Any Fountain Pen Writers?

[AquaRegia he/him]

I have experienced a fountain pen "feature" that you all probably know about already: ink feed problems after several weeks of nonuse.

I left for vacation at the end of June and returned today (19 July), so my pen sat untouched for about 3 weeks.  I find ink flows while the nib is moving in some directions, but not others; I can draw a perfect series of half circles, instead of a continuous spring coil.

I don't want to waste half a bottle of ink drawing scribbles, waiting for it to clear up... should I soak the nib in water?  Alcohol?  Do I need to worry about diluting the ink that's already in the pen?  Or is a more aggressive remedy indicated?

[+Slowswift]

10 hours ago, AquaRegia said:

I have experienced a fountain pen "feature" that you all probably know about already: ink feed problems after several weeks of nonuse.

I left for vacation at the end of June and returned today (19 July), so my pen sat untouched for about 3 weeks.  I find ink flows while the nib is moving in some directions, but not others; I can draw a perfect series of half circles, instead of a continuous spring coil.

I don't want to waste half a bottle of ink drawing scribbles, waiting for it to clear up... should I soak the nib in water?  Alcohol?  Do I need to worry about diluting the ink that's already in the pen?  Or is a more aggressive remedy indicated?

If priming the feed--that's twisting the piston or converter, or gently shaking the pen or squeezing the cartridge, until the feed saturates again--doesn't work, try running it under water for a bit and then drying with a paper towel. If that still doesn't work, you may have to flush and clean the pen (if you have a viable container handy, you might even be able to save the ink.)

[Coolmint]

22 hours ago, AquaRegia said:

I have experienced a fountain pen "feature" that you all probably know about already: ink feed problems after several weeks of nonuse.

I left for vacation at the end of June and returned today (19 July), so my pen sat untouched for about 3 weeks.  I find ink flows while the nib is moving in some directions, but not others; I can draw a perfect series of half circles, instead of a continuous spring coil.

I don't want to waste half a bottle of ink drawing scribbles, waiting for it to clear up... should I soak the nib in water?  Alcohol?  Do I need to worry about diluting the ink that's already in the pen?  Or is a more aggressive remedy indicated?

What Slowswift said.  Usually I just dip the nib in water and scribble until the pen writes again.

I am a fountain pen user from way back; my first was a Sheaffer School pen.  I found this forum because I had just dip tested my Parker 45 against a Moonman lookalike, and wanted to know if 45s were regarded as wet writers.  This thread popped up in my search!  

I write first drafts by hand.  Don't even get me started on inks.  Or paper.  Cosmo Air Light being my latest paper find.  I have enough inks to start a museum.  Glad to have found you.

[AquaRegia he/him]

@Slowswift @Coolmint thank you both, and you were doubly right: when I unscrewed the body I found that the true problem was that I was out of ink LOL

A few quick piston twists and everything is right with the world.  Cheers!

[Coolmint]

47 minutes ago, AquaRegia said:

@Slowswift @Coolmint thank you both, and you were doubly right: when I unscrewed the body I found that the true problem was that I was out of ink LOL

A few quick piston twists and everything is right with the world.  Cheers!

Yay!  
 

(…see, this is why I like demonstrators….). By the way, what brand and model of pen was this?

[AquaRegia he/him]

It's a Hongdian, straight nib fine point... pretty much one of these: https://www.etsy.com/listing/708928628/personalized-hongdian-1850-black-forest

[Cyclops]

38 minutes ago, AquaRegia said:

It's a Hongdian, straight nib fine point... pretty much one of these: https://www.etsy.com/listing/708928628/personalized-hongdian-1850-black-forest

I have a Black Forest.  As well as a Dark Blue Forest and a Silver Birch Forest.  I like them; I just they were a little bigger around.

[Coolmint]

1 hour ago, AquaRegia said:

It's a Hongdian, straight nib fine point... pretty much one of these: https://www.etsy.com/listing/708928628/personalized-hongdian-1850-black-forest

Very attractive pens!  Thanks for the link.  By the way, I always got Ravenclaw in every test I took.  

[Kasimir he/him]

19 hours ago, Slowswift said:

If priming the feed--that's twisting the piston or converter, or gently shaking the pen or squeezing the cartridge, until the feed saturates again--doesn't work, try running it under water for a bit and then drying with a paper towel. If that still doesn't work, you may have to flush and clean the pen (if you have a viable container handy, you might even be able to save the ink.)

