Safari + Ink

[maryannemoll]

All my pens end up having those droplets, no matter what ink I use. I think the key is not in the pen and ink combination but in the fact that we bring our pens around in our pockets and purses, and the movement causes the ink to move around too much inside, thus the small overflows.

Edited December 31, 2012 by maryannemoll

[skysora]

Thanks for your feedback, penultress, aj3537, amd maryannemoll!

 

penultress > Indigo Blue and 1.1 sounds lovely! I currently enjoy Private Reserve Arabian Rose with my 1.1 nib in my purple Al-Star. What a great nib, right?

 

aj3537 > Faster dry time sounds good. Do you use distilled water or tap?

 

maryannemoll > Thanks for the tip. Do you keep your pens upright in transit, or are they shuffling around in your bag? Sometimes I see this phenomenon with pens left unused for a few days, too.

[aj3537]

Thanks for your feedback, penultress, aj3537, amd maryannemoll!

 

penultress > Indigo Blue and 1.1 sounds lovely! I currently enjoy Private Reserve Arabian Rose with my 1.1 nib in my purple Al-Star. What a great nib, right?

 

aj3537 > Faster dry time sounds good. Do you use distilled water or tap?

 

maryannemoll > Thanks for the tip. Do you keep your pens upright in transit, or are they shuffling around in your bag? Sometimes I see this phenomenon with pens left unused for a few days, too.

 

 

I use tap but I only dilute 2 ml at a time in a sample vial. Never dilute the entire bottle. And if you think 50/50 is too much water, add a few extra drops of ink to the sample until you are happy. For me personally, 50/50 is great and I have 7 Safaris and Al Stars each with a different color ink in them.

[Firepoint]

I have 6 or 7 safari's and haven't seen this problem with any of my pens with several different ink combinations. Waterman blue and blue black, monteblanc black, Pelikan edelstein ruby red and green, and noodles North African Violet.

[maryannemoll]

Actually I keep all my everyday fountain pens in a tumbler that always sits upright in my bag. That way, all the nibs are in the upright position no matter how bumpy my walk or ride is. In the office or at home, I just take off the lid, and I have an instant pen cup. I should post a photo here one of these days. I use about twelve different fountain pens everyday. They all get those droplets and tiny bleed-outs tha used to make the OC in me go crazy, but I suppose I've learned to live with it.

[51ISH]

Good question OP....

 

And some good responses in there too....

 

A couple of ideas for me to try, as I have this same problem with my Charcoal Safari too...I usually use Diamine Oxblood in there, so I sort of thought it was the ink causing the problem....

 

Thanks

[Runnin_Ute]

I don't recall that with mine with either of the Levenger inks I have used (Raven Black & Cobalt Blue), Pelikan 4001 Blue Black.

 

RIght now I have Sheaffer Blue Black in my Lamy (Al Star - fine nib) and no issues

[maryannemoll]

All my pens end up having those droplets, no matter what ink I use. I think the key is not in the pen and ink combination but in the fact that we bring our pens around in our pockets and purses, and the movement causes the ink to move around too much inside, thus the small overflows.

 

You know, upon a closer inspection of my Lamy Safaris, I think my first post is wrong. My Taccia Ta-Ke and my Pelikasn don't have this problem.

 

I think you are right in suspecting that the culprit is that locking mechanism that snaps into place when you put the cap on. If I am correct, inside the Lamy's cap there is a ring. When you snap the cap on the pen, the ring snaps onto the neck of the nib feed, that recessed area in your pen that gathers ink. The ink that you see there is coming from the ink that gathers in that ring inside the cap when we sometimes cap them pen a little too quickly, splattering tiny droplets of ink inside the cap. Or the nib creep getting into contact with the ring before it snaps into place.

 

Try to rinse the cap slowly with clear running water and see if it comes out a little tinted with color.

Edited January 5, 2013 by maryannemoll

[skysora]

I have 6 or 7 safari's and haven't seen this problem with any of my pens with several different ink combinations. Waterman blue and blue black, monteblanc black, Pelikan edelstein ruby red and green, and noodles North African Violet.

