Jinhao 992 fountain pen

The third in the bunch of AliExpress fountain pen purchases bought for $2.8 is the Jinhao 992 fountain pen. I used the fountain pen for some time now, and I am going to share my experience with it.

The Jinhao 992 fountain pen has a classic and clean look to it. It resembles Sailor and Monteverde fountain pens, but I wouldn't call it a copy, maybe inspired. Also, the design is so classic that you will find parts of this in many other pens.

The Jinhao 992 fountain pen is made completely out of plastic and comes in a bunch of solid colors, translucent or transparent. So, there are a lot of options to suit everyone's taste. For me, the classic black with silver trim was the nicest and classiest looking, so I went with it. I enjoy the look of the fountain pen and the feel in hand, but this is not quite the hole story.

It comes with a fine nib, which is on the small side, as is the entire fountain pent. It has some graphics on it, and it has Jinhao and F are also present. The 992 didn't come with the smoothest nib. It doesn't scratch the paper, it just has more feedback than I would expect from a fountain pen. The flow of the ink is what you would expect from a Chinese fine nib. Fast writing is not an issue with the pen, even though it is not a wet nib. It keeps up with no problem. It is a perfect writer on regular paper, it doesn't feather or bleed trough. Upside down writing is scratchy and extremely dry. It's not a thing that this fountain pen is really able to do it, which is a bit odd for a Chinese fountain pen.

The cap is a screw on, and it takes just a hair over one revolution to take it off. It comes with a strong clip and a trim at the point where the cap screws on the barrel. The trim has the name Jinhao on it and that is about it. There is nothing fancy about it, no motifs or shapes on it. I think the reason for this trim beside the visual aspect is the longevity of the cap. The plastic from which the fountain pen is made doesn't inspire much confidence, and I think it is easy to crack it if you tighten the cap or the barrel a bit too much. Adding a metal ring I think prevents this to happen, as it offers some extra rigidity to the plastic.

  

The barrel has a small cylindrical end, nothing fancy here. 

The fountain pen is rather small, and for long writing sessions is not the most comfortable. You can post the cap securely on the back of the fountain pen to make it a more suitable writer for longer sessions. I usually write without posting the cap, but because the pen is small, thin and very light I use it with the cap posted if I take more than just a few quick jots. The cap has a good airtightness, as the fountain pen sat on my desk for a few weeks without being used and started with no skips when I picked it up to write with it.

The Jinhao 992 was supplied with a converter. And if you take into account that it cost $2.8 shipped, you will see that the shortcomings of the fountain pen are not that bad. It might not last a lifetime, but for what you pay you will get a decent writer.

The addition of a converter is nice, but mine at least is not a very good performer. The ink doesn’t flow liberally inside, and often air pockets are created due to the capillarity effect. Adding something to agitate the ink inside the converter would improve its function a lot. You can add it yourself or just swap it with an international standard cartridge. The Jinhao can't be used with long international cartridges as they do not fit inside.

What we do in the shadows series

Probably the best comedy movie and TV series featuring vampires ever made is "What we do in the shadows". Going through the first season, I spotted a Parker Jotter in a scene where Nandor is applying for US citizenship.

The government employee is going through a series of questions to see if Nandor is eligible for the citizenship, but the answers offered by Nando the Relentless are not helping at all.

If you haven't seen the movie or the series, I highly recommend it if you are in the mood for a good time.

45 year celebration from the debut of space shuttle Enterprise

To celebrate 45 years since the debut of the space shuttle Enterprise, company Retro 51 launched a limited edition Tornado pen with design inspired from the space shuttle.

Enterprise rolled out on September 17, 1976. Enterprise was restored and placed on display in 2003 at the Smithsonian's.

The pen tries to recreate the look of the shuttle, through the nice graphics printed on the barrel. The pen's barrel is made out of stainless steel.

You can get the pen for around 60 $

Holiday pencils

I just came back from a short but nice vacation, with good weather and great views. On this vacation, I took with me a fairly small notebook where I had info and sites worth seeing, planning notes and stuff.

I had all the information on my phone but I wanted to have a bit of redundancy in case I ran out of battery.  It wasn't the case but it's still nice to have it and maybe take some notes or make quick jots.

