(So here is a review without writing sample) J. Herbin Refillable Roller Ball Pen is a light-weight and short (just a bit longer than Pilot Petit) pen that takes standard international cartridges. I caught the nifty little thing at ISellpens.com when it was on sale for 6 bucks but it went back to $9.6 (so the seller that offers the best deal right now is Jetpens).
The pen is is a made of a slightly frosted plastic, it would take some degree of abuse (without showing too much of the wear and tear), the clip is pretty stiff and cap gives a crisp and secure click closure. There is three small holes at the end of the barrel so you need to get those taken-care of before converting the pen into an eye-dropper.
The pen is is a made of a slightly frosted plastic, it would take some degree of abuse (without showing too much of the wear and tear), the clip is pretty stiff and cap gives a crisp and secure click closure. There is three small holes at the end of the barrel so you need to get those taken-care of before converting the pen into an eye-dropper.
The grip section is made of a clearer plastic that shows the feed. Inside the feed, there seems to be a white cotton cord for the ink to diffuse through (it later got clogged by Noodler's No.41 brown, a ink with pigment that settles into small flakes).
There is a protruded ring (probably there so the tip will fit the inner sleeve inside the cap) that cuts my hand a little, but it wasn't too big of a deal (at least I prefer this over the trigonal grip). Bumped or not, prolonged writing session is not as comfortable
since the pen is a bit too light, as I prefer heavier one
that rests by itself.
When I first got the pen, I intend to use it with a waterproof brown ink, as a cheaper alternative to buying the brown Sakura Pigma Micron. Syringe-filled with Noodler's No.41 Brown (the culprit), it worked pretty well during the first few days, laying down a consistent and thin (around 0.5mm) line with a bit of shading...Then it just got clogged. I tried to revive it with flushes and days of (just water) soaking but it has never been the same...
Verdit: It's a good pen (while it lasted), just play safe and use watery inks for it.
I filled my first J. Herbin Rollerball with a Diamine ink, if I remember correctly and it clogged almost immediately. Then I gave it to a friend thinking it was because I was left-handed that it was causing me so many issues. She is left-handed too and cleaned and refilled it with a different ink and had no issues. So, I bought another one and used a mystery blue cartridge I had laying around and I've had no issues.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think you have to experiment with the inks in the J. Herbin rollerballs but when you find the right ones, it works like a dream.
Yeah, I know some diamine inks that leave powdery/pasty precipitate. But the thing with noodler's no.41 brown is that it both precipitate and stain so the solid just clogged the feed. I tried to ink the pen with J. Herbin ink and the line coming out is just very uneven... Maybe I will soak it again (for a few days) and see if will write again.
DeleteI just bought one, but I got some J. Herbin cartridges for it rather than using bottled ink. I love it so far, and after reading this, I may just keep using cartridges and not press my luck with it.
ReplyDeleteWell, I suppose you can still syringe fill empty cartriges with J. Herbin inks? I use up ink pretty quickly so I don't normally buy cartridges (they just come with pen), the sample vials/bottles are just much more economical.
DeleteI just got the refillable pilot pen from EZ Office Products here in Madison WI. And I love it!! Anyone else use it? http://www.ezop.com/guides-demos/refills-for-pens-pencils-erasers-highlighters-markers/begreen-a-pilot-brand/
ReplyDeleteThe rollerball pen is a unique writing utensil because of its smooth flow of ink onto your paper. The rollerball pen was originally designed in 1938 in Germany. The rollerball pen was created because the original ballpoint pen had problems with ink flow. Rollerball pens have a water-based ink, which makes the ink flow easily onto your paper. Rollerball pens have a small ball at the tip of the pen, which allows the ink to flow more easily onto your paper.
ReplyDelete