 

Some lovely colors there, Firepoint. Thanks for enriching the 'no issue' list!

[skysora]

Good question OP....

 

And some good responses in there too....

 

A couple of ideas for me to try, as I have this same problem with my Charcoal Safari too...I usually use Diamine Oxblood in there, so I sort of thought it was the ink causing the problem....

 

Thanks

 

I love Oxblood! It resides in my Pilot VP, and I actually haven't tried it in my Safari(s). Sorry to hear that it's spilling out a bit, but that's a trade off for good flow, I suppose!

[skysora]

All my pens end up having those droplets, no matter what ink I use. I think the key is not in the pen and ink combination but in the fact that we bring our pens around in our pockets and purses, and the movement causes the ink to move around too much inside, thus the small overflows.

 

You know, upon a closer inspection of my Lamy Safaris, I think my first post is wrong. My Taccia Ta-Ke and my Pelikasn don't have this problem.

 

I think you are right in suspecting that the culprit is that locking mechanism that snaps into place when you put the cap on. If I am correct, inside the Lamy's cap there is a ring. When you snap the cap on the pen, the ring snaps onto the neck of the nib feed, that recessed area in your pen that gathers ink. The ink that you see there is coming from the ink that gathers in that ring inside the cap when we sometimes cap them pen a little too quickly, splattering tiny droplets of ink inside the cap. Or the nib creep getting into contact with the ring before it snaps into place.

 

Try to rinse the cap slowly with clear running water and see if it comes out a little tinted with color.

 

Hey maryannemoll, thanks for giving the matter more thought. And YES there came out tinted water from the cap! Diamine Kelly Green still spills out no matter what, but I love the experience of writing with the Safari F nib that it's ok with me

 

And it would be great if you could share an image of your tumbler--what a cool idea!

Edited January 5, 2013 by skysora

[SeeksAdvice]

I have a Lamy Al-Star EF. While it works pretty well with some inks: R&K Blau Perm.; MB Royal Blue; Pelikan Sapphire; Pilot Asa-Gao ... there are some inks that it just won't do well at all with. Had bad nib creep problems with Polar Blue and Luxury Blue. Was using a converter, and filling the converter then inserting into the pen.

 

I wish I had taken pictures of what mine looked like, imagine that pen, but with the nib ~75% covered with polar blue.

 

So far the Lamy seems to be a great pen. Even survives multi-part forms:)

[maryannemoll]

All my pens end up having those droplets, no matter what ink I use. I think the key is not in the pen and ink combination but in the fact that we bring our pens around in our pockets and purses, and the movement causes the ink to move around too much inside, thus the small overflows.

 

You know, upon a closer inspection of my Lamy Safaris, I think my first post is wrong. My Taccia Ta-Ke and my Pelikasn don't have this problem.

 

I think you are right in suspecting that the culprit is that locking mechanism that snaps into place when you put the cap on. If I am correct, inside the Lamy's cap there is a ring. When you snap the cap on the pen, the ring snaps onto the neck of the nib feed, that recessed area in your pen that gathers ink. The ink that you see there is coming from the ink that gathers in that ring inside the cap when we sometimes cap them pen a little too quickly, splattering tiny droplets of ink inside the cap. Or the nib creep getting into contact with the ring before it snaps into place.

 

Try to rinse the cap slowly with clear running water and see if it comes out a little tinted with color.

 

Hey maryannemoll, thanks for giving the matter more thought. And YES there came out tinted water from the cap! Diamine Kelly Green still spills out no matter what, but I love the experience of writing with the Safari F nib that it's ok with me

 

And it would be great if you could share an image of your tumbler--what a cool idea!

 

Glad to help! The tumbler photo is actually here.

[51ISH]

All my pens end up having those droplets, no matter what ink I use. I think the key is not in the pen and ink combination but in the fact that we bring our pens around in our pockets and purses, and the movement causes the ink to move around too much inside, thus the small overflows.

 

You know, upon a closer inspection of my Lamy Safaris, I think my first post is wrong. My Taccia Ta-Ke and my Pelikasn don't have this problem.

