Vintage pen balancing act: feed too wet or nib too dry?

[BambinoFortunato]

I recently got an Onward fountain pen. I'm guessing it's from the late 1920s or early 1930s, though I could be wrong. The feed is ebonite and does not have any fins or cutouts. The pen will through blots of ink all over if shaken. I had a scare when writing normally with Iroshizuku yama-guri it through a blot right into my lap...fortunately I was wearing board shorts so no harm done. I've tried several inks that are wetter or more lubricated and seem to have more danger of blobs (Birmingham weathered brick, Birmingham waterfront dusk, Iroshizuku yama-guri). With drier or less saturated inks I tried, it'll still blob and blot if shaken but normal writing and handling seem safe (Parker Quick blue-black, Visconti green, Herbin vert de gris.

 

The seller outfitted the pen with an NOS vintage nib, so it doesn't have whatever nib was originally on there. It is a VERY fine point nib. Is the blobbing caused by the feed being too wet relative to a drier nib? i.e., if I separated the tines a bit to make the nib wetter, would that free some of the excess ink from the feed into the nib and onto the page? Or would that make it worse? In other words, is the ink bottlenecking in the feed because the nib is too fine and dry for the nib, or will a wetter nib just draw even more (way too much) ink into the feed?

 

I'm bummed that not all my inks seem to work in this pen, but it seems like some inks behaving better in some pens over others (and having to have duplicate colors, e.g. a black Visconti for this one and a black Sailor for my Japanese pens) is just par for the course, especially with vintage pens? 

[mizgeorge]

You don't say what type of pen it is in terms of filling mechanism.

 

If it's an eyedropper, you may well experience some of this type of behaviour, especially when the pen is lower than about half full. Drier inks definitely help. 

 

If the nib has been replaced (by the seller?) it's possible that the feed/nib aren't sitting quite right in the section. Sometimes a small adjustment can make a big difference to how much ink you're getting. 

 

A picture or two would help.

[BambinoFortunato]

19 minutes ago, mizgeorge said:

You don't say what type of pen it is in terms of filling mechanism.

 

If it's an eyedropper, you may well experience some of this type of behaviour, especially when the pen is lower than about half full. Drier inks definitely help. 

 

If the nib has been replaced (by the seller?) it's possible that the feed/nib aren't sitting quite right in the section. Sometimes a small adjustment can make a big difference to how much ink you're getting. 

 

A picture or two would help.

True! How could I forget. It’s a lever filler and looks like this:

 

[mizgeorge]

Pretty pen! 

 

My immediate reaction is that the feed/nib is set too high - I'd be looking to see it a good couple of mm deeper into the section. I suspect that's the reason you're getting too much ink flow as well. 

 

Take a look at some pictures (there are plenty on't web and even some on here) of the same pen (or a wearever) and you'll see what I mean.

 

If it's already been changed, it shouldn't be too hard to reseat the feed. 

[BambinoFortunato]

2 hours ago, mizgeorge said:

Pretty pen! 

 

My immediate reaction is that the feed/nib is set too high - I'd be looking to see it a good couple of mm deeper into the section. I suspect that's the reason you're getting too much ink flow as well. 

 

Take a look at some pictures (there are plenty on't web and even some on here) of the same pen (or a wearever) and you'll see what I mean.

 

If it's already been changed, it shouldn't be too hard to reseat the feed. 

Awesome! That's really helpful. Thanks!