Pelikan 805. I'm Not In Love. Yet?

[Rancho Gordo]

I treated myself to this beautiful pen. I have a Souveran 400 that I love. It's super wet and starts writing before I can even say go, it seems. This pen is much bigger but also much drier. The 400 is a broad nib and this is a medium. I prefer broad but I wanted to have a medium nib on hand as well.

I've only had a for a few days and I'm thinking maybe I'll get used to. Or maybe I really prefer a smaller pen. Or maybe there's a breaking in period. (There wasn't with the 400. It was glorious right out of the gate.) Is it possible I need the nib adjusted? I've never that even though I've used fountain pens for 30+ years.

[Rancho Gordo]

Update: I've been reading through old posts.

I flushed the pen with warm water. Wow. It's amazing the difference.
Still not quite as wet as I'd like but darn close and the scratching is virtually gone.
I suspect the 800 is still to big for me but now I'm inspired to carry on.

I love this forum.

[Gobblecup]

Well I would say if you come upon any more problems try getting the nib adjusted. You can usually make a nib wetter, smoother, etc. It might be an expense but Id say worth it for the overall journey. Also, consider that the M600 could be the sweet spot for you!

[macaddicted]

I’ll ask the regular question first:

 

Did you flush the pen? I have the habit of flushing new pens with water about ten times before inking.

 

Are the tines aligned? Sometimes the tines are a bit out of alignment which can affect flow. GENTLY moving the tine that is out of alignment with a fingernail can fix that.

 

Another quick fix is to “floss” the tines. I use a thin index (3x5) card since it’s thin, doesn’t fall apart, and is disposable/re-usable. Again GENTLY slide it in (do not force it) and slide the card a short distance. As with a tine alignment you’re trying to move the tines a bit farther apart.

 

Of all these flushing has always worked best for me. I rarely encounter mis-aligned tines. Flossing works sometimes, but usually my last effort to improve the nib on my own.

[LyaT]

I bought about 10 pelikan nibs (some with the full pen) in the past half year, only one wrote dry. It was an 18k OB nib in NOS. I fixed it by flossing the tines. It still writes dryer than my modern F and M nibs, but nice enough.

 

The out of box 90% hassle-free smooth and wet rate is really high!

[DrCodfish]

If you chose to floss I recommend NOT using paper products as there is a good to better chance that you will end up leaving fibers behind, especially between the feed and the nib. Better to use fine brass sheeting, can be had for cheap from Goulet Pens [and good to have this on hand for 'next time'] No affiliation,just a satisfied customer. While your there, get a bottle of pen flush too, better than water and again, nice to have on hand, after all, ... you're a pen person now..

[Bo Bo Olson]

I think I've flossed twice in the last decade, even if by chance I use some common 80g copy paper.

 

 

I like the well balanced when posted 400/600 pens.................I find the 800 ill balanced...But I grew up in the era of good to great balanced because they were posted Standard or Medium Large pens.

If the flagship pen didn't have Great Balance, it wasn't bought, so it had that.

The Snorkel is one of the few great balanced posted Large pens, but it is skinny.

 

I had found the 1000 to be too big for me when I tried it a decade ago. But I got a deal with a 1005, and found I could get use to it. Use will get you use to the 800......Actaually I find the 1000 to be 'more balanced than a short 800.

That don't mean it will ever balance well...................but those who grew up with Large pens, now consider Large Pens normal and un-posted medium-large and Standard sized pens too small.

 

There are regular flex '88-97 800 nibs that should be a noticeable width narrower than the 400 of that era, which is 1/2 a width narrower than modern. The semi-vintage 800 had it's very own width standard, between normal Pelikan 400 and the Waterman nibs.....back in the day before Japanese became mainstream.

[Rancho Gordo]

Thank you all.
The flush was a huge difference.

It flows well now and I like it. It's not love, as with my 400, but it's a great pen and I'm glad I have it.

And a brass sheeting with be on my next pen order.

Edited July 15, 2019 by Rancho Gordo

[DrCodfish]

I have a couple M800's they are nice pens but the sweet spot for me is the M600. I'm not saying this would be true for you, but you will never know until you put one to paper, and after all, who doesn't need an excuse to buy another pen? All this aside I have more 400's and variants, and 100's, 100ns and M101ns than any other form, so the 400 may be your Goldilocks pen.

[Rancho Gordo]

And now it's love.
I guess I'm fickle or time changes everything, as Bob Wills said.

[sargetalon]

Funny how these birds can grow on you. Glad to hear of the positive end result.

[carlos.q]

We all love happy endings!

[PAKMAN]

It took a while for me but I finally came to the point that the M800 size is the perfect pen for me! Glad you're loving yours. Watch out because these tend to multiply, soon you'll have 8 800's! (at least that's what happened to me...)