General

"Greetings Norman.....opened me goodies around 8pm tonight.....thank you for the extra pen as a gift!!! All of them are so nice. The Duke Golden Rings is really well balanced and writes so nice. The pearl panels looks so nice and writes well also. The jinhao General is a heavier pen but writes excellent!! The Croc outré is well made and looks really elegant. And finally the Baoer Arrow is great quality for the price...cap is a little difficult pulling off right now, but I AM sure it will wear in. I have lamy blue black in that one . The Duke, General and Croc have Sailor Jentle Blue Black in them. Pearl Panels has Quink Blue Black...Anyways, I still have about 20 more pens from you on the radar, but will have to hold off for now i think. I appreciate all your help...really have been enjoying your friendship and your website!! bye for now..God Bless..."
K. D., San Dimas, CA

"The Silver General arrived in the afternoon mail. It is indeed a fine looking pen, and I like the heft of a brass body...I am so pleased with the Silver General pen that I had to write to you again :-). Filled with Pelikan Brilliant Black it writes more smoothly than my two Pelikan pens (205 and Level 5) with similar nibs. It just glides across the paper."
F. M., Wilmington, DE

This isn't a Chinese pen that I had the opportunity to give a name to...as 'General' is prominently displayed on the capband.

Although the pen gives the appearance of having a metal overlay, in fact the design is incised through the outer lacquer coating, down into the base metal. It provides for a nice texture in the hand, as well as a certain three-dimensional appearance.

The pen measures 5-3/8" capped, 5-7/8" posted and 4-5/8" with cap held aside. It's metal construction produces a pleasant heft in the hand, without being uncomfortably heavy.

The clip displays Jinhao's new logo, a stylized representation of a horse, chariot and two charioteers. This was inspired by the terracotta warriors found buried with the first Qin emperor of China, in the city of Xi'an.

The pen has a slip-cap, which re-seats with a satisfying snap for security. The two-toned 18K gold-plated steel nib is more diminutive than many Jinhao nibs, and falls into the width category of being a light medium, meaning it's between a typical western fine and medium. The nib is simply engraved with 'Jinhao' and '18K GP'.

Unscrewing the barrel reveals the piston converter for bottled ink. It will also take International-style cartridges, such as those from Private Reserve. As with all new pens, I recommend to run a dilute solution of dishwashing soap (two or three drops to a small bowl of water) through a new pen a few times, followed by water only. Step one is effective at removing manufacturing oils that can tend to make the ink less than enthusiastic in heading from the converter/filler to the nib, and step two removes the traces of the detergent you've used...which tends to have the opposite, diuretic effect. A gift box is included.

IMPORTANT SERVICE NOTE: Every nib that ships from His Nibs is closely examined under high magnification and tuned or adjusted if needed. About 85% of modern nibs need some adjustment out-of-the-box from the manufacturer for an optimal writing experience. Most commonly, the tines of the nib are misaligned -- which would cause scratchiness at the minimum; the slit between the tines is partially or fully closed -- which would starve the nib of ink and at best cause skipping; or the slit between the tines is too wide -- which will either again cause skipping, or conversely, flooding. There are other factors -- such as separation of the nib from the feed -- that are inspected and repaired before any pen leaves the Palace.

The only 100% guarantee of course comes when the pen is actually filled with ink and written with for the first time, but our pre-shipping inspections and tunings have eliminated 99.99999 (my finger is getting tired) of the frustrations that a customer experiences when first using a new fountain pen. Although this can be time-consuming on occasion, it affords our customers a much more pleasant experience when receiving a fountain pen from His Nibs -- and saves us the frustration of dealing with returns!