If you buy a new Jinhao 10 that hasn't been previously tested and proven to be exceptional, then don't count on it to even remotely being able to write straight off (or at all) after just two days on non-use

[A Smug Dill]

 

All of these pens were filled with Monteverde Brown Sugar ink, and subsequently tested to ensure they were writing in the expected colour without any remnants of moisture noticeably diluting the ink, within the same hour.

 

The reason: I want to test the sealing effectiveness of these pens. I've read that the Jinhao 10 is quite apt to seal poorly. The Majohn A1, which I've had for a while, isn't stellar in that regard, but I trust it not to dry out in a week or even two; but how long between uses before it'd hard-start? None of the several Jinhao 80 (out of a dozen here) I've used sealed well; but just how poor are they? The HongDian 920S, like the Jinhao 10, is a relatively ‘new’ model to me; but from what I've seen in the past couple of weeks, it seals reasonably well. The Wing Sung ‘Pipa’ is a complete unknown to me, that I picked up in March for <US$1.40 each. That HongDian M2 is the only one out of the five I've inked up that has been exhibiting hard-starts; was it a problem with the (Robert Oster Sydney Lavender) ink with which it was filled previously, or is that unit of the pen subpar? As for the Pelikan Twist, I never trusted such a pen to seal well; but, to my surprise, after neglecting the pen for most of a year, I'm surprised that the short ink cartridge in it has not completely dried out (with a couple of drops remaining liquid in the cartridge's cavity), and the pen still wrote after some hard-starting! So, I'm using it as a sort of ‘control’ to see how the ink colour can be expected to look on the page.

 

(More at: https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/1jrz2rq/a_dozen_out_of_many/)

 

 

 

 

I don't think it's premature to conclude that, in general or with overwhelming probability, one'd get extremely poor sealing effectiveness. To me, drying out to the point of not writing at all in 48 hours makes the pen completely “useless” or “unusable” to me, and not worth inking.

[RedPie]

Thank you for this great review of so many pens. Impressive. You are right, if a pen like this don't seal for 48 hours, it would be useless for me as well. 👍 Even 72 hours would not be acceptable.

[bugsydog55]

Dill has put a lot of work into this project.  Since this pen is a big favorite in the community this is welcome information.  There are some YouTube videos showing how to apply silicone grease to the trap door greatly improving the seal.  That seems like a real mess and I have not tried it on any of my pens.  It would be interesting to see if there are any ideas to overcome this dryout issue.

[lascosas]

I have a Jinhao 10 that still had a small amount of ink left, but I'd moved it to the folder of pens to be cleaned.  After reading the above I pulled it out to see if it had dried out.  No, after 11 days is started right up.  The ink was J Herbin 1670 Rouge Hematite.

[inkstainedruth]

I only have one Jinhao (forget the model but it's the one that's a knock-off of a Lamy Safari -- or, more likely, an al-Star, since it's got a metal body & cap) which someone gave me a few years ago.  
As far as I'm concerned, it's a $5 US pen that WRITES like a $5 pen.  But it did have one useful feature to it -- it taught me that I COULD get used to the triangular section on an actual Safari/al-Star/LX pen. 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Misfit]

The Majohn A1 I have did a better job writing after a day or two vs the Jinhao 10. They had different De Atramentis inks in them. 
 

Thank you @A Smug Dill for working on this project with the test pen. The work you put into it shows. Thank you for sharing it with us. 

[Dan Carmell]

If there’s an inherent flaw in the J10 pen body causing this sealing issue, it’s a real shame as the bodies seem robust and some of the colorways are quite attractive. I have seven; one of which stayed wet day-to-day for several weeks before I flushed it. Another I used with what turned out to be a dried up cart, so no fault to the pen. 

[mke]

On 4/9/2025 at 1:45 AM, lascosas said:

No, after 11 days it started right up. 

I have also such pens, inked up 3 weeks ago and not used since. Just took them out and about 50% wrote without problems or after scribbling a bit on waste paper.

 

I have one pen which dried out immediately when I first filled it. After the 2.-3. refill, it doesn't show that drying out anymore. No idea what happened.

Actually, I wonder if not the sealing at the clip is the problem as I had two cases where ink appeared at the insert of the clip. If ink can come out, air can go in.

 

Finally, I want to say that when I use such a pen regularly, there is no problem at all. I am not someone who needs so many different inks at the same time anyway - so I don't need 20 different pens inked up and can focus on the one pen inked. Most times that I have many pens inked up is from testing that they write correctly - after receiving them.

