I've fallen into the Chinese fountain pen rabbit hole, I’m afraid. Almost as deeply as I did with inks last summer. Now I'm trying to resist buying any more of either – I have so many of them! 🕳️🐇
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Which Chinese pens are you finding tempting? I have a lot of Chinese pens from AliExpress and they have all been cheaper yet still mostly excellent quality. I got a new Majohn this week and it’s been fun to play with
I love Hongdian pens! Kaigelu nibs are awesome. Jinhao pens are fun, and I really like Majohn, too. My Hero pen was a pleasant surprise, and honestly, even no-name pens have been surprisingly good!
Yeah. PenBBS is another brand that makes very nice models that do interesting things with form and filling method (456 for vacuum filler!), but finding theirs can be a bit more difficult/inconsistent. Whereas Asvine is going to be well represented in same places as Jinhao, Majohn, etc.
Have you also used the Majohn/Moonman A1 (or A2/3)? I'm been pretty happy with those, and they're obviously going for the same niche and value proposition, and curious what people think who've used both.
I have! I think the nib on the Jinhao is a bit smoother & the barrell is a bit wider. However, it will dry out without use *much* quicker than the Moonman. I really like both but the Jinaho 10 is just a better fit for me. Both are great! My hands just like thicker pens.
The A1 (metal) has a thicker body versus the A2 (plastic). I thought that both metal models, ahem, inspired by Pilot VP were pretty much exact matches in dimensions, but maybe not?
I think my eventual capless solution is a Majohn body with a Pilot nib, I really like the A2 form factor.
Ah! My bad. I have both an a1 and an a2. The Jinhao is thicker than both, obviously. I love the idea of capless but I don’t know that I’ll ever be in a place to justify the VP.
The Chinese fountain pens are my favorites, best writing flow.
I understand the struggle because I also got one more this week 👀
Look, I need one for every ink color...
Black, because I had one but gave it as a gift to a friend's 8 year old son. He seems to be drawn to calligraphy.
I can't get to it now, and I don't know if it's a famous brand, but the new one is black and gold with a 0.5 nib. I'm rather new to this 😅 but excited
For context, I write my novels' first drafts by hand and for the flow and quality, I prefer the Chinese nibs
The thing is, if I find one that writes well and lasts long, I tend to use that one, but now I'm writing more and every story has a difference color scheme... Vibing with the process
I had the nib in my profile pic for decades, just carried it around like a good luck charm even when I stopped using fountain pens, even when the pen broke. Hero, I think (?!) Still have it, and for a long time it was the only one I could use for my left slanted fast writing - it doesn't snag
Have you seen this site? Dangerous, lot of pre owned’s for less than new price. Watch out for the Montblancs tho, I’ve gotten 2 from there that had issues. Both times they did make it right. Nice people, small business.
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In my experience their nibs are well tuned out of the box, which can be a problem with some brands (and not just cheap ones).
I think my eventual capless solution is a Majohn body with a Pilot nib, I really like the A2 form factor.
I understand the struggle because I also got one more this week 👀
Look, I need one for every ink color...
I can't get to it now, and I don't know if it's a famous brand, but the new one is black and gold with a 0.5 nib. I'm rather new to this 😅 but excited
The thing is, if I find one that writes well and lasts long, I tend to use that one, but now I'm writing more and every story has a difference color scheme... Vibing with the process
https://www.truphaeinc.com/