Well, I've had a Waterman CF for a while now, but I haven't used it at all because it is a horrible writer. I thought that the nib was bent, but I just saw OldGriz's review and his nib looks just like mine. I have tried flushing the pen out with plain water, aligning the tines, and flossing the nib, but it is scratchy and has horrible flow. Any suggestions?

There is either a defect in the tipping or you don't have it aligned correctly (and unless you are using at least a 10x loupe you cannot see it well enough to tell). You can very gently "write" on some aluminum foil and look for two identical traces, one from each tip, but you still need some significant magnification for that, too.

There is also a chance that the nib is worn and you hold it in such a way that a sharp corner is dragging. Only way to tell is to get a gander at it under decent magnification.

Don't start using anything abrasive until you are absolutely positive that the tips are in correct alignment and you have a specific, visible goal for the abrasive to accomplish. Otherwise, you are very likely to remove the tipping without making it smooth.

Peter

I looked under the nib with a loupe again, and it seems like there is more iridium on one tine than on the other, I tried aligning the bottoms, and it may be slightly better, but still bad.

Try very lightly drawing the nib down a piece of aluminum foil , then looking at the trace. If you have an off-center slit, you will need to have the contact points even on the page, even though the upper part won't be level. I have several nibs with this issue, and all but one of them write very nicely right side up. No hope upside-down.

Also, take a look at the edges of the slit in the tipping, where it touches the page. There should be a slightly rounded edge there, not much, but visible. If there is a sharp corner instead, the nib will be horrible scratchy on any sideways motion as that edge digs into the paper. There was some discussion in another thread about how to ease
this edge with abrasive paper (and just the edge). Look for a sharp corner on the sides of the tipping too - if present, they can dig in at certain pen motions, again making the nib really scratchy.

Is the tipping still round, or has it been worn flat on the contact point?

Peter

Take a close look straight on at the tines. They need to be aligned vertically as well as horizontally. Some pens that are scratchy, have tines that look like this viewed head on:

/\

If this is the case, the inner edges of the tines will almost always catch and feel scratchy.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,
Tom