Very late, but this  

[+Slowswift]

On 7/20/2022 at 9:30 AM, Coolmint said:

What Slowswift said.  Usually I just dip the nib in water and scribble until the pen writes again.

I am a fountain pen user from way back; my first was a Sheaffer School pen.  I found this forum because I had just dip tested my Parker 45 against a Moonman lookalike, and wanted to know if 45s were regarded as wet writers.  This thread popped up in my search!  

I write first drafts by hand.  Don't even get me started on inks.  Or paper.  Cosmo Air Light being my latest paper find.  I have enough inks to start a museum.  Glad to have found you.

Glad you found us! It's nice to see more than just the same three people talking in a circle around here.  

[Coolmint]

16 hours ago, Slowswift said:

Glad you found us! It's nice to see more than just the same three people talking in a circle around here.  

Yay!  I dreamed about fountain pens last night.

(NOT the dream): I used to collect the Lamy Safari LE colors, then said Enough, and quit.  But when Lamy had a sort of re-issue of two coveted colors, Terra Cotta and Savannah, I bought them both (original editions cost hundreds).  The nibs were awful.  My earlier Safaris were all very pleasant writers, so to experiment, I bought some Jinhao and NoNami Chinese pens that resemble Safaris.  They all wrote well, if a bit feedbacky, out of the box.  My Safari elders write better.  I don't know where their quality control went of late.

[Kasimir he/him]

4 hours ago, Coolmint said:

Yay!  I dreamed about fountain pens last night.

(NOT the dream): I used to collect the Lamy Safari LE colors, then said Enough, and quit.  But when Lamy had a sort of re-issue of two coveted colors, Terra Cotta and Savannah, I bought them both (original editions cost hundreds).  The nibs were awful.  My earlier Safaris were all very pleasant writers, so to experiment, I bought some Jinhao and NoNami Chinese pens that resemble Safaris.  They all wrote well, if a bit feedbacky, out of the box.  My Safari elders write better.  I don't know where their quality control went of late.

Yeah, Lamy's very hit and miss these days. Terracotta is a nice colour though, 100% get why you went for it  

21 hours ago, Slowswift said:

Glad you found us! It's nice to see more than just the same three people talking in a circle around here.  

We are converting others/drawing others to the circle slowly?  

I've finally been converted to the Pro Gear club. Picked up a Pro Gear Medium, and it feels so good I don't know why I used to love Pro Gear Slims. Maybe I just got used to bigger pens, not sure.

[Coolmint]

Hope so!

I only have one full size Pro Gear: a limited edition, Black Velvet.  Sparkly!  On the other hand, I have a few Slims (AKA Sapporo), like the seasonal ones they had featured a while back.  This enables my craze for matching pen with ink.

[+Slowswift]

That new Storm Over the Ocean and the matchy-matchy Manyo Pro Gears really got me thinking hard about my self-imposed pen embargo...  I've got a 1911 Large, MF, in Stormy Sea that I don't quite don't know what to do with. I love it, but then I also can't tell if the nib is exhibiting normal Sailor behavior or if I got a genuinely scratchy one. I'm thinking I might send it off to Mr. Masuyama, if I can't diagnose the problem on my own.

[Coolmint]

22 minutes ago, Slowswift said:

That new Storm Over the Ocean and the matchy-matchy Manyo Pro Gears really got me thinking hard about my self-imposed pen embargo...  I've got a 1911 Large, MF, in Stormy Sea that I don't quite don't know what to do with. I love it, but then I also can't tell if the nib is exhibiting normal Sailor behavior or if I got a genuinely scratchy one. I'm thinking I might send it off to Mr. Masuyama, if I can't diagnose the problem on my own.

Sailor nibs should 'sing,' or hiss, and feel somewhat pencil-y, but not scratchy.  Are the tines misaligned?  

[+Slowswift]

1 hour ago, Coolmint said:

Sailor nibs should 'sing,' or hiss, and feel somewhat pencil-y, but not scratchy.  Are the tines misaligned?  

Looking at them again, it appears that there's a gap in the tipping. The tines themselves look like they're in line, though, so idk what's up.

ETA: Arrrgh Platinum why do you do this to me

Edited July 25, 2022 by Slowswift

[Coolmint]

9 minutes ago, Slowswift said:

Looking at them again, it appears that there's a gap in the tipping. The tines themselves look like they're in line, though, so idk what's up.

ETA: Arrrgh Platinum why do you do this to me

Ha ha!  I understand; want want want the almost-unobtainium orange Platinum 3776 from way back.

Is there any way you could post a close-up of the gap in your Sailor's nib?

