Jump to content

Conklin skipping/hard starting....


sgireland

Recommended Posts

Well, I think I am having my first bad fountain pen experience. I picked up a Conklin All American at a big discount early this week and was feeling pretty good about it until I had written about two pages. The pen starting missing and failed to start a couple times. Then it was fine. Then it did it again. And it was getting worse! When it worked it worked so well, but out of nowhere it would start failing to put ink on paper, I would put it down, pick it up again and it was fine...for a minute.

 

I took it back to the store and they exchanged it for another. I took it home, tried a new ink (Noodler's Blue eel) and it was fantastic. A line much closer to a fine (the first one was a broad, wet writer...when it worked), and no skipping or starting issues. The first one could skip for inches at a time then miraculously lay down ink again.

 

Today the replacement pen is doing the SAME DAMN THING! And it's getting worse!

 

Do these symptoms point to any particular issue? The feed maybe? It's the translucent feed and it looks full of ink to me. I can look at it under a magnifier when it's into one of it's "skipping" phases and I can see the tines spread but no ink flow.

 

I really want to like this pen, I love the look of it and the shape, but really I am coming to the conclusion that I could exchange it 20 times and not get a good one.

 

Pretty annoyed as it was a lot of money for me even though it's not really an "expensive" pen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 24
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • sgireland

    4

  • Misfit

    3

  • Cirrus22

    3

  • Bookman

    2

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

Did you flush the pen? I don't know why, but it seems to be possible for a pen that's full of manufacturing residue (grease, etc.) to write OK... at first.

 

-- Brian

 

fpn_1375035941__postcard_swap.png * * * "Don't neglect to write me several times from different places when you may."
-- John Purdue (1863)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did you flush the pen? I don't know why, but it seems to be possible for a pen that's full of manufacturing residue (grease, etc.) to write OK... at first.

 

-- Brian

 

Well it's been filled with Sailor Black, written with a little then flushed with plain water and filled with Noodlers. Maybe it needs a more thorough flushing? If I prime it with ink using the converter to push out a drop of ink then it seems to behave for a few lines.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It could be the feed, it could be the converter, it could be the nib itself, or it could be all or any combination of the foregoing. Try flushing the pen with a vinegar and water solution or if you're feeling brave a solution of household ammonia and water (1:2). If this doesn't work you could try another converter or a cartridge and a Waterman's ink. If all this fails you can either send it to a nibmeister or return it to the vendor for a refund.

Bryan

 

"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes." Winston S. Churchill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It could be the feed, it could be the converter, it could be the nib itself, or it could be all or any combination of the foregoing. Try flushing the pen with a vinegar and water solution or if you're feeling brave a solution of household ammonia and water (1:2). If this doesn't work you could try another converter or a cartridge and a Waterman's ink. If all this fails you can either send it to a nibmeister or return it to the vendor for a refund.

 

I will give the nib and feed a thorough flushing and try new converter and cartridge. Hopefully that will solve the problem. I'll be sure to post the results here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had that problem with several Conklins, esp with F nibs. I attributed it to poor weir design and converter matching. Flushing with soap helped initially.

 

But eventually, I had to live with the fact that it had to be primed every day. You can try a Noodlers eternal ink or PR Tanzanite, all of which seem to help. I also had to tap the pens on the top and bottom to get the ink/air balance in line sometimes too.

 

Now you see why they were sold at such a big discount, me thinks.

 

Skip

Skip Williams

www.skipwilliams.com/blog

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bummer. I am going to try various remedies and if they don't work hopefully the vendor will let me return it and buy something else. So far they have been accomodating. Now that I have compared it to my Pelikan and Sailor, especially in the case of the Sailor, I can see the results of superior design and quality in those pens.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 years later...

Bummer! This is 2016 and I have the same problem with a new one. Does anybody knows where these pens are really made? Thanks!

Edited by alcecena
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

I just got Conklin All American Lapis Blue with the 1.1 MM stub. I flushed it as I would any other pen with water quite a few times. Then I filled with a diamine red oak ink. The pen just doesn't write very well. Some what scratchy. The nib is not tipped, but its not a smooth writer and the ink is not really flowing as it should. Not too thrilled with the nib. I will have to work with it a lot more.

Edited by JohnEbach
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I found this topic after searching because I am having the same problems with a newly purchased Amber Duragraph with a stub nib.

 

I've only used it on good paper (Rhodia or Clarifontaine) with Pilot Iroshizuku ink, which is usually pretty wet. But just like the posters above, the pen usually doesn't start right away and when it finally does, it railroads and peters out after a few words. I use a lot of italic and stub-type broad nibs, so I don't think it's the writing angle, but, of course I did try changing angles which didn't help. (And unlike, let's say, a Pilot Parallel italic, it generally loses its ink on a downstroke, not an upstroke, which seems bizarre to me.)

 

I have flushed and soaked the nib unit and the ink converter with regular and distilled water and with Goulet Pen Flush. I examined the tines for alignment (fine) and "flossed" the nib with thin brass sheets. None of that helped.

 

It does look like the nib might have some of the fabled "baby's bottom," but wouldn't that affect the way it writes all of the time instead of intermittently? (I'm a noob: what I see is that the tip of the nib is not flat, but rather each tine is rounded off. I think that is "BB", but please correct me if I am wrong!)

 

Any help would be appreciated!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Baby's bottom is usually an ailment of the tipping material. Yet a stub should have no tipping material. None of mine does. Anyway, baby's bottom is evidenced on the inner aspects of the tines, at the, ahem, bum crack, um, er, the intersection of the tip and the slit. If the other parts of the tip are round but this intersection isn't rounded, then it isn't baby's bottom. I check for it with a loupe, but a very strong magnifying glass might do. I look at the tip from two angles: straight on with the underside on the bottom; and underside up, tilted straight towards my eyeballs except at a 45-50° angle to show the actual spot on the tip where it meets the paper and does all the writing.

