New Pen Day ~ Unboxing

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Here's the new #BunGuBox x #Esterbrook 🌸 #Kachofugetsu 🌸 ~ "flower" ~ Estie.
This is my first Esterbrook pen ~ mainly because I am neither a fan of cigar-shaped pens (I prefer flat-tops) nor crackle-type resins, so it took a while before I warmed to the material for one of these pens.
The signature gold-plated size 6 JoWo nib is laser-etched, bearing the Japanese character for "flower." If you order the pen through Esterbrook, none of the special grinds are available (e.g., Journaler, Techo, Flex, Scribe, Needlepoint, etc.), but if you order through BunGuBox direct in Japan, you can get the special Kodachi grind on the nib or a Fude nib or Beak Point nib (another specialty nib type offered by nibmeister Nib Shaper Mr. Yukio Nagahara, formerly of Sailor pens. These nib options are, of course, an extra cost.
See the Kodachi Nib here:
bungubox.shop/en/products/nib...
See the Fude Nib here:
bungubox.shop/en/products/fud...
See the Beak Point here:
bungubox.shop/en/products/bea...
There is a bit of #asmr because much to my chagrin, this nib, unusually for a JoWo steel nib, is very, very scratchy. You can hear the scratch on the backstroke, especially when I make the set of hatch marks. The scratch is so bad, so sharp on the page, that I am actually squeaking out the ARRRGGGH sound on a few occasions. I love JoWo nibs, so this scratchy one is merely the unlucky luck of the draw (I hope!). Normally I would just swap it out with another JoWo (like from one of my dip pens), but since it has that laser-etching that is part of the draw of this pen, some other step is in order.
Despite this, if you listen very carefully, you might be able to pick up the pleasant sound of bird chatter, too.
I will admit this pen fits very nicely in my hand and feels very comfortable, save for the issue with this particular nib. As usual, I really love this Lennon Tool Bar ink, so once the nib problem is resolved, this will provide a very nice writing experience.
Please note that I purchased three additional converters when I purchased this pen, so #Esterbrook just put the converters into the pen box rather than enclosing them in bubble wrap or some such packaging, so don't think that this pen comes with extra converters: it does not.
The pen comes equipped with one maki-e painted/silkscreened converter and one ridiculously small Kaweco Sport-sized cartridge. I opted to swap out the fancy converter for a standard Esterbrook-branded Schmidt converter due to the hopefully outside chance this ink might stain the converter. One can never tell with red/pink inks.
Sorry for the wiggly camera and the abrupt halt near the end of the video: my phone ran out of available memory, so the thing just stopped working. I had to spend a bit deleting apps and whatnot to free up some space to save the video, and you can tell at the end there is a change in light from daylight to overhead because of the amount of time that went by before I could get the phone to work again.
As always, thanks for watching, and I appreciate you sharing some of your time with me.
PEN: BunGuBox x Esterbrook Kachofugetsu 🌸Cherry Blossom 🌸 ~ "flower" ~ Estie (B)
INK: Lennon Tool Bar Autumn 2023 Limited Edition Let's Go on a Trip Vol 2, Island Wood
PAPERS: Hobonichi Plain Notebook Tomoe River Paper Grid (Stilo&Stile, 52gsm, ivory)
HOBONICHI 2023 COVER: Hobonichi Techo Night Flamingo ~ A5 Size (fits Hobonichi Techo Cousin); Hobonichi Techo Accessories Yuka Hiiragi: Cover on Cover for A5 Size (Light in the Distance) (Hobonichi Store)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 ~ Intro: Unboxing struggle
1:22 ~ BunGuBox pen box
2:10 ~ Estie
3:10 ~ JoWo size 6 steel nib, laser etched
3:26 ~ Converter, maki-e 🌸 sakura 🌸 cherry blossoms
3:48 ~ Lennon Tool Bar Island Wood Ink
7:39 ~ Writing Sample, Hobonichi
#estie #bungubox #unboxingfountainpen #newpenday

Опубликовано:

22 июл 2024

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Комментарии : 12

@ShariArts Месяц назад

Don't judge all Esties by this one nib - I have many Esties and all of them are wonderful except for this model, which I also just received in a broad nib. It was so scratchy. I smoothed it out on micromesh and now it is much better.

