Jump to content

Hard Starters - What To Do?


sidthecat

Recommended Posts

I have some lovely old pens, but while some of them start happily and willingly, some need a great deal of encouragement to get the ink to flow.

 

Is it the nib, the feed, the ink or something else? What do you do to fix the problem?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 16
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • sidthecat

    3

  • Bo Bo Olson

    2

  • the_gasman

    2

  • cattar

    2

Yes, all of the above. Hard-starters may have a clogged feed, baby-bottom nib, not like the ink, not like the paper. My method for checking out a bad writer is to look closely at the nib under magnification, disassemble and clean the pen thoroughly, refill with a different ink, make sure I have good paper by writing on with a different pen. If none of that works, send the pen to a Master Penman. Or throw it out.

 

Enjoy,

Yours,
Randal

From a person's actions, we may infer attitudes, beliefs, --- and values. We do not know these characteristics outright. The human dichotomies of trust and distrust, honor and duplicity, love and hate --- all depend on internal states we cannot directly experience. Isn't this what adds zest to our life?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Would help to know what the pens are and how often and how much you write with each.

Sometimes the caps don't seal well, and a the ink in the nib can dry out overnight or in a few days or a few weeks.

Sometimes it's what randal wrote.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had been having trouble persuading a Parker 75 with an OBB nib to start without priming the feed by twisting the convertor. Even then, the ink would only flow for 5 or 6 lines before I had to repeat the process.

 

I was despairing. I then noticed that there was an air bubble in the convertor that didn't move when the pen was inverted. Suspecting a surface tension effect, I added a tiny amount of photographic surfactant to the convertor's load of ink.

 

Voila! The ink flow has been perfect for the last 24 hours despite rest interludes and extensive writing.

 

Elsewhere on FPN users describe adding a small steel ball bearing or a spring to the convertor to break the surface tension but I didn't have either to hand.

 

The other remedies for hard starts that have been mentioned already should be tried before this remedy.

 

Good luck,

Dave.

Edited by the_gasman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah it sounds like a good thorough cleaning and a close inspection of the nib tip with a loupe would be the first place to start. Do the tines seem misaligned? Maybe soak the nib and feed in a bit of distilled water with a drop of light dish soap? If I'm using a converter I tend to keep the ink pushed up to the feed to keep it saturated and leave air out of the reservoir as I write if it doesn't have an agitator. Sometimes the ink can evaporate over time, particularly if the pen isn't used as often. But any of that seems less likely the issue.

Edited by Arkamas
...The history, culture and sophistication; the rich, aesthetic beauty; the indulgent, ritualistic sensations of unscrewing the cap and filling from a bottle of ink; the ambient scratch of the ink-stained nib on fine paper; A noble instrument, descendant from a line of ever-refined tools, and the luster of writing,
with a charge from over several millennia of continuing the art of recording man's life.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm looking at a half-dozen ancient ringtops with lever fillers. In a couple of cases it's a bent nib or a gap between nib and feed.

It's always something. Something I haven't the skills or patience for. This is what keeps the nibmeister community in their homes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I first get the ink to the end of the feed. I then use a tissue or a smooth sheet of paper to "pull" the ink to the tip using capillary action. Getting the ink to the end of the feed is done by one of, or a combination of:

 

a) squeezing the cartridge several times to pump ink to the end of the feed,

 

B) turning the piston/converter knob,

 

c) holding the pen with the CAPPED nib pointing away from my body and shaking the pen in a circular motion (so centripetal/centrifugal force) to push ink to the tip of the nib.

 

d) this is the weird one. put the pen nib pointing down in a case/pouch inside a rolling suitcase and walking around while doing errands.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have this problem when I leave certain old Onotos for at least day or two unused. I lick the tip of a little finger and run it down the nib slit, then on to a handy cloth or chamois to clean the finger. That is usually enough, without a shake being needed.

 

I found recently that the Magna was not responding to this treatment. I found then that this was owing to having run out of ink. :rolleyes:

X

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I found recently that the Magna was not responding to this treatment. I found then that this was owing to having run out of ink. :rolleyes:

 

I once had a conceptually similar problem with an old diesel camper-van while touring around New Zealand. :blush:

 

Cheers,

David.

Edited by the_gasman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Misaligned nibs, not good contact between the feed and nib, caps that do not seal well, ink that has dried and impedes ink flow, have been the usual culprits in my case, followed by poor ink and paper choice and nib baby bottom.

- Kaigelu 316 Modification (250 #6 Bock Nib / Beaufort Ink Converter)
- Titanium Bock Nib - Kaigelu 316 - Beaufort Ink

- Bock Rollerball Nib In Jinhao 886 Pen - Beaufort Ink Converter

- No affiliation with pen industry, just a pen hobbyist.

- It matters what you write, only for us it matters what we write it with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been very fortunate that my couple of hard-starters can be coaxed back into action with a bit of water. I keep an antique glass inkwell on my desk with water for the purpose. (also serves as a nice paperweight). A quick dip and then wipe on a soft rag and I'm back in business. I haven't had any temperamental pens with more serious hard-starting issues, thank goodness.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I keep an antique glass inkwell on my desk with water for the purpose.""""""""" :rolleyes: :headsmack:One can tell I spent time behind the bar...having at first a shot glass.

And me with so many inkwells :wallbash: .....I use now a German postal sponge in a rubber cup; just poking the nib and feed into the damp sponge.

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have gone through the drills of wetting the nib, refilling the pen, etc. Now I usually retire these pens when I find them among my horde.

 

Wetting the nib and feed and refilling the pen usually work. This is the drill I went through with most of my pens when I was working. Retired now, it's too much trouble.

"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

RichardsPens has good info. As does the repair q&a here on FPN.

I do as little as possible, I prefer pens to write as they do, so I haven't needed to adjust feed, spread tines or smooth.

I have several times put in a new sac, adjusted nib/feed connection, or ground a bent nib. And I like using those pens, but it that work is a bother.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When one often has 17 pens inked....some are going to be standing around for a long time. I keep losing my battle to get down to 5-6 pens so I can use up more ink. There I was down to 8-9 pens....and on a whim my wife bought me three new inks.....up to 12 again.

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are sometimes prisoners of our stuff, but one likes to have a pen that writes when one puts it to paper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are sometimes prisoners of our stuff, but one likes to have a pen that writes when one puts it to paper.

 

Absolutely. But with pens as with friends, sometimes the most interesting are not the easiest to get along with. If one loves a pen for other reasons, one makes allowances.

ron

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
      33501
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26627
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • 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...