Help With A Duofold Centennial Ink Flow.

[ncpenfan]

I have two fuofold centennials. Both have issues with running dry. What works best? Cartridge vs converter? What inks work best? Aurora ink cartridges, waterman ink and montblanc ink all seem to run dry.

 

Thanks for suggestions.

[FarmBoy]

What is your nib and what is stamped on the back of the feed?

 

Try Waterman or Pelikan ink.

[Jerome Tarshis]

If the pen writes dry with Aurora and Waterman inks, which are pretty willing to flow, I'd say this is an interesting question. We've gotten past "try a different ink." But never fear, there are lots of things that can go wrong and be corrected.

[FarmBoy]

If the pen writes dry with Aurora and Waterman inks, which are pretty willing to flow, I'd say this is an interesting question. We've gotten past "try a different ink." But never fear, there are lots of things that can go wrong and be corrected.

Missed the Waterman ink failed.

[ncpenfan]

Thank you Farmboy and Jerome. The pens are currently in my office. I will describe the nib and feed tomorrow. A well known nibmeister recently worked on one of them to create a stub nib for me. His writing sample is terrific, and when the nib works, it is great.

 

I know that these are well regarded pens. I would love them to work well.

 

Most of what I write with are Pelikan and Montblanc models which tend to write very well (especially the Pelikans).

 

Does it matter if they have a converter or a cartridge?

[richardandtracy]

One further thing.

Are they Mk2 pens with an arrow nib and a banner imprint across the nib saying 'Duofold'? If so, the feeds of the banner nib pens are notoriously dry running. My banner feed international is below, and the pen is rather dry, with frequent advances on the c/c needed:

http://i771.photobucket.com/albums/xx356/richardandtracy/Sdc12644a.jpg

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[Paul80]

Have you tried Parker Ink In your Parker pen?

 

It's always my goto ink for a dry writer

 

Paul

[Matlock]

Have you tried Parker Ink In your Parker pen?

 

It's always my goto ink for a dry writer

 

Paul

 

I agree with that. Also don't use Pelikan ink as it is a dry ink designed for a wet writing (Pelikan) pen.

[ncpenfan]

Thanks to everyone!

 

Paul 80 and Peter ("Matlock") - I tried the parker cartridges previously and no improvement.

 

Richard - I looked at the picture you posted. I have one of each kind of nib. My fine nib looks like your interrnational size and the my medium nib looks like your centennial size.

 

Sorry that this is not helpful. I got to my desk this morning. Both nibs were writing last night, and this morning, both are hard starters, and needed to be primed to work. They both have aurora ink cartridges in them.

 

To summarize:

No difference with parker, MB, or aurora ink.

No difference with a converter or parker cartridge, or aurora cartridge

 

Both have been well flushed, and cleaned.

 

One is an arrow and the other is a banner nib.

 

The feeds look identical except one is marked "f" and the other is a "m"

 

The medium nib recently came back from a well know nibmiester who does great work. Nib is awesome (when ink actually gets to it!).

 

Thanks again. I am about to post them on the classifieds to see if anyone wants them.

[hood]

One question, when you say running dry, do you mean: 1) the nib doesn't put down ink at a satisfactory rate resulting in writing of a lighter shade and a greater amount of friction between the tipping and the paper, including when first filled; or 2) the nib dries out in a short space of time resulting in darker writing as the ink in the feed saturates, followed by no flow at all? Your last post made it sound like the latter but before that I thought you meant the former.

[ncpenfan]

Dear hood, Once I saturate the feed by twisting the converter, I can dependably right for a sentence or two, then it will dry out. If I dont saturate the feed first, the pen is a very hard starter and takes effort to start. This usually means Im shaking the pen several times. Within a sentence or two, the writing stops again.

 

Behaving like a dip pen in many ways.

[Joane]

As mentioned by richardandtracy above, the feeds with the banner nib can fail to load from the cartridge or convertor, requiring manual advancement. I had that problem several years ago and had the pens sent to Parker in France for correction, which they did. But the problem was not completely alleviated.

 

Since then I have tried different inks and filling methods and have found that Diemine, Montblanc and J. Herbin ink work the best but the main change is I dont fill the convertor, which is what I use, as instructed by Parker.

 

Parker says to expel three drops then hold the pen nib upward to close it. Instead, i expel about five drops and close the pen keeping the nib facing down. That has worked for me. I just refilled a Duodold International Medium Oblique banner with J. Herbin Bleu des Profondeurs and wrote seven pages with no drying up.

[ncpenfan]

thanks to everyone!

 

I will try to experiment with wetter inks. Any experience with the noodler's eel series?