Ultimate Guide To Starting New Pens

[GnaRocksTheWorld]

We've all have that moment - buying a new fountain pen, spending some hard earned cash on it, putting it down on paper for the first time, but it just doesn't write! What would you do? I want you to input your ideas, tips and tricks on how to start stubborn new pens (if you have experience with them). This will be a "Community Guidebook", which I feel would be useful to both the experienced and the newbies. I hope many people will contribute to this thread and help others who are stuck (pun intended) with their new fountain pens. Write on!

[Algester]

Uh... this is why we dip our pens before we buy...

uhh check the tines and alignment if its steel it will take time to adjust if it's gold it normally can be easily adjusted but with proper caution

get from a reputable store

check your local pen circle on who can fix your nib (especially if your not confident in your tuning skills)

Dip your pen in the store let them be the witnesses on the new pen's performance

if your pen is a disposable one well... i is disposable but you can use it as a good study material for experimentation

[Sasha Royale]

In previous generations, fountain pens were finished by craftsmen, who hand-fitted the parts. The final stage of

precision hand-fitting sold be polishing. Modern mass production by machine is capable of great precision, that

does not require hand-fit polishing, and the accompanying cleaning. I treat every new fountain pen to a grease-

cutting flush and rinse, before first ink.

[GabrielleDuVent]

Flush with water, blow on the feed, expel water from the feed. Ink.

 

Usually works.

[JonSzanto]

Uh... this is why we dip our pens before we buy...

 

Please keep in mind that there is a sizable percentage of the readers, maybe even the majority, that have no access to a nearby writing instrument store. In our times, strategies for dealing with pens that have been bought online (or otherwise without testing) can be very helpful. Even if it doesn't apply to you, personally.

 

If I am unsure of how the pen has been prepared, the one thing I'll do before inking is flush the pen with a solution of water with a drop or two of dish washing liquid, followed by a couple of flushes of plain water. This makes certain that any machining oils and particulate matter that may have not been properly cleaned out are removed. After that, the many ways one could deal with a poorly-writing pen are like opening Pandora's Box.

Edited June 24, 2014 by JonSzanto

[GabrielleDuVent]

 

Please keep in mind that there is a sizable percentage of the readers, maybe even the majority, that have no access to a nearby writing instrument store. In our times, strategies for dealing with pens that have been bought online (or otherwise without testing) can be very helpful. Even if it doesn't apply to you, personally.

 

If I am unsure of how the pen has been prepared, the one thing I'll do before inking is flush the pen with a solution of water with a drop or two of dish washing liquid, followed by a couple of flushes of plain water. This makes certain that any machining oils and particulate matter that may have not been properly cleaned out are removed. After that, the many ways one could deal with a poorly-writing pen are like opening Pandora's Box.

 

Good point. Additionally, some shops only allow you to dip the pen in plain water.

 

I've never actually hit a dud, though. Sure, sometimes it takes some effort to get the ink running, but after three or four lines of cursive f's the pen seems to operate the way it should. The only exception was Noodler's Konrad, but as we all know, that takes a lot of adjustment, and that's how it should be.

[Gaslight]

Easiest way: Buy from Richard Binder

 

I also bought pens from La couronne du comte and the nib/feed had a bit of residue ink in it, so they probably test them too. (which is nice)

 

My normal procedure is checking the tines (and adjusting them if needed) and giving the pen a good scrub with warm water and toothbrush.

[Lyander0012]

I'm a bit of a barbarian; I just flex the tines a bit to increase the space between the tines, but only after giving it a thorough flushing with distilled water. About the only pen that I've ever had a significant amount of difficulty getting to write is my Sheaffer Taranis, which was actually quite the nice F nib before. The non-detachable bit makes thorough cleaning impossible, so it's stuck in my drawer until further notice. It has since been replaced by my Noodler's Ahab as a daily finewriting black-ink pen.

 

Speaking of the Ahab, it's one of those pens with nibs that you really have to tune to your writing characteristics before carrying it around as an EDC. Makes little difference to me, though, as I tune all my pens out of habit. Besides, there's something immensely relaxing about working on nibs. Haha, I may try my hand at being a nibmeister post-retirement from my day job.

 

... Of course fountain pens will still be around then


Kevin

[BrandonA]

If you only buy quality you should not have a problem with the pen working every time including the first.

[Lyander0012]

If you only buy quality you should not have a problem with the pen working every time including the first.

 

Depends on the manufacturer, actually. Some Sailor nibs have nibs with noticeable feedback OOTB, while others, particularly their meticulously hand-finished specialty nibs, write exactly as intended from the get-go. Besides that, I've heard some pretty depressing stories about how you get bad nibs from Pelikan nowadays; that's the main reason I'm thinking of buying vintage once I decide to go for that brand.

 

Kevin

[JonSzanto]

If you only buy quality you should not have a problem with the pen working every time including the first.

 

"Let them eat cake!"

[Blue_Moon]

Easiest way: Buy from Richard Binder

Not necessarily the case. I bought a Pilot VP from him, and it was scratchy and a hard starter. I had to work on it awhile to get it to work properly.

 

I had only made five light passes on microfiber when I decided to send it back to him for repair. He said that I had voided the warranty and there was nothing he could do. That's why I worked on it myself. The VP ended up working quite nicely. I've sent several pens back to the manufacturer for repair, when they didn't work right out of the box, and this is what I'd recommend for most pens that don't write well.

[GabrielleDuVent]

 

"Let them eat cake!"

 

ROFL. Although brioche quite isn't a cake, and the quote belongs to Rousseau (Marie was 9 when he wrote this phrase in his Confessions. I thoroughly despise that man).

[The Blue Knight]

Don't necessarily buy a Lamy Safari even if everyone tells you too as it may put you off fountain pens for life. As it is not the universal starter pen that people seem to think it is.

[Xand3]

Don't necessarily buy a Lamy Safari even if everyone tells you too as it may put you off fountain pens for life. As it is not the universal starter pen that people seem to think it is.

 

+1, I bought a Lamy safari but it was quite scratchy out of the box. After some fiddling, it writes well, but the design and feel of the pen just strike me as cheap school supply stuff. Durable yes, but cheap.

 

My personal recommendation for starter pens:

 

Faber Castell Basic

Sheaffer 100

 

Both are durable pens like the safari, more interesting designs, seem to be built with nicer materials, and had nibs that just worked right out of the box. Better value for money IMO.

 

Although I think you may have misread the title of the thread.

Edited June 24, 2014 by Xand3

[dneal]

RE: dipping. That's fine for testing the feel and general line of the nib, but won't give you any indication of how (or if) the ink will flow with a real fill.

 

The first step is to assess your capabilities. If you have none then buy from someone who will guarantee it will write (Binder, Mottishaw, etc...). If you want to buy as cheaply as you can on the internet, then be prepared to send it to a nibmeister for adjustment (which defeats the purpose of buying cheaply in the first place... most of the time).

[The Blue Knight]

Although I think you may have misread the title of the thread.

 

Wups....

[JonSzanto]

 

ROFL. Although brioche quite isn't a cake, and the quote belongs to Rousseau (Marie was 9 when he wrote this phrase in his Confessions. I thoroughly despise that man).

 

Lady, stop overthinking my asides! http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb204/EnvoyC/emotes/flower.gif