 

I think you are right in suspecting that the culprit is that locking mechanism that snaps into place when you put the cap on. If I am correct, inside the Lamy's cap there is a ring. When you snap the cap on the pen, the ring snaps onto the neck of the nib feed, that recessed area in your pen that gathers ink. The ink that you see there is coming from the ink that gathers in that ring inside the cap when we sometimes cap them pen a little too quickly, splattering tiny droplets of ink inside the cap. Or the nib creep getting into contact with the ring before it snaps into place.

 

Try to rinse the cap slowly with clear running water and see if it comes out a little tinted with color.

 

Well, this is very interesting...I cleaned my Safari...very thoroughly (including the cap- with a dry paper towel) before 'resting' it....I was going to to fill the converter....when I noticed I was covered in Diamine Oxblood...it was obviously all over the section....it had been lying horizontal in a drawer...maybe you have something with this cap theory

 

I then managed to get in a bigger mess trying to fill the converter using a 30ml bottle...in the end I ran out of time and gave up...what an amateur :embarrassed_smile:

 

Guess who will be rinsing the cap under running water... :bunny01:

[51ISH]

Oops.. :embarrassed_smile:

Edited January 6, 2013 by 51ISH

[CAG_1787]

You've received several recommendations here, but I'd add that, in general, you should probably avoid most Noodler's inks if nib creep is a major objection. I love my Noodler's, but at least in my experience, they seem more prone to nib creep as a brand. It doesn't bother me, and the other characteristics and color palette make up for it, but everyone's preferences are unique.

[skysora]

I have a Lamy Al-Star EF. While it works pretty well with some inks: R&K Blau Perm.; MB Royal Blue; Pelikan Sapphire; Pilot Asa-Gao ... there are some inks that it just won't do well at all with. Had bad nib creep problems with Polar Blue and Luxury Blue. Was using a converter, and filling the converter then inserting into the pen.

 

I wish I had taken pictures of what mine looked like, imagine that pen, but with the nib ~75% covered with polar blue.

 

So far the Lamy seems to be a great pen. Even survives multi-part forms:)

 

SeeksAdvice, Thanks for adding more colors to the list.

 

It is a great pen, isn't it. I haven't tried filling out multi-part forms, but I'll take your word for it.

 

Polar Blue all over the nib sounds quite artistic to me

[skysora]

Glad to help! The tumbler photo is actually here.

 

Look at that! I'm glad to see that you got good suggestions on how to prevent pens from scratching. (Although not a problem really for Safaris )

[skysora]

 

Well, this is very interesting...I cleaned my Safari...very thoroughly (including the cap- with a dry paper towel) before 'resting' it....I was going to to fill the converter....when I noticed I was covered in Diamine Oxblood...it was obviously all over the section....it had been lying horizontal in a drawer...maybe you have something with this cap theory

 

I then managed to get in a bigger mess trying to fill the converter using a 30ml bottle...in the end I ran out of time and gave up...what an amateur :embarrassed_smile:

 

Guess who will be rinsing the cap under running water... :bunny01:

 

Oxblood all over the section...sounds bloody...

I love the fact that rinsing the cap called for a bunny dance

I enjoye my quiet moments of rinsing pens and changing inks. Almost relaxing in a way.

[skysora]

You've received several recommendations here, but I'd add that, in general, you should probably avoid most Noodler's inks if nib creep is a major objection. I love my Noodler's, but at least in my experience, they seem more prone to nib creep as a brand. It doesn't bother me, and the other characteristics and color palette make up for it, but everyone's preferences are unique.

 

Hi CAG_1787,

 

Thanks for your feedback. I do love my Noodler's, too.

 

I tend to gush about my pens and inks (especially Noodler's and Diamine) to others, but I realize that if I were really to try to coax people into fountain pen use, there are many qualifications I have to make. It's too bad that some people are just not okay with nib creep. But thanks to the help of kind members who responded to my inquiry, like you, I now know that there are several ways to avoid nib creep. It's such a learning experience, and I guess you gotta love the learning!