For this trip I took the Koh I Noor Notebook mechanical pencil because it is very small, travel safe as you can retract the writing lead completely, it has a built-in sharpener in the lead advance button, it has a body made out of metal and it looks really cool and retro.

I really like the size of the mechanical pencil for travel and everyday carry, not so much for proper writing due to it being too thin to have a comfortable grip. the looks are just a bonus.

You can take a look at the blog post about this pencil I have posted in 2019.

I enjoy traveling and I like walking up and down the streets of a city, getting in touch with the city atmosphere, enjoying the architecture, and all the stuff that is happening all around, and occasionally if the time permits I really enjoy time spent in museums.

This was a trip rather close to my home town, but it had a lot of surprises. On the first night out in the city enjoying site-seeing good food and beer, I stumble upon an open-air Jose Carreras concert. In the following days, I spent the time between beers, sightseeing, aquapark, and two museums.

The first museum visited (on the second day) was an art and science museum. In the science part of the museum between artifacts, skeletons, and all kinds of interesting relics, I found a section where the sketches, a notebook, and a pencil of a local historian were added to the gallery, showing his work and contribution to the exhibit.

Interestingly enough the pencil used was as a red Koh I Noor, 2 mm clutch mechanical pencil. I found it to be very cool, as I was traveling with a Koh I Noor.

The next day I visited a second museum which was a more eclectic collection of exhibits. Its main point focused on the history of the local fortress, the life of the nobles in medieval times, world war, graphic, photo, and art exhibitions, history of the church in the area, life under communism, and a few more.

The museum mostly made use of the beautiful fortress buildings to attract crowds and used all sorts of recreations to depict life from the past. It was a bummer for me, and  I would say its audience would be families with small children which probably would enjoy the pictures, figurines, armors, and so on.

The most interesting parts for me were the ruins of old buildings and tombs which were under the fortress, dug up, preserved, and presented very nicely, and a poster gallery. I really enjoy old posters and these ones are mostly collections of communist period work safety posters. I was fascinated to find out that the painter Toulouse-Lautrec is the father of the poster.

In continuation of the communist posters, there was a room representing the communist period in Romania, with pictures of the leader, common household objects and between them, there were a few stationary objects for students.

So if you wonder what would a student's bag includes, here are a few samples.

You can see in the image a wooden pencil box, a few hooded nib fountain pens and some sharpeners, the "Student" ink, below that is another hooded nib fountain pen and a dip pen and in the left a used bottle of permanent ink.

If you are curious about communist household objects used in Romania click on the images below.

Related articles:

If you would like to see more about Koh I Noor click you can use the following links or the Koh I Noor label in the right panel:

Koh-I-Noor shop in Prague

Koh-I-Noor Notebook

Koh-I-Noor Versatil 70s

Koh-I-Noor 5340 5,6 mm lead holder

or about my old Chinese fountain pen that I used in the primary school

Small notebook

Fake Wingsung 3008 fountain pen

I have seen a lot of talk about the cheap and very nice Wingsung 3008, and I decided to give it a try. Being my first piston filler fountain pen I was very intrigued by it. I ordered it along with other pens from Aliexpress and waited... and waited

One eternity later ... (to be fair the local postal service is not the fastest, so this contributed to the wait as well)

The fountain pens arrived in the mail. The fountain pen was in this orange cardboard small box. I took it out and after a short inspection, I realized it is a fake Wingsung 3008. I went back on Aliexpress and indeed the pictures presented by the seller were correct, only the description was misleading.

Right from the start, I could see the quality of the fountain pen was sub-par even for a Chinese fountain pen.

I will start with the exterior and the feel. The barrel is made out of clear plastic which has molding lines on the side. If you pay attention, you can see and feel them. The cap is made out of nice to the touch black opaque plastic and has a chromed trim at the tip and a nice and secure clip.

The cap is screw fit and comes off after 1 and a half tuns. Inside the cap, there is some sort of white plastic lining. I do not like the feeling when you screw it back on, there is no clear point at which the two sections are perfectly screwed, it always feels that you can twist it a little bit more. After you take the nib off you are presented with a clear nib section and feed, a very nice look. The grip has three flat sections for a "better" grip. one at 6 o'clock and the other two in the mirror at 10 and 2.

