Bought a new Sailor Professional Gear with Fine nib from Swisher Pens at the DC pen show.
I first tried all the nib widths at the Sailor booth, and settled on the Fine - they were all very smooth.

The pen I bought is not as smooth as the ones on the Sailor booth, and the Fine nib runs a little dryer too.

Is this expected?

What do I need to do to get it to the smoothness I was dreaming of?
Someone suggested using a very fine emery board in another post, but I'm a little scared of ruining the nib.

Should I try another ink? Using Omas Blue right now.

It's an expensive buy for me, and I want to get it exchanged from the store if I need to.

Advice appreciated.

Thanks

Before you do anything to the nib, make sure the nib unit is well cleaned out (sorry if you already know this and did it already). It sounds like you may not be getting enough ink through the nib. Do you have access to a sonicator?

Where in Virginia do you live? I recommend strongly that you have a nibmeister look at it. Depending on where you are in VA, there are places you can go and have it fixed for free (other than your time and gasoline).

Be happy to help you find the appropriate place.

Erick

Why don't you contact Swisher? These nibs should be great out of the box.

I just flushed the pen out with water. Did not do any other cleaning. What should I do? No access to a sonicator.

Thanks!

I live in Herndon, a bit north and west of Alexandria. I wouldn't mind driving and getting it fixed, (not to mention the chance of talking FP with someone - my co-workers think I'm crazy )

Thanks for the help!

You bought a pen from Swisher, the pen is not right. Swisher will replace it for you.

Do not take the pen elsewhere unless you have exhausted your options. Why not give the business you bought the pen from a chance to fix the problem for you?

One other option is to flush with lukewarm water with a drop or two of dishsoap in it. Sometimes those feeds get a little gummed up with oils and other nonsense that'll make 'em a little dry. Mine was like that, and a couple of flushes cured it straightway.

I agree. Try this before you bother sending it/taking it somewhere. Use the converter to pull and push the solution through the nib.

If that doesn't work, contact the people you bought it from and let them advise you on what to do next. You don't want to do anything that will void your right to bring it back to them.

Sonicators are often found in jewerly stores. The use them to clean rings etc. You might be able to convince someone to let you throw the nib assembly (not the rest of the pen) into the sonicator. It should release caked up ink. I would provide a beaker/glass for them to place in the sonicator so that it doesn't get ink in it. Just a thought in case you need one in the future...

I had a similar problem with a new Fine, PG.

In my case, I just flushed it well and now use PR Tanzanite (DC Blue is good too, or any other free-flowing ink). There's plenty of ink coming out and no skips.

BUT, I also appreciate all the other recommendations. I've got other pens they may work for!

Erick,

Will appreciate Northern Virginia nibmeister recommendations. I need to get this pen to work right.

I flushed it thoroughly with warm water with some soap, but it still is a little dry and toothy. Very reliable otherwise, and sets down a nice fine line.

I would send it to Swisher Pens - who I bought it from - as recommended by everyone, but they're in Virginia Beach, VA, and want to try local options before paying for shipping etc. (not to mention parting with the pen for a few days )

My guess is that the tines are too tightly spaced. Not only did I encounter this on a new Sailor, I experienced this on a pen that was sent to me directly from Houndstooth. I respaced and aligned the tines and it was "all better".

I agree wit Lloyd partially and partially with the rest (sending it back).

99% of the time, your symptoms are due to a misalignement of the tines (very tiny is enough for scratchiness). The naked eye can see some but you would need 20x magnification to see things clear. I would send it back for a replacement or if you have available a good nibmeister near you , let him have a look.

Let me show it to you in photographs.
They are actually from an EF nib. The photos are a partial frame of pictures taken with a 105 macro lens and 3 closeup rings fitted (getting close to a microscope... Now tou can see well what we are talking about.
Symptom was a scratchy nib; otherwise it was able to write quite well. Nib had to be realigned and adjusted. Now it is a dream. No grinding nor smoothing was needed at all; just realigning the tips! ... and this is what happens 99% when you receive a scratchy nib.
Living in the Canary Islands (a bit far away from everywhere) made me learn quite a lot of nib, feed and pen tricks, many of them from members of this forum, always kind and willing to share what they know.
Click to view attachment

Thanks Lloyd and Jopen!

I had no idea how small it could be. I suspect I am not going to be able to make out with the naked eye or anything I have on hand.

If I do make out (I'll use my camera), how do I realign them without ruining the pen?

I talked to Houndstooth and they will repair / replace it for me. Will ship it off to them unless it's a simple operation I can do myself.

Cheers

My experience has been that the Sailor pens get better with use. Mine seem best when they have had the ink in them several days. I'm using Sailor Blue-Black and Sailor Kiwagura nano-black.

It seems to be that you have not plenty of experience. It would need to see if it is properly aligned with the feed. If so, tines could be out of alignement and it would need to be disassembled to align and set the gap. You need strong magnification to see actually what you are doing and you must know beforehand what you want to do (diagnosis first). If you go trial and error, most probably you end with a sour disaster in your hands...
ADVICE: Send it back, you probably end with a perfect nib and no teras!!!This is a pen not meant to practice on it ... I suppopse you want to have a good and smooth writer.
If you have junk around, use it to practice and get slowly your small miracle box with what you need (a 20x magnifying glass is mandatory for that if you want to see just something)

Houndstooth found that the nib and feed were not aligned and will be sending me the repaired pen back soon. I hope it'll be the dreamlike smoothness I experienced at the Sailor booth in the DC pen show!

Thanks everyone for the timely advice. I'm sure glad I didn't take matters into my own hands!