Eye Dropper Fountain Pens

[Raissermesser]

Noodler's Heart of Darkness came in today, with a Charlie pen. I like the screw-on cap. I don't like the nib width. This lays down a lot of ink. Would put it somewhere between a fine and medium point.

The ink is showing ghosting on the back side of the page that Noodler's Black and Skrip Black doesn't. I'm hoping it's from the amount of ink the Charlie pen puts down. Thinking about converting a 0.2mm nib Preppie and trying that.

 

[r0ckrat]

The Charlie nib can be adjusted for flow - I think Goulet has a howto video for it. It has to do with how deep the nib sits / how much of the nib extends beyond the feed...

 

[bberg100]

Charlie is a fun pen. As mentioned, you can adjust the flow a little bit, play with it. It is also quite burpy. I keep a napkin on the desk and when I see the ink building on the nib a quick wipe eliminates burping on my notes.

 

[Raissermesser]

Have tinkered with the Charlie pen this week, and have it where it won't write quite as wet, but it's about a medium width line. Nothing bad with that, but I prefer fine because I write small. Was thinking about finding a new nib, but learned the Charlie and Creeper ebonite feed takes a #2 nib. Oh, well; I was buying the ink, not the pen. Anyone who like medium nibs might like this one. The Charlie nib is a smooth writer, and I have no quality complaints.

The smell is interesting. It is not the worst smelling plastic I've encountered. That title is held by some old drafting equipment that smells like it was buried under an outhouse. The smell of the Charlie pen triggers a dim memory of other pens, but can't place when or where. Would have to be early 1960s.

The Heart of Darkness ink does ghost more than expected. The interesting thing is just how dark it is. You look at it and go, "Yeah, it's black." But when I wrote beside it with Sheafer Skrip Black, it made the latter look greyish. It's clearly blacker than a Sharpie black pen, and might be blacker than a Uni-Ball 207 black pen. Haven't compared it to Platinum Carbon Black.

 

[Whiskey Badger]

I have had no luck with the Charlie, and I have piled up a good few of them. They are a bit small for my hand, and even if I try to warm them to my body temp before writing, I get the dreaded burp. Even after heat treating to properly fit the nib.

I can (usually) see the burp coming at the nib. This gives me enough time to pull the pen from the paper and let it retract, but that is bothersome enough to turn me off it, and so they go in a box.

I have had much better luck using other pens as an eye dropper. The Platinum Preppy works fine for me, and the Kaweco Sport, even the Noodler’s Ahab. Seems the only eye dropper in my arsenal that doesn’t work well for me is the one designed for just that purpose.

For what it’s worth, I just don’t eye dropper very often. I love the look of it in a demonstrator, but I don’t need the ink capacity (or the potential mess).

 

[Doc4]

For what it’s worth, I just don’t eye dropper very often. ... I don’t need the ink capacity ...

For me, the ink capacity is the main selling point of the eyedropper format nowadays, so ... if it's not something you need, then sticking with a converter or other modern filling system is going to be good for you.

 

[Frozenshades]

I'm not a super user of fountain pens, and think eye droppers look interesting but am not sure about them at the same time. Like others have said I don't need massive ink capacity, nor do I want to deal with burping and ink splatter. I'd be game to try one eventually, but don't feel the need to go out my way right now to do so.