Help Me Identify My Waterman Carene Nib Problem

[lavulin98]

Hello. I've had my waterman carene pen for a few months now and I am deeply dissapointed by the way it wites. And I am sad because it is the most expensive purchase in my fb journey I have made. It has problems starting and it skips. It is a M size and while writing I feel it is saturated enough and wet, but still skips. When it starts wrtiting, it writes, but as soon as I lift it from the paper for some time, it doesn't start again. I've read online about a test where you let the pen write by its own weight and when I did the test with carene, it didn't make a line on the paper 40% of the times .

 

I've searched online and it seems as if it is a baby bottom problem, but I am not so sure and I still pray it is something easier to fix, since I am afraid of screwing the gold nib.

 

I've attached some pictures so you can see. Maybe it is another issue, please let me know what do you think.

[jekostas]

It certainly sounds like an issue of overpolishing/baby's bottoms but it's difficult to tell much from your photos. Could you perhaps try posting a photo with the pen cleaned out?

[Chrissy]

I don't know if it's me, but in picture 6 it looks like the nib has quite a gap between itself and the feed. I don't think there should be so much of a gap.

 

Is it possible that you might have been pressing quite hard to write? If so that gap might have widened and could be preventing a constant flow of ink down the feed to the nib.

 

I would start by cleaning the nib section out thoroughly. Then I would dip the end of the nib unit into quite hot water and press the nib against the feed, holding them between my forefinger and thumb until they cool. I don't know if it will work at all with plastic, but maybe the feed and nib will stay in closer contact.

[Feanaaro]

It would seem likely that if the nib and feed do not make contact it is the nib that has been bent up, rather than the feed having been bent down.

The gap could certainly explain why the pen does not write well. If you feel confident enough you could try carefully re-bending the nib down to be in contact with the feed; though being a relatively expensive pen you may prefer to send it back to the manufacturer or to a nib-meister.

[Chrissy]

Whatever you do, don't try removing the nib from the section. Assume it can't be done. (Yes I know Force on here can do it, but he's probably the only person I know of who can)

[Bo Bo Olson]

Turn the nib upside down and press down on a pad of paper.....

??could mix that with the hot water treatment but you need to be fast.??

 

Could well have been pressing too hard.

[LanceSaintPaul]

I don't know if it's me, but in picture 6 it looks like the nib has quite a gap between itself and the feed. I don't think there should be so much of a gap.

 

I thought so too, then got out mine which is nice wet writer & it looks much the same. Perhaps there is a subtle difference between mine and the problem pen shown. But if it is indeed correct, the something else is preventing proper capillary flow - the space between the tines?

 

I've only used mine with Waterman inks to date. Ink used?

 

Bo Bo has something to try, above, that could yield results.

 

Good luck with this.

[Tweel]

In the last photo especially, it does look like it might have a case of baby's bottom.

 

I don't know if it's me, but in picture 6 it looks like the nib has quite a gap between itself and the feed. I don't think there should be so much of a gap.

 

Keep in mind, though, that's not the feed, it's the section's shell. The feed might be in contact with the nib inside of that housing (where the gap ends is the tip of the actual feed, and no light is showing there).

Edited November 15, 2017 by Tweel

[lavulin98]

Hello! Thank you for your inputs. It is very valuable. I wouldn't have thought of the feed problems without your eyes.

 

Could someone elaborate step by step （as for a 5 year old) the hot water method? If I screw up could it damage the pen? If not, I have nothing to lose.

[Tweel]

I think you could damage the pen if you tried it. It doesn't really pertain to the Carène and the way it's built.

[Chrissy]

I'm not talking about boiling water or anything bad. Just dipping the pen in some tap water from the hot tap that is at a temperature between warm and hot, that you can put your fingers in. So that the nib and feed warm up a little. Then removing it from the water and holding together the nib and feed section between your thumb and forefinger until it cools down again. Just in case that makes the two stay together in closer contact.

 

It might not work, but it won't melt the section. If you've been pressing too hard while you've been writing, then you might have caused movement of the nib away from proper contact with the feed.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Most 'noobies' coming from ball points do press way too hard, with out knowing it.

Hold the pen like a baby featherless bird.

Don't make baby bird paste!

[lavulin98]

I'm no newbie with fountain pens so pressing too hard is never the issue. But since I never actually looked with a magnifying glass at the nib when I first purchased the fountain pen,I can't tell if the nib had little space from feed since the begining. With naked eye you can't see the space anyway. In the beginning it skipped like crazy so I cleaned it good and it really improved the flow and skipping.

 

It still skips , not like crazy but still for the price it shouldn't skip at all.

 

I am still cross about what to do. I live in China right now and today I was thinking if I should send my pen at waterman to replace the nib. But since I left the purchase recipe back home, I don't have proof for the 3 year warranty I guess. So I am left with only the options to tinker with it myself or to just let it be and write only on the paper the pen likes where it doesn't skip.

[Ghost Plane]

Be aware that the horns of the nib can pop off if overheated or oversoaked. Force often uses shellac to reglue them when they come off. So be gentle.

 

Most of what people on this board call baby bottom and start grinding away at often proves to be feed issues. Since you describe skipping and that huge, wet feed would normally keep the nib firehose wet, I’m inclined to think the capillary action is being interrupted.

 

Try warm, not hot, and GENTLE bouts of pressure. Worst case, you’ll end up buying another nib section. Try to keep the downward pressure uniform, not just at the tip, which would tend to pop the horns or bend only the tip, ruining the nib. If you’re not comfortable, throw yourself on the warranty department’s mercy.

 

When they’re set up properly, those are awesomely wet writers and nearly indestructible.

[Bo Bo Olson]

So use to buying old used pens...I didn't even think of the warranty....

Use it and you have no need to screw around.