Reducing Ink Flow On Pelikan M800

[viju]

Hello to all Pelikan lovers,

I have a couple of Pelikan M800. One with fine nib and another medium. The ink flow on both of them are more than to my liking especially on the medium nib. Its not flooding but i would say its 7 out of 10. I use Waterman, sheaffer and parker inks (black and blue mostly and waterman brown occassionaly) which is the only inks available at stores in my town apart from some indian brands.

 

I have heard that Pelikan inks are drier than these inks . Are pelikan inks best suited for Pelikan pens and can i reduce the inkflow by using pelikan inks? Is there any other dry inks best for pelikans in your experiance? My pens write beautifully without any issues on all the inks i tried but its a bit too wet for me and i just want to tame the flow if i can, using another ink. Suggestions are welcome and thanks in advance for your help.

[sargetalon]

Pelikan inks are indeed drier than some of the brands that you mention. They can help to tame the generous flow of the Pelikan feeds and are well paired with the pens. It's the first thing that I would encourage you to try.

[viju]

Thank you for your reply. I will order Pelikan inks from Amazon India. If anyone have suggestions for any dry ink that works well well with pelikan pens, please suggest.

[fplover01]

I generally like my pens to write wet so I may not be the best advisor here. Pelikan inks are dry and esp. the Blue Black can tame most pens. I have been using inks from Rohrer und Klingner since some time and I have had very good experience with them in all my Pelikans. In fact my ink o choice is R&K Salix. It is wet enough to be pleasant, dry enough not to be troublesome, has some iron gall for permanence and it works in all my Pelikans. Plus a nice colour.

[virgilio]

Pelikan is indeed a very dry ink. You can also add a little distilled water to each bottle, up to about 10 ml for a 60 ml bottle. Try 5 ml first.

 

You can also turn the pen over and GENTLY press down very slightly on the tines. This will bring them closer together and tend to reduce the ink flow.

[MsRedpen]

Pelikan inks are indeed drier than some of the brands that you mention. They can help to tame the generous flow of the Pelikan feeds and are well paired with the pens. It's the first thing that I would encourage you to try.

+1

Both 4001 and Edelstain lines of Pelikan inks will help.

Let us know how it worked once you test it.

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

Kindly consider diluting the chosen ink with a whisper of distilled water.

 

The addition of water will reduce the % of surfactant in an ink, hence reduce the flow and % of dye per unit volume.

 

From my experience most inks can be diluted up to 80% concentration (4 parts ink blended with 1 part water) without problems.

 

Bye,

S1

[Fof 3]

Lamy ink is good too. Try them neat but if you want to dilute what I do is to use a small syringe and draw up exactly the mix you want. say 1.6 ml ink and 0.4 ml water for 20% dilution.

And the great thing about the Pelicans is that you can unscrew the nib and fill up the chamber and you can add more water if you want but you have to be good with your maths to work out what dilution you made so you can repeat it.

I think the M800 takes about 2 mls so start with 1 ml until you find the dilution that works. If that fails watch the videos online about adjusting ink flows and try it on a cheap pen before trying it on the M800.

 

Good Luck!

[viju]

Pelikan is indeed a very dry ink. You can also add a little distilled water to each bottle, up to about 10 ml for a 60 ml bottle. Try 5 ml first.

I did try that but without any success . These nibs are the early models with 2 chicks and a bit of springness to it. The tines tend to retain the original position even after some gentle squeezes . I am a little hesitant to use excess force because the nibs are well aligned and writes beautifully .

 

You can also turn the pen over and GENTLY press down very slightly on the tines. This will bring them closer together and tend to reduce the ink flow.

[viju]

Sorry ..my reply some how ended up between the quoted text.

[viju]

Thank you all for your comments. In fact I did not know that I can add some distilled water to ink for some flow adjustment. It's time to read something about ink also.

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

As I am but a mere tine teaser, I avoid adjusting the nib+feed on most pens. Rather that I tune the ink to the pen+paper combo.

 

Shedding more light : https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/218161-need-help-selecting-my-first-japanese-pens/?p=2315439

 

I'vee posted a fair few examples of diluted inks, so if you're interested they can be found by trolling my content using the searchword 'dilution'.

 

Bye,

S1

Edited November 25, 2016 by Sandy1

[viju]

Thank you Sandy..I thought it was easy. Now I understand there is some hard work to find the right dilution suitable for me.

I received my Pelikan 40001 blue today. Filled my Pelikan with it immediately. The ink flow is definitely reduced reasonably. Not up to an extent I would have liked, but far better now. I will be looking for some other dry inks.

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

You're welcome.

 

I reckon that if you start with my [Ms Fussy] technique, you will find your own less fussy technique that yields wonderful results.

 

As these things go, after running a few inks through the dilution process, you might be able to predict/envision the extent of dilution required to get the best out of a given ink+paper combo.

 

There is also the option of going to a less absorbent paper - definitely avoid inkjet papers - and for utility papers a laser copy/print paper such as Hewlett-Packard 24 - 28gsm does very nicely indeed.

 

Choosing a higher-end paper, the slightly textured 'wove' papers, which are more highly calendered than c/p papers, are yet another option...

 

Please let us know of your adventure. I am holding my breath.

 

Bye,

S1

[Calabria]

Viju - I've had the same problem with my new EF M800. I started using 4001 blue-black which is a lighter and somewhat drier ink - that helped both visually and by reducing the ink flow a little.

 

My experience with Pelikans, though, is that the nib/feed also somehow adjust a bit over time (say, 4 months). Maybe with use, the feed becomes less slippery? I don't know, but after writing for a while the problem disappeared.

 

Good luck! - Derek

[viju]

Derek, I have this pen for some time but not a regular user for me because of its wetness and broader width for its size. I like fine nibs with medium flow because I write more on lesser quality papers. I will be using this daily with dry inks and let me see what happens. And thanks for sharing your experience.

[Calabria]

Derek, I have this pen for some time but not a regular user for me because of its wetness and broader width for its size. I like fine nibs with medium flow because I write more on lesser quality papers. I will be using this daily with dry inks and let me see what happens. And thanks for sharing your experience.

Viju - I hear you. I sent in my Stresemann for nibwork to Mike Masuyama - and now it does in fact write EF with medium ink flow. It's a good investment in my opinion, but will take a bit of time.

[Sasha Royale]

With respect, I offer that you try the simplest remedy first. Reducing writing pressure will reduce ink flow. If this is not to your liking, you can try different inks.

[viju]

With respect, I offer that you try the simplest remedy first. Reducing writing pressure will reduce ink flow. If this is not to your liking, you can try different inks.

Your observation is right on the money. I use light pressure for writing but if I reduce the pressure like caressing the paper it works fine. But then the writing becomes a tedious job for me. It's a springy nib and it respond to small writing pressure also. Nice nib to have but for a person who like medium flow and finer lines ...a bit too wet.