Welcome back to Duck's Doodles!

Today I'll be taking a closer look at Jinhao's 993 Shark fountain pen.

In case the name of the blog didn't give it away, I'm a big animal lover in general. Most of the animals I gush over are the traditionally cute, fuzzy ones (dogs, cats, red pandas etc.). One that I still love, but gushing over is much less acceptable, is sharks!

I. Love. Sharks.

Growing up in New Jersey, the beach and all sorts of water creatures were part of life. I was always particularly fascinated by marine biology as a kid, something my parents happily encouraged.

And then I was about 10 and my mom showed me Jaws. It was over, I had found my new favorite obsession. I mean, come on how COOL is that movie? Jaws has since become a regular viewing in my house, and my love for sharks hasn't changed.

All that being said, when I saw this pen I had to have it.

Writing sample using the Jinhao 993 Shark pen and Diamine's Flamingo Pink ink

Pen Build

Full body shot of the Jinhao 993 Shark pen

The pen itself is made entirely of plastic, except for the nib which is steel. For being entirely of plastic, it feels fairly sturdy. The plastic makes it lightweight, and the clear body of the pen is neat for those who enjoy demonstrator-type pens.

The "shark" part is actually the pen cap, which is a threaded twist on cap. The cap is postable and fits very snugly on the end. The shark fin replaces the clip, so while this is a clipless pen this pen won't roll away if you have the cap on or posted.

The nib is a hooded nib, something prior to purchasing this pen I had no idea existed. (Some quick research tells me hooded nibs make converter filling easier, keeps the nib from drying out and for those folks who write very low down it helps keep ink off their fingers- you learn something new every day!) This nib is an extra fine nib and is the only one out of this line's sizes that has a hooded nib, so if you're not a fan of hooded nibs there's other options.

The grip of the pen is a slightly triangular shape, in the vein of the Lamy Safari/AL Star grip, but not quite as dramatic. Calling it a triangle shape grip may even be a bit of an overstatement, as it really is just two slight indents on either side of the grip

The pen itself is compatible with Standard International short ink cartridges, but comes with a converter. This pen can also be pretty easily converted into an eyedropper compatible pen, but that's a discussion for another day.

Close up of the hooded nib and threading for the shark cap

Writing Experience

This is the first extra-fine nib I've ever owned, and considering that Jinhao is a Chinese company their extra fine nib is REALLY extra fine.

The nib itself writes well enough; I have two of these pens (one blue and one black) and in one of them I've noticed some minor skips and slight ink flow issues with various types of ink (primarily Noodler's and Diamine), but the other had no problems. I suspect it's just an inconsistency in the feed, which Jinhao has a bit of a reputation for. (On the subject of ink, the hooded nib really did make it a bit easier for me to load these up with ink.)

Scratchy isn't quite the word for how this EF nib feels, I would say it provides a lot of feedback; there is so much less room between your hand and the paper that you get a lot of the feeling of the pen writing directly on the paper. For those folks who enjoy a super smooth writing experience, this may not be the nib choice for you. For my personal tastes, the feedback sensation wasn't so great that I wouldn't regularly use this pen.

Verdict

Do you like sharks? Do you like pretty colors? Do you like great deals? If you answered yes to any of these get this pen. These pens make a great first pen for kids and fountain pen newbies, and are a cute addition to the collection of a fountain pen fanatic.

These pens are available in all sorts of colors, including orange, blue, black, purple, lime green, white, pink, magenta, red and yellow.

Truth be told, for the $3 I spent on these pens I was not expecting much from them and I was pleasantly surprised. They're no Visconti, but they get the job done and look adorable doing it.

They're available on Amazon in a 6 pack for $12 or individually from Goulet for $3.95 a piece.

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