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Hi, I have just received a Lamy Lx Palladium (I got on sale). I have noticed a couple of mishaps. Firstly, I noticed that there is a loose bottom finial- creating a rattling sound. I was able to use my finger to tighten it (in comparison to another one, it is not fully tightened- as seen in the photo by referencing the ‘Germany’ imprinting). However, it came loose again. Since tightening it again, it hasn’t. Is there any way that I can fix this, to prevent it loosening long term? I believe there is a hex thread in the bottom finial? A question about the nib. I noticed a grey streak on the right tine. I originally thought that it must be some sort of factory residue. I cleaned it and inked it up, however, have realised that it is still there. Could this be a spot on the nib where PVD coating is missing? Input on this would be great. And finally, a question about the feed. When capped, the feed remains black, though when uncapped, it fades to a greyish white colour. Is this normal, as I haven’t been able to find any information on this? Not sure if any of these issues or questions have to do with a slight problem I ran into. When loading a cartridge into my pen, after cleaning with a bulb syringe (with basically distilled water), and drying off, the ink just would not flow to the nib properly, as only faint grey lines came out (even after writing for a while). I tried everything to promote the ink to saturate the feed, including putting the pen upside down, gently squeezing the cartridge and writing with it. When cleaning it out, a faint pink colour came out? Anyway, I have since combatted this by using bottled ink (Pilot Iroshizuku), so as to saturate the nib and feed initially, and since I haven’t had any flow issues. Thank you in advance!

I have a Pilot VP with a broad nib (18k). Great writer and I love it except for one thing: When the ink - whether in a Pilot Cartridge or the CON-40 - drops to about 1/2 full, there is no flow/hard starts (which do not resolve after a few strokes) if the pen has been stored nib up. If then placed nib slightly down for a few minutes, the flow is back to normal. By stored, I mean overnight in a pen cup or in my shirt pocket for an hour or so. FYI - the ink - whether in cartridges or via converter - is and has always been Kon Peki. Has anyone else run into this or have any ideas (other than not storing the pen nib up) ? TIA!

I have one of the new Leonardo Momento Magico, piston filling pens. It has a 14Kt stub nib and an ebonite feed that are friction fit to the section. I was having problems with ink flow. After completely filling the ink chamber, the nib wrote beautifully, until the ink stored in the feed while filling was exhausted. Then it stopped writing. It seemed the feed was not getting ink from the piston. After trying a few different inks, I filled the pen again, but left the chamber about 20% un-filled. The pen seems to be drawing ink normally now. I can rationalize this behavior, but I have never experienced it before with any of my other piston fillers (Stipula, Pelikan, Aurora, etc. Maybe the Leonardo is easier to fill completely. I dunno, so I'm looking for comments, experience, etc. David

I have some problems with the ink flow on 3 Scrikss fountain pens they write very very wet for about 3 pages and after that they stop writing and you have to prime the feed in order to write again with those pens . I was thinking that must be a problem with the feed so in order to check that i am trying to remove the nib and feed without any success ! I mention that the pens are new and they have this problem from the beginning ! Anyone has any idea how i can remove the nib and feed on Scrikss fountain pens ?

Today I happened to change the ink in a writer's edition Dostoevsky from Krishna Orchid to Waterman serenity blue. The Krishna ink bottle was practically over some time ago since the big-nibbed MB's piston could not get any significant amount in the ink chamber. After drying, I plunged the pen in a 4/5 full bottle of Waterman blue, my staple ink. The chamber took a hefty amount of dark liquid in. After wiping the nib (not the combed feeder underside) and writing a bit to get the excess ink to flow, the up-to-now offensively wet Dostoevsky's OBB nib became stingy about the ink amount it would let on paper. There was no skipping, but writing was noticeably slower. I did some experiments on various papers and the results were similar. What astonished me was that the pen is not dry and the ink in question is very well behaved in terms of flow in my experience. Then I made the inference out of the blue. Whereas the air that might be absorbed by the piston is not visible in the MB, the small bubbles are perfectly visible on the walls of the narrow Parker converters I use in other pens. Later they leave the ink to create a small air pocket at the top of the converter reservoir of course, but as they appear initially it is plain that they have been sucked up in the refill process. The only way to avoid that is to plunge nib and part of the section in the ink. MB's manual suggests to reverse the piston in order to expel 4 ink drops back in the ink bottle. I had forgotten about that part. After I pushed out a drop of ink in the sink, the Dostoevsky became a ridiculously wet writer again. Apparently there were air pockets trapped under the nib which messed up the ink flow demanded by the double broad nib. The morale: if your pen becomes inexplicably dry, remember to get the ink to fully occupy the space under the nib by expelling ink. The necessary air to get the pen flowing normally will be able to enter later on its own anyway.

