Thank you for showing this fountain pen I like it is reasonable to try a stub nib. I always enjoy your videos. Just got a Diamond TWSBI with Robert Oster Caffe Crème which I have never had a brown ink but love this ink. It is nice to have someone who loves pens and inks!
When you buy any conklin American use eyedropper to test the barrel (a common fault with yafa). I used eyedropper after warranty expired yafa did eventually send a new barrel after lengthy email message back and forth.
Oh wow, I didn't even know that was a thing! Thank you for sharing! I was looking at the omniflex nib, so if it was eye droppered, that would help with the flow. I read several reviews about the converter being the cause of skipping. What nibs do you have?
Oh gosh I have two Conklin Duragraphs and they are my most reliable pens! They always start for me and don’t dry out. I did buy them from Vanness so I’m not sure if maybe I got lucky or not.
Ohhhh wow! So glad to hear that! Vanness is wonderful, I got to meet Lisa and go to their store at the last Arkansas Pen Show! Thanks for sharing your experience with Conklin. The pens are so pretty and this one feels very substantial. The classic look is also a plus. Do you have the omniflex by any chance?
That's actually an easy one - it would be Pilot! I'm a huge Pilot fan. From the smiley face on a $12 Kakuno to the several $$$ for the Pilot 823, it would be Pilot. What about you?
@@KitchenCounterCrafts Yes I love my Pilot Custom 823 for sure, and it would be second, my first is Benu, just because they are so blingy and make me smile and reliable
@ my eye is always caught by the BENU! I can’t bring myself to buy one because it reminds me of a fairy wand! 😆 I’m way more of a classic design but you never know! My Hinze pen is the first one to have a little sparkle ✨
@@marshahostetler yes, absolutely! It could also be the nib/feed (allows more ink) but some inks are much wetter. I try to use those in pens that have a tendency to skip or have hard starts. Diamine Writers Blood comes to mind (gorgeous, gorgeous ink)!
It's kind a similar to my story. I bought Conklin All American . It's nib (Jowo) has a low flow, mainly due to the nib slit is to tiny. With Diamine Oxford Blue (very saturated ink) it wrote ok at start, but after few days it skipped more and more. I think you should try a wet ink, something like less saturated Iroshizuku or examine a nib slit. Diamine Winter Spice (very saturated, with shimmer) may not be appropiate for this nibs. But all in all my Conklin writes very smoothly. I'll also try my pen with Iroshizuku, probably kon-peki. I think that will be a good writer. And most important thing, give it a good cleaning, because new nibs/feeds are almost always dirty. Good luck :)
Thank you for those suggestions! A Shimmering ink should probably not have been the best thing to use right away! I like your suggestion of using a lubricated ink to help with flow and possibly cleaning before first use. I’ll keep you posted on how it does. I’m just glad it’s writing! So nervous after reading reviews but this pen and other Duragraphs are so pretty! So is yours doing better? Did you have to fiddle with it?
@@KitchenCounterCrafts After two days with kon-peki nothing skipps in my pen. Time will show. But the line color is too light because the nib slit is too small and it writes like . Looking at your "eights" I like Conklin more than TWSBI because the line width is more varied in Conklin. Maybe the nib's tip is realized more "rectangly" (more like italic nib) and the edge of the nib needs to be led in parallel to the paper? Did you try writing eights moving entire hand, without moving fingers (not to rotate the pen)? And if you could write a long left to right thin line over all the page width. I'm curious if it still will skip. If not, the problem may be with holding the pen. All in all I don't have many positive feelings about generic Jowo nibs (and also Bock). Sometimes they are ok / just ok / almost ok, but... There is always some kind of "but" about them :) In my eyes these pens are not predicted to be a workhorses. Rather just for fun. And tweaking nibs, finding a corresponding inks etc. is part of this fun. But they look nice and are presented with the sentimental name of a historical brand, like most of today's pens :) By the way, this 1.1 Conklin stub looks wider than 1.1. Wider nib needs more precise if it's not rounded. Can your Conklin provide a long thin line? Maybe this will be the key to explain that :)
@@waldemarowczarski146 hmmmm... you've given me so much to think about! I think you're right about the stub being wider than my TWSBI 1.1 for sure (good eye!). There's definitely greater line variation & that makes me pretty happy! I will post a quick short to do the things you suggested. It might be my hand placement (I do calligraphy, so I tend to hold my pens fairly high). I will do a few more dashes and lines, along with figure 8s. Let's see how it does. It wrote yesterday evening as well. I was worried about it having hard starts as many have complained about them. I agree about this not being a workhorse. I have several of those that serve me well. I just bought it for the heck of it! :) Not too shabby for the price. I heard of others paying closer to $50+ and I think that might make for greater disappointment? Thank you so much for the suggestions and thoughts on this - I'm sorry your pen is writing like a EEF (sounds dreamy to me, as I have been thinking about a Pilot 912 with the PO nib!)! 😊
Thank you for showing this fountain pen I like it is reasonable to try a stub nib. I always enjoy your videos. Just got a Diamond TWSBI with Robert Oster Caffe Crème which I have never had a brown ink but love this ink. It is nice to have someone who loves pens and inks!
@@marshahostetler ohhh!!! That sounds dreamy!!! I love RO inks and caffe crème sounds wonderful!
What nib did you get for your TWSBI?
@ Usually I get an EF or F but now I will a stub as you suggested and play!
