Jump to content

What Makes A Hard Starter?


sidthecat

Recommended Posts

I've bought a number of vintage pens that the sellers have called "restored", but ink flows grudgingly from them. After a bit of encouragement they write well, but I can't help but think that the would-be restorers are neglecting something.

 

Anyone like to pitch in with a suggestion on the phenomenon of hard starting?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 9
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Pen Engineer

    3

  • sidthecat

    3

  • pajaro

    1

  • carlos.q

    1

1. I have found that some vintage ebonite feeds take some time to become fully saturated.

2. Another problem could be the ink you are using.

3. Third, but not least, maybe the pen gods did not smile at you on that day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nib tuning and alignment might be off. If the inner cap doesn't seal the nib will dry up and be a hard starter.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

It's not easy to get a virgin started. :huh:

 

Ink, mainly water, and solid materials need to be acquainted... making them hydrophilic, water friendly. :) Absolute, sterile cleanliness is of utmost importance. It's called surface tension. I wrote about this in my fountain pen website under this link.

 

I wrote a separate article just about making the feed ink friendly through chemical treatment and material choice. B) That's on the page Feeds made of Plastic.

 

The next extremely important question: Is the fountain pen in question filled through the nib, feed, section passage or is a dripper feed or cartridge? The suckers have the advantage that to some degree, the ink transporting components are primed while the ink is sucked into the tank or converter. :rolleyes:

 

Sure, alignment is a consideration. It's more the intimate contact between feed and nib that counts. Once the ink has touched the nib it will find the slit. Of course, the worse the alignment the longer it takes. On the page How to... for Nibs shows some of these correlations.

 

Happy reading. I wish that this information give some clarity. :)

with kindness...

 

Amadeus W.
Ingeneer2

visit Fountain Pen Design

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

The majority of my pens are lever-fillers.

 

Any suggestions re. The pen gods? Sacrifices of Diamine Oxblood?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When you say "ink flows grudgingly from them." Is this after a fill, or first time it is used that day, or ...

 

  • Look at the tip of the nib with a 10x loupe,
    If it has a baby's bottom profile, that could be the problem.
  • What pens are giving this problem?
  • What ink are you using?
    Dry ink in a dry pen could be a problem.
  • How are you storing the pen; nib up, flat, nib down?
    I have one pen that I have to store, nib down, or the ink won't flow. When stored nib up, it has a very hard starting problem. When stored nib down, it works fine. I have another pen that I store flat, for the same reason.

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

www.SFPenShow.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The information you give is too vague to give you more specific answers. :rolleyes:

 

you may as well do the oxblood thing. :notworthy1: one just can never know if one never tries :headsmack:

with kindness...

 

Amadeus W.
Ingeneer2

visit Fountain Pen Design

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
      33583
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26772
    5. jar
      jar
      26105
  • 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...