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Conklin Ebony All American Dry Out


Maurizio

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23 hours ago, Maurizio said:

I am today leaving a bad review of the pen on the vendor site.

22 hours ago, SoulSamurai said:

You could contact the seller about the problem to see if they can resolve it somehow, before leaving a bad review. I believe that's generally considered good etiquette for online shopping.

 

I don't, especially when the customer's review is critical of the product (design, quality and/or performance) and not the retailer's service. A retailer can possibly do the ‘right‘ thing by the customer by offering a refund, or exchange for a better unit or alternative product, but that doesn't make the product bought any better.

 

Even if — however unlikely — the ineffectiveness of the cap seal observed by the customer is an anomaly and not common for all units of the product, it still wouldn't be a problem anyone could have expected the retailer to have discovered by inspection of the particular unit prior to dispatch to the customer; and it's still evidence of poor quality control on the part of the manufacturer.

 

There is nothing improper, and nothing unfairly maligning towards the retailer, by leaving a critical product review without first discussing remedies to the problem away from open view; we're not talking giving eBay sellers bad score that reflects poorly on them for quality of product they sold but did not themselves produce.

 

6 hours ago, langere said:

… Sailor Kabazaiku. That's because the pen has a layer of cherry bark over a (I think) metal or plastic interior.  So you get the wood, but not the problems with the drying out of the nib.

 

It's a good pen, and I like mine; but, as you've pointed out, it isn't actually a pen with a wooden cap and barrel. It only has a thin layer of cherry bark rolled on top of a brass body; there is no actual woodwork in its making, the body wasn't turned from timber made suitable by the manufacturer's treatment and artistry, and the pen doesn't have the density, texture or feel of wood.

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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There’s a review of the pen on the Goulet Pens site by a buyer who states he poured melted wax (!) into the cap and this solved the problem. 

Frustrating that we buyers of a moderately priced  - but not inexpensive - pen must try our own desperate solutions for a pen that is flawed by design. 

 

FWIW I am planning to pour and brush on varnish into the cap but going to wait until the weather’s warmer so I can do this project outdoors on the back porch and let fumes vent. 

The prizes of life are never to be had without trouble - Horace
Kind words do not cost much, yet they accomplish much - Pascal

You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream - C.S. Lewis

 Favorite shop:https://www.fountainpenhospital.com

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1 hour ago, Maurizio said:

Frustrating that we buyers of a moderately priced  - but not inexpensive - pen must try our own desperate solutions for a pen that is flawed by design.

 

Price point aside, it's a Conklin, and — not that I own, or have used, any current Conklin pen models — frankly the brand does not inspire in me any more confidence than Moonman, Hero and Duke in terms of thoughtful design, thorough validation testing and careful quality control, so I never thought for one moment that it would fare better than a Moonman M6.

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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Let me second what A Smug Dill said.  In fact, Conklin inspires me with less confidence than some of the Chinese companies. 

 

Conklin now uses some wonderful materials, but the quality control, other components beyond the plastics and the quality of how the pen is put together is not as good as it should be.

 

Erick

Using right now:

Visconti Voyager 30 "M" nib running Birmingham Streetcar

Jinhao 9019 "EF" nib running Birmingham Railroad Spike

Stipula Adagio "F" nib running Birmingham Violet Sea Snail

Sailor Profit "B" nib running Van Dieman's Night - Shooting Star

 

 

 

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On 1/24/2021 at 1:05 PM, SoulSamurai said:

I've screwed around a bit with o-rings but have not personally been able to make troublesome pens dry out less quickly. However I have found that some inks dry out far more quickly than others; switching inks can make the difference between a pen that dries out a little bit too quickly and one that is useable.

Which are these?

Or rather the other way around: which are the inks that you've found to work better with dry-out prone pens?

 

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11 hours ago, Licue said:

Which are these?

Or rather the other way around: which are the inks that you've found to work better with dry-out prone pens?

 

 

I have not experimented with very many inks. However, one of my first fancy inks was Noodlers/Goulet Pens "Liberty's Elysium". It's a blue ink with a lovely colour that is permanent on cellulose-based materials because it binds with cellulose fibers (or something like that), which in theory means that it is easy to clean out of pens and I guess most clothing, but is permanent on paper. Unfortunately I eventually realised that switching from that ink to Pelikan's Royal Blue made a lot of pens a lot less troublesome; it made them less likely to dry out, ink didn't feather as much or show through paper as much, and pens would even feel smoother in writing. Of course the Pelikan ink is not very permanent (by design, as it's intended for use in schools where children will inevitably make a mess).

 

Currently I mainly use Namiki blue, which seems to me to offer a balance of easy of use and permanence.

