The Jinhao X450

The Jinhao pens are incredible value. I always contrive to carry one or more fountain pens with me, and that's not too difficult in the colder parts of the year, when my coats have more pockets.

Warmer weather means fewer pockets and more precarious pen stowage, and Jinhaos are the perfect answer; quality pens at knockdown prices, which don't break the bank and won't break my heart if any go AWOL, by mischance. Touch wood, none have yet.


Ferrum
 
RedHorseman said:
Well i took the plunge and bought an x450 for a whole £1.84 hopefully it will help me.get my chicken scratch hand writing legible enough for my boss to read my job cards.
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Great. Do post a pic and what you think about it when you get it.
I went ahead and bought an EF Goulet nib that I'm hoping to get this weekend.
As smooth as the Jinhao nib is it's just a tad too wet/wide for me so I'm hoping an EF will be more in line with my personal preference :)
 
RedHorseman said:
I have seen a few jinhao on eBay while looking that had fine and extra fine nibs, I may buy a 599 with an extra fine nib for a quid and try/swap them.
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Not sure that the 599 nibs will fit the 450/750 pens.
There are also, to make it more complicated, three different types of nibs on the 599 pens.
See this link for some photos and details
 
Got my Goulet EF replacement nib in the mail today.
Swapped out the stock Jinhao and put the Goulet on.
Writes a bit finer which is great...but holy cow this nib is SO scratchy!
It almost wants to bite into the paper - and does so audibly.
As it is it's unusable but will see if there is anyhing that can be done to it.

So a $2 Chinese pen (the entire pen) outperforms a $10-15 American nib by leaps and bounds.
 
Darkbulb said:
Got my Goulet EF replacement nib in the mail today.
Swapped out the stock Jinhao and put the Goulet on.
Writes a bit finer which is great...but holy cow this nib is SO scratchy!
It almost wants to bite into the paper - and does so audibly.
As it is it's unusable but will see if there is anyhing that can be done to it.

So a $2 Chinese pen (the entire pen) outperforms a $10-15 American nib by leaps and bounds.
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Just your luck I suppose. So the Extra Fine wasn't that fine after all?

Have you checked too see if the nib's tines are straight? Some careful bending could fix it. There are plenty of instructions on the net for how to check/fix this.

Since you've got nothing took loose you could try your hand at smoothing your nib. You can use some micro-mesh like this from eBay. It's a bit of a black art but might fix it for you. Bare in mind that you could ruin your nib by bending or smoothing it. I have vastly improved some of my nibs by smoothing (i.e. made usable) but also think I may have made a couple of them worse, especially the first few.
Again, lots of videos on the net. Personally I like "sbrebrown" on YouTube, he's got a very hands-on approach and is entertaining.
 
I don't know much about fountain pens but could.you use some very fine abrasive to round off the edges?

On another note what would the best budget black ink be for writing on printer paper/card? Bottled or cartridge.

Sent from my E6553 using Tapatalk
 
Richard @Darkbulb, @fancontroller provides some very good advice.

In my experience, it is very rare - in fact, pretty much only in the case of really high-end gear - that a nib is properly sorted straight out of the box! I use micro-mesh on most nibs that I buy. Gently does it though with light-pressure figure of 8 movements. You will not believe the difference that a few passes on the micro-mesh makes to a scratchy nib.

A jeweller's loupe is also a good investment if you want to indulge in tine alignment / straightening etc.
 
RedHorseman said:
Oops, I may have just bought a jinhao 9009 for £1.77 in burgundy. Lucky they are cheap eh? Nico, I'll give it a go if I have problems with the tip, what grade do you use? I have up to12k

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@RedHorseman - I start with an 8000 and then go to a 12000 for polishing off. Although, if it is really scratchy, I would start with 4000, then move up through 8000, and 12000 as before. If you do use a 4000, be very careful as it doesn't take much at that grade to start removing metal...:eek:

As we all know, what has been removed cannot be unremoved!
 
Went a little bit Chinese-pen-crazy this sunny afternoon;

1) Ordered a Hero 861 w/ Fine nib ($1.80 w/ free shipping);
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2) Bought an 8-pack of Jinhao 599s ($14 w/ free shipping)
Comes with eight converters as well.
Thinking 3-4 of them will be given away.
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fancontroller said:
Wow , that is a bit crazy. I've got the same (4 horses design) pen but made by Baoer (another Chinese co.). It's an excellent smooth writer. It was a Xmas present - we're big spenders (;
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I'm thinking I'll keep 3-4 of the 599s and pair them with colored ink...for fun... as I have a few samples coming my way.
Yeah seems like 'the big three' w/in Chinese cheapo pens are Jinhao, Hero and Baoer - and they all seem to have quite the following.
 
Went deeper into the Chinese pen wabbit hole and picked up a Jinhao X750 as I don't have that model and it's supposed to be a 'step up' from the 450 (slightly larger, Jinhao engraving, different grip).

Got the 'Chessboard' model which set me back $3 w/ free shipping:
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@PLANofMAN These might make pretty nifty groomsmen gifts
 
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