Kaigelu 316 Fountain Pens

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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,960
14,335
Humansville Missouri
Next in quality is this old Pelikan Celebry I’ve owned at least 20 years, and have used like a hammer. This is either gold filled or heavy gold plated brass with a beautiful marbled celluloid barrel over a brass tube. Really top line pens just don’t seem to show wear.

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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,960
14,335
Humansville Missouri
Right before they died, American fountain pens reached a sort of Zippo lighter state of evolution.

I paid something on the order of twenty bucks for this stainless steel Schaefer over forty five years ago in college.

The bladder still works. Instead of the proprietary ink cartridges I used then I use a standard international ink cartridge today.

The only concessions to style other than the white dot trademark, is the brushed stainless steel top and bottom are capped with a textured black poly plastic, with a black ring on the bottom.

It writes like it’s 1977, all over again.:)

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RonB

Can't Leave
Jan 17, 2021
421
2,077
Southeast Pennsylvania
Right before they died, American fountain pens reached a sort of Zippo lighter state of evolution.

I paid something on the order of twenty bucks for this stainless steel Schaefer over forty five years ago in college.

The bladder still works. Instead of the proprietary ink cartridges I used then I use a standard international ink cartridge today.

The only concessions to style other than the white dot trademark, is the brushed stainless steel top and bottom are capped with a textured black poly plastic, with a black ring on the bottom.

It writes like it’s 1977, all over again.:)

View attachment 255552View attachment 255553View attachment 255554View attachment 255555View attachment 255556View attachment 255557
That’s a Targa model which came in many finishes. The nibs are excellent.
 
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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,960
14,335
Humansville Missouri
That’s a Targa model which came in many finishes. The nibs are excellent.
The art of nib making is over a century old. Countless Chinese still use fountain pens to write traditional Mandarin and this extremely fancy Kaigelu 316 celluloid (?) pen has a wonderful nib, that works as well as my other fountain pens.

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What it lacks is that luster and sheen and miles deep glow and the weight truly fine pens had and still do.

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My Schaefer Targa is made like a gun barrel.

It’s never going to wear out and I could probably run over it with a car.

When America made fountain pens, they didn’t break easy.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,960
14,335
Humansville Missouri
Today my maple leaf pattern Kaigelu 316 arrived and it’s impossible to photograph the beauty of this thing. These come in Extra Fine, Fine, Medium and Bent nibs and the Medium on this one should be perfect for document signing. It writes bold and beautiful and uses a standard international ink cartridge if you don’t like the volumetric converter included.

For $25 I don’t think anybody could go wrong showing off their fancy fountain pen with these.:)

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For $10 I bought a one ounce bottle of Pelikan Royal Blue ink that is the exact blue color I want on documents.

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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,960
14,335
Humansville Missouri
I just bought a genuine Parker branded Sonnet for less than I spent on lunch.

Ten bucks delivered.

How? Chinese labor isn’t free. The factory and the machinery are not free. I suppose to avoid dead three eyed fish in the river below the factory they’ll have to have a little regulatory cost. Local taxes were charged. Somebody made a profit, and I’d be damned if I could ship pens to China for ten dollars.

And the same pens in rollerball are a couple of dollars less.

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My “Parker” Sonnet arrived today from a slow plane from China and it’s absolutely, flawlessly, beautiful and is a total counterfeit marked as made in France.

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Remind me never to buy any used fountain pens.

For $10 the Chinese can fake the best ones ever made.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,960
14,335
Humansville Missouri
To write Chinese calligraphy Chinese schoolchildren are eventually given a fountain pen. One of the most trusted and oldest pen brands in China is Hero.

The Hero 616 is a modern clone of a Parker 51, and I’m learning to pay $9 for the 616S than $5 for the plain 616.

Both of these are incredibly nice, beautiful pens but the red 616S is better, bigger, heavier, and the one you want. From what I’ve read the 616S is an improvement of the Parker 51.

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While these are Parker 51 clones they aren’t counterfeits. There’s Chinese script for Hero brand on the caps, as Hero is the brand Chinese kids treasure.

Be a spoiled grown up kid and buy the 616S.:)
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,960
14,335
Humansville Missouri
I try and learn something new every day and yesterday I learned that if I want a fountain pen to show off or impress my friends, the fancier brands of Chinese pens are beautiful and they write well.

But if you want a fountain pen to write with and use like a hammer get a Hero 616 or better, a 616S.

One billion Chinese schoolchildren can’t be wrong.:)

—-

Hero (Doctor)​

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The Shanghai Hero Pen Company, popular for its Hero (Chinese: 英雄) fountain pens, is a Chinese company. Founded in 1931 as the Wolff Pen Manufacturing Co (Chinese: 上海华孚金笔厂), it was renamed in 1966 to the current name. Later on it is generally referred to as "Huafu" which is a Pinyin rendition of the Chinese name.

Some of its brands of fountain pens include Hero, Wing Sung, Lucky, Huafu, Xinming, Guanleming, Xinhua, and Gentleman. The design of some of its Hero pens such as Hero 100 and 616 resembles that of Parker 51.

By the 1990s, the company's Hero brand of fountain pen had earned a high reputation among Chinese, and had come to be known as the best in the country. Hero pens were also popular in the world during the 1980s and 1990s.

Hero Pens are also popular in India.

Xxxxxx

Hero has forgotten how to make a bad pen. The product is utterly perfect, for what it is. The nib points are coated with an iridium alloy, and they fill easily, write smoothly, don’t skip, and their fine nib is exactly what I like, better than any fountain pen I’ve ever used.

