KenCrooker.com

Fingers Were Meant to be Inky

TwitterFacebookPhotosRSS
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Pen Pain
  • Internet Safety
  • About
  • Contact
  • Toggle Mobile Menu
  • Back to Top

September 13, 2015 / Ken Crooker / Fountain Pens, Reviews / 6 Comments

Dikawen 839 Fountain Pen Review

Dikawen 839 Fountain Pen Uncapped

My quest for the perfect “Inexpensive Chinese Fountain Pen” brings me to a brand I’ve never touched before…

Dikawen 839 Fountain Pen

Price: $9.50
Nib: Fine/Extra Fine
Filling System: Screw-Type Piston Converter & International Standard Cartridges

About the Pen:

I’ve done a fair amount of cruising around eBay looking for cool Chinese fountain pens. Why? Well for starters, many Chinese pens have interesting and unique designs that are different from more mainstream brands. And the fact that they’re typically dirt cheap doesn’t hurt.

When perusing the world of Chinese fountain pens, you’ll probably notice a huge number of brands available. Some are different brands owned by the same companies (like Jinhao & Baoer). Others appear to be different “translations” of the same brand name (like Wingsung & Yongsheng). I could probably rattle off another 20 Chinese manufacturers (I won’t) whose names are fairly well known.

But there are a handful of brands that seem to fly under the radar. One pen manufacturer that came up every so often was Dikawen, but I couldn’t find any chatter around the Innernets to tell me if they’re any good or not. I found a cool-looking swirly brown and gold Dikawen 839 for under $10, and decided to pull the trigger, despite the lack of information.

The pen itself elicits feelings of both delight and disappointment. Keep reading for the final verdict…. Read More

If you found this useful, click some of these buttons to share it!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Pocket
  • Print

September 7, 2015 / Ken Crooker / Fountain Pens, Reviews / 25 Comments

Jinhao 159 Fountain Pen Review

A huge, orange Jinhao 159 fountain pen.

From deep within the “It’s not a knockoff, it’s an homage” files, I present the…

Jinhao 159 Fountain Pen

Price: $12.50
Nib: Medium
Filling System: Screw-Type Piston Converter (also takes Standard International cartridges)

About the Pen:

Do you remember the old Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons where they would give each episode a normal title followed by a silly alternative title (such as The Flat of the Land – or – A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moose)? I feel compelled to do that here. So in the spirit of everyone’s favorite Moose & Squirrel, here is “Review: Jinhao 159 Fountain Pen – or – I Got Me a Big-Ass Pumpkin Pen.”

I’ve got several Jinhao pens in my collection (that I’m slowly getting around to trying). The few that I’ve tried so far have been pretty unimpressive. Until recently, neither the 159 or the x750 were in my collection. Both of these models typically get great reviews, so when the fine folks at Goulet Pens were running a “Free x750 with Purchase of any Jinhao” sale, I couldn’t resist. The color options are pretty limited, but I’m a sucker for orange, so… Read More

If you found this useful, click some of these buttons to share it!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Pocket
  • Print

April 4, 2015 / Ken Crooker / Fountain Pens, Reviews / 7 Comments

Wing Sung 3203 Fountain Pen Review

Wing Sung 3203 Fountain Pen

Those of you following my reviews may know that I am on a quest for the perfect “cheap” Chinese fountain pen. Well folks, that day may have very well come. If you want the quick version, I basically can’t find anything I don’t like about this pen. If you want some details, then please allow me to introduce you to the…

Wing Sung 3203 Fountain Pen

Price: $7.00
Nib: Fine/Extra Fine
Filling System: Screw-Type Piston Converter

About the Pen:

Wing Sung is one of China’s oldest and most well known pen companies. At some point, it was acquired by the Shanghai Hero Pen Company and Wing Sung was adopted into the Hero brand of pens (the largest and most well known Chinese pen manufacturer). After finding out about the world of inexpensive Chinese fountain pens, I’ve tried several different brands, including Duke, Yiren, Jinhao, Baoer, Crocodile, and Kaigelu. I had seen many Wing Sung pens available, but none of them really jumped out at me until I saw the 3203 out on eBay. Modern looking and classy, the 3203 has a very understated and refined look. It sports a beautiful gunmetal/titanium finish that I just couldn’t resist. I snatched it up for the princely sum of $7.00 (including shipping from China to the US!), and quite frankly, it might just be the steal of my eBay Fountain Pen Rampage.

Keep reading for the rundown…. Read More

If you found this useful, click some of these buttons to share it!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Pocket
  • Print

February 1, 2015 / Ken Crooker / Fountain Pens, Reviews / 11 Comments

Jinhao 189 “Great Wall” Fountain Pen Review

Jinhao 189 "Great Wall" Fountain Pen

Next up in my “Inexpensive Chinese Fountain Pens” series, I present to you…

Jinhao 189 “Great Wall” Fountain Pen

Price: $9.50
Nib: Medium
Filling System: Screw-Type Piston Converter

About the Pen:

In my recent eBay bender, I managed to pick up eight Jinhao pens, but this is the first one I tried. I’ve heard many good things about the Jinhao brand, and I was interested to see how their pens would perform. The 189 is one of their specialty pens, celebrating China’s most famous and recognizable landmark: The Great Wall. I liked that the pen was ornate without being gaudy. Most of the Jinhao pens I bought were in the $1 to $6 price range, so I had pretty high expectations for the 189, being that it cost nearly $10.

