Jinhao Shark Pen Review: Best Fountain Pen Under $5?

I’d like to say I wanted to grab the Jinhao Shark Pen because I’m a New Englander, and we love all things ocean related.

Cue John William’s score from Jaws.

But I’ll be honest.

These pens look like sharks.

That’s cool.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, should have a pen shaped like a shark in their collection.

And coming in for $3.95 retail, the Jinhao 993 Shark Fountain Pen gives you a lot of bang for your buck.

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Jinhao Shark Plastic Fine Nib Fountain Pen Set

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If you want to get an even better deal, get on the Goulet Pens mailing list. I snagged mine for under $2 a pop last summer during a Shark Week sale.

Either way, it’s a no-brainer.

When I first got into pens, I thought I needed deep pockets.

Luckily, I was wrong.

There are plenty of pens for us newbie normies who have a budget of $30 or under. I’ll cover some more of those in other posts. But for now, let’s look at the shark fountain pen.

A novelty pen for serious writers

A lot of sites market the Jinhao Shark Pen as a gag gift or novelty pen.

I get it.

However, I maintain that fountain pens can and should be fun. Sure, I suppose there’s probably something satisfying bout scribbling away with some $1,000 Visconti.

But, I get a lot of satisfaction out of my grey Jinhao fountain Pen — especially once I filled it with Private Reserve Dakota Red ink.

If you want to have some fun with your pens, let’s get into the specs, so you can see if it’s right for you.

Jinhao Shark Pen: The basics

Alright, let’s start with the body.

Both the cap and barrel are plastic — no surprise there.

The grip is demonstrator-style, which is fancy fountain pen speak for you can see the ink floating around and the guts of the pen. It’s also triangular, so it’s pretty comfortable to hold and isn’t slippery.

I tend to find demonstrator pens pretty cool because I love trying out different types of ink. So, in a practical sense, it’s easy to see when the ink is running out. But I like to mix and match colors.

Would I fill my purple shark pen with red ink? Gasp! No!

I want something that goes with purple.

I know some people who fall in love with one ink, and it’s their signature style. I haven’t quite found something I desperately love more than anything, but it also feels kind of boring to have pages and pages of the same color in all my commonplace books.

Ok, end rant.

The pen has a steel fine nib, which is slightly hidden. But when writing, it does feel like the line width is actually a bit thicker. If you are a hardcore extra fine nib person, you may not love it.

How the pen writes

Ok, let’s get into the fun part, how it works and writes.

I tend to like a fine or even extra fine nib.

But, sometimes, they feel more scratchy on the paper. I’m not a fan of that. I want my pen to glide across the page, not get stopped and stuck, and then blob.

Or when I want to use a sparkly ink (who doesn’t), I struggle with an extra fine nib getting clogged, so something to keep in mind.

The Jinhao 993 Shark Fountain Pen is surprisingly smooth, especially for the price. It writes like a much more expensive pen.

Another potentially small picadillo for some is I find it’s a pen you want to keep capped. Sometimes the ink dries quickly, but the cap (the shark fin part) is threaded, not a pull-off. So if you’re constantly screwing it on and off, it could be a minor annoyance.

But at the end of the day, this pen beats expectations. I don’t you can expect more from something so affordable.

Converting the Jinhao into an eyedropper pen

The shark pen comes with a standard international cartridge/converter but no ink. So you’ll have to supply your own.

You can use a cartridge or converter to start writing or go a little crazy like I did and fill the entire barrel with ink.

I mean, you cannot get it to look like the shark has a belly full of blood with a cartridge, sorry. But you do you, and I’ll do me.

This process is called ‘eyedroppering.’ It’s when you take your standard converter fountain pen and load the barrel with ink. It’s not possible (or easy) with all pens. But you can transform the Jinhao fountain pen into a converted eyedropper pen.

Filling the barrel with ink wasn’t nearly as scary as I thought. I did not cover my kitchen or clothes in ink, so I take that as a win.

But you need some extra gear:

• Dropper or syringe to transfer the ink
• O-rings (these are incredibly easy to lose…or accidentally fling across your kitchen — so I’ve heard)
• Silicone grease

Rub the silicone over the o-ring and the grip and barrel threads. Make sure you add a healthy amount because it’s vital to have a solid seal here; otherwise, you may look down in your pocket and think you’re bleeding to death.

Add the ink, but go about half or two-thirds of the way full. Leave space for expansion, especially if you keep the pen in your pockets. Now, you’re good to go.

Final thoughts: Jinhao Shark Fountain Pen

Is the shark pen my daily writer? No. I tend to gravitate to one of my Lamys for that.

Will it last forever? Probably not. Is it the most comfortable for long bouts of writing? Not really.

But this isn’t really that type of pen. It’s something that’s fun and will bring a smile to your face. So there are plenty of days I do reach for it.

It’s hard to be annoyed when you’re writing with a pen that looks like a shark. And for the price? It’s a great way to get started with fountain pens.

Toss in an ink sample, and for under $5, you’ve got your first starter set. Perfect for the budding fountain pen enthusiast in your life or if you’re a kid at heart.

Liz

Hey, I'm Liz. I'm the founder of this thing. Pen-obsessed and a notebook nut, I love writing by hand. So I'm gonna talk about it on a computer.