Make My Pelikan M800 Write More Wet

[jburchett]

Hello,

 

Not long ago, I purchased a Pelikan M800. With the knowledge that Pelikans often run a little wide, I ordered a fine nib expecting it to have the wetness and width of an otherwise medium. However, it is quite dry. Instead of sending it off to a nibmeister to have it wettened, I'm wondering if there are any suggestions to how I might make it a bit wetter myself. Currently it's inked with Sailor Yama-Dori, and runs a little more dry than I would like. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[Raif79]

Wow! The Fine on my M805 runs wide and is very wet. It was like this out of the box. You could remove the feed and try carefully modify the feed.

[jburchett]

I could. This is my most expensive pen to date though, and I'm afraid to attempt a modification like that on my own

[12halfshell]

I had a similar experience with my fine M800 and gently (gently) did the trick of pushing the nib down on my fingernail until the tines spread a bit. I did that and tested with writing, did a bit more and tested, and finally got to where the pen flows well for me. It's actually one of my best writers now. Hope that helps!

[jburchett]

I had a similar experience with my fine M800 and gently (gently) did the trick of pushing the nib down on my fingernail until the tines spread a bit. I did that and tested with writing, did a bit more and tested, and finally got to where the pen flows well for me. It's actually one of my best writers now. Hope that helps!

 

Good to know. I'll give that a try!

[sargetalon]

Did you flush the pen before inking to clear any fouling or oils left over from the manufacturing process? Could result in impaired ink flow.

[jburchett]

Did you flush the pen before inking to clear any fouling or oils left over from the manufacturing process? Could result in impaired ink flow.

 

It's been inked several times since it's purchase, thus having been cleaned also. It doesn't skip or hard start, it just lays down a rather dry line

[Lam1]

I also have some M800s (2 B and 1 IB) that are very dry and I would like to increase their ink flow. So, I'm following this thread with interest.

[jesse]

Wow! The Fine on my M805 runs wide and is very wet. It was like this out of the box. You could remove the feed and try carefully modify the feed.

Do not do this. I'm willing to wager the feed is fine, the culprit is likely a narrow tine slit. You want to spread the tines carefully to increase the flow. John Mottishaw has an article here on how to do this, at the bottom of the page.

 

Go slowly. The M800 will spread easily, I know from experience. It is much easier to widen the gap than close it, so don't overdo it.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Noodlers is a very wet ink in most cases....so wet that the one time 'wet ink', Waterman's is considered dry by Noodler users.

 

A bit late...I see this thread in another place pictures of how to widen the nib were shown.

[jburchett]

Thank you all for all of the feedback. I greatly appreciate it. I'm going to attempt to open the tines a little bit, as mentioned above.

[Calabria]

I would be *extremely* cautious here. I have quite a few M800s, and only two vintage EFs ever wrote on the dry side. The one which I've had for a decade now slowly began writing wetter - it took about 6 months - due to the constant writing pressure on the 18K nib. The other one which I purchased recently I'm going to be similarly patient with, trying some wetter inks in the meantime. (My Sailor nibs need a similar breaking in time, which I enjoy.)

 

The thing is, you can easily spread the tines - but even a seasoned nibmeister will have trouble bringing the nib back to where it was (I tried).

 

If you're very impatient, you could do a nib swap. Pelikans that AREN'T gushers are very rare and desirable.

[PAKMAN]

Using a brass shim or photographic film negative, you can floss the nib tines and usually increase the flow a bit.