[+Slowswift]

5 minutes ago, Coolmint said:

Ha ha!  I understand; want want want the almost-unobtainium orange Platinum 3776 from way back.

Is there any way you could post a close-up of the gap in your Sailor's nib?

Is it the Apricot translucent one? That's the only one a search revealed.

I will try to take a picture--it might take two people and thus a while, though.

[Coolmint]

39 minutes ago, Slowswift said:

Is it the Apricot translucent one? That's the only one a search revealed.

I will try to take a picture--it might take two people and thus a while, though.

North American exclusive Carnelian, but it's also translucent.  Thanks!

[+Slowswift]

Just now, Coolmint said:

North American exclusive Carnelian, but it's also translucent.  Thanks!

Oh the Carnelian! Yeah, that one was super pretty. Thought it was red, though?

[Coolmint]

49 minutes ago, Slowswift said:

Oh the Carnelian! Yeah, that one was super pretty. Thought it was red, though?

I looked at it again.  You're right!  

[Kasimir he/him]

5 hours ago, Slowswift said:

That new Storm Over the Ocean and the matchy-matchy Manyo Pro Gears really got me thinking hard about my self-imposed pen embargo...  I've got a 1911 Large, MF, in Stormy Sea that I don't quite don't know what to do with. I love it, but then I also can't tell if the nib is exhibiting normal Sailor behavior or if I got a genuinely scratchy one. I'm thinking I might send it off to Mr. Masuyama, if I can't diagnose the problem on my own.

I feel you, my Sailor is a bit misaligned, but enough that the pencil-like feedback is a bit more scratchy than I'd like. It's more annoying because I re-align the tines and then it writes beautifully, but then it gets misaligned again. I'd imagine I stop applying pressure when writing by now...

[Cyclops]

On 7/20/2022 at 11:30 AM, Coolmint said:

I write first drafts by hand.  Don't even get me started on inks.  Or paper.  Cosmo Air Light being my latest paper find.  I have enough inks to start a museum.  Glad to have found you.

If you don't mind me asking, what first drafts do you write by hand?  I do manuscripts and sermon notes longhand for the first drafts.  And welcome to the discussion.

Change of subject:  Has anyone experienced flow issues with a Platinum Preppy, EF?  I have a cartridge in it right now, blue/black, and every so often I have to give a shake or two to get the ink going again.  The Preppy I have in F nib, qith a black ink cartridge, has never had that problem.  So is it the pen, or is the ink too dry to flow well?  Inquiring minds want to know.

[Coolmint]

56 minutes ago, Cyclops said:

If you don't mind me asking, what first drafts do you write by hand?  I do manuscripts and sermon notes longhand for the first drafts.  And welcome to the discussion.

Change of subject:  Has anyone experienced flow issues with a Platinum Preppy, EF?  I have a cartridge in it right now, blue/black, and every so often I have to give a shake or two to get the ink going again.  The Preppy I have in F nib, qith a black ink cartridge, has never had that problem.  So is it the pen, or is the ink too dry to flow well?  Inquiring minds want to know.

First drafts of all my stories and poems.  I've read all the posts, and I hope your fountain pen and writing journey is going well!

The Preppy blue black cartridge ink is very dry, but I love the color. One BB cart stripped the blue plating off the nib of my Fine Preppy, which made me suspect it was an iron gall ink.  Plus, I mean, the EF nibs are PRETTY fine.  I think I have at least one of those. If I remember, they come in .05, .03, and .02.  Does this help?

Change of subject here too: Are we allowed to give away pens/inks in the forum?  I have an unopened bottle of Chelpark Blue and heard rumors that these were actually Parker inks.

[Cyclops]

3 minutes ago, Coolmint said:

First drafts of all my stories and poems.  I've read all the posts, and I hope your fountain pen and writing journey is going well!

The Preppy blue black cartridge ink is very dry, but I love the color. One BB cart stripped the blue plating off the nib of my Fine Preppy, which made me suspect it was an iron gall ink.  Plus, I mean, the EF nibs are PRETTY fine.  I think I have at least one of those. If I remember, they come in .05, .03, and .02.  Does this help?

Change of subject here too: Are we allowed to give away pens/inks in the forum?  I have an unopened bottle of Chelpark Blue and heard rumors that these were actually Parker inks.

Yes, the F is 03 and EF 02.  Thanks for the info on the BB ink.  Maybe after this cart is empty I'll try a wetter ink in it, maybe Noodler's Bad Belted Kingfisher or Diamine's Aurora Borealis.