Sailor 1911 Nib Issue: Advice Needed

[TheDutchGuy]

My 1911 Standard 14k H-M suddenly became extremely sensitive to rotation. The pen only writes well if both tines are touchin the paper with roughly equal force and equal surface area, i.e. zero rotation. With even a slight rotation, the pen digs into the paper and ink flow stagnates. Looking under a lens, I did not see anything amiss:

 

 

Looks fine, right? So from where comes this scratchiness? I put up my stereo microscope and wrote with the pen while watching. Here's what happens. When the pen is rotated slightly, favouring one tine over the other, this tine is lifted up and does not return to its former position. This exposes the other inner tine and this causes the scratchiness. Here is a photo of one of the tines "lifted up":

 

 

To avoid misconceptions: the tines are not misaligned. The tines seem to lack enough springy-ness to move back into their old position. The tiniest of tiny nudges will move them back; very, very little force is needed to go back to the first photo. That's why I couldn't figure it out - if put the pen aside, the tines will jump back to their correct position.

 

What to do...?

[NinthSphere]

Nothing between the tines that could make them stick? Do you write on the top side such that you could have pushed the tines close enough to catch on one another?

[TheDutchGuy]

Not that I'm aware of. It appears to be some kind of metal fatigue.

[TheDutchGuy]

Another valuable lesson learned... I disassembled the pen and took out the nib and feed because I wanted to check the slit for any burrs or other nastiness. No burrs, but nastiness aplenty. The ink had gone bad. Slimey goo everywhere. Flushed and re-assembled the pen and inked it up with Sailor Shikiori Yonaga and off we went.

[Olya]

Another valuable lesson learned... I disassembled the pen and took out the nib and feed because I wanted to check the slit for any burrs or other nastiness. No burrs, but nastiness aplenty. The ink had gone bad. Slimey goo everywhere. Flushed and re-assembled the pen and inked it up with Sailor Shikiori Yonaga and off we went.

Which ink was it that had gone bad?

[TheDutchGuy]

Sailor Jentle Souten. Really strange, because the ink came out of a bottle and the bottle is fine (I checked it, and I also use it in other pens, and everything is fine). When I last filled the 1911, which is quite some time ago, I used an ink syringe to fill up a Sailor cartridge (large capacity, prefer that over the converter). So pen, ink and cartridge from same brand. Nevertheless, for whatever reason, it became a mess.

[Olya]

Sailor Jentle Souten. Really strange, because the ink came out of a bottle and the bottle is fine (I checked it, and I also use it in other pens, and everything is fine). When I last filled the 1911, which is quite some time ago, I used an ink syringe to fill up a Sailor cartridge (large capacity, prefer that over the converter). So pen, ink and cartridge from same brand. Nevertheless, for whatever reason, it became a mess.

That is really strange, I was not expecting it to be a Japanese ink! Good that the bottle is fine, but makes it even more baffling why the ink turnt bad in the pen... Maybe a reaction with the previous ink?

Is the nib now behaving?

[TheDutchGuy]

The pen is OK, the problem mostly disappeared. However I do fear (as in: suspect, conjecture, speculation) that some component of this goo somehow reacted with the tines. It's not 100% how it was before, I need to take care not to rotate the nib too much. But with just a little bit of care, the pen is again the magical Sailor that it was before.

[mge01park]

Is it difficult to take the nib and feed out and clean it.

 

Another valuable lesson learned... I disassembled the pen and took out the nib and feed because I wanted to check the slit for any burrs or other nastiness. No burrs, but nastiness aplenty. The ink had gone bad. Slimey goo everywhere. Flushed and re-assembled the pen and inked it up with Sailor Shikiori Yonaga and off we went.

[TheDutchGuy]

Not at all. It's a friction fit. However, as always, you have to know how to grip it, otherwise you might shear the fins off the feed.

[Erik Dalton]

The pen is OK, the problem mostly disappeared. However I do fear (as in: suspect, conjecture, speculation) that some component of this goo somehow reacted with the tines. It's not 100% how it was before, I need to take care not to rotate the nib too much. But with just a little bit of care, the pen is again the magical Sailor that it was before.

Thank you for your post. I use sailor jentle blue, Yama-dori, and shigure regularly. Really like them. The only sailor ink that I’ve ever had problems with was Souten. Hard starts, mucking up nibs with gunk.

Glad to hear someone else has experienced this sort of thing. Thought it was just me.

Sounds like you’ve done everything you can. Sorry to hear it’s not back to normal. Have you flossed the tines with a brass shim?

[siamackz]

How tight are the tines? I find that when the tines are pressed too tightly against each other then this problem can happen where on tine moves up over the other. Is it a wet writer at present?

[TheDutchGuy]

 

 

Have you flossed the tines with a brass shim?

 

Yes, I have. The pen is much better now but those last few percentage points aren't there yet.

 

 

 

How tight are the tines? I find that when the tines are pressed too tightly against each other then this problem can happen where on tine moves up over the other. Is it a wet writer at present?

Nothing unusual there. There's no friction between te tines. The pen is sufficiently wet.

[galeos]

Have you tried "flossing" the tines?

 

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