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Thank you for your reply, @SoulSamurai🙂

 

Permanency is not very high on my priority list, most of my inks dissolve in water quite easily.

I'd just like to find some nice looking inks that help my quick-to-dry-out pens to do so a little less quickly.

 

Pelikan Royal Blue is good advice in so far as it is easy to find and cheap to buy. But on the other hand also not so great advice because it's THE standard ink here and therefor a bit boring 😉

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I've done a preliminary test, of super glue applied to the inside of the cap with a cotton swab, that seems to have helped a lot.  I say preliminary because it seems I didn't wait long enough for the glue to dry (30 minutes?).  Even with the mess I made, the hard starting after 8 hours was MUCH less pronounced.

 

Going to try reapplying when I get the chance.  Will report back my findings.

 

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Thanks Joseph for your report. Looking forward to the update. 

 

I have now written directly to Yafa for what its worth and asked for a simple exchange of this pen for a resin (plastic-bodied) All American with the same Jowo nib. If they don’t give satisfaction I too may try the superglue solution rather than varnish. Certainly superglue dries a lot faster than varnish. I’m curious how you applied it with a cotton swab without getting bits of cotton stuck in the glue?  If I try this I think I’ll try use a cheap nylon brush from the 99 cent store to spread the glue. 

The prizes of life are never to be had without trouble - Horace
Kind words do not cost much, yet they accomplish much - Pascal

You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream - C.S. Lewis

 Favorite shop:https://www.fountainpenhospital.com

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Update: Yafa has graciously agreed to an exchange. 

Since I was beyond the 60-day return period for Goulet Pens, they suggested that I contact Yafa directly which I did. Yafa has graciously agreed to let me exchange the pen for a resin All American of my choice. I’m pleased with this result and I think it’s the best that can reasonably be expected from a company. 

 

I myself created the problem by making a foolishly considered impulse buy rather than being more deliberative about my pen choices. Embarrassing to still be learning these lessons at my age😑

The prizes of life are never to be had without trouble - Horace
Kind words do not cost much, yet they accomplish much - Pascal

You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream - C.S. Lewis

 Favorite shop:https://www.fountainpenhospital.com

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On 1/29/2021 at 2:38 PM, A Smug Dill said:

 

Price point aside, it's a Conklin, and — not that I own, or have used, any current Conklin pen models — frankly the brand does not inspire in me any more confidence than Moonman, Hero and Duke in terms of thoughtful design, thorough validation testing and careful quality control, so I never thought for one moment that it would fare better than a Moonman M6.


The few modern Conklins I have had or tried did not particularly impress. Fit and finish was below average and nib/feed performance was meh.

 

As I understand the brand as it currently exists, the brand owners really play up Conklins long history and tradition of fine fountain pens, but they outsource manufacturing of traditional Conklin designs to the the cheapest houses they can find, which generally doesn’t bode well for quality control, especially if the manufacturing is remote.

 

My data set with modern Conklins is limited, but what I have experienced to-date with the modern versions has definitely not impressed me.

 

I imagine when everything comes together as planned, there are some very attractive Conklins, that are also fun to use, but until I have more independent data, I am rejecting the hypothesis that they are well-built.

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I fought with my Conklin for 6 months.  I tried nib after nib, feed after feed, ink after ink with no joy.

I finally figured it out.

The converter was leaking air.

I put in a cartridge and problem solved.

Thoreau "for every thousand hacking at the branches of evil, there is one chopping at the root"

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I've bought two Conklins in the past 16 years. I'll never buy another modern Conklin/Monteverde or anything connected with Yafa. The look of the two Conklin pens is good; the performance was terrible.

 

Never again.

'We live in times where smart people must be silenced so stupid people won't be offended."

 

Clip from Ricky Gervais' new Netflix Special

 

 

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Yep... never again for me too.

My $12 Pilot 78G write LOTS better with never a problem LOL

And Goulet Pens pushes them hard.  They know there are problems with them.

Thoreau "for every thousand hacking at the branches of evil, there is one chopping at the root"

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

Its a shame that this pen is doomed because of a design flaw so to speak.

I bought mine about 6 months ago, also at an impulse, but even with this short fall, I still like how the pen feels in the hand and how it writes.

 

Will I sell it cause it is a bit troublesome?

     No, for me its a keeper, and I am going to hold on to it.

Will I try to pour some wax or glue into the cap in an atempt to seal it?

     Yes, I might try to use white glue inside the cap and see if it helps.

Will I buy a Conklin pen in the future?

     Maybe, if I was on another shopping spree and one of their pens grabs my attention.

 

This is a lesson learned, and a new experince for me, I do enjoy a little bit of tinkering and troubleshooting pen problems, but as everyone else, I do not enjoy a pen that will refuse to put ink on paper.

 

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