Hi everyone, I am up to three pens now and my latest arrival in the PG. I originally ordered the Sapporo fine but found it too small, although it wrote like a dream. The pro gear came in exchange and the size is perfect! But it is very scratchy to the point where it feels like it will stick, not at all what the Sapporo felt like. I am using the same ink. Any thoughts? I have made figure eights to try and break it in better.

the second issue is illustrated in the picture, non of my other pens get blotches of ink on top of the nib.... is this normal?

-For reference my other two pens are a MB medium nib and a daily use Pelikan 215 fine that has smoothed out very nicely and I would highly recommend to anyone.

if the PG and the Sapporo use the same nib and you got the same nib size on each pen, then it seems the new nib is bad. Do these pens use the same nib and did you get the same size nib on the new that you had on the old?

Assuming the answers to the above questions are all YES, then given that the pen is new, I would stop right now and contact Sailor and get it sent in, even if it costs you a few bucks postage. Better to spend a few bucks on postage and be happy in a few weeks, that doodle around and possibly make things worse and then have to pay more. Just my opinion. j

by the way, can I assume you flushed out the pen and looked at the tines under a loupe and they are aligned? I suppose it is possible they are off? Even if they are off my a little, you might really feel it, especially if it is a fine point.

The Sapporo has a 14k nib, while the Pro Gear comes with a 21k nib. Both Sailor nibs are incredibly smooth and wonderful writers. I have a Pro Gear with a medium nib that writes like a dream. I'm surprised to hear that you are having such problems with your Pro Gear, though pens have been known to have problems out of the box.

Like John, I would suggest that you try flushing the pen (if you have not already done so), checking to see if the tines are properly aligned, and experimenting with different inks. Otherwise, you should contact your dealer or Sailor for exchange or service.

I own a sapporo which has a 14k nib. It is super smooth and I have no complaints against it.
Sailor professional gear pens ususally do not give much of a problem with nib. You must have unfortunately got a nib that slipped off the quality control unnoticed.
I would suggest that you get the nib exchanged without yourself experimenting with the it.

Steve.

If flushing (dry ink, manufacturing gunk, who knows) doesn't fix it, I would send it back and get another from the retailer--my PG is the smoothest, wettest fine nib I have, and Sailors are justly famous for their fantastic out of the box performance.

Thank you for all the replies.

I have not flushed out the pen but I just looked at the tines under x10 and looking at the tins from the bottom I can see that the left tine has a very bad finish with gouges along the inner edge and on the inside edge of the nib. Left side is smooth and straight. I guess I have a manufacturing issue and need to get it fixed.