Ideas To Help My Safari Write Better/more Reliable Ink Flow?

[jrm27]

Hello all,

 

I don't have many pens, but I've got 3 Lamy Safari pen's and an All-Star. They've all been giving me some issue over the past few months. Nothing terrible, but I imagine something can be done, I just don'r know what.

 

When picking up the pen to write, no matter if it has been sitting for a day or a few minutes, there is zero ink flow to the nib. The only way that I've been able to get stable reliable ink flow is to run the nub under some warm water. That seem to "prime the pump". However, it is making it a bit difficult to use these pens if I am anywhere but at my desk. I thought this might just be a side effect of using fountain pens, but the other day i picked up a cheap pilot varsity and that darn thing writes nicely every time.

 

I clean my pens and nibs often. I soak in warm water in vinegar and then flush them with warm water and a few drops of dish soap. A soft bristle toothbrush gently works to remove any little pockets of ink that it can reach. But still.. when I try to write with it, the first couple letters are scratchy and I've got to go find some water.

 

Any ideas? I primarily use F nibs and an assortment of Noodler's inks (54th Mass, Liberty's Elyssium, Manhattan Black, and Fox Red.

[dgturner]

I know Noodler's 54th Massachusetts has been problematic in some of my pens (although it is still one of my favourites). I cannot speak to the other inks behavior.

This may sound silly, but have you checked that the nibs were fully seated? I have seen the issues you are describing when the nibs were not properly seated against the collar.

This might help a little bit:

[Mike 59]

If you have another brand of ink around, try it in just one of your Safaris, just to prove if it is that.

Use several Safaris here, generally filled with either Waterman 'Intense black' or Serenity ( aka Florida blue), and I just can't remember having 'startup' issues at all.

I tend to flush each pen through at each ink refill, although it's probably not really needed. A glass of water at room temperature, with one drop of dish washing up liquid mixed in, is the standard 'pen flush'. In fact you'll notice the pen makers seem to always quote to use just water, no additives.

Other inks I have used over several years with no problems are Parker Quink permanant black (Bottle), and Cross blue.

Edited June 12, 2014 by Mike 59

[ac12]

I am not a Noodler's user, so I don't know the flow characteristics of those inks.

Like Mike said, Waterman is a known ink. If Waterman ink can't flow, then you need to adjust the nib.

 

How does it write once you get it going?

 

It could be the slit in the nib is a little too close together. I had a couple nibs where the slit was too tight, and had to be adjusted.

[Journaler]

My son uses Safaris for school and had the same problem. I put it down to writing on poor quality paper a lot of the time.

 

I found that a proper flush with a bulb ear syringe and a floss of the tines with a piece of brass sheet was all that was needed.

 

Afterwards I bought him a load of notebooks with decent quality paper and haven't had an issue since.

 

I understand that the Safari can be disassembled a bit more if necessary but haven't needed to resort to that yet.

Edited June 12, 2014 by Journaler

[CaptainBA]

I had this issue with my Safari. I reseated the nib like dgturner suggested. Then I smoothed the nib with a bit of brown paper bag and a nail buffer I bought at CVS. Works great now.

[jrm27]

Thanks all. This is very helpful! Unfortunately, I don't have any other inks to try with. Right now my stable is all Noodler's. I don't think it's the paper. My daily use is largely Rhodia, and occasionally some Tomoe River that I still have lying around. Once it gets writing it does okay. The flow seems pretty good. The first few lines can be scratchy, but then it seems to work itself out. If it doesn't, I usually cap it and move on if I don't have time to go soak it a bit.

 

My nibs all seem seated correctly. Perhaps I am not seeing what I should be seeing in the picture above. However, they all look to be firmly seated against the collar?

 

Thanks for the input all. Any more suggestions are always welcome. I'll start working my way through these suggestions as well.

[casualmerlinconstant]

Do you store your pens nib up or nib down? Not really an issue but it can cause that sometimes. A leaky cap seal can cause that too but having that on all your pens is unlikely. Try on bad paper. Rhodia , Clairefontaine are very good, but they magnify issues with your nibs. Its surface is very ink resistant, hence can cause skipping and start up issues.

 

There are other defects that can cause this and require more drastic action, but I will leave that for the more informed people than I to diagnose and suggest remedies for.