Is My Fountain Pen Normal?

[steve50]

Hello everyone. I want to know your opinions on whether my pen is working fine. So I had a fountain pen, a Lamy, when I was much younger. It was M nib and I quite enjoyed writing with it, but I lost it. This was years ago and I bought another fountain pen recently, a Platinum with soft F nib, because I wanted to try a Japanese pen and I was intrigued by the soft nib. Well, the softness on this pen is excellent but I found it to be quite dry. When I apply some pressure, it becomes fine, but the whole point of using fountain pen, for me, was to write without having to use any pressure. But i'm thinking, maybe this is what Japanese F nibs are originally like. So I attached a sample of my writing. Please share your verdicts on the pen. Thanks a lot.

[pen10]

Thanking you for sharing your post i have a platinum fountain gift my sister this pen which have soft F nib and i also use this pen previous eight years ago which is so smooth and also comfortable for writing . You can also use your fountain pen . Your pen is normal.

Edited November 29, 2016 by pen10

[Pichak]

The pen is quite dry and due to its very thin line so makes the ink dry very quick too. You can write without use any pressure and it will write well and smooth but the line will be very thin. Here is some sample writing of my Platinum 3776 Soft-Fine Nib.

[OCArt]

You don't say what kind of ink you are using but one thing to try is to switch to an ink that is "wet." There are many wet inks but in keeping with your Japanese pen I'd recommend Iroshizuku inks--- my favorite is Yama-Budo.

[Pichak]

You don't say what kind of ink you are using but one thing to try is to switch to an ink that is "wet." There are many wet inks but in keeping with your Japanese pen I'd recommend Iroshizuku inks--- my favorite is Yama-Budo.

 

Sorry I forgot, my pen use the Waterman Royal blue ink.

[TheRealMikeDr]

That writing looks like a Japanese fine nib to me. You can look at ways to make the pen more wet but that looks the same as my Platinum and Pilot fine nibs.

[steve50]

Thanks for your responses guys!

[LizEF]

A wetter / lubricated ink can really make a big difference - it'll feel smoother, and you'll get a slightly wider line. If you want recommendations, I'm sure a search or asking here will get you lots of recommendations (probably best to state your preferences first, unless you want a wide variety of suggestions).

 

A Japanese fine will be like a western extra fine, and some Lamy nibs are "fat" for their size, so your new pen has a much finer nib than your old one, hence the differences you're noticing.

[PAKMAN]

As noted by others, a wetter ink might help!

[ac12]

Steve,

The writing sample you show looks fine. The pen as originally designed is meant for writing the Japanese characters, which is smaller and more intricate than western writing, so they need a finer dryer nib.

 

If you want more ink flow, as was mentioned, try switching to a wetter ink, such as Waterman or Aurora. The Japanese inks should work well, but I have no experience with them.

[ehemem]

Your writing looks fine. As in normal for a Japanese fine nib. In my experience, Japanese nibs of the fine and extra fine genders tend to be drier than their western counterparts out of the box. You can futz with the nib or have the nib futzed with to make it wetter, but I wouldn't do it if it was my pen...

[flipper_gv]

In order, try those:

 

1- Have flushed the pen multiple times with water and a tiny bit of soap? This helps to take off the machining oil residues.

2- Verify there is good contact between the nib and the feed.

3- Try a wetter ink

4- Increase the space between the tines slightly

[sandy101]

That certainly looks like a Platinum fine line - my fine Plasir and Preppy produce similar lines - and if that's Platinum's black ink cartridge you are using, then I get the same result.

 

As others have suggested, a wetter ink might give you a wider result if that's what you want.

 

If you bought the pen recently, Cult pens might offer an exchange. You'll need to contact them, but they offer a thirty day exchange with a £10 nib cleaning charge. It might not hurt to ask if you can swap for the medium.

[pen10]

Thanking you for sharing your post I have a platinum fountain pen . It has soft nib and I have been using it for past 5 years Your pen is normal.