From this point forward, things look a little iffy. The nib is plane and has no decoration on it whatsoever. It sits very far from the section, it is like it is missing something, or it is a size smaller than the feed. Because of its position, I feel that I am writing with a wand. And it has a weird look  The metal in it is very thin, and after I pushed it a little bit it bent, which is not a good sign... Out of the box, the nib was ok-ish, but had a squeaking sound on paper. After a bit of tweaking and writing with it, the sound is not so obvious. Now it is writing fine, it is smooth and has a low to medium ink flow.

The piston filling mechanism offers a lot of ink capacity. I think the piston can't be disassembled for cleaning. To actuate it, you turn the nob on the top of the pen. It doesn't have a locking system, there is a bit of play in it when it is fully closed. Inside the barrel is a dimple over which the piston has to travel. You can feel that bump, as it requires more pressure to go over it, so I can consider it a "locking" mechanism. I do not know how other pens do it, but I don't think this is the best system. I am not worried that the ink will come out accidentally, but because the gasket has to travel over that hump over and over, make me think it's more of a disposable pen. 

The fountain pen is comfortable in hand, and it can be used for long writing sessions. The size is good, and it can be used without posting it. The cap posts shallow but really well and secure, without the risk of activating the piston.

So far I hadn't had problems with burps from the fountain pen, but at the same time, the fountain pen was never with me on a plane or on a desk where the sun is shining all day. But just from holding it in the hand and writing for moderate periods of time.

Beautiful fountain pens in Dark series season 3 (origins, nuclear plant)

 The German Dark series on Netflix has showcased very beautiful fountain pens over its run. I have managed to see all the episodes and I came across a very interesting looking one. I can't manage to find who is the manufacturer. If you have suggestions the comments are just below :)

The first fountain pen that I have spotted in Dark season 3 is the following one. A very interesting long and probably gold nib

The second fountain pen I have spotted is arguably an even nicer fountain pen, with a unique look. It has a very classic shape, black color, with gold trim. Especially the gold circles on the cap/barrel are quite unique and nice looking.

Tha same fountain pen is featured later being used to write in a journal.

Jinhao 51A fountain pen

I wanted to get a hooded nib fountain pen, and after some window shopping, I picked the Jinhao 51A, with an acrylic barrel. It is pretty clear, from where the pen takes its inspiration.

The pen took some time to arrive as I ordered it from Aliexpress. The pen made the long journey among friends, so I will share another two pens in the short future after I spend more time with them.

The Jinhao 51A comes with a small price and a big look. I paid around $5 for the acrylic version. You can buy the fountain pen with in different barrel options. It is offered in with a plastic body, translucent and opaque, wood, or acrylic. All the body types are offered in different colors. Also, buy it with the hooded nib or with a more traditional* nib. There are a lot of options to choose from when it comes to aesthetics, but the hooded nibs are only available with a Fine nib. I found the white black acrylic to be the most interesting looking, so I ordered it. It has a very classic and traditional form, but the acrylic makes gives it an interesting allure while keeping the "classy" look at the same time.

* I always thought that the traditional style nib is the hooded one. I consider them traditional because when I was growing up this style of fountain pens was very common, I would say they were the standard.

The grip section of the fountain pen is made out of black plastic for all the models, only the barrel differs. The grip is comfortable. It is thick enough and due to the fact it is smooth, you can hold the fountain pen however you like. If I write for longer periods of time, the section can become a bit greasy, offering less grip. The nib is hooded but a bit bigger than I expected it to be.

Between the grip section and the barrel, there is a metal ring that gives the fountain pen a nicer look, a bit more elegance. The interior thread of the grip section is metal, while the barrel has the thread done in acrylic. From time to time, fine pieces of acrylic end up on the metal thread of the grip section. I am not saying it will not hold up for many years, though.

It would be nice to have the barrel coated with a metal liner, but for the money I paid, I will place this minus in the category good enough.

The look of the barrel is the highlight of the pen. It is made from a very nice acrylic, for not a lot of money. This model black white has in some parts amber hue. To me, the colors look like marble. 

Compared with the pen from which it draws its inspiration, the Jinhao 51A has a very similar size and diameter. 

