Fountain pens and ink aplenty!!!

[tsellati]

I have been wanting to branch out from my current inks-on-hand and try some new colors. I came across the Pilot Iroshizuku mini fountain pen ink sets on Amazon. Decided to go with this choice of three inks:

And, of course, with all these new inks I needed new fountain pens to use them in . So, I went with a set of four individually boxed Jinhao X450 pens with medium nibs.

The pens arrived today but the ink set is not due on my doorstep until Tuesday .

Curious to know if anyone else has these Jinhao pens and whether you like how they perform and hold up to use.

Tim

 

[TBoner]

Never tried the Jinhao pens, but the syo-ro ink is a favorite of mine. I'll be curious to read your review once you've used them.

 

[ajkel64]

Nice pens and nice looking inks. Congratulations.

 

[tankerjohn]

Looks like you’ve got a matching pen for each ink. Super cool! I think you’ll enjoy yourself. I love Iro ink; just looks and performs great. Have fun!

 

[Contact_vs_Feedback]

Jinhao X450 is a good pen, also the Jinhao X750 is more popular here (India).

Reviews are great, as it is a budget pen and mass produced, but definitely vfm.

As long as there is no leaks (a bit of silicon glue will help), it is a good pen, especially as worry free carry pen.

 

[Rhody]

Looks amazing that’s my favorite go to ink. Especially shin Kai. I find it also doesn’t dry out and gunk up my pen if I ink it and forget it. Although my New Years resolution is to actually clean my pens. But I haven’t gotten around to that yet. I haven’t tried that pen but have been itching to buy a new pen. Let us know what you think.

 

[jackgoldman123]

The ink bottles are beautiful.

 

[Geordon]

I have been wanting to branch out from my current inks-on-hand and try some new colors. I came across the Pilot Iroshizuku mini fountain pen ink sets on Amazon. Decided to go with this choice of three inks:

View attachment 1235892
View attachment 1235893
View attachment 1235894


Tim

I have a couple of Iroshizuku inks and love them. That bottom one is really pretty!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[VerbaVolant]

I have and use now a Jinhao 159. Mammoth, Goliath, of a pen. It has a butter smooth #6 Jinhao nib.
I like it, although it is quite rudimentary. It writes wet, and the nib is more of a Broad than a Medium. It can stay unused 3 to 4 days and still be ready to go when you need it. It cost me something like $10CAD.

 

[Jut]

Looks fun! Of all the things you ordered, I have only used Syo-ro. It's a really nice color. In fact, all of the Iroshizuku inks (which is about 5) have been really nice. Enjoy and congrats!

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

 

[Doc4]

Pilot Iroshizuku ... Decided to go with this choice of three inks:

Iroshizuku is great ink. I have a bottle of the fugu-gaki, and have tried samples of the other two (as well as many others.)

I do prefer this ink brand in a stub or italic nib around 1.1mm. It really shows them off well.

If you like the ama-iro but wish it were a bit more substantial, kon-peki is the way to go. If you like the syu-ro and want something a bit more substantial, tsuki-yo is the way to go. If you like them both but want to mix them together to get the best of both, then it's ku-jaku.

 

[dojpros]

Edge of my lane. I am choosing no to buy anything made in the PRC when it can be avoided.

Having said that, the general consensus is that Jinhaos far exceed the intersection of quality and value. Some folks claim that a bit of proactive use of some silicone grease on threads and nib exam/adjustment if needed is the way to go with the brand.

 

[tsellati]

The ink bottles are beautiful.

Agreed, and the wait for them to arrive is killing me . I ordered them back on the 9th and they

I have and use now a Jinhao 159. Mammoth, Goliath, of a pen. It has a butter smooth #6 Jinhao nib.
I like it, although it is quite rudimentary. It writes wet, and the nib is more of a Broad than a Medium. It can stay unused 3 to 4 days and still be ready to go when you need it. It cost me something like $10CAD.

View attachment 1236769

Yes, I have had precisely the same experience. I tried some Noodler's Liberty's Elysium in my new Jinhao x450 and found it to be incredibly wet, resulting in a lot of feathering, bleed through and spotting if you don't keep the nib moving. Given the inexpensive paper (legal pads) I use for scratch notes these (supposedly) medium Jinhao nibs are a non-starter.

