Hello,

It has been a loooooong time since I have used a fountain pen...
I just recently have been becoming reacquainted with this instrument.

My question is:
I just recently purchased a Waterman Philéas and fine nib and while it writes well there is some shall we say drag/not really scratchy issues.
It is not objectionable but it is not as smooth as I thought it would be. Maybe there has to be at least some drag issues, it does not catch at all if that helps with this description.

What is to be expected of a FP? I guess being so new again to this type of instrument I am unsure as how to gage the smoothness of the nib

I would appreciate any advice, maybe since being so new to this the pen is doing ok, I just don't know.

Thank you,

Jacq..

I understand exactly what you are going through...I have a med pt Phileas... smooth as silk....and a fine pt Phileas... and from the first I have been wondering if just the fact that the nib has a smaller footprint on the paper causes it to be that much scratchier.... or if mine needed a little smoothing... So, thanks for asking the question. I am sure there will be some great answers... Greg

Hello Jacq,

I have two Phileas pens with fine nibs and both write smoothly. I also have about 20 Kulturs (European version of Phileas) with fine nibs and they all write smoothly as well.

Not all nibs writely smoothly on all papers, so it might not be the nib. If I use my Phileas or Kultur on a Post-It for example, it will be scratchy. On my other papers, office copier paper, Clairefontaine, Ampad, OCM, it is smooth.

So if you are sure it is not the paper, then I would gently smooth the nib on some very fine grit paper. Please refer to the repair forum to get the details.

Hope this helps.

Richard in Texas

That helps me... I have tried both mine on the same papers...and both have the same Xfeather in them... and had Watermans black before that.... consistantly the same relative feel to them across the different parameters..
12,000 grit here I come !
Greg

My fine Phileas had a little feedback too. The tines were ever so slightly misaligned.The ink flow was on the stingy side but I adjusted it.

Sorry about your displeasure. My medium nibbed Phileas is the smoothest pen I own, and is extremely reliable. I would recommend it to anyone. Try looking at the nib under a magnifying glass or loupe and check to see that the tines are aligned. This can cause drag/scratchiness. If the ink flow is inconsistent or the pen writes dry, this can make it scratchy as well. If these two are not the culprits, then smoothing is your next option. Generally, fountain pens should "glide" across the paper because the ink acts as a lubricant between the nib and paper. Good Luck!

Welcome to FPN, by the way, and to the wonderful obsession of fountain pen collecting! May I ask what caused you to reacquaint yourself with fountain pens?

I totally agree.

I currently have 2 Kulturs in fine that work well after a bit of a breaking in period involving putting a little ink through them and (in one case) a soak in a weak ammonia solution. I have one Phileas in medium that works like a dream and a second in medium that is terrible. I gave it a soak in weak ammonia last night and reloaded it with ink. It still doesn't work right. The ink just isn't flowing well. To complicate things, I pushed with what I'd call medium force on the tines yesterday and now have a bit of scratch in addition to lean ink flow (so lean the pen runs out of ink unless I write very slowly). I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do. I'll probably try brown paper bag and hope that does it. If not, I'll change the ink type. If that doesn't work, it's probably going in a drawer for a while.

I also have all 3 versions of the Waterman Phileas-like Harley Davidson fountain pens coming to me. With any luck, they'll be okay. Anybody have an idea as to whether those pens came in fine or medium?

My Phileas came with fine and medium nibs: I love using the fine in diary entries and fine lined notebooks. With enough writing the fine nib has become very nice to use, considering I usually prefer medium or broad. The medium is great for long letter writing or plain journal and scrapbook noodling. A fabulous pen that makes my Townsend have to work for its place in my bureau!

My Phileas M is super smooth but it was tweaked for my by the nibmeister at FPH. I'm sure that either a slight adjustment or polishing will get it working great. (This is perfectly normal for an FP, no matter how expensive or cheap it is).