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View Full Version : Crocodile Leather Pen #168



WirsPlm
May 21st, 2014, 09:44 AM
Unless a ton of Crocodile fans come out of the woodwork to talk up the QC, I think my interest in this brand is over. Generally I'm not a terrible fussy person when it come to the quality of cheap items and I figure that you get what you pay for, so when I ordered the Crocodile pen in leather, I wasn't expecting much. I figured that it would feel like leather (mostly) and that it would write (mostly), but instead it turned out to be the first true dud Chinese pen I've paid for (at least the $3 Heros all wrote, they might have leaked, squeaked or been like writing on sandpaper but they all fulfilled the basic function of a pen).

I ordered the pen through eBay, and it arrived on time packaged in a padded mailing envelope, no surprises there. The pen does look quite nice for the price, and the balance impressed me as better than average for Chinese pens (this is one of the first Chinese pens I've used that is reasonably balanced out of the box, most are too top heavy for me). The leather is embossed with the Crocodile name running vertically down the cap and the barrel is embossed with a viney, leafy pattern, it feels reasonably nice in the hand. When I opened the pen to check the converter, I noticed that there was thick, gooey black gunk stuck to the inside of the converter. Ahah, I thought, this must be that manufacturing oil Ive heard about, Ill flush it out with some detergent and water.

1 day of soaking and flushing later, the pen was finally running clear, so I filled it with ink. Nope, the ink in the converter clearly showed swirls of the black goo, I had to toss that ink and go back to flushing and soaking (I also scrubbed off the feed and the back of the section that connects to the converter with a brush).

2 days later, I finally thought the pen was clean enough to try some ink, so I filled it up again and was thrilled to see that it looked like I'd finally gotten rid of the gunk. Naturally, my immediate reaction was to try and write with the pen, but no dice, this pen just didn't write.

I pulled the nib off the feed (not very easy but I finally managed it with some thick rubber) and found that the feed channel didn't extend all the way along the feed, a simple and plain manufacturing defect, but at least one that I could deal with. A kitchen knife soon extended the feed reasonably, so I refilled the pen and tried again, but still no go, the pen wouldn't write. I tried a wetter ink, thinking that maybe the pen just didn't like that ink, but it still wouldn't work at all, even after I deepened the feed channels even more.

Finally, in irritation (and figuring that I couldn't do any damage since the pen was already not working), I used the kitchen knife to widen the nib tines, and also deepen the very tip of the feed a bit (I held the pen in one hand, the knife in the other, pointed the nib tip at the knife and wiggled the knife blade in between the tines, then drew it back and forth a few times). Finally, sweet success! The pen is now a very wet writer (and also, I think I put a hairline crack in the nib, but since it works now and didn't before I'm not particularly fussed).

Moral of the story is that if you don't care whether the pen lives or dies a knife (used responsibly and with the appropriate safety precautions) can sometimes be your friend, and also that I'm still looking for a decent pen with a leather barrel at a decent price, can anyone recommend one or does anyone know what size nibs the Crocodile pen takes?

vikramguliya
June 20th, 2014, 01:26 AM
The review is really useful for fresh users.. The flow of review is also good.