I buy chinese pens knowing that I am going to work on them and practice nib grinding with them. I have
a lot of Chinese pens. I have found mostly good pens but there have been some dogs in the bunch. I have learned that a good pen will depend on where you get your pens. Ebay is my main source for Chinese pens but I also get them from isellpens.com (no affiliation). I hear hisnibs.com also has a good selection.
If you want Hero pens, get them from eBay user yespens or the retailers already mentioned. Others out there may be factory rejects or fakes, as ironic as that sounds. The best quality Chinese pens so far have been my Kaigelu pens. I purchased one of mine from eBay user jewelrymathematics
pmstylus (sorry wrong ID, they sell Kaigelus out of California) and I figured out they are the supplier or somehow affiliated to isellpens.com. If you see some pen photos on
isellpens.com and then look at
jewelrymathematics ebay listings, you will understand. It is faster to get the pens through isellpens but I live about a 6 hour drive from his base of operations.
I like Jinhao pens. All of the Jinhaos I bought from ebay user Member id gotoschool888 have been good. Seller comeonXXXX (x= some numbers I don't remember right now) has been good too but takes longer to ship.
The two Huashilais I have purchased required major work to get them to write. This included feed modification. I have a feeling they were factory rejects because my Schrade tactical pen has the exact same feed and nib and it writes perfectly with cartridges. The ink channel seems more defined in the Schrade than the Huashilais. Those have been my only problem childs. gotoschool helped me with my first Chinese fountain pen that did not work, again a Huashilai. They told me to put the pen in very hot water for a few minutes then transfer immediately to cold water. I don't know if that helped clear out any machine oils but it worked and the pen has been fine since.
I don't recommend using the hot water trick on other pens, you may damge the finish or feed on some pens.
I make it a point to flush the pens with amonia water before the first use and that seems to take care of a lot of problems. I do see some people taking the breather tube out of their Jinhaos for better flow. I have not had to do that though I do adjust the nib for more flow. I hope this has helped some.
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