Levenger "True Writer" fountain pen

[welch]

Levenger: the closest pen to the great Esterbrook J series. Similar colors, swap-out nibs, even a black "jewel" on either end.

[cancoi]

I have an abalone True Writer from 2002 & it's been a great EDC pen. I finally tracked down the original green & now feel that my collection is complete (of True Writers, that is!).

[tryphon]

I have a few spare parts for repairs.

 

http://s26.postimg.org/ubujr33h5/true_writers.jpg

[Opus105]

C..r..a..z..z..y!

[stacybean]

I have three. They're nice pens for daily use.

Agreed! I usually have one with my other daily carries in my pen case.

[Athena_PN]

Greetings all, from a newbie.

Sadly the two True Writers I have (from abt. 2000 I think) are disappointing. Wrote beautifully but if left to sit for a weekend they become completely ink-starved & must be taken apart & cleaned to get any ink moving through them again. These are the TW's that have nib/feed units that pull in & out (Schmidts?), unlike the current (2015) nibs.

 

Also, the feed on one has begun to simply disintegrate. It's had only Levenger & Waterman inks in it so I'm quite surprised that it's committing such a dramatic suicide.

 

Tryphon, have you any of the old feed pieces available? Hopefully it is not incorrect to ask that here, please forgive a newbie if this is a gaffe.

 

Thank you all - you give me hope that the problem is ME and not the pens!

-Athena

 

I have a few spare parts for repairs.

 

http://s26.postimg.org/ubujr33h5/true_writers.jpg

[tryphon]

No feeds at all. I only have barrels and caps. Sorry. These were bought in bulk and do not reflect in any way on the quality of the True Writer, which is a very successful pen, inspired by the vintage Esterbrook we all love.

Edited November 17, 2015 by tryphon

[kestrel]

There is (or was) some variation in the True Writer. My first one, many years ago, was a disaster. It started hard, frequently stopped for no apparent reason in mid-sentence, and didn't seem to like any of the inks I tried in it. I really worked to make that pen a success but finally ended up returning it to Levenger for a refund. Customer service was great. Never again, I said. Several years later Levenger made me an offer I couldn't refuse on a his and hers pair of Metallists. Wow. Great pens and built like tanks. They were followed by three more in various incarnations. All were very good writers. I had Pendleton Brown modify two of the broad nibs to his unique italic and have been delighted.

I was surprised to read about the drying issue. One of my True Writers is my backup grading pen to use when the regular pen runs dry and it starts right up even after a week or more of inactivity. The ink is the now-discontinued Fireball. It's a good pen for the money and, as others have written, the closest thing to a reincarnation of the classic Esterbrook "J."

[Erik Dalton]

I've been buying true writers and other levenger pens for close to 20 years now. I have more than a few. Once I got started it was like eating popcorn, I couldn't stop. The retail prices for pens as well as other levenger items are overpriced. But if you watch for sales and close outs, you can do really well.

Now on eBay you can pick up NOS discontinued models. It's the best of both worlds!

For me, they are great pens, nice selection of colors, great customer service, nibs that screw in and out like Pelikans. Medium size and weight. Nib units are not expensive so if you are practicing your nib polishing and screw up, no worries, just go online and order up another. I prefer the fine nibs. Levenger nibs seem to be in between Japanese and European in terms of the thickness of the ink line they put down. The fine nib after smoothing and tweeking will write more like a medium to my mind.

Recently I just picked up a beautiful Ivory one with a two tone fine nib on The Bay. I also Bought at full price,(something I avoid doing at all costs...lol) the new Stone colored True Writer. This turned out to be an absolutely stunning pen. The pix don't do it justice, has to be seen. I got a fine nib and it writes smooth as butter.

Some of mine are 25 years old. These are not high end pens. Like anything, If you Mistreat them, they won't last. But when you get a good one, you will find yourself with your high end pens in the case and writing with these.

[Athena_PN]

Interesting experiences - I suspect my pens are possibly of the same vintage as those mentioned by Kestrel

& are duds in an otherwise fine line.

 

Thank you for your response Tryphon, I appreciate your patience with a newbie; and I also appreciate Old Salt's tips on trying eBay. It's nice to know hear from someone who's had good experience with that venue before diving in solo and if you've liked them for 25 years, well, that's quite a testament!

 

I really loved the way my TW's wrote when they were working, but they gagged up on me so much I assumed I was the problem & didn't contact Levenger at the time. Lesson learned there - it really wasn't me. If anything I baby my pens (my two 70's No Nonsense pens are still happy little writers!).

 

When I contacted Levenger customer service (2015) to find out if/where I could buy a new feed, I couldn't get an answer from them aside from attempts to sell me more product. From the grammar & unfamiliarity with western names I'm guessing they've off-shored some of their CS department (being addressed by my middle name was a little odd). To be fair they have 'escalated' my issue: if I hear anything from them I will report on it - just an answer to my question would suffice.

 

I found out much more about the pens here on FPN than from their own CS department which speaks wonderfully of FPN, but not so well of Levenger, and although I'm tempted to buy another TW it will have to be an eBay 'find' … which may convert me!

 

Thank you all, 'see' you around!

[Erik Dalton]

Few tips:

Go to the Levenger website. Search for replacement nibs. They come as a unit, feed, nib and housing.

The whole thing screws into the section of your pen, just like Pelikan.