 

I have a Conklin Duragraph, which came with an F. I ordered M and 1.1 mm stub nib units. All three nibs wrote right out the box. The flow of the stub was excessive, and upon inspection the slit did seem a little wide. I pushed the tines together at the shoulders just a teensy bit and all is well. You have done quite a bit of self-help. If I were in your spot I would contact the seller and arrange a nib swap.

Edited by Bookman

I love the smell of fountain pen ink in the morning.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bookman, here's what _InkyFingers found with my factory stub.

 

@EliWeisz I believe so. It's a loaner from Amberlea. The stock nib was not on par as yours was. I had to do some nib grind.

 

Picture of before grind.

33325375690_e2e385e5b4_z.jpg

 

Picture of intermediate.

33581311241_190cc72207_z.jpg

 

No finals yet. Still in the works.

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My

 

Bookman, here's what _InkyFingers found with my factory stub.

@EliWeisz I believe so. It's a loaner from Amberlea. The stock nib was not on par as yours was. I had to do some nib grind.

Picture of before grind.
33325375690_e2e385e5b4_z.jpg

Picture of intermediate.
33581311241_190cc72207_z.jpg

No finals yet. Still in the works.

 

You mean I finally got lucky? My luck is improving? Up till now it's always run in the opposite direction. Now I can brag that it almost always runs in the opposite direction. (It's disconcerting to think that if I buy one of these nibs from, say, Goulet Pens, it's likely that only one pair of eyes [at Goulet, the third stop in the chain of distribution] has actually looked at it. I don't mind a fresh-from-the-box tine realignment once in a while; and it has happened a couple of times with very-low-end pens; I suppose misalignment could happen post-inspection through ordinary handling and the slings and arrows of outrageous postal delivery.)

Edited by Bookman

I love the smell of fountain pen ink in the morning.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...

2020, and my new All American with the highly touted omniflex nib.  It flexes, all right, but it skips and skips.  I've tried all of the above.  Probably even voided the warranty.  What a disappointment.  It would make a better dip pen than a fountain.  Two thumbs down.

I will try another nib, and see what that does.  

This is making me want to stop buying fountain pens.

Grrrr.

 

Thanks for listening....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My All-American with the 1.1mm stub nib is a hard starter. I have 3 other Conklin models with the same nib that write well. 

Posted Image
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I own and use 3 Conklin pens. Medium, broad and stub,

all of them work really well, and write like butter. I can't

remember ever having any issues performance related.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

Bit late in the day, BUT same issue. Conklin all american. Came with a Fine nib, writes exceptionally well.

 

Apologies, I did not see this thread, so I created a new thread, but this is probably better to add to.

 

Bought and changed to a Medium nib/feed, every tenth word it skips (for the record, all writing tests done on a Rhodia A5 dot pad, 80gsm paper):

image.thumb.png.4aa98801c931550e4274c909f20ab645.png

 

So I got back to the AD. They said to bring the pen in with receipt. I left the pen. A week, later they said the Conklin rep had been in, just needed a clean he says. Back into town, picked up the pen (there was also another Medium nib/feed in the packet. The converter was leaking (didn't know they were screw in so the Conklin rep may not have tightened it correctly - bad form, so got back to the AD). AD mailed out a new converter. The returned Pen wrote fine when primed, but would skip as soon as the ink dried up, ie. NOT getting from the converter through the feed to the nib. see below:

 

image.thumb.png.2872e4283cf402d5a4e6978050058bd9.png

 

Again, skipping badly. So I now have a new converter and the second nib inserted. Well exactly the same if not worse, excellent when primed, but skipping worse as the nib dries out and clearly no ink getting from the converter (no example to show, but you get the picture). To the point where the pen will not write at all if capped for a few hours, it needs to be primed just to get any ink to the nib. So is it the nibs/feeds problem (2 new nibs behaving badly seems unlikely) or is it the converter.

 

Replace the second defective nib/feed with the ORIGINAL Fine nib and feed. Guess what? It writes and works perfectly. No hesitation, no skipping, ink on the page first time, every time. Tried this every couple of hours for 24 hours and same excellent result. My testing suggests that, however unlikely, I got two dodgy medium nib/feeds. I did not go back to the AD (she was very good, said she's do everything until fixed, but this is a round about process that takes days at best and weeks at worst), I have contacted Conklin in the US directly for their advice and I will post the response.

Edited by Cirrus22
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I'm unsurprised by this. My understanding is that these days Conklin uses Jowo nibs but they use their own "proprietary" feed and housing. And their feeds can be described as temperamental at best. The word I'd really prefer to use would get bleeped out by the forum filter.

 

You can take the best nib and pair it with a feed that isn't right for it, and that nib won't write. Personally I stay away from Conklin (and other Yafa-made) pens for this reason. I have not had good experiences with their products.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the advice. As noted the Fine is perfect both Mediums skip (with another on the way via the AUS distributor contacted by the US YAFA representative -  I have to say, the support has been good - doesn't help the dodgy nibs, but at least they are trying). Your explanation makes perfect sense, but a little late to stay away from Conklin, I've spent the AUD$150. Worst case and not ideal, I have a least a well performing fine nib.

 

Cheers,

Kevin

Edited by Cirrus22
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/17/2023 at 2:10 AM, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

 Personally I stay away from Conklin (and other Yafa-made) pens for this reason. I have not had good experiences with their products.

Conklin has lovely designs but if there are typical problems with the nibs feeds and housing there are not the best candidates for my collection

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33494
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26624
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...