Other than pushing the tines closer together, is there anything I can do? Writing at a high angle (around 65-70 degrees) the ink flows fine. But at 45 degrees, the nib gets starved of ink when the tines separate too much.

Hey Pep,

Sounds like the feed is starving. Not all pens with highly flexible nibs have feeds that can keep up with them. Here are some things you might try:

Make sure everything is really clean. If there's old ink partially clogging the feed channels, ink flow will be reduced (flow through a capillary is directly proportional to capillary diameter).

Write more slowly when flexing. It's possible to outright many flex nibs if the pen is moving quickly enough across the paper.

Setting the feed farther up on the nib can increase flow sometimes.

If all else fails, you can deepen the ink channels, but this may make things much more wet all of the time (flow through a capillary is directly proportional to capillary diameter).

Hope this helps!


Cheers,
Tom

Ciao Pep,
I've noticed that problem when the nib is not firmly positioned between feed and section; so when you flex, it moves up from the feed surface (in the hole position) stopping the ink flow.

First I would clean it out really well (including possibly removing nib and feed to scrub out the feed channels.

I would also try heat-setting the feed onece you put it back in the pen.

John

Thanks for the replies, Tom, Giampaolo, and John.
I did clean the feed and heat set it. It was in a lever filler but I installed it in an eyedropper.
It looks like a cursive italic with a tendency to have a gap between the tine tips... I tried the paper test - it doesn't easily slip between the nib and feed, but it does slip in.
It helps when I cross the tines to make them closer, but after a while it goes back.
I'm wondering if this nib is just too worn out or sprung in some way...

But I don't have a heat gun. I used water just off the boil to heat set the nib & feed.
And I think I did notice them separating a bit under pressure.

It's possible to go to far when heat setting a feed closer to a nib. If the feed curves up, it will tend to separate the tines.

Or, it could be metal fatigue setting in. Sometimes when a nib has been adjusted too many times, metal fatigue can cause the tines to move too easily. I'd try loosening the feed just a bit though. In this case, just dip in hot water and don't apply any pressure up or down. The feed should come back down a bit just from the pressure exerted by the nib. Kind of, sort of, in general (within certain tolerances ), the tighter a feed is to a nib, the less flow you'll have.

Hope this helps!


Cheers,
Tom

Tom,
I think that might have done the trick - I did apply just a teeny bit of pressure on the nib side. As long as I don't write too fast, I can write at 45 degrees now.
Time will tell. I'm cautiously optimistic.

If the tips won't stay tight, either it's not really a flex nib or it's been sprung or you are in the process of springing it. If it does not always return to where you set it, it may in fact just be a soft nib, not really intended to flex, or is shot and shouldn't be flexed any more -- you are bending it, not flexing it.

You need more space between nib and feed if you have inadequate flow when flexed (although as noted, it may in fact NOT be a flexible nib). The flow is reduced to produce a fine line by setting the tips to actually touch when the nib is not flexed.

Peter

Couldn't it also be the ink? Some inks are better in flexies than others. The ink has to have enough surface tension that it will not break when the tines move apart. Once the ink breaks, the flow stops.

I tried different inks, including Poussiere de Lune, and Polar Black.



I'm not trying to apply pressure, it just separates - so perhaps it is sprung. Since I am using it as an italic nib, I keep the thin edge at 45 degrees to the base line, and am not really looking to flex the nib.