@Neko-KittyLovesFountainPens Месяц назад

@ShariArts Hi Shari, I wholeheartedly agree with you! This is a lovely looking pen, and it is quite lovely in-hand, and it took only a few circles and lines on the mesh to get the nib in working order. I am sorry yours was scratchy too, but I am glad you were able to smooth it out. I have a LOT of pens with JoWo nibs (including my Serendipity Hybrid Dip pens), and save for one, they are all splendid writers ~ some of my favorite nibs in fact. I just discovered one that I haven't used until recently is misaligned, but other than that, all have been superbly tuned, mainly because they are in hand-turned pens. I'm not necessarily surprised that I got a bum nib considering these Esties are pretty popular, are mass produced, and there was such a run on the inventory. I've had a couple of scratchy Kaweco nibs ~ the coated ones, but I am surprised that a pen at this price point, and with a BunGuBox collaboration, would let a scratchy nib get through to the customer because my general experience with JoWo nibs is that they have always been among my top three nibs right up there with Sailor and Pilot. I guess I should include TWSBI in there, too, because for a pen brand that really seems like one of the best sellers of all fountain pens, their nibs are always superb out of the box, and I know TWSBI uses JoWo nibs, so I just assumed if nothing else, I would like the nib. I guess I shouldn't be surprised because I have a Pelikan that was just awful and I had to send it in for warranty repair because it was so bad (and because there was no way I was willing to fiddle with a nib that cost more than some of my favorite pens!). I have to admit, I am now on the Estie bandwagon, and I ordered another one from BunGuBox directly because Esterbrook was sold out but I also wanted to get a few more BunGuBox inks because I am running low on one of my favorite brown inks that is part of their limited edition line. I have been eyeing the tortoise shell Estie for a couple of years now and am watching for a chance to get it with the Journaler nib though I am also interested in CY's Tech nib. Do you have experience with either of those grinds, and if so, how do you like them? Thanks for watching! Have a great day!!!

@tinacampbell2610 Месяц назад

Such a beautiful pen. I'm not a fan of round topped fountain pens either but this one is so beautiful... It's a shame your nib was scratchy so sad when that happens... I would be getting some micro-mesh for it and trying my hand at making the nib smoother... Bungubox writes on their website they are limited Quantity: 500 pens, sold jointly by BUNGUBOX and Esterbrook. I seen it still available today 6/11 on the Bungubox website and it was still available in EF which is my favorite sized nib. 🌸Happy Birthday Month to Meeee 🌸 🌸I adore transparent fountain pens and IT's PiNk Oh My GoOdNeSs... 🌸 🌸I don't own a Bungubox or an Esterbrook fountain pen... Yet.. 🌸 🌸It is still available with an EF Nib 🌸 🌸Might be the right time to own one...Yep, in the cart it goes 🌸 I'm thinking I'll be inking it with a light pinkish brown ink... these inks are my favorites right now... Something along the lines of Wearingeul White Rabbit... I'm so excited to be able to purchase such a special pen like this... 🙏🤞 it ships this week... Bungubox store is closed on Wednesdays... It's such a stunning pen... 🤦 I'm off to look for that second job needed to pay for this pen addiction 🤷🤣

@Neko-KittyLovesFountainPens Месяц назад

@tinacampbell2610 Hi Tina, Happy Birthday!! 🎂🥳I am so excited for you that you have one of these beauties on the way. I hope you enjoy it!! I love those pinkish brown inks, too. Thanks for watching ~ have a great day!! 🎂🥳

@Heidejournal Месяц назад

I‘m so sorry you got such a bad nib ! Most of all since it‘s a special nib one doesn’t simply want to replace with any other Jowo nib. :-/ I hope you can get it exchanged for a better one. Gorgeous pen though, I got mine almost 2 weeks ago with a medium nib that wrote perfectly out of the box. I filled it with Private Reserve Arabian Rose and love the combination. :)

@Neko-KittyLovesFountainPens Месяц назад

@Heidejournal Hi Kirsten, Oh, that sounds like such a lovely combination! I bet it's beautiful to look at. I don't have any Private Reserve inks yet. How do you like them generally? Thanks much for your kind sentiments about the nib. It was a bummer, but otherwise, the pen feels very good in hand, and of course, it is a serious piece of eye candy!! I am glad yours was in good form, and I hope it gives you many years of pleasurable writing experiences! Hope you and yours are well ~ and have a great day!!

@Heidejournal Месяц назад

@@Neko-KittyLovesFountainPens I really like Private Reserve inks, they flow very well out of all my pens so far. :) Have a great day too !

@Neko-KittyLovesFountainPens Месяц назад

@@Heidejournal Hopefully I'll remember to put some in my cart next time I order some inks!

@sarahsarahkk 29 дней назад

I also purchased this pen direct from Bungubox with a fine nib but it writes like a medium/broad. There is nothing on the nib or box to say it is a fine nib and I am wondering if they sent the wrong one. There was no delivery note in the package either. It is has a lot of feedback even on TRP and skips. Disappointed at this stage.

