Horribly Dry Twsbi Micarta - Help!

[amk]

I have a TWSBI Micarta with a medium nib. Trouble is, though I can see ink coming down the slit in the nib (and I've flushed it out well, so that's not the problem), it's still so dry that it's almost unusable - I can write a few words, then it starts to run dry again.

 

Tried with various inks (waterman, Cross, diamine) and still no joy. I know from searching around FPN that the TWSBI Micartas do tend to write dry - but not *that* dry I'd hope!

 

What do I do next?

[pranav.bhatnagar]

Hello amk,

 

From the description you are writing it seems that it is a common problem because of poor cleaning and maintenance of fountain pens. The feeder system must be blocked and therefore the ink does arrive to the nib but later stops. Many times using permanent inks which tend to block the feeder systems causes this issue. I had a similar problem with my shaeffer prelude which stopped writing while I was using the Montblanc Midnight Blue permanent ink.

 

Now what you can do is

 

1. Buy this solution called "J Herbin Ink Clening solution" which can be easily located in UK or ordered online. It is a proven solution which will deblock the feeder system. This can reslove your problem.

 

2. Locate a dealer / pen shop you and get a maintenence done for your pen. Which in my case, I got it done and it worked fine after that.

 

 

Check this: http://www.bureaudirect.co.uk/j-herbin-cleaning-solution-for-fountain-pens/p2947#tdesc_1

 

 

All the best.

 

Pranav

Edited August 8, 2014 by pranav.bhatnagar

[dspeers58]

Simple advice....

 

 

I had some trouble with my Micarta nib. it was very dry...

[amk]

Oh dear oh dear. I have tried... about seven iterations of the SBRE Brown treatment - and it's still doing next to nothing. Though it *does* write just about okay upside down (though quite scratchy).

 

I can sort of get it to write - like a Bic, if I press hard.

 

I can't really see any misalignment nor baby's bottom. This is incredibly frustrating! The Micarta looks beautiful, but then so does my gold plate Waterman CF that doesn't have a nib. And at the moment they both write equally well!

[kroywen1982]

In case you didn't you, DRY is the middle name of TWSBI.

[Algester]

In case you didn't you, DRY is the middle name of TWSBI.

not that I can say some are dry some are wet apparently my VAC 700 is wet which is weird because both the Vac 700 and Micarta have the same innards (feed wise) my Mini came in dry so... I pretty much adjusted it then destroyed the nib (I turned the nib into a zoom nib HAH!) then acquired a 580 nib which is wetter than the mini so no ITS NOT DRY

 

and I'm not sure if your here to just bad mouth about your frustrations with TWSBI

Edited August 13, 2014 by Algester

[I.M.]

In case you didn't you, DRY is the middle name of TWSBI.

This isn't completely true. I have the Micarta v2 which writes as wet as a hose, and depending on which ink I'm using, I'm lucky if I get more than two sides of A4 from one inking. My 540s are also neither wet, nor dry.

 

Amk, do you know which version Micarta you have? Is it version one, or version two? It sounds to me like the best solution is going to be to send the pen to a nibmeister for some proper tuning.

[amk]

I might try a nibmeister. Then again, I might just grab a #6 nib from somewhere else and see what happens. In fact I think I have a couple of spare nibs lying about somewhere from various pen purchases that came with extras.

[OakIris]

Sorry you are having this problem with your Micarta, amk. I have a v2 with a medium nib, it worked fine right out of the box, nice flow, smooth, etc. I would contact TWSBI and let them know about your issue; I imagine they will send you a new nib and feed. The Micarta is a joy to use, but not with a dry writing nib! Ugh!

 

Simple advice....

 

 

I had some trouble with my Micarta nib. it was very dry...

 

Thank you so much for that video link; I am a fan of sbrebrown's pen reviews but had not seen this "fix it" video. I have a Stipula Passaporto with a nib like amk's Micarta - dry, dry, dry, very unpleasant to use. I wasn't able to get the nib off of the pen to use the brass shim on it properly, though tried increasing the flow with the shim while the nib was installed, but this made no difference. Mr.Brown's solution worked perfectly; now I like this pen and the flow is acceptable - I may need to work on it a bit more, but he flow is already 90% better than it was. This is a great solution - as long as you are careful, as he advises - when you can't actually remove the nib in order to use the brass shim effectively.

 

Holly