 

And, we also should not forget:

a) these pens are cheap, we get what we pay for,

b) other pens from Jinhao like the 82 and the 9019 do not dry out.

[Jamerelbe]

I have two Majohn pens (an A1 and an A2), plus one Jinhao 10.  Two of them (the A2 and the 10) were prone to dry out fairly quickly - the Jinhao within a day or so.  I followed the Vanessa Langton's instructions on applying silicone grease to the trap door, and both pens are now providing a much more effective seal.  I don't know how long this will last before I have to 'top up' the silicone grease, but the Jinhao 10, which was giving me nothing but hard starts, is now a smooth and reliable writer.

 

Maybe it shouldn't be so, but I'm very glad I tried this fix - I had almost convinced myself that I'd wasted my money on the Jinhao pen...

 

Here's a link to the video, for anyone interested:

 

 

[OCArt]

@JamerelbeThanks for posting the YouTube video, I hadn't seen it.

[bugsydog55]

That's the video I was referring to a few days ago.  Glad to hear of a "real life" example.  It looked like something i would do, but I don't use the pen often enough to keep it inked up, at least at the present moment.  That could change over time so this will be filed in that "use when necessary" category of pen "wisdom" I all carry along with me.

[Jamerelbe]

On 4/12/2025 at 7:17 AM, OCArt said:

@JamerelbeThanks for posting the YouTube video, I hadn't seen it.

 

My pleasure - it's definitely made a difference to my Jinhao 10, I can now leave it a few days at a time (at least) without the nib drying out, whereas previously it would dry out within a couple of hours (with the red ink I have in there right now!).

[mke]

11 hours ago, Jamerelbe said:

red ink

Actually, a number of red inks have also drying out problems in normal pens. Example: Gutenberg ink. Sailor and Pilot are less problematic.

[bhavini]

I've been writing with my 10 for the past couple of days. No issues so far. I am not writing very regularly. Maybe a page or two with several hours/overnight of no usage. Once the pen empties of ink, I'll ink it up again and not use for atleast 2-3 days and report back.

 

Right now, I simply can't stop myself from picking it up again and again. The nib writes a European fine line but smooth and wet. Considering my wages and the exchange rate, there's no way I can ever afford the Pilot VP so I am very, very glad Jinhao decided to manufacture this model. Ink: Waterman's Mysterious Blue.

[SpencerianDream]

9 hours ago, bhavini said:

I've been writing with my 10 for the past couple of days. No issues so far. I am not writing very regularly. Maybe a page or two with several hours/overnight of no usage. Once the pen empties of ink, I'll ink it up again and not use for atleast 2-3 days and report back.

 

Right now, I simply can't stop myself from picking it up again and again. The nib writes a European fine line but smooth and wet. Considering my wages and the exchange rate, there's no way I can ever afford the Pilot VP so I am very, very glad Jinhao decided to manufacture this model. Ink: Waterman's Mysterious Blue.

You aren’t missing a thing. The 10s do have a tendency to dry out if not used regularly (apparently fixed by silicone grease) but aside from that, they are phenomenal writers and I’m hard-pressed to identify any areas in which the Pilot is superior. I reach for my Jinhaos or Majohn first over my VP almost every time. 

[StephY]

I've had a Majohn A1 inked for the past 6 days. Initially it had a pretty stingy inkflow, but I tweeked it a little and switched inks and it has improved.  I don't write consistently with it, but so far no hard start issues.  The ink is Birmingham Pen Co. Cornflower.

 

I just inked a Jinhao 10 today with a Franklin Christoph ink (Ink'23).  It blurped once just after writing the first sentence, but now seems fine.  I'll have to see how it does over the weekend to see if this one needs the silicone grease treatment.

[antoniosz]

Regarding the video.  Am I the one that is worried that this is not a good idea?
By greasing the door on the opening there is a probability for the nib to catch some and then the nib can be blocked.   Of course the pen is near useless anyway

[Ted A]

You are not. It seems to me the layer would have to be extremely thin to keep from being pushed around. 

 

Fortunately mined is acceptable. It sometimes, but not always, is a hard start. I don’t know what makes the difference. 

[PenLovingE]

I have found that opening the tine gap with a brass sheet and the silicone grease trick has made my Jinhao perform as well as my VPs