Thankfully, I did a little research online and came across threads suggesting a replacement nib. I have some Fountain Pen Revolution #6 Two-tone fine nibs on order. I suspect this will do the trick and set me up with four new awesom Jinhao fountain pens for about $10 a piece.

Tim

 

[Swedish Steel]

I have an x450 that I use sometimes. It writes very smooth and is decently wet; maybe a bit on the wet side, but not too much. It is extremely good value for the money. I do not remember, but I might have gone over the nib with some micromesh.

 

[Heckle]

I have both a x450 and an x750. I like them both as I tend to lean more towards a heavier pen. As they are budget pens, your mileage may differ but do not be afraid to try them out! I use them more than any of my other pens.

 

[tsellati]

Iroshizuku is great ink. I have a bottle of the fugu-gaki, and have tried samples of the other two (as well as many others.)

I do prefer this ink brand in a stub or italic nib around 1.1mm. It really shows them off well.

If you like the ama-iro but wish it were a bit more substantial, kon-peki is the way to go. If you like the syu-ro and want something a bit more substantial, tsuki-yo is the way to go. If you like them both but want to mix them together to get the best of both, then it's ku-jaku.

WOW, Doc4, I so much appreciate the suggestions. You are feeding my new addition, my man! I am still bobbing around the shallow end of the learning curve pool here. Now I have to research these stub and italic nibs of which you speak.

Tim

 

[Doc4]

WOW, Doc4, I so much appreciate the suggestions. You are feeding my new addition, my man!

Not sure if I should apologize or say "you're welcome" ...!!


The basic notion of the stub/italic nib is that they are flat and wide at the tip rather than round.

So the vertical stroke gives a wide line of ink, and horizontal a narrow one.

And of course holding the pen at a different angle gives a different result. The difference between the stub and italic is that the italic has sharper edges so it gives a bigger contrast between the fat and thin lines, while the stub is more rounded for less contrast but is easier to use.

A good stub/italic width that both gives contrast and is generally useful is 1.1mm. The next usual size up is 1.5mm, which gives much more contrast but is better for bold headlines and things like name tags rather than regular writing.

 

[Geordon]

Not sure if I should apologize or say "you're welcome" ...!!

Both, probably...

The basic notion of the stub/italic nib is that they are flat and wide at the tip rather than round.
View attachment 1237537

Side note: Unless I'm wrong, this nib above is called a "music" nib. If you look carefully, you can see two slits. IIRC, this allows for better ink flow when a composer is/was creating a score at a piano-forte and writing the notes on a sheet of music that was more or less vertical.

So the vertical stroke gives a wide line of ink, and horizontal a narrow one.
View attachment 1237538
And of course holding the pen at a different angle gives a different result. The difference between the stub and italic is that the italic has sharper edges so it gives a bigger contrast between the fat and thin lines, while the stub is more rounded for less contrast but is easier to use.

A good stub/italic width that both gives contrast and is generally useful is 1.1mm. The next usual size up is 1.5mm, which gives much more contrast but is better for bold headlines and things like name tags rather than regular writing.

I was actually wondering about this myself last night while shopping for a couple of Lamy pens and a variety of nibs. By any chance do you know if the Lamy 1.1, 1.5, and 1.9 nibs are more stub vs. italic? (incidentally, with the stuff that I ordered, I will end up with Lamy EF, F, M, 1.1, 1.5, 1.9. Why yes, I *am* a completionist? Why do you ask?)

 

[tsellati]

My Iroshizuku inks arrived the other day. I must say I am quite pleased with the color selection I made.

Here is the Syo-ro ink loaded up in one of my Jinhao x450 pens that still sports the medium nib it came with -

The line is still too thick for my tastes but is much better on this small notepad paper from work than the cheap A4-sized notepads I typically use.

I have a bunch of Fountain Pen Revolution No. 6 two-tone fine nibs that will be arriving in the next day or two. I will report back once I have had a chance to try them out.

Tim

 

[Casaluz]

What would be a good entry level pen to experiment with either flex nib or a soft fine nib?