This is a pretty intricate pen, so this review contains a lot more pictures than I usually include. My apologies to those with limited bandwidth…. Read More

If you found this useful, click some of these buttons to share it!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Pocket
  • Print

January 25, 2015 / Ken Crooker / Babble, Fountain Pens, Reviews / 7 Comments

Baoer 79 “Skywalker” Fountain Pen Review

Baoer 79 "Skywalker" Fountain Pen (Capped)

Next up in my “Inexpensive Chinese Fountain Pens” series, I present to you…

Baoer 79 “Skywalker” Fountain Pen

Price: $5.00
Nib: Medium/Fine
Filling System: Screw-Type Piston Converter

About the Pen:

I was very excited to get this pen. It’a knockoff of a much more expensive (and famous) German pen, and I’ve only heard good things about its performance. For $5, it seemed like a no-brainer. When it arrived, I was impressed with its seemingly fantastic build quality. It looks and feels like a high-quality writing instrument. I inked it up with some Noodler’s X-Feather and went on a little writing excursion. Turned out to be more of an adventure than I expected…. Read More

If you found this useful, click some of these buttons to share it!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Pocket
  • Print

January 11, 2015 / Ken Crooker / Fountain Pens, Reviews / 3 Comments

Kaigelu 336 Fountain Pen Review

Kaigelu 336 Fountain Pen
Next up in my “Inexpensive Chinese Fountain Pens” series, I present to you…

Kaigelu 336 Fountain Pen

Price: $20.00
Nib: Medium
Filling System: Screw-Type Piston Converter

About the Pen:

In my research trying to find good Chinese fountain pen manufacturers, the name Kaigelu comes up a lot. I’ve read reviews on different Kaigelu models and nearly every one claims excellent quality and writing experience. I stumbled on an eBay auction for the Kaigelu 336 and immediately loved the way it looked. It’s a little more expensive than other pens I was looking at, and because I was fresh off my Crocodile disaster, I didn’t want to trust a random eBay seller with this one. So I searched around, found it on iSellPens, and put in my order. Let me say that all the pictures of this pen on the Internet just don’t do it justice. This is an absolutely stunning pen and I just couldn’t wait to ink it up and get writing. How does it write? Keep reading to find out…. Read More

If you found this useful, click some of these buttons to share it!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Pocket
  • Print

November 12, 2014 / Ken Crooker / Fountain Pens, Reviews / 4 Comments

Yiren 823 Fountain Pen Review

Yiren 823 Fountain Pen

The next entry in my “Cheap Chinese Pens I Got from eBay” series is the…

Yiren 823 Fountain Pen

Price: $7.00
Nib: Medium/Fine
Filling System: Twist-Style Piston Converter & International Standard Cartridge

About the Pen

This was one of the first pens I purchased during my recent eBay bender, and it was one of the ones I was most excited about. I just loved everything about the way it looked in the pictures, so I took a chance on it. Within five minutes of inking it up, I decided it was worth every penny. The short story is: This pen rocks! The long story is…. Read More

If you found this useful, click some of these buttons to share it!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Pocket
  • Print

September 28, 2014 / Ken Crooker / Fountain Pens, Reviews / 2 Comments

Duke Uranus M25 Fountain Pen Review

duke_m25_01

The next entry in my “Cheap Chinese Pens I Got from eBay” series is the…

Duke Uranus M25 Fountain Pen

Price: $5.90
Nib: Extra Fine, Steel, Hooded
Country of Origin: China
Filling System: Piston (push type)

… Read More

If you found this useful, click some of these buttons to share it!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Pocket
  • Print

September 22, 2014 / Ken Crooker / Fountain Pens, Reviews / Leave a Comment

Crocodile 806 / NCR64 Fountain Pen Review

ncr64_01

Recently, I went a little berzerk with eBay and picked up a poop-load of Chinese pens. As they come rolling in, I’d like to share my thoughts with everyone on their performance.

My first contribution in the Fountain Pen Reviews Department is for the…

CROCODILE 806 (AKA NCR64) Green Marble Celluloid Fountain Pen

   Price: $18.50
   Nib: Medium, Steel, 22KGP/two-tone
   Country of Origin: China
   Filling System: Piston / Cartridge (International Standard, I believe)… Read More

If you found this useful, click some of these buttons to share it!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Pocket
  • Print
  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2

What’s Next?

You may have noticed that I haven't posted anything in a really long time. Sorry about that. Once we started up the St. Louis Pen Show and the St. Louis pen meetups, most of my free "pen time" started going into those activities.

My goal was always to write very thorough reviews with lots of great pictures, and that takes a ton of time. The writing, editing, and photo editing for one review took up a full weekend, and that doesn't take into account actually using the pens and taking notes along the way. With all I have going on, it just wasn't sustainable to keep this site going on a consistent basis.

Will I ever come back and start doing reviews again? Maybe. But not anytime soon. I am still around, though. You can catch me at the monthly St. Louis Area Pen Meetup & Eats (SLAPME) events, the St. Louis Pen Show, and a handful of other pen shows around the country.

Subscribe!

Type your email, click Subscribe, and you'll get notified via email when I post!

Categories

Babble Commentary Conspiracy Entertainment Fountain Pens Ink Music Paper Pen Pain Photography Reviews Security Social Tech Tutorials Uncategorized

Copyright KenCrooker.com

 

Loading Comments...