When I changed inks, the ink strokes going from left to right, and also from up to down is very faint, somethings nothing there. The strokes going downwards and right to left is okay. This has happened to 2 different pens, one of which was a VP. I tried flushing out, I tried switching from convertor to cartridge and back again. Same color and brand ink. What am I not doing, or doing to cause this. I've got ink all over my fingers

your tines seem misaligned. the right tine is closer to the feed than the left, so when you go left to right, you put more pressure on the left tine, which is already farther from the nib, so flow gets compromised. going from right to left will correct this automatically, as you put more pressure on the right tine, bringing it to the same level as the left one.

you may also be writing with more pressure on the right tine. if so, i would try a right oblique grind, it naturally cants to the right, and would convert your tendency to press to the right into a rotation.

Einv, thank you for your post. Looking at the tines, they seem to be misaligned, as suggested. I tried aligning it with my fingers, but they don't stay in place. Is this something I can fix myself, or does it need professional repair?

Nib tines rebound when you push on them. You need to push the tine a little bit beyond where it needs to go, so that when you let go of it, it rebounds to the correct position.

Ditto to what *David* said, but with the caveat - go slowly and carefully, and try to nudge the tines as far back on the nib as you can - not on the tip. The weld where the hard-alloy tipping is attached to the rest of the nib is probably the weakest point on the nib, so be careful not to try to bend from the point.

John

Thanks all. I will try again, this time without pushing on the tips (yikes).

Pushing on the tines worked! Can't thank you enough as this is my favorite pen.