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Pilot Vp Corrosion/ Nib Staining


CheesyWalnut

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I’ve had this black nib pilot vanishing point for a few months and have only used pilot blue and iroshizuku shin kai in it, but the nib has started to discolor and cannot be cleaned. Does anyone know what could be causing this and what I can do about it? Thanks

 

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Edited by CheesyWalnut
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Im sorry about this. You might call or email Pilot USA and see what they say. Im pretty sure they can help you

Allan😀😀

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I don't think that's corrosion. Your VP is likely not that old and you've used safe ink in it. I'd give the nib unit a soak in warm soapy water, if that doesn't work you can try premade pen wash or make some yourself (10% ammonia to 90% water solution).

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I don't think that's corrosion. Your VP is likely not that old and you've used safe ink in it. I'd give the nib unit a soak in warm soapy water, if that doesn't work you can try premade pen wash or make some yourself (10% ammonia to 90% water solution).

 

I hope youre right. I have a black nibed VP. Id hate for that to happen to mine. Ive had mine for several months but I havent inked it

Allan😀😀

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Agree with the soaking for an extended time.

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  • 3 years later...

Hello everyone.

I see this an old tread but anyhow, for the ones having the same issue (like me), here what I have found. 

I had exactly the same issue CheesyWalnut described: New pen, not even 1.5 months in use, Pilot ink, black nib and the “stain” in the middle of the nib.

After analyzing it with a magnifying glass, I realized it is the coating, which is now gone in this area. (Probably due to friction from the nib with the body when extending as I can also see ink there quite often)

For sure not the quality I was expecting for such a price!  L

 

 

20210207_154723.jpg

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1 hour ago, The Austrian said:

(Probably due to friction from the nib with the body when extending as I can also see ink there quite often)

 

I don't think so. The shape of such discolouration usually suggests ‘nib creep’, which some inks are more likely to exhibit than others, but generally only in pens that do not seal the nib and feed particular well when capped (or, in the case of the Lamy Dialog 3 and Pilot Capless models, when the nib is retracted) and unused.

 

The continued exposure of the black coating (on some nibs, anyway) to certain inks will cause it to discolour or disappear altogether. Sailor Kiwaguro is one such ink; it caused discolouration of the my Vanishing Point's black ion-plated nib, along either side of the slit towards the tip; it also eroded the black PVD coating on the underside of my Lamy Z52 nib (but not on top of it, since there was no nib creep with that Lamy pen). I don't know which specific ingredients and attributes of that ink are ‘responsible’, but I certainly don't imagine Sailor Kiwaguro is the only ink on the market to have those attributes.

 

I also encountered an Aurora black-coated gold nib (on a supposedly brand new, 100th anniversary commemorative limited edition pen that was only made for sale in 2019!) that has the same sort of permanent discolouration in the shape of nib creep. I'll assume someone at the factory installed an old nib on that new pen by mistake, but it would be highly unlikely that Sailor Kiwaguro was the ink that ‘ate’ part of its coating.

 

I'd happily wager that, if you fill the bottom 3mm of a test tube — tall enough to hold the nib unit in its entirety — with whichever ink you've been using in your Pilot Capless pen, then deposit the nib from your pen into the test tube (with the tip pointing down and resting on the base of the test tube), seal the test tube and leave it undisturbed for a few weeks, you'll get a triangular patch of compromised or missing black coating on the part of the nib that was submerged.

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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Thank you for the great explanation!

It makes a lot of sense to me now as by looking in detail to the "stain" the pattern looks to be  caused rather by a chemical reaction instead of friction. 

 

The ink in use is Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-peki

 

Just a couple of questions:

 

I have now the possibility to have the nib replaced either by a new ruthenium coated (the black one) or a rhodium coated (the silver one) 

 

Do you think if I take the black one again I will have the same issue?

 

What about with the rhodium coated one?

(Also prone to discolouration due to nib creep?)

 

Looking forward to your advise!

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3 hours ago, The Austrian said:

Do you think if I take the black one again I will have the same issue?

 

All else being equal, yes. The same ink on the same type of coating will yield the same chemical reaction under the same conditions.

 

3 hours ago, The Austrian said:

What about with the rhodium coated one?

(Also prone to discolouration due to nib creep?)

 

I've never seen any discolouration or erosion on the Pilot Capless (or any other reputable brand name) rhodium-plated gold nibs to cause yellow-gold to appear through the silver-coloured coating, and we have a fair few of those here that we use with a variety of inks.

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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