I have Wing Sung 590 and I accidentally broken the feed. I glued it and it looked ok, then I filled my pen but get a lot of skipping. So I thought that I blocked channels with glue and I deepen the channel with scalpel, then tried to write. The result was even worse. Then I thought that may be I made a channel too deep so I placed a piece of thread at the end of the feed. And it worked! Now the question is: how to reduce depth of the feed? Thanks for any suggestions. P.S. Sorry for bad English.

Is increasing the distance between nib and feed increase or decrease ink flow? Why?(concerned about sailors specifically)

I have a happy smiley-face Kakuno that was brought to me from Japan; I am quite unhappy with it at the moment. I thought it was a cute little pen but it is now giving me difficulty; the nib starts writing and then after a few lines stops unless I shake the pen. Here's what I've done so far: Clean the pen Change the ink Flush the pen Floss the tines None of these interventions has been able to get the pen writing properly again. I do not have a high tolerance for hard-starting pens and if I can't get this issue resolved will let it sit unused in a drawer. Has anyone had a similar experience? If so, were you able to fix it?

I bought a Montverde Poquito from EBay and with it received J. Herbin Eclat Dr Saphir ink. I popped in a cartridge and started writing... and was very disappointed. Attached is a photo of what the writing sample looks like. I have only ever owned two other pens - the Kaweco Sport and a Platinum Preppy. Both of my other pens never had ink flow issues like this. Is this a nib problem? This is my first time using this ink as well, and watching reviews online and looking at a lot of writing samples, I did not see this issue on anyone else's samples with these inks. If this is a nib problem, is there someone I should send this to? The pen was only $25, so I hesitate to spend a ton of money fixing it, even though I love it's form factor. Is there something someone inexperienced can do to fix this? Thank you for your help!

Hi all I feel like throwing in the towel on my most expensive pen (a double reservoir fine nibbed Visconti Michelangelo Grande LE in beautiful green celluloid). By my standards, this pen cost me a fortune a few years ago, but it has been problematic since day one. I bought the pen second hand but was told it was uninked and in mint, unused condition. It certainly seemed to match that description when it arrived. It looked (and still does look) mint...it's a beautiful pen. However, regardless of how often I flush it, and regardless of what type of ink I try in it, I have a perennial problem. The pen usually starts from the first stroke, but after half a page of A5 writing, it starts to skip...first just on the occasional downstroke, but within a line or two it skips on practically every stroke of every letter. I check and it has plenty of ink...I unscrew the bottom and tip more ink from the reservoir - it hardly make a jot of difference. If I persevere to the end of the sheet and turn to the next page in my notebook, it often starts writing like a dream again...until the dreaded half way point of the page, when it starts to skip again....start a new page and often it writes well again...until the midway point. It seems to happen in all my notebooks (although, admittedly, these tend to be restricted to Rhodia, Clairefontaine or Paperblanks journals). Smooth papers seem to exacerbate the problem (it hardly writes at all on Clairfontaine paper)....if the paper's a bit toothier it tends to happen less, but ALWAYS happens eventually, regardless of the paper. I've just bought some Midori cotton paper to see if it happens on that - I haven't yet tried it - but really I don't want the pen to be so temperamental that it only writes on one or two types of paper. I've wondered if it's something about the oils from my skin rubbing on the bottom half of each sheet of paper, but I've tried covering the writing surface with a covering sheet and it still happens...and I have quite dry skin and ought to use hand moisturiser, but I'm lazy and rarely do, so I can't see oil transfer onto the paper being a contributory factor. My husband suggested it could be that I'm inadvertently changing the angle at which I write as I reach the halfway point of the page...but he's observed me and can't spot any noticeable different in my writing style between the top and bottom halves of the page. Could it be something to do with the double reservoir design? But if so, why does the problem tend to resolve itself when I turn to a new page? Then recur at the halfway point? For clarity, I write on both sides of each sheet of paper, and the problem occurs on both sides of the paper and on both the verso and recto sides of the notebook. I am mystified, frustrated and fed up. The nib itself seems well aligned and I can't see any evident signs of baby's bottom (not that I'm an expert). I thought it could be a feed/flow issue, but when I switch to a new page it often starts wrting again prefectly...until the half way point! At this point I'm so frustrated that I feel like chucking the pen in the bin! Does anyone have any insights or ideas about what could be causing this problem?

