Hi all, I'm new to the forum and what a nice forum it is, I must say.
Anyway, I recently purchased my first Cross, a Century II fountain pen in royal blue. I normally go for fine and so got it in fine, but swapped it back for a medium as I found the fine a little too scratchy for my liking.

The next day I exchanged the new medium nib at the store (for another medium) because I found it to skip a little. But the new one seems to skip sometimes too-

After a sentence, if I wait 10 seconds or so, it can skip on the next letter. And just randomly it skips a stroke on the odd letter here and there. If I give it more pressure (say rollerball pressure), it seems to be more consistant, but that takes away its silky smoothness!
But then sometimes the ink flow will get rather generous for a few words, before going back to normal.

I absolutely love writing with the pen, but I thought that for a £60 pen, it should be more consistant.. Is this normal???

In addition, the little (silver on my pen) ring just above the nib to which the cap attaches gets loose, causing the cap to spin around. If I rotate the black plastic grip on the section about, I can get it to hold the little ring in place, but as you may know that grip often moves when you screw/unscrew the barrel, thus letting the ring loose again. Is this normal???

I spoke to the lady in the store today on the phone and she insisted on ordering me a whole new pen on monday from Cross, but I feel like maybe I'm being too pedantic. I also have an ATX, which although might not be as comfortable or as smooth as the Century II, it writes more consistantly- 100% consistantly in fact.


I appreciate any advice or experience on this from anyone. Thanks!

The usual first response to this type of problem (ink flow) is to flush the pen with a weak solution of detergent and water. There may be some residual oils in the nib and feed that prevents the consistent flow of ink.

As for the ring, mine doesn't budge, but I've often read about the grip being loose. Mine is somewhat loose and I use the ring to grip the section when unscrewing the barrel.

60 pounds for a Cross Century II???!!! That's over $120 American. Take it back, not because of the inconsistancy but because you have been vastly overcharged!

check this link: http://store.nexternal.com/shared/StoreFro...ount2=797095894

Good luck.

p.s. No, I am in no way affiliated with this store other than being an occasional satisfied customer.

Don't forget the fellow has to pay V.A.T.

List in Northern California would be about $92, more in L.A.

Hey thanks for the advice guys! I soaked the nib overnight and that fixed the ink flow problem, but I had it replaced a few days ago because the cap was still spinning. The new pen doesn't (so far) have the cap problem, but the ink flow feels ever so slightly skippy. Sometimes it will skip, so I soaked this nib overnight in detergent solution, but that made no difference. The feed seems to be tight against the nib.
Any idea what it could be, and how to loosen the flow?