Kaweco Sport Dries Up And Stops Writing Every Few Pages

[Uncial]

Kaweco has a known issue with problem feeds. It used to be a lot worse and they have managed to curtail it somewhat, but I'm only judging that on the fewer number of times you hear about the issue on places like this and after they made an announcement about it a few years back. If you contact them directly they will send you a new feed and nib unit.

[antoipod]

 

Nope. Eyedroppers should never burp until they get down to about 1/4 full. And even then, you shouldn't notice it in a pocket if you keep it nib up and the burping should be super minimal when it's "ready" for a refill.

 

If you use eyedroppers enough you will very quickly get a feel for when they need refilling, and when they're kept normally above 1/3-1/4 full (which is like 20-30 converters of ink, really) they will never burp.

 

And all that said, the majority of eyedroppers never burp anyways. It will start to get more wet, yes, but the pen most likely won't burp. the eyedroppers I use most - a noodlers charlie, a noodlers boston safety, a moonman C1, M2, penbbs 323, variopus vintage japanese eyedroppers, and a Ranga 8c, don't ever burp. They just start to get wet, I use them that way throughout the day, and then refill them, which only ever seems to need doing rarely since they hold so much darn ink.

 

Don't leave them somewhere where they get very cold, and if you do, just hold it upright in a closed fist for 10 seconds or so to equalize it a bit and you're good to go for the rest of the day.

 

Also, keeping them close to your body in a pocket is ideal, the risk they run into for burping mostly arises

I think you've convinced me to keep is as an eyedropper, the ink capacity is just too good to pass up.

[Beechwood]

Kaweco has a known issue with problem feeds. It used to be a lot worse and they have managed to curtail it somewhat, but I'm only judging that on the fewer number of times you hear about the issue on places like this and after they made an announcement about it a few years back. If you contact them directly they will send you a new feed and nib unit.

 

 

This is also my experience. I have owned three because I like the design and the functionality but I want a pen that works, and 3-4 lines of writing before it dries up just doesnt work for me, with each of the three.

 

I buy the clones and have no problems.

[tinta]

The care & feeding of my present three Kawecos was a long, on-going process, till I had my feeds & nibs modified. Even after that, I had to discover what inks flowed well through the Bock 060 feed, a "problematic" feed shared by many Kawecos, though not the Sport

 

My original idea of using Pelikan's 4001 blue/black carts, as a somewhat water-resistant ink for my Lilliput faded when I realized that this bone dry Pelikan ink is not going to work out on the long run.

 

After much experimenting with various Diamine carts & carts of other EU manufacturers, I discovered by accident that Visconti inks seem to flow the best in my Stainless Lilliput, particularly Visconti's Sepia. (not a water resistant ink) This ink reminds me a little of the late & lamented OMAS sepia.

 

One of my Kaweco Special pens is now set-up as a "cartridge-only" pen with two Visconti Blue internatl' short carts, back-to-back + a wee spring I saved from an old Dia2.to store the carts tightly. The Visconti Blue gives me a nice medium shade of blue.

 

My second Kaweco Special is fitted with Kaweco's converter & is usually filled with one of the many iron-gall bottled inks in my collection.. My favourite inks that work well in this set-up are from either R&K or Akkermann or the IG inks from Platinum.

 

When Pendleton Brown did nib work for me, I asked him to set the modified nibs & the Bock 060 feeds for a drier, iron-gall type ink.

Now this pen is an absolute pleasure to write with.. The cold metal feel of the section can take some time to get used to.

 

I would think that the popular Kaweco sports may also have feed problems.

The first Kaweco I ever owned was a lovely little green Sport. Not even Kaweco's own ink in a Kaweco cart would flow through this pen. I loved the concept of writing with a small pen & didn't mind using cartridges, but the frustration with "ink starvation" led me to PIF the pen.

 

Convenience for travel & portability motivated me to take a second look at a Kaweco's Lilliput. This is where my journey with modern the modern Kawecos really started. They can be good pens but you have to work at them to make them perform correctly.

 

The folks at Heidelberg bend over backwards to provide information & useful customer service. Hope they can solve the feed problem in their pens.

Edited November 9, 2019 by tinta

[essayfaire]

I had a similar problem with a recently purchased Kaweco: the cartridge didn't "pop" properly from the get-go; the pen didn't seem to be laying enough ink down; the ink that did make it to the paper looked way too faint. Flushing the pen and replacing the cartridge didn't help. The good folks over at Pen Chalet sent me a new nib section and it worked properly straight away. I'm wondering if they had a problem run during manufacturing. Mine is dark green.

[tinta]

I had a similar problem with a recently purchased Kaweco: the cartridge didn't "pop" properly from the get-go; the pen didn't seem to be laying enough ink down; the ink that did make it to the paper looked way too faint. Flushing the pen and replacing the cartridge didn't help. The good folks over at Pen Chalet sent me a new nib section and it worked properly straight away. I'm wondering if they had a problem run during manufacturing. Mine is dark green.

My green Sport was bought about 7 or 8 years ago. Since that time I keep reading about Kaweco pens with ink starvation. By all means (bulb) flushing in both directions is a good first start for any pen, particularly for one using carts only. Resin Sports have different Bock feeds from the metal Sports (which use a Bock 060 feed). I'm glad your replacement nib unit worked. With Kaweco flowing properly, it's the luck of the draw.

Edited November 19, 2019 by tinta

[txomsy]

I have found that Montblanc inks work flawlessly on my Kawecos (AL sport, Brass sport and copper liliput). Same for Parker Quink.

 

Same can be said for Noodler's inks in general: X-feather, BSB, Brown #41, Lexington Gray, ... although some (like Polar Blue) did seem a bit drier -might have been the paper though-.

 

Note that this is my experience. YMMV.

Edited November 19, 2019 by txomsy

[sirgilbert357]

A dry ink can be made to flow wetter with Dawn dishwashing detergent. Just dip the tip of a syringe or toothpick in a drop of Dawn and then insert into the converter full of ink (or cartridge if you've refilled it) and swish around a bit. You'll get a wetter writing pen without modifying anything or having to give up your favorite ink in a given pen. This is a great hack when nothing else is working...