I have a Caran d'Ache 849 and it is having issues writing continuously. I find that it starts out strong and wet after resting flat or even nib-side up, but after 1/4-1/2 page, the ink flow slows and sometimes stops. I have to unscrew the pen and squeeze the ink cartridge to get it going again. I have changed the ink 3 times, flushed and soaked. What is happening??!1?

I am having a peculiar flow problem with my 1946 standard sized Parker Vacumatic. I picked this pen up several years ago on Ebay and got it fairly inexpensively because diaphragm needed replacing and the nib tines were slightly bent and looked as if someone had tried to straighten them. I started to work on the pen myself and then decided I did not even know what it was that I did not know about repairing a Vac and should, therefore, not make the attempt. I sent the pen off to a reputable repair facility and got back a beautifully restored and functioning Vacumatic with its beautifully straightened, fine point nib. The pen wrote wonderfully for about 3 months and then, one evening as I was making notes for the next day's activities, the left tine of the nib suddenly snapped off right above the tipping material. Obviously the bend and then straightening was too much for the gold tine. No doubt my lame, ignorant early efforts did not help things along in that department either. Saddened by this event, I put the pen away for almost a year until I happened upon a new, old stock 1946 Parker stub nib measuring right at .040" or about 1mm. I sent the pen off again with this nib and the same person set the nib for me. At that point, when the pen returned, I was never happy with its performance. Initially it would hesitate to start and would often make short little skips. At first I though it was "baby's bottom" or, perhaps an issue with tine spacing but I never seemed to get up the nerve to deal with it again and just left it in a pen case as something nice to look at. Recently, I have gathered new interest in this 1946 Vacumatic and began carefully toying with things one little step at a time trying to discern what is wrong. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that the pen needed more flow so using the method recommended by Richard Binder, I gently persuaded the tines apart just a bit more and the skipping and false starts pretty much went away but I am still plagued with a problem: When I start writing, the line from the pen is generally a bit wet with a nice saturated line but, as I write, the amount of ink flow diminishes. I tried spreading the tines a bit more and the overall flow did increase slightly more but I still get the gradual decrease in flow. That decrease, by the way, does not progress all the way to skipping but simply flattens eventually, leaving me with a pen that writes pretty nicely but on the dry, toothy side with just about any ink. I have tried about 4 inks including Waterman Serenity Blue, Parker Quink Permanent Black, Sailor Jentle Blue Black, and most recently, some really nice vintage Parker Quink Blue Black with Solv-X, circa 1947-48. Some inks are a bit wetter and others drier but they all do the same thing...starting somewhat wet and then drying down to a dry writing pen that produces an even, albeit anemic line. I now have a working theory that I would like to bounce off those of you in the forum with far more experience: My theory is based on the fact that this pen originally had a fine point nib and the feed was obviously meant for that nib. My decision to move to the stub really required a reworking of the feed so as to increase the supply of ink getting down to the nib itself. I say this because if I take the pen immediately after writing a full page with the nib writing somewhat dry and then cap it and set it aside in a cup, sitting nib-up for about 20 minutes or so, when I again try writing with the pen it is as wet as ever for about 3-5 lines and then begins the slow degradation in flow in spite of the fact that the tines' gap, in my opinion, is now excessively wide approaching .002", if not slightly more. Am I correct in the assumption that there is nothing wrong with the nib as it is apparent that capillary flow to the tip of the nib is taking place with the pen capped and at rest, even with the nib pointed up? This tends to tell me that the nib slit and tip are doing their job in the capillary flow department. The restriction must be taking place in the feed itself. Your thoughts? Cliff

This may be something most experienced pen users do without thinking, but I've only just recently begun the habit from something I read here. Placing and replacing the pen cap with the pen held upright has made all the difference in the world in helping my pens start writing without having to spend several moments repeatedly drawing check marks on a piece of scrap paper. It was like trying to start an old car on a cold morning. So frustrating. Perhaps also aiding in this new found ease of starting was filling up with Diamine inks rather than an old bottle of Leveger black. Who knows who manufactured it for them. My Parker 45 and Super 21 (Medium and fine respectively) are the best behaving pens you could ask for now. They start fast and don't dry out if I pause for few moments.