@ do it!!!! I’m so excited for you!!!
When you buy any conklin American use eyedropper to test the barrel (a common fault with yafa). I used eyedropper after warranty expired yafa did eventually send a new barrel after lengthy email message back and forth.
Oh wow, I didn't even know that was a thing! Thank you for sharing! I was looking at the omniflex nib, so if it was eye droppered, that would help with the flow.
I read several reviews about the converter being the cause of skipping.
What nibs do you have?
Oh gosh I have two Conklin Duragraphs and they are my most reliable pens! They always start for me and don’t dry out. I did buy them from Vanness so I’m not sure if maybe I got lucky or not.
Ohhhh wow! So glad to hear that! Vanness is wonderful, I got to meet Lisa and go to their store at the last Arkansas Pen Show!
Thanks for sharing your experience with Conklin. The pens are so pretty and this one feels very substantial. The classic look is also a plus.
Do you have the omniflex by any chance?
I love the line variation with this pen. Do you have a favorite brand? Such as, if you could only live with one pen brand, what would it be?
That's actually an easy one - it would be Pilot! I'm a huge Pilot fan. From the smiley face on a $12 Kakuno to the several $$$ for the Pilot 823, it would be Pilot.
What about you?
@@KitchenCounterCrafts Yes I love my Pilot Custom 823 for sure, and it would be second, my first is Benu, just because they are so blingy and make me smile and reliable
@ my eye is always caught by the BENU! I can’t bring myself to buy one because it reminds me of a fairy wand! 😆
I’m way more of a classic design but you never know!
My Hinze pen is the first one to have a little sparkle ✨
I was going to use " Hit or Miss" does it need some micro mesh? Maybe smooth that area out? Or is it the feed?
I think that a little bit of fiddling will make it work.
I used the pen again the next morning and there were no skips, so that was good! 😅
@@KitchenCounterCrafts Oh good, maybe the tines were a little off.
@@tbayless8324 I'm thinking it's more of an operator error with me and my hand! Hahaha
@@KitchenCounterCrafts it's probably just the ink picking on you and faking you out. LOL!!! So easy to blame it on the pen HA HA!!!
Thought of a question, do you find some inks wetter than others??
@@marshahostetler yes, absolutely! It could also be the nib/feed (allows more ink) but some inks are much wetter. I try to use those in pens that have a tendency to skip or have hard starts. Diamine Writers Blood comes to mind (gorgeous, gorgeous ink)!
It's kind a similar to my story. I bought Conklin All American . It's nib (Jowo) has a low flow, mainly due to the nib slit is to tiny. With Diamine Oxford Blue (very saturated ink) it wrote ok at start, but after few days it skipped more and more. I think you should try a wet ink, something like less saturated Iroshizuku or examine a nib slit. Diamine Winter Spice (very saturated, with shimmer) may not be appropiate for this nibs. But all in all my Conklin writes very smoothly. I'll also try my pen with Iroshizuku, probably kon-peki. I think that will be a good writer. And most important thing, give it a good cleaning, because new nibs/feeds are almost always dirty. Good luck :)
Thank you for those suggestions! A Shimmering ink should probably not have been the best thing to use right away!
I like your suggestion of using a lubricated ink to help with flow and possibly cleaning before first use.
I’ll keep you posted on how it does. I’m just glad it’s writing! So nervous after reading reviews but this pen and other Duragraphs are so pretty!
So is yours doing better?
Did you have to fiddle with it?
@@KitchenCounterCrafts After two days with kon-peki nothing skipps in my pen. Time will show. But the line color is too light because the nib slit is too small and it writes like .
Looking at your "eights" I like Conklin more than TWSBI because the line width is more varied in Conklin. Maybe the nib's tip is realized more "rectangly" (more like italic nib) and the edge of the nib needs to be led in parallel to the paper? Did you try writing eights moving entire hand, without moving fingers (not to rotate the pen)? And if you could write a long left to right thin line over all the page width. I'm curious if it still will skip. If not, the problem may be with holding the pen. All in all I don't have many positive feelings about generic Jowo nibs (and also Bock). Sometimes they are ok / just ok / almost ok, but... There is always some kind of "but" about them :) In my eyes these pens are not predicted to be a workhorses. Rather just for fun. And tweaking nibs, finding a corresponding inks etc. is part of this fun. But they look nice and are presented with the sentimental name of a historical brand, like most of today's pens :)
By the way, this 1.1 Conklin stub looks wider than 1.1. Wider nib needs more precise if it's not rounded. Can your Conklin provide a long thin line? Maybe this will be the key to explain that :)
@@waldemarowczarski146 hmmmm... you've given me so much to think about! I think you're right about the stub being wider than my TWSBI 1.1 for sure (good eye!). There's definitely greater line variation & that makes me pretty happy!
I will post a quick short to do the things you suggested. It might be my hand placement (I do calligraphy, so I tend to hold my pens fairly high). I will do a few more dashes and lines, along with figure 8s. Let's see how it does.
It wrote yesterday evening as well. I was worried about it having hard starts as many have complained about them.
I agree about this not being a workhorse. I have several of those that serve me well.
I just bought it for the heck of it! :) Not too shabby for the price. I heard of others paying closer to $50+ and I think that might make for greater disappointment?
Thank you so much for the suggestions and thoughts on this - I'm sorry your pen is writing like a EEF (sounds dreamy to me, as I have been thinking about a Pilot 912 with the PO nib!)! 😊