tapered end of the cartridge is too short to allow for the nipple to puncture it.

 

Attempt 7: I try a generic Chinese cartridge with a 3.4mm mouth. It fits on perfectly and punctures effortlessly. Then I try to screw on the barrel... Surprise, surprise, the inside of the barrel is too narrow to fit even this cartridge.

 

At this point I muster what little self control I have left to keep myself from chucking the pen in the trash, fill up a Parker IM (since the converter was already inked from failed attempt 4, and dash off to work thirty minutes later than planned.

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Ok lesson lean ; never prepare your pen just right before you need it , give it a day or two ...

 

well , that aside, sorry to hear that ... it sounds like you might actually got a bad sample after all. I use mine for both Chinese & Cursive writing and had encounter no problem, just like other fountain pen all it require is its own weight on the tip to laid down some ink. Admitting I do not do any particular calligraphy or any fancy stuff. But even with a proper one I think ultimately the hype will settle. Then we can look at the pen without a rosy tinted glass on.

 

Actually my complain wit this pen is pretty much the same, the nib, that is, not that its having any particular issue, but the fact that PenBBS will have us only 1 nib grind. Its some time already and I am still not seeing the M yet , no less the B or full blown Calligraphy/Fude. I am tempted to swap a Hero or Jinhao calligraphy nib onto one of them

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I have to admit that my enthusiasm for this pen is steadily diminishing... At this point I muster what little self control I have left to keep myself from chucking the pen in the trash...

 

 

Any reason you don't just eye-dropper it? That's what I've done, since it is provided with an O-ring, and it's fine. I have some of the issues you describe - the nib runs dry when using cursive with flourishes, but other than that it is a great pen.

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Here's the one I got. The seller threw in an extra nib for it, weirdly marked only "iridium Germany" but I doubt it was made in Germany since it came from China....oh well. Seems to be a standard #6, so I'll swap the original nib out for something broader.

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