Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown isn't flowing

[archie98]

Hello,

I bought a Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown several days ago. It was a new, sealed bottle. The shade is really nice, but the problem is that the ink is not flowing through the feeds of my pens. 

 

 

I know, Pelikan 4001 inks are pretty dry and they need a gusher to work with. I tried it in a Jinhao x450(which gives a very wet flow), a Kaweco Perkeo M (which, again, is pretty wet), a Cross Bailey Light M (which too is wet), a Click Aristocrat M and a Kanwrite Desire F (both of which are wet). I EDed the last two, still they didn’t work really well. The only wet pen I haven't tried it with is a Lamy Safari M - it is currently inked with Lamy Blue.

 

In all of the above cases, after writing a few lines - the ink would stop flowing in the feed, skip a lot, flow inconsistently after vigorous shake. If I prime the feed and cap the pens back, they'd again start writing. 

 

Any solution? Helps will be appreciated.

 

TIA!

[OCArt]

I assume you've done the following but just to be sure:

• Did you wait several minutes, even an hour, to allow time for the nib to wick ink by capillary action?
• Did you store the pen capped and nib down for the above?
• Have the pens worked well with other inks?
• If brand new pens did you flush them with water and a drop of dishwashing soap?
• Does the ink smell bad?
• Do you see any 'stuff' in the bottle?

I hope we can get an answer to the mystery. 

 

[archie98]

1 hour ago, OCArt said:

I assume you've done the following but just to be sure:

• Did you wait several minutes, even an hour, to allow time for the nib to wick ink by capillary action?
• Did you store the pen capped and nib down for the above?
• Have the pens worked well with other inks?
• If brand new pens did you flush them with water and a drop of dishwashing soap?
• Does the ink smell bad?
• Do you see any 'stuff' in the bottle?

I hope we can get an answer to the mystery. 

 

1. Waited for 1+day in each case.

2. Yes, I did

3. Yes, except for the Jinhao x450 which is a new pen for me, I have been using the other pens for a long time without any trouble whatsoever. 

4. Yes, I did that with the Jinhao x450, as it was a new pen. I always wash my new pens like this only.

5. No, it doesn't. I don't think it's a case of SITB/mould.

6. Nope.. 

[N1003U]

I use a fair bit of Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown (I've been through two small bottles this year), and IME, it behaves very similarly to other Pelikan 4001 inks. It is maybe a little dry (though I personally think that reputation of 4001 inks as "very" dry is overstated), but otherwise the ink is boringly reliable.

 

I did have a bottle of 4001 ink one time (Brilliant Black) that behaved similarly to the above description (poor flow, skippy, etc.), and I assumed it had somehow been either contaminated, or it had excessive environmental excursions (temperature, etc.) due to travel. I just discarded the ink and replaced it, and it was never a problem again. I generally use the Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown in JoWo, Lamy, Pelikan, and Pilot feeds/nibs without issues.

 

Questions: 1.) does the ink seem to dry normally (i.e., less than about 25 - 30 seconds)? 2.) have you noticed any sticky or oily residues on the nib or on poorly-dried writing samples?

 

These were observable issues with my problematic 4001 ink (failure to dry completely, even after a few minutes, and sticky/oily residues on the nib), but I dismissed it as an  environmental or exception because the ink bottle had a lot of, let's say, "experience."

 

Does the ink have any other observable abnormalities?

[archie98]

4 hours ago, N1003U said:

I use a fair bit of Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown (I've been through two small bottles this year), and IME, it behaves very similarly to other Pelikan 4001 inks. It is maybe a little dry (though I personally think that reputation of 4001 inks as "very" dry is overstated), but otherwise the ink is boringly reliable.

 

I did have a bottle of 4001 ink one time (Brilliant Black) that behaved similarly to the above description (poor flow, skippy, etc.), and I assumed it had somehow been either contaminated, or it had excessive environmental excursions (temperature, etc.) due to travel. I just discarded the ink and replaced it, and it was never a problem again. I generally use the Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown in JoWo, Lamy, Pelikan, and Pilot feeds/nibs without issues.

 

Questions: 1.) does the ink seem to dry normally (i.e., less than about 25 - 30 seconds)? 2.) have you noticed any sticky or oily residues on the nib or on poorly-dried writing samples?

 

These were observable issues with my problematic 4001 ink (failure to dry completely, even after a few minutes, and sticky/oily residues on the nib), but I dismissed it as an  environmental or exception because the ink bottle had a lot of, let's say, "experience."

 

Does the ink have any other observable abnormalities?

I mostly use cheap papers, and even on those, it takes quite a bit of time(~10 secs) to get completely dried, compared to other inks which take 3-7 secs to dry. I haven't seen the oily residue thing that you mentioned, but.. I'm presently using it in an ED pen - and the surface looks oily.