The cap is made out of brushed metal and has an interesting pocket clip. The look of the clip is not a copy of the Parker, giving the pen its own character. The cap is very secure on the body, giving a click-like feel when pushed in all the way. After using the pen for some time, the plastic grip section has a spot that lost its shine due to the cap, which rubs on it to create a seal. Though, it is not very visible.

If you pay a bit of attention, you will see that the finial and clip are a lot shinier compared to the rest of the cap. While the cap has a brushed look to it. The finial is connected to the cap with a screw on the inside. I do not know how well the screw will cope with the ink and humidity.

The fountain pen writes well. The nib doesn't scratch, it feels ok on the paper. The tines were not perfectly aligned and because the nib is so small it is stiff and hard to tune them. I would describe the nib to feel more like a pencil, offering feedback to the user. It puts on the paper, a dry line and I guess it makes sense as these pens are designed as everyday writers, on general purpose paper, where a wet and broad line would not do too well. 

The sweet spot of the nib is rather small. Reverse writing is possible, offering an even thinner line and less ink. It is not overly scratchy, and compare with other nibs, it could be cataloged as usable.

The fountain pen comes with a converter of ok quality. I appreciate that the Chinese fountain pen companies offer a converter, even though the price of the pen is very low. Even though I am very satisfied using cartridges, there are a lot of people who prefer converters. The pen is compatible with international size cartridges, short or long.

I have tested it extensively for about two months, and I enjoyed using it. The look made me go back to it very often.
The writing experience was not perfect out of the box. It had some ink starvation problems, especially putting down fast lines, the ink would stop coming out. I aligned the tines of the nib for a smoother and better writing experience and spread them, so it would be a bit wetter. I also swapped the converter with an international ink cartridge because the ink wasn't flowing very well. It has a capillarity effect, creating pockets of air inside. The converter needs an agitator to prevent this from happening.

When I replaced the converter with a long international ink cartridge and spread the tines a bit, I had issues with too much ink coming out and burps. I had instances when I hold the pen in the fist, the air got hotter inside and started coming out and making the pen burp.

 

I took it a few days at the office, and standing on the table in the sun it burped ink in the cap. It happened to me with other fountain pens, but this felt a bit more dramatic. This happened while it had a large international cartridge that was half empty. My Loom has the tendency to burp when paired with large international cartridges.

I tested it with a standard international cartridge, and it works a lot better. I tested it with the nib up while holding the barrel in my fist, shortly small air bubbles started to come out. I believe that the materials used are conducting the heat from the hand a bit too well.

 

After some trials and errors, the pen works very well. I use only international short cartridges now, though.

One thing that I appreciate is the cap which creates a good seal, and the ink doesn't dry. I had it sitting for 2 weeks, and it wrote from the first attempt. I consider this to be very impressive, as the pen has a friction cap.

All in all, I am happy with the fountain pen and how it writes, I will stick to international short cartridges in the future. Even if it is not a perfect writer, I would recommend it, especially if you like the style. You can choose from a variety of materials and colors.

Bic Matic Mechanical Pencil

A very iconic mechanical pencil, the Bic Matic.

I had several of these as a kid, I see them all over, in movies or as promotionals. This Bic Matic has a clear hexagonal barrel and a green clip. I like you can get the pencil in a multitude of colors, transparent barrel and colored trims or colored opaque barrels. 

The tip of the pencil is completely made out of plastic and has no metal sleeve. It is a thin and long pencil. In its thickest point, right where the black front sections meats with the barrel the pencil is 8.2 mm thick. From tip to eraser it has 15.1 mm in length. Comparing it with a Tikky which is 9.4 mm wide and 4.3 mm long.

The clip is a nice lime green. It has the Bic logo on it, the model name and size, and very weird it also has HB #2. I know that the pencil is intended for children, school supplies but labeling the hardness on a mechanical pencil seems to be strange at least.

You can get the Bic Matic in size 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9, but the first two sizes are more readily available while 0.9 is harder to find

There is a model which has a rubber grip, named Bic Matic grip. On the package, it states that it is for extra comfort.

Bic's are disposable products, but I am sure you will get enough of use out of these pencils. Even though it is disconcerting when you see in shops boxes of 40 pieces or you see that 1 Bic pencil last as much as 2 and a half would pencils :)