New Conklin Ohio hesitating badly

[Rwood9]

I just received one of the $29 Conklin Ohios from Fountain Pen Hospital. Right out of the box, things seemed a little weird because the pen felt slick, as if it had been oiled down. I rinsed the pen off with soapy water and then flushed the nib unit as well. After setting aside the notorious converter and installing a Waterman cartridge, I tried to write a few lines.

 

Unfortunately, the pen hesitates badly. Usually requires a bit of scribbling to get it going. Once it starts, it writes very well. However, if it sits dormant for only a short time (5-10 minutes) the nib and feed are once again starved.

 

Has anyone run into this problem, and more importantly, does anyone know how to fix it?

[Apollo]

I'm not surprised in the least. Unfortunately, what you're experiencing with your Ohio seems to be a hallmark of a modern Conklin pen. A few others here on FPN have described similar issues.

 

My Mark Twain Signature Pen and Duragraph had the same symptoms. After writing with them a while, I discovered that they were slow starters, but once you got them going they wrote nicely only to hesitate again. It became annoying so I traded off the Mark Twain and sold the Duragraph.

 

I even bought another Duragraph thinking it would be better than the first, but as it turns out it was worse than the one I sold. For starters, the tip of the nib was defective and the pen would dry out on me while writing. I literally had to shake the thing to get ink onto the feed. Switching from converter or cartridge, changing from one brand of ink to another, and repeated flushing didn't help at all. The issue is with the poorly manufactured feed. I had to take mine apart and tinker with it (thereby voiding the warranty), then swap nibs with another pen so it could write decently.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...?showtopic=7496

 

Emailing Conklin won't help because they never respond, so you'll have to make a toll call to them and deal with mailing the penback to them and waiting for a replacement. Personally, their poor QC and apparent lack of concern for their customer's email inquiries have made me hesitant to by another Conklin again. It's too bad, since they do have some nice looking pens, but what good are they if they don't write properly?

[Rwood9]

Thanks for the information. I've heard complaints regarding Conklin converters for some time, but didn't know that the problems extended to the feeds as well. I'm surprised that a company that has made such high quality pens for such a long time has let their QC slip.

 

I'm willing to take on the Ohio's feed, but have no idea how to remove it. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Apollo]

You can pull the nib/feed unit from the section by holding it firmly, giving it a slight twist and tug. The nib and feed will slide out, but be careful not to overdo it. You don't want force it too hard. To replace, just align the nib with the feed and press fit it back into the section.

[tryphon]

I'm surprised that a company that has made such high quality pens for such a long time has let their QC slip.

I don't think today's Conklin company is in any way related to the old, glorious penmaker by the same name. No relationship.

[Apollo]

Tryphon is right. Today's Conklin is definitely not the same as the old. Only the name was revived.