Majohn P140 Review: No.8 Nib, Piston Filler, Wet Ebonite Feed and Good Value

    

The P140 in solid blue on the left. The clear acrylic demonstrator on the right.

    Majohn’s P140 Piston-filler with a No.8 steel nib, brass-bodied piston mechanism, and ebonite feed is a overall an oversized pen with a good value.

    That basically sums up my overall feelings and thoughts about the P140. The moment I saw it being reviewed, mainly the clear acrylic demonstrator version, I knew this seems worth getting. These specs at its price point seems pretty tempting.

    I bought two P140; the original clear acrylic demonstrator, and this solid blue colour with an ink window. Both of them I managed to get from separate vendors for around RM 150.  These prices are before shipping and taxes. I bought them alongside other pens and accessories from Aliexpress so I am not entirely sure what the individual shipping fee and taxes would normally cost.  

    These two pens are of the typically cigar shape, with gold trims and clip. The latter is straight and with the only notable aspect being this extra bump at the top. While the clear demonstrator has well-made trims on either end that align well with the entire body as far as I could tell.

    The blue version which I am not sure is coloured acrylic or plastic resin, I could feel on one side the trim stands out a tad bit. I couldn’t see it with the naked one but definitely can feel under my fingers. The trip at the top, however, which is part of the clip, is a little more prominent where one side of it I can feel it juts out very mildly.

    Both pens has a dual cap band, one this simple thin gold band, and the main one which thicker and has this wave-like pattern. I actually do like the looks of it. I do not recall whatever pens has this kind of cap band.

    Using the demonstrator version, it can clearly been seen that the piston mechanism is made out of brass, with the exception of the piston itself obviously. Whenver I operate it, both the mechanism in the demonstrator and blue resin has been smooth so far. I used the latter pen more often, and had refilled it three times and still smooth. It still remains to be seen how well the mechanism holds out, but I am confident it will do fine.

    I have to say this is actually pretty handsome looking demonstrator, with its very clear acrylic that doesn’t seem to have any defects anywhere, and framed with these gold trims and brass piston mechanism. The solid blue version was the first I feel most attracted though when I saw the images on Aliexpress. It is a simple and classic colour scheme of blue and gold, and I am just like deep solid blue colours in general.

    Uncapping the solid blue P140 reveals a generous and clear ink window, and both versions of the pen has a small grip section just big enough for my fingers to grip on, and it tapers very subtlety, ending with a little flare. The threads between the grip section and the ink window covers a notable amount of space, and thankfully, not sharp at all. I can even hold my fingers there and almost feel nothing. And finally, the cap takes a little over two turns to come off, I say around two and roughly a quarter turns.

    The caps themselves feel light and the inside has a round ledge carved to seal the nib when capped.

    The highlight of the pen is, of course, this no.8 gold plated steel nib, with this sun motif around the breather hole, the company’s name, the exact name of the nib itself which is apparently ‘Expedition’ and the nib size, all stamped. I am not for sure why exactly Majohn decided to call this particular nib ‘Expedition’. And accompanying this nib is an ebonite feed.

The ebonite feed in question

    Ok, I will just get to the point; the two nibs weren’t perfect out of the box either. While there were not any flow issues or the nib was very smooth and wet, it tended to have hard starts even I had it capped quickly or sometimes, only a few short seconds of not writing. So I did a little adjustments, making sure the slits are not far apart, and the tines are flushed, while also giving it a little work on some micromesh, I did seem to have largely solve the issue, and all that is left is how well the nib performs.

    Once that one problem is out of the way, this Expedition nib with its sun motif, with the help of that ebonite feed, is actually pretty smooth out of the box. On top of that, it is also wet, dispensing a good amount of ink on paper. Sometimes I actually think it might be too wet, and yet I can tolerate and still enjoy it.

    I bought the blue resin version in this medium nib point, while the demonstrator has the fine nib. From what I had seen on Aliexpress, the nibs only come in these two sizes. The medium nib is very smooth with no feedback, whereas the fine nib does some feedback, as expected from this nib size, but it still retains the same smoothness. I wonder if how wet this nib unit is also contribute to it.

    Besides the smoothness, the overall shape and size helps when writing. The extra distance from the page, the feeling of the large steel nib, and how well the smoothness, and tactility, transmits from the tip up to the body and my hand. It never feels like it squeaks or stutters, it just keeps on going with every stroke, and whenever I lift the nib from page and back down again for another letter and word. It just solid all around and feel reliable despite that earlier hiccup.

    Something to note, I have noticed that the difference in size between the fine and medium is very narrow. I do believe the wetness of the nib unit might had helped, but still I am a little surprised.

The P140s in comparison to a Uni Jetstream and Pilot Juice Up

The P140s in comparison to a Lamy Safari and Platinum Preppy

    The girth and size of the P140 fits into my medium-sized hands just right, and during the journaling and writing that little draft, I never felt uncomfortable so far. The cap does post securely on the back although it needs a slight push. From the demonstrator version, where I test and see if twist the cap and turn the piston knob. Thankfully it doesn’t. But the pen is already long on its own, so posting the cap made it too long to be comfortable outside of quick notes. The cap is not too heavy and barely back-weights the pen, but still I rather not post it.

    The cap seals on these two pens seemed very good so far. I left the blue resin, filled with ink, aside and check on it every few days, for at least three weeks, and there doesn’t seem to be any noticeable dip in the ink volume. This might need further testing for months, but still I believe I have confidence in the P140’s seal.

    During my usage of these two pens, I inked the solid blue P140 with Diamine Majestic Blue, while the demonstration I decided this Taccia Benizakura with its deep red would fit well.

    I had been using the solid blue P140 for more than a month now, six weeks give or take, and after solving the minor hard start issue, I have no problem as I used it for my diary, notes and this little random short story draft I concocted on the fly. I wrote on this A5 Sanzen Tomoe River paper notepad, and got over 24 pages over the course of a few weeks, and the pen has been quite encouraging throughout. Meanwhile, because the demonstrator version arrived a little later, and I only used it for maybe three weeks, and it performs just as well.

    In conclusion, the Majohn P140 is good, affordable fountain pen with a No.8 nib and ebonite feed, that is also a piston-filler. Hard to argue against specs like that. It is good and fun to use, and the nib does write wet and smooth, although I hope no other P140 out there come with hard starts.

    If there is an alternative, a direct competitor I could think of is the Asvine V800, which is a vacuum filler. I recently acquired that pen but haven’t try it yet. A cheaper option would the Jinhao 9019 and Hongdian A9. Unfortunately I do not have the latter, while the former is still a good value option, cheaper, with a No.8 steel nib, and has a large, proprietary, screw-in converter.