I think the reason a lot of Hero pens are Parker 51 clones is Parker did the research to make the perfect fountain pen about 80 years ago.

You can buy a Hero pen for $3.

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But the nine dollar 616S is a deluxe version you’ll like better, because it’s a little fancier and prettier.

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In China and India about two billion people write in calligraphy every day.

Hero has an excellent reputation in those markets for good reason.

They work.
 
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Dave760

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 13, 2023
500
5,337
Pittsburgh, PA
A friend has a Hero 616 that he's been using for about 12 years. I think they were selling for $4 at the time. It's worked flawlessly for him.

I have a couple that are at least that old, but I have a few dozen pens so the 616's don't see daily use. But when I load one up it works just fine.

I've also had good luck with pens made in India. The folks who use these pens daily seem to be great at making them.
 
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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,960
14,335
Humansville Missouri
A friend has a Hero 616 that he's been using for about 12 years. I think they were selling for $4 at the time. It's worked flawlessly for him.

I have a couple that are at least that old, but I have a few dozen pens so the 616's don't see daily use. But when I load one up it works just fine.

I've also had good luck with pens made in India. The folks who use these pens daily seem to be great at making them.

The Hero 616 has to be for China what the Bic Crystal used to be for United States and the Pilot G-2 is today.

Every schoolchild learns to write with one. They make them by the countless millions mostly from injection moulded plastics and over time the price goes down, and every tiny bug is eliminated.

The Parker pen company spent 11 years in research and development of the Parker 51 and every newer fountain pen I’ve read is just bigger and showier and made to catch a customer, and really not as functional.

The Parker 51 was perfectly sized to fit a man’s shirt pocket and still does.

Fascinating, and a study in human nature.
 

Hillcrest

Lifer
Dec 3, 2021
3,706
18,959
Connecticut, USA
The Hero 616 is a modern clone of a Parker 51
I'm glad you are enjoying your new pens. You can buy replacements nibs for your sonnet copy for a few bucks. I ground mine to Arabic/architect grind. As for the 616, Iread its actually an homage to the 51 and 21. Its not exactly the same as either one. just an FYI. Not disagreeing entirely. Enjoy !
 
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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,960
14,335
Humansville Missouri
I'm glad you are enjoying your new pens. You can buy replacements nibs for your sonnet copy for a few bucks. I ground mine to Arabic/architect grind. As for the 616, Iread its actually an homage to the 51 and 21. Its not exactly the same as either one. just an FYI. Not disagreeing entirely. Enjoy !
Yes, exactly, it’s like an Orient Ray is to a Rolex Submariner dice watch. It’s a Parker hooded nib style.

And a Hero 100 is a higher grade hooded nib style.

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What really impressed me is the $5 black, plain model is the best fountain pen I’ve ever used, as a pen.

The $9 red, fancier one has a bent nib, which was my choice, and although it’s snazzier I’ve not mastered a bent nib, and might not ever.:)

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The 616C comes with EF and F nibs, too.

But after umpteen million pens Hero makes one that really, really works.
 
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Hillcrest

Lifer
Dec 3, 2021
3,706
18,959
Connecticut, USA
Yes, exactly, it’s like an Orient Ray is to a Rolex Submariner dice watch. It’s a Parker hooded nib style.

And a Hero 100 is a higher grade hooded nib style.

View attachment 260009

What really impressed me is the $5 black, plain model is the best fountain pen I’ve ever used, as a pen.

The $9 red, fancier one has a bent nib, which was my choice, and although it’s snazzier I’ve not mastered a bent nib, and might not ever.:)

View attachment 260011

The 616C comes with EF and F nibs, too.

But after umpteen million pens Hero makes one that really, really works.
Explanation of a (fude (bent) nib - it allows line and width variation):

 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,960
14,335
Humansville Missouri
One of the joys of cheap Chinese pens are a wide variety of $5 fountain pens to accumulate.

I just bought a $4.50 postpaid Baoer 388, which is a Parker Sonnet homage pen. I already own a stone cold counterfeit silver checked Sonnet, that looks and writes well.

I chose the dark red version.

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The cost of these in China has to be just a trifle, or else it would not be profitable for individual sellers in China to purchase, market, handle and ship just one pen of your choice of color 388 from Shanghai to Humansville Missouri USA for $4.50.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,960
14,335
Humansville Missouri
It took awhile for all my fountain pens to arrive, and I did manage to buy a genuine Parker 21 Custom gold filled cap pen in a Parker box for $15 shipped.

Here is why no cheap fountain pens are made in America today.

In the fifties my gold filled Parker 21 likely cost $7.50.

It had an eight alloy nib instead of a gold one on a $15 Parker 51. It had cheaper plastic. There was no arrow clip.

$7.50 in 1953 is $85 today.

Hero makes a cheaper 565 $2.99 homage to a Parker 21. No gold filled cap. Same grade of acrylic plastic as the 616. It’s slightly shorter and a little fatter than a 616. It uses a sliding convertor instead of a twisting screw converter.

It’s better in every way better can be measured than the original Parker 21, except a stainless instead of gold filled cap.

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The Hero has a better filling system, it writes smother, it feels better, it doesn’t leak ink on the barrel, the cap seals better, it is all the way around a better gadget, than the bargain grade Parker 21.

A Chinese school kid with a 565 would be jealous of the kid with a genuine 616, but kids are the same at 65 in Missouri as they are 5 in China.:)
 
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