I own a Padrino Breve, and it's a great pen with a smooth nib. HOWEVER, it has an annoying habit of taking forever to start up when left (capped, no less) alone for more than 10 minutes. On top of that, the ink flow is inconsistant I've tried flushing it multiple times. I really think that the issue lies in the nib. Can anyone help me? It's a steel nib. Thanks!

Hello there,

I think that you should post your question in the Repair Q&A thread where you may get more responses.

In my experience, nibs that do not want to start - even after they were properly cleaned - have either clogged slit or/and the iridium around the slit where the ink should touch the paper is concave and thus does not allow for a contact between the ink and paper. "Flossing" the nib with a razor thin metal sheet might help to unclog the slit and solve the problem. If it does not help and your nib has the latter problem, then you have to take the plunge and flatten the place on the nib and then smoothen the nib overall with a suitable micromesh.

Here are good guides and tools as well as experts to do the job for you if you do not feel up to it:
on www.nibs.com got to information and then nib articles;
on www.richardspens.com go to accessories and tools and find smoothing kit;
last but not least you can also try to send this question to the member of FPN called Dillo who also smoothes nibs.

Hope this helps,
Zed