 

Also, The nibs are friction fit. They and the feed will pull right out of the unit. Best done with the unit installed in the pen. (Lots of tutorials on YouTube) You can get a #5 Schmidt nib to fit these. I have no idea about where to find just the feed alone, suggest you start with a new nib unit then you know all parts work from the start.

 

On E Bay...check spearbob's store. Large selection of levenger pens among others. Very reliable seller, with fast service....no affiliation here, but long time customer.

[tryphon]

Few tips:

Go to the Levenger website. Search for replacement nibs. They come as a unit, feed, nib and housing.

The whole thing screws into the section of your pen, just like Pelikan.

 

Also, The nibs are friction fit. They and the feed will pull right out of the unit. Best done with the unit installed in the pen. (Lots of tutorials on YouTube) You can get a #5 Schmidt nib to fit these. I have no idea about where to find just the feed alone, suggest you start with a new nib unit then you know all parts work from the start.

 

On E Bay...check spearbob's store. Large selection of levenger pens among others. Very reliable seller, with fast service....no affiliation here, but long time customer.

I think it's speerbob

[Athena_PN]

Thanks Old Salt and Tryphon - FPN has the nicest people posting! Per Levenger their current nibs don't fit my pens - mine have a nib/feed section which pulls away from a 'neck' (made-up-word) section of body of the pen much the same way the Noodler Flex Creaper has pull-out nib/feeds. I suspect that when better adjusted to one another the one working nib/feed may behave itself: I watched the Goulet video on adjusting the two pieces to get the ink flow one wants but haven't yet tried it with my working TW (nerves!). It's such a wet writer when it writes that I confess I'm nervous about creating an ink geyser!

 

Thanks for the tip towards speerbob. If folks sell Schmidt nibs there might be someone out there who also sells the feeds - my experience with the 'bad' feed can't be that unusual in the world of fountain pens, particularly as it seems many folks enjoy fixing/renewing vintage pens … must be a market somewhere for pieces.

 

Thank you again gentlemen!

~ Athena

[Erik Dalton]

Ur right it is Speerbob. I never said I could spell...lol...thanks for the assist Tryphon.

[Athena_PN]

Success! The one pen that still works is responding well to lubricated ink. I cleaned it again, filled it with Monteverde's 'Brown' and now it's writing the usual lovely wet line and best of all has stopped drying out when left to sit a few days in the pen box. Hurrah!

 

I'll keep an eye out for a newer TW from eBay; I'd like to have a TW for one of my standard non-lubricated inks now. <insert mock groaning sound from non-pen-enthusiast spouse!>

 

Thank you FPN'ers, for your cheerful enthusiasm and your assistance!

[kestrel]

Success! The one pen that still works is responding well to lubricated ink. I cleaned it again, filled it with Monteverde's 'Brown' and now it's writing the usual lovely wet line and best of all has stopped drying out when left to sit a few days in the pen box. Hurrah!

 

I'll keep an eye out for a newer TW from eBay; I'd like to have a TW for one of my standard non-lubricated inks now. <insert mock groaning sound from non-pen-enthusiast spouse!>

 

Thank you FPN'ers, for your cheerful enthusiasm and your assistance!

If you like italic nibs order a True Writer with a plain old-fashioned Broad nib and send it off to Pendleton Brown and have him grind it to his Butterline Stub. It changes the whole character of the writing experience.

[Samskara]

I only own one Levenger pen, an L-Tech 3.0, which I bought primarily as a matter of style. My favorite pens are Parker Sonnets, but they don't go with jeans. The Lamy Safari has the right style, but mine is scratchy, and so much of the reason for using a fountain pen is the effortless writing. The l-Tech 3.0 looks as if it would find a place in an outdoorsman catalogue but still writes smoothly even with a fine nib.

 

But -- I find that the pen goes dry over night, and it should be at least dipped in an ink bottle before leaving the house. Overall I like the pen, and it's probably more of a daily writer than other pens which never leave the house, but I can't get enthusiastic about it.

[SoulSamurai]

I only own one Levenger pen, an L-Tech 3.0, which I bought primarily as a matter of style. My favorite pens are Parker Sonnets, but they don't go with jeans. The Lamy Safari has the right style, but mine is scratchy, and so much of the reason for using a fountain pen is the effortless writing. The l-Tech 3.0 looks as if it would find a place in an outdoorsman catalogue but still writes smoothly even with a fine nib.

 

But -- I find that the pen goes dry over night, and it should be at least dipped in an ink bottle before leaving the house. Overall I like the pen, and it's probably more of a daily writer than other pens which never leave the house, but I can't get enthusiastic about it.

 

I have a(n?) L-Tech, and I also found it wasn't too resistant to drying out. I attribute this at least in part to the fact that the finial on the cap can be unscrewed and replaced with a stylus (and I don't recall there being an inner cap underneath it); I don't think that screw-on part is particularly air-proof.

 

I considered trying to air-proof it to prevent this, but I didn't like the pen's balance anyway so I didn't bother. You might want to give it a try; I've heard of dripping wax into the cap, I myself have used acrylic varnish in the past. However, since the finial just screws off, you could probably just apply silicon grease to the threads? At least before doing something a bit harder to clean up like using wax.

[Runnin_Ute]

I have had the Silver Anniversary model since 2013 and the build quality and performance has been near flawless. No drying out, no converter problems, writes and nice and smooth. As the SA has a brass body it is about 30 grams and is my heaviest pen. I don't post it. (I did a review when I got it) Mostly it doesn't get used as much as some others as I have other pens I like more. I think they are very underrated.