Are The Very Tips Of The Tines Supposed To Touch?

July 2, 2015

Hello,

I have a Waterman CF non-flex pen with 14K nib. The problem is that sometimes, after being capped or left out for a while, the pen will not start unless I put a little pressure on the nib. Then it will write dry for a few words, and then write fine (neither dry nor wet). When I looked at the nib under the microscope, there doesn't seem to be any baby's bottom, but the very tips on the tines seem to be touching. This is as opposed to some of my other non-flex pens where there is a very very small gap even at the tip.

I could open up the tines a little bit, but I don't want it to write much wetter than it already is.

July 2, 2015

Depends on the pen. Some pens, the tines do touch. Some pens, there's a visible gap. I'm not pulling out a microscope, but that much is visible between the naked eye & a 12x loupe.

If you're leaving a pen uncapped, it will dry out if you're not using it.

July 2, 2015

I would expect it to have a small gap. A flex nib would touch, but not a firm nib. The gap is very small though. A piece of 0.001" shim stock would be a loose fit, piece of 0.002" shim stock should be a snug fit..

July 2, 2015

So when I looked carefully at the nib, it seemed that one tine slightly bends in at the last few mm and firmly touches against the other tine at the very tip. This lead to a somewhat larger slit width throughout, until the very end when it touches.

I was able to take a little bit of that "last few mm bend" out, but the tips are still touching, although a bit more lightly. However, now the overall slit width is a little bit narrower, and the pen seems too dry because of that.

I don't think I can make any more overall adjustments unless I take the nib off the feed, but I would rather avoid that if possible. Is there some way to do it with the nib still on the pen?