About five weeks ago, I purchased my first Eversharp Skyline "in the wild." This pen is all black with gold trim and has a nice flexible nib. It is a wet-writing pen, at least with Waterman Serenity Blue. My question: Is the Skyline known for being a wet-writing fountain pen? I'm not complaining but I am curious if a loose vent tube (mine is loose inside the sac) would cause the pen to be somewhat wet.

So, I recently bought a Parker 51 from the flea market. It was in a pretty sorry state. I did a complete restoration.After removing the hood, cleaning the feed, collector, breather tube and so on, I went on and replaced the filler unit with a new one. Then I polished the exterior of the pen using a buffer and then some micro-gloss. All good so far. I started to write with the pen. It produced a very wet line and the writing experience was super smooth. Then this happened. After a few sentences the pen started to become very dry and after a bit more the ink flow completely stopped. I waited a bit and then it begun to write again. This was an endless loop. The first thought that crossed my mind was that I am dealing with a not so clean collector. I cleaned it. Still no luck. I tried a new collector. Same...the pen run dry. I tried a new nib, a new hood, a new feed nothing. And then I thought about the way that ink is delivered into the collector. THE BREATHER TUBE. It has a hole on top, which allows the user to fill ink without, removing it every time the filler is pressed. However there was no hole on the bottom (or at least mine didn't), to allow any ink to escape from the barrel and go back to the feed/collector. (In contrast with the aerometric breather tube that has one, for this purpose). This had to be it, there is no other logical explanation, I said to myself. So I picked up a dental hook, heated the end of the hook with a torch , and then opened a tiny hole just above the bottom of the breather tube. (It had to be smaller than the one on top, because if it wasn't then it would defeat the purpose of having a breather tube in the first place, which is to have more ink going in, than going out.) I then reassembled the pen and begun to write. That did the trick, the ink flow is now super consistent and pretty wet (Note that the size of the hole that is opened, determines the wetness of the pen. The smaller, the dryer). For anyone who will ask, no there are no leaks, no ink blots, just a very satisfying wet line.

With increasing frequency a number of fountain pen manufacturers have used magnetic closures for attaching the cap to the barrel. Prior to that, the only magnetic closures I recall seeing - were used on some kit pens. In part, I believe this helped avoid the age-old thread alignment problem between the pen clip and the nib when the cap was posted. I wonder, however, if magnets and fountain pen inks are a good marriage of materials? Some inks have metallic elements such as those that have the special sheen quality. Under certain conditions, couldn't this lead to problems with ink flow, clogged tines and perhaps erosion of the nib and/or other metallic parts near the magnetic closures? Anyone experience problems along these lines they would like to share? Bennett

Hey Everyone, I recently purchased a Platinum 3776 Century Soft Fine, my second (the other is a medium), and it is writing a little drier than I prefer. Does anyone know a way to increase the ink flow ever so slightly? All my tricks that I use for steel nibs have not worked in the least bit (which I am not surprised by but I figured I would try). Thank you for any insights! Anthony R. Cappello

Hello guys, I picked up this Waterman Gentleman a while a go. It has some issues with the nib. Though the nib looks very fine to me but it writes super dry. it delivers ink only when I apply a little pressure. its a gold nib, in case youre wondering, and its very smooth. I still haven't found any specific angle that it writes fine at. I have serviced the pen a few times but it just doesn't work well. I suspect the problem might be due to its tines having a small gap between them after the breather hole and then joining at the writing tip. ill attach some pictures of the nib and the quality of writing. Also, I think its worth mentioning that if I dip it into some ink, it works well for a few lines. Thank you all so much in advance. Looking forward to receiving your thoughts and opinions!

Hello~ Would love a suggestion on the best way to get ink to flow in a pen that is clean but has not been used in years. Thank you.

