My First Pelikans .... Very Dry And Scratchy

[kapilapshankar]

I got my first Pelikans - a black and green M200, both in fine nibs last evening.

 

Did the usual water flush. Filled up Waterman Serenity Blue.

 

Took the pens to paper with a lot of expectation. And ouch! Both of them are very dry. Black is very scratchy, green is scratchy too.

 

I'm feeling not too happy. I really really want to like these pens, and make them my daily writers. I do need them to be (very) wet and (very) smooth to be useful daily.

 

Any suggestions from the stalwarts? Would appreciate your help.

 

 

[mAsTeRmInD-L]

May I ask your 200s are brand new or pre-owned?

 

 

 

- L

[kapilapshankar]

Green is brand new.

 

Black is pre-owned, but still "new" Both from Amazon. The black came from Amazon Warehouse Deals.

[mAsTeRmInD-L]

If the black one is very dry and sometimes skips lines, my guesses are:

 

1) The feed is clogged, it needs deep cleaning.

2) The nib collar had been removed. The relative position of the feed and nib had been changed too. You need to adjust the relative position of the feed and nib (the position of the breather hole is very important). You can compare your nib in Black M200 with your brand new Green M200 to see if there are any differences.

 

If the feed is too far into the section, the ink will not reach the nib evenly. If the feed extends too far, the ink will flow too freely and the pen will blot. the correct position is for the shoulders of the feed to be in line with the shoulders of the nib. In other words, when looking at the nib from the front, the feed should not be visible - but only just.

 

Here's a helpful link: http://www.penmuseum.co.uk/master%202.htm

3) number 1 and 2 happened simultaneously.

 

 

For the brand new M200, soaking the nib overnight, then try it. If that doesn't help, give the pen some patience, it may become a fantastic writer after using it for one or two weeks.

 

 

 

 

Hope this will help.

 

- L

Edited July 25, 2014 by mAsTeRmInD-L

[sargetalon]

A 10x loupe to evaluate the alignment of the tines could prove very useful. Often times this is due to misalignment. Don't trust your eyes as they can easily be decieved.

[hari317]

 

.

 

 

I do need them to be (very) wet and (very) smooth to be useful daily.

Perhaps a B or a BB nib would have been a better choice over a F for the terrific flow and smoothness that you desire.

 

I myself use only BB on my M150 and 200 pens.

[jaqcp]

You got a couple of lemons. They can't be fixed. I could take them off your hands as parts pens for $20 each, plus shipping of course.

 

I also have a spare Brooklyn Bridge for sale. Call it a straight swap?

[Rick Propas]

I agree about deep cleaning as described above. Also start by making sure you are using an appropriate ink.

 

Finally, even the green pen is probably a used pen, since it came from Amazon seconds. These pens are very precise in their set up, it is probably a matter of having them tuned by someone who knows what they are doing.

[dspeers58]

Might check with Chartpak, and see if you can trade the nibs out for tuned nibs...they support Pelikan in the US

[setriode]

I have 7 or 8 of these pens. Two M nibs have given me similar trouble. Both had slight alignment problems and once this was fixed, they remained very dry and the line width was like a fine nib.

 

I am presently working on one of these nibs to improve flow. I left strips of brass in between the tines and checked every so often to assess improvements. The flow has now improved to a point where the nib is now no longer scratchy but the flow still isn't what it should be. . I am continuing the brass therapy even as I write this message.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I only ask this because of your low post count.

Are you holding your fountain pen behind the big knuckle or before it like a ball point.

 

Many do or have held their fountain pen like a ball point until it was pointed out to them.

 

95% of scratchy and skipping is from misaligned nibs and holding the pen too high.

You do need a good glassed 10-1-2015 X loupe.

Edited July 29, 2014 by Bo Bo Olson

[Wolverine1]

Serves you right for buying seconds on Amazon. What, you couldnt take the trouble to buy a pen from a regular pen purveyor? You can even buy online from reputable vendors like from nibs.com, or from Richardspens.com, or from Rick Propas himself. If you had purchased your Pelikans from one of these reputable vendors, you wouldnt have needed to come and complain here. You would have been busy writing with your new or used Pelikan pens.

[siouxsie311]

I also bought a Pelikan M200 with a fine nib from Amazon, and it would always skip. It could have been that the tines were misaligned but I got rid of that pen. Then I bought the M200 from richardspens.com and it writes fantastic. He will check the pen before he sends it to you. So I would never buy a pen from Amazon even though it might be cheaper.