@Neko-KittyLovesFountainPens 27 дней назад

@sarahsarahkk Oh Sarah, I am so sorry that your nib is dodgy, too! To be honest, I am really quite surprised by the nib issues folks are encountering with this pen. Ordinarily, my experience with JoWo nibs has been great, so I am sad for the number in my small universe of pen/ink friends who also had some unhappy writing experiences. I would have to think the problem is with JoWo unless there was some part of the laser etching process that affected the nibs' points, but mine is so scratchy and rough that I think that the problem is JoWo's quality control. Other than that tiny envelope with a QR code in the pen box, I didn't receive any paperwork at all from my Esterbrook purchased pen. The pen box was loose in the shipping box, missing the red Esterbrook sleeve that came with my BunGuBox-purchased pen, with the extra converters I purchased dropped into the pen box, which had slid open during shipping. The BunGuBox pen box, on the other hand, was wrapped securely in plastic and well cushioned with paper stuffing, and there was a pink and white floral business card that explained the homage to the Someiyoshino cherry tree's blossoms, but no other paperwork for that box, either. Usually JoWo nibs have a stamped letter on the right side of the nib where the side of the nib bends around the feed. It is just at the point on the nib where the collar begins. Both of mine are stamped with a B, so you should check your nib to see if the stamped letter is around that part of the nib. If you can't see it, maybe the nib unit is set too far down into the collar/section. JoWo nibs are made in Germany, so depending on whether you are used to Japanese nibs like Sailor or Pilot, JoWo fine nibs would be closer to a Japanese medium/broad than a Japanese fine. I have no explanation for feedback on these nibs, but skipping could be due to a problem with the tines being misaligned or the feed seated farther down than it should be or other issues with the nib/feed or perhaps the converter isn't providing a steady supply of ink. This is my first experience with an Esterbrook, and I have had to prime the converter multiple times during a writing session, so I am not sure what is going on. If you are in the states, I would contact Esterbrook since the pen is an Esterbrook model/make. I think the contribution to the collaboration between Esterbrook and BunGuBox is that BunGuBox approved the pattern on the body, the nib etching, the box, and BunGuBox probably provided the maki-e converters that I think are maki-e silk-screened, so I think the warranty is with Esterbrook because the body is definitely made by Esterbrook's manufacturing source (I think in Taiwan). Have you scanned that QR code to see what information that provides you (I have not, but I contacted Esterbrook via their website and sent them a web-form email describing my nib problem). I really hope this gets resolved for you so you can enjoy your pen!! If a far, far less expensive TWSBI can write well out of the box every time no matter how many millions of TWSBIs are out in the world, there is really no excuse for these pens not to ~ TWSBIs have JoWo nibs, too!

@sarahsarahkk 24 дня назад

@@Neko-KittyLovesFountainPens Thank very much for your reply. I have checked the collar and it does indeed have an "F" so I think it is my mistake in not knowing the nib would be German made. I will order an EF. As for the skipping hopefully a new nib will solve this also. I am in Australia so shipping back to Japan would be difficult and expensive.

@Neko-KittyLovesFountainPens 23 дня назад

@@sarahsarahkk Hi Sarah, bummer! Yes, the hassle involved, not to mention the cost of shipping overseas, often makes returning things untenable. If you are definitely thinking about getting a replacement nib, you could also get some brass shims and run one or two through the split in the tines of your pen to see if that helps improve ink flow to eliminate the skipping. There are some good RU-vid videos that demonstrate how to do that if you haven't tried it before. I'd also look closely at your feed to see if your feed is aligned well with the nib. If the feed is too low or crooked, then that could be causing the skipping, too. Another thing to consider is the converter. I find that I have had to prime the feed more than with other pens, so I don't know if these converters are as well-fitted to the nib unit as one would hope or if they just tend to let ink stay closer to the back of the converter than the front. I know Desk Bandit carries both Esterbrook as well as replacement nibs ~ the entire nib unit: feed and collar, so at least there is a way for you to order a nib closer to home though it certainly is annoying to have to add to the cost of the pen by having to buy a new nib. But the folks at Desk Bandit are splendidly helpful, and I am sure if you emailed them or left them a note if you order from them that they would double check the nib for you before the send it out to you. I also shop with Bookbinders Design AU a lot for Sailors that don't often make it here, but they do not carry Esterbrook or replacement nibs for them. It might be worth checking around to see if there are nibmeisters nearby who could work on your nib and grind it down to an EF or to a Japanese-equivalent EF. Lots of people over here tend to try that as a solution to a nib they aren't thrilled with although it can often take several months for the nib to be returned because most of the nibmeisters tend to earn a living by traveling the country to various pen shows or the few remaining stationery shops for a weekend nib-grinding service, so they don't often get to the mailed-in nibs as quickly as when they are approached for work at a pen show. To be honest, I was miffed that Esterbrook did not provide a shipping voucher for me when I sent the nib in to them to get smoothed; instead, I had to absorb the cost of mailing the nib back to them, $10 for what is effectively a $15 - $20 steel JoWo nib! Plus, the "smooth - tuning" job under their warranty for a brand new pen didn't provide much smoothing. This nib is still scratchy, so this is my last Esterbrook for sure. JoWo nibs are on so many fountain pen brands and are so common that it's hard to believe so many of them on this specific model are rough. I really wonder what happened. Good luck with your decision! Have a great weekend!! 😊