Here's an issue I've run into, and I'm not sure what to make of it:

I have a vintage pen with a lucky curve "christmas tree" feed that writes fairly smoothly- no scratching or the like. However the ink flow is a bit odd. At first the flow is great and is fine for about 2-3 lines of writing. However if I am writing fairly briskly of pace, the flow begins to dry after these first couple of lines, despite the pen's continuing to stay in the same position with nib down on the paper. If I stop and wait for a couple of moments the flow returns to what it was at the start, until the cycle begins over again. What is the cure for this (prefer the least intrusive since this thing isn't scratchy and does indeed write; it just exhibits this weird property).

Sounds to me like a feed problem. I would guess that one of the feed channels was partially blocked, so it results in a slow feed. Try flushing, and maybe guitar wire in the feed. The lucky curve feed is not one that you want to have to knock a feed out of very much.

As a general rule, I figure if the pen runs dry and pressing down harder increases the flow, then the problem is probably a nib-to-feed issue. If the pen runs dry and shaking or letting it sit helps, then it probably is a blocked feed channel.


John

I had a pen that did just what you describe. At the start of the problem, mine took several hours to recharge all the way and do three lines of writing again. It was a Sheaffer TipDip and I couldn't get at the feed channel with a wire. Nobody here could tell me where the feed channel branches off the fill channel. I filled the pen with blue black Quink and wrote the feed dry every day or two. When it opened up far enough to write a couple of pages, I just wrote enough with it to keep fresh ink in the channel. When I wasn't writing with it, I capped it and stored it nib down. After about six months, I could fill the pen and scribble the sac dry, nonstop. At that point, I considered it "fixed".

Paddler