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Hero
Need bottled ink
or refills?
"The pens arrived today. I grabbed the pink Hero
Calligraphy for me... Until today, my favorite was the Ivory Kurve that came
from
xfountainpens.com [a
gift from a friend] Now, I am in love with this new Hero. With the fine nib,
it writes perfectly. I like the plunger assembly, with the slide filler rather
than the screw. Seems like it gives a better fill."
H. C., Westmoreland, TN
Hero Metallic Violet Calligraphy $25.00
Hero Metallic Baby Blue Calligraphy $25.00
These new sets from Hero are a terrific introduction for those that would like to experience the joys of writing with a 'specialty nib', or for use with more formal calligraphy.
As intimated by the comment above, let me start by mentioning
what I think are some limitations to this pen. Hero apparently decided that they
wanted to provide an inexpensive kit, delivering three quite nice nibs in one
package. They seem less concerned with the pen itself.
The other 'cost-saving' decision that Hero made is actually quite amusing to me. There's only one metal spacing ring -- separating the section from the barrel -- to the set (see the metal ring between the black sections and the barrels in the photo to the right). Although all three nib/sections screw into the barrel perfectly, you need to move the spacing ring from one nib/section to another when you change them. In other words, they've not glued spacing rings to the black sections of each nib/section unit, but rather count on you to move it back-and-forth as needed. Not a big deal (as you can only use one nib at a time!), but I wanted you to be aware of it, as in addition to serving as 'trim', it also provides for a secure grip for the cap. Now that we have that out of the way
In this kit however, Hero has provided nibs with rounded edges -- what we would commonly call a stub nib. Like the italic nib, the stub is cut so that it's wide but thin (in contrast to the round tip of a conventional nib), so that vertical strokes leave a wider line of ink, and horizontal strokes a thinner one. This provides for 'shading' and a bit of character to one's 'hand' when writing...and with a stub nib, you can write at full speed without snagging the paper.
The kit comes with three widths of steel nib: 1.1 mm, 1.5 mm and 1.9 mm.
Personally, I find that 1.1 mm is a perfect width for my handwriting. 1.5 mm is usable with my regular handwriting, if I take a bit of care to make my letters a little larger so that the wider downstrokes aren't too dominant. I find the 1.9 mm nib to be too wide for my regular handwriting, and only use it for a signature or to practice calligraphy. Your experience may be different however, depending upon the typical size of your letters and the characteristics of your own 'hand'. The
following 'chart'
All-in-all, a terrific way to inexpensively experience a stub nib -- three in fact!
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!
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Ordering Procedures & Returns International customers, please note, we will not falsify shipping documents Please send your order and shipping address (along with any questions) to:
orders@hisnibs.com We will email you back with your order total (PA residents please add 6% sales tax) Credit cards, for the quickest fulfillment of your order, are accepted through PayPal, a secure site allowing you to use your credit card without us even seeing the information. If you'd like to make use of this credit card service, please let us know when you email your order and address, and we'll email you the appropriate Request for Payment, and instructions for the simple payment procedure (you don't need to join PayPal to use it).
If you would like us process your credit card directly instead, then please email us: 1. Card # (dividing this number in two, between two emails, will
ensure security) If you'd rather pay by money order or check, kindly make payable to: His
Nibs.com We
ship via insured Priority Mail
Warranties and returns If an item proves to be defective, in most cases the manufacturer's warranty will apply. However, please email us first so that we can determine the easiest way to resolve the problem to your satisfaction. In the case of fountain pens -- which are a bit more individualistic than other writing instruments -- what may at first appear to be a defect (hard starting or poor flow for example), can in almost all cases be resolved with a few simple 'tweaks' to the nib, which we'll be happy to guide you through or perhaps suggest returning to us for adjustment. Should you wish to return a
non-defective item within 3 days of receipt because it doesn't suit
you for some reason, again please email us and we'll arrange an
exchange, credit or refund (minus any shipping/insurance charges),
if the item is returned in an 'as new' condition. If you've dipped a
fountain pen to try its writing characteristics, kindly clean off
any ink residue prior to shipping -- to save us both a nasty
surprise We want you to be happy with your purchase from HisNibs.com and hope to have you join the ranks of our many long-term, repeat customers!
Revised: May 21st, 2013
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Of the several kits that I've opened, it's
apparent that posting of the cap is a real 'hit or miss' affair. The clutch of
the inner cap doesn't really engage that well with the recessed metal ring near
the barrel end. For me, that's not an issue, as personally I rarely post caps --
unless the pen is exceedingly short. That's not a problem with this pen, as it
has a comfortable length for writing un-posted.