[carlos.q]

I also bought a Pelikan M200 with a fine nib from Amazon, and it would always skip. It could have been that the tines were misaligned but I got rid of that pen. Then I bought the M200 from richardspens.com and it writes fantastic. He will check the pen before he sends it to you.

+1

This was exactly my experience.

[clazbill]

I'm in a similiar boat; I have a Pelican M200, Medium nib, that is a hard starter and skips often. Drives me crazy; the pen is worse than my TWSBI and Lamy pens by a long shot. I've written with it plenty; 3-5 samples of Iroshizuku ink have gone through that pen so far. Days of cleaning after each ink change, leaving the pen in water overnight all the time.

 

 

This pen came from richardspens.com, so I'd hope it isn't the nib. Starting to believe the feed itself must have a problem. Something that could get overlooked without spending days with the pen. Going to put some more time into the pen, because really... this pen should run circles around everything else I own.

[kapilapshankar]

Thank you folks for the insights and advice.

 

@Wolverine1: I hear ya. It was too good a deal to pass away on Amazon seconds, or so I thought. I'm thinking Black Friday deal madness. Lesson learnt. It probably landed on Amazon seconds because the first buyer returned it.

 

@Bo Bo Olson: I use fountain pens for writing everything everyday. So the grip shouldn't be a problem. Just don't post to FPN as frequently as I should.

 

Long story short - I implemented the advice from this (and other similar) threads without any great degree of success. As of last week, I returned them back to Amazon for a full refund.

 

This story does have a happy ending though.

 

I had also picked up M205s from Pen Chalet, all with F nib. Inadvertently, the red 205 came with a B nib. And oh boy - it's an absolutely joy to write with. The other three are now somewhere in transit back from Chartpak after having their nibs swapped out to B via the free exchange.

 

Cheers!

[Bo Bo Olson]

Just checking you were holding the fountain pen properly behind the big index knuckle.

 

I use my pens for every day writing also......being too lazy to get fancy.

Edited August 3, 2014 by Bo Bo Olson

[mAsTeRmInD-L]

I have 7 or 8 of these pens. Two M nibs have given me similar trouble. Both had slight alignment problems and once this was fixed, they remained very dry and the line width was like a fine nib.

 

I am presently working on one of these nibs to improve flow. I left strips of brass in between the tines and checked every so often to assess improvements. The flow has now improved to a point where the nib is now no longer scratchy but the flow still isn't what it should be. . I am continuing the brass therapy even as I write this message.

 

One of my 14C medium point M800 nibs once wrote like fine nib too. It didn't skip, but it was very dry. It made my right hand easily feel tired writing with it. I tried one method from Nibs.com, and it took me about one or two minutes to fix it. It writes very smoothly right now. You can check out this link to find more information: http://www.nibs.com/Article6.html

 

 

 

Hope this will help.

 

- L

[TLMG]

If you got it from Amazon Warehouse Deals then, even though it was technically marked as "used" it is not actually used. It was likely never even opened. AWE is essentially there because they have extremely strict standards in terms of what condition packaging needs to be in to be sold. If there is damage to the box, a mark, a cut, or even a slightly unperfect corner, it gets thrown to AWD to be sold at a discount.

 

Both pens are 100% new.

[ac12]

 

I have 7 or 8 of these pens. Two M nibs have given me similar trouble. Both had slight alignment problems and once this was fixed, they remained very dry and the line width was like a fine nib.

 

I am presently working on one of these nibs to improve flow. I left strips of brass in between the tines and checked every so often to assess improvements. The flow has now improved to a point where the nib is now no longer scratchy but the flow still isn't what it should be. . I am continuing the brass therapy even as I write this message.

 

@setriode

 

Forget the brass shim.

This method has worked for me on all my pens that I have used it on.

 

Hold the pen nib up, and feed towards you.

Stick your thumb nail under each wing.

Then VERY CAREFULLY and just a little-at-a-time, spread the wings of the nib.

> Check the nib split with your brass shim and a loupe to watch when it starts to open up, and how much, and check the ink flow each time you spread the wings.

Then when you are done, check that the tips are still in alignment, and adjust if needed.

 

The only nib that I have that this won't work on is the Lamy nibs, cuz there is no wing to get a hold of.