I recently picked up a Kaweco Sport, which seems to have a slight flow issue (skips and hard starts) when writing normally, but which disappear when reverse writing. Has anybody had any experience with this sort of phenomenon, and what is it likely to indicate is the underlying problem? Does this suggest it is a flow / dryness issue, for example, that could be solved by making the nib a little wetter (writing in reverse obviously produces a finer line which does not need to draw as much ink)? Thanks in advance for any advice from more experienced pen maestros...

Has anyone tried a drop of polyvinyl alcohol in inks that tend to dry in the feed or nib, to help with flow?

I bought some Bock nib units on eBay which appear to be designed to use in non-cartridge pens (such as eye-dropper, piston, or sac) as they have no rear nipple for a cartridge/converter to slide onto. I've built a couple of pens for these nibs so far, and both have the same problem: too much ink flow, with the result that I get a puddle of ink if I don't keep writing at top speed. Right now I've got an eyedropper loaded with Noodler's Red Fox (ink which works well in my cartridge/converter pens) but the feed runs way too fast in this pen. Is there a recommended way to slow down the feed? Is there a better choice of ink to use with this "fast feed" nib unit? Thanks for any guidance.

Hello guys, after years of writing with my Pelikan M600 I am proud to have become part of the elusive MB-community. Because there is no MB-rep in my region, I have ordered myself a 149 with a medium nib and a 146 F-nib (both in new condition) from a reputable dealer. http://i.imgur.com/rsiUvmy.jpg?1 As you can see both pens write in a very similar manner. I was told and read multiple times that a 149 F-nib may write as wide as a 146 M-nib. Strangely, it now is the other way round. I feel that the 146 writes too wide, not vice versa. Do you think this is due to a too broad nib or a too generous ink flow? Should I change the nib with another F-nib or would you advise me on switching to EF? Kind regards, VanWolff

So. I have had the Visconti Homo Sapiens Bronze Age Oversize with EF nib (Yes, I checked the forums here before deciding on the nib size, as the consensus seems to run that the HS is generous in its ink flow) for a while - actually a few years, but haven't used it much. Beautiful piece of work, by the way. But. Now that I decided to start using it again, it writes really poorly (out of box it wrote rather fine, but nowhere near what I would expect with all the hullabaloo around the DreamTouch nib). Before starting to use it again I emptied the pen and thoroughly rinsed the nib. Carefully and gently, oh so gently... um... anyway, I dried it by softly soaking up the water with a paper towel, being careful not to get any paper filaments on the nib, filled the much-touted "power filler" system or whatever it is called... TWICE... using Diamine Jet Black ink in a Visconti travel inkwell (yes, I am such a freak) and... ...disappointment. The pen writes with very low ink flow, the more I try the worse it gets. I frequently have to go back and try to re-write the invisible letters, push down ever harder on the nib, write much more slowly than I would want... and when it does write, the ink flow is irregular and, frankly, quite insufficient. When I keep the pen uncapped and do not write with it for even a few seconds, it is an even bigger chore trying to coax the ink out onto the paper. Overall, a really bad writing experience. Also, when filling, the piston/titanium rod that extends from the back of the pen seems to be covered with ink (a small amount but still, is that supposed to happen?). I don't want to rinse/flush the whole pen but it seems that this is the only avenue of DYI attempts left for me... or is it? Help, please? Thank you most kindly for your insights!

Hey all, I have a Montegrappa NeroUno Linea that I bought a few months back for my birthday. I had a few flow issues with it, but I put it down to my writing style (I'm a lefty and write hooked) and that the pen just needed flushing and/or getting used to my writing style. Fastforward to now when I took a serious look at the nib. I realised that there is an obvious gap between the tines on the nib. I'm not sure if this is normal, as the nib itself doesn't have a breather hole, but there is a definite gap between the tipping material on the nib.. I'm fairly certain that this isn't normal. I'm not a nibmeister or at all experienced with fountain pen repair. Being that this is an expensive pen (~£450), I certainly don't want to void the warranty or anything like that. There is no flow of ink between the tines unless I prime the feed, and even then it sometimes runs dry (I have flushed the pen numerous times). While it is a solution, it's not a permanent solution. Any help, guys? Really would appreciate any thoughts.