Nakaya ink flow problems

[King of the Road]

Yikes! I just ordered a Long Size Cigar in Broad which Mr.Mottishaw will grind down to a 0.45 mm stub. Did I make a mistake? I thought the Nakaya's were reliable, but you're making me second guess.

Can anyone out there say they've had no problems with their Nakaya ink flow, just to ease my mind.

Edited March 7, 2009 by King of the Road

[MidnightBlue]

If only you could have my Nakaya for one minute your anxiety would melt away "like the snow flake that falls on your hand"

Thanks.

[mava]

Yikes! I just ordered a Long Size Cigar in Broad which Mr.Mottishaw will grind down to a 0.45 mm stub. Did I make a mistake? I thought the Nakaya's were reliable, but you're making me second guess.

Can anyone out there say they've had no problems with their Nakaya ink flow, just to ease my mind.

 

Operative words: Mr. Mottishaw Case closed. You have nothing to worry about. 2 of my 4 Nakaya's were sourced from him and they are fantastic.

[King of the Road]

Mava & MidnightBlue - Thanks for the reassurance! After you hit that "purchase" button, there's always a little bit of trepidation. Especially with such a big purchase. Again, thanks for calming me down.

 

[ianmedium]

I must be really fortunate, I write on average around 10-15 pages a day in my journal and no problems, the nib has improved over that time and now is even smoother yet still with feel.

I really wonder if one of the biggest problems is the nib size chosen as has been mentioned. I just feel that the fine/extra fine is not up to the type of writing we in the west do. The medium I have has no problems really, I did mention elswhere a few things but they were not really problems and have now completely gone with extended use. This really is a wonderful pen and I thin there are two answers to allay fears.

One purchase the pen from Mr Mottishaw and two get a wider nib!

I will say one thing, I wish the ink reservoir was bigger!

[fjf]

That's why I do not want any more converter fillers. Some of those pens are beautiful, but they are also very expensive and not worth the trouble.

[QM2]

That's why I do not want any more converter fillers. Some of those pens are beautiful, but they are also very expensive and not worth the trouble.

 

I doubt that this has anything to do with the pens being converter fillers. The issues people experience are with the nib and feed.

[jkrewalk]

I am purchasing a Nakaya tomorrow from John Mottishaw. I am purchasing in confidence because I am buying it from him. I will let everyone know the outcome when I get it but I have no doubt it will be a perfect writer having bought pens from John before.

 

I will be getting a medium nib and I think people's problems are with trying to use nibs that are too fine. As I have learned, the Nakaya nibs run finer than any other brand so a Nakaya fine may simply be "too" fine for the feed.

 

Also, in my experience, flow problems can be the converter or the feed. It's simple really - just use a cartridge and if the flow problem is resolved it is the converter. Try another converter if you have one. If you use a cartridge and still have the problem then it is the feed and there is little one can do other than send it to a Nibmeister (not necessarily back to the manufacturer who equipped it with a faulty feed to begin with).

 

Taccia experienced a few flow problems. They recently changed their faulty feeds and replaced all of mine at no charge with the new ones. The new feeds they sent were entirely different and made by a different manufacturer. All of my Taccias now write perfectly with the new feeds.

 

A true nibmeister like Mike Masuyama (my preference - Mike is formerly from Sailor and worked under the great masters there), John Mottishaw or Richard Binder however can fix the feed if that is the problem for very little money (flow adjustment is inexpensive). Sometimes that is necessary. The hassle and expense of sending pens back and forth to Japan is far more expensive than getting the pen adjusted by one of the "great ones" for a mere 20 or 30 dollars!!!!!!! I a sure you will pay many more times that amount in shipping to Japan. And if you are paying 500.00 or more for a pen - what's another 20.00 to have it work perfectly (again - only if necessary)? Some financial thought should be put into being "penny wise and pound foolish" when it comes to these matters.

 

Also, living here in the US - I will never buy a pen directly fro Japan - why would you do that when you could buy it here from John Mottishaw and have it tuned to perfection by a great master???

 

Just my 2 cents - I am sure many will disagree but I offer all of this for others who may be considering a Nakaya.

 

Respectfully,

 

John

Krewalk.com

Edited March 8, 2009 by jkrewalk

[ianmedium]

I am purchasing a Nakaya tomorrow from John Mottishaw. I am purchasing in confidence because I am buying it from him. I will let everyone know the outcome when I get it but I have no doubt it will be a perfect writer having bought pens from John before.

 

I will be getting a medium nib and I think people's problems are with trying to use nibs that are too fine. As I have learned, the Nakaya nibs run finer than any other brand so a Nakaya fine may simply be "too" fine for the feed.

 

Also, in my experience, flow problems can be the converter or the feed. It's simple really - just use a cartridge and if the flow problem is resolved it is the converter. Try another converter if you have one. If you use a cartridge and still have the problem then it is the feed and there is little one can do other than send it to a Nibmeister (not necessarily back to the manufacturer who equipped it with a faulty feed to begin with).

 

Taccia experienced a few flow problems. They recently changed their faulty feeds and replaced all of mine at no charge with the new ones. The new feeds they sent were entirely different and made by a different manufacturer. All of my Taccias now write perfectly with the new feeds.

 

A true nibmeister like Mike Masuyama (my preference - Mike is formerly from Sailor and worked under the great masters there), John Mottishaw or Richard Binder however can fix the feed if that is the problem for very little money (flow adjustment is inexpensive). Sometimes that is necessary. The hassle and expense of sending pens back and forth to Japan is far more expensive than getting the pen adjusted by one of the "great ones" for a mere 20 or 30 dollars!!!!!!! I a sure you will pay many more times that amount in shipping to Japan. And if you are paying 500.00 or more for a pen - what's another 20.00 to have it work perfectly (again - only if necessary)? Some financial thought should be put into being "penny wise and pound foolish" when it comes to these matters.

 

Also, living here in the US - I will never buy a pen directly fro Japan - why would you do that when you could buy it here from John Mottishaw and have it tuned to perfection by a great master???

 

Just my 2 cents - I am sure many will disagree but I offer all of this for others who may be considering a Nakaya.

 

Respectfully,

 

Johnalk.com

Krew

 

Here here!

 

[alexmaturo]

Hello from Italy.

 

I just recently bought a Nakya long writer with an F Flexible nib, from a well reputer internet collector/merchant who had it on consignment.

The pen is in a beautyful purple Shobu colour.

When I received it was simply not working, with a quite scratchy nib, and once adjusted the nib in proper position still showing ink flow problems.

The reason was not on the nib but definitely on the feeder that was not following the profile of the nib, so the ink flow was present at the tip of the nib but once you put the smallest pressure it simply didn't write.

For other reasons I have had similar experiences with other brands feeders, and most of the time if the feeder is not properly "in profile" with the nib, well, the pen is not a fluid writer.

 

So , following the suggestions of Frank Dubiel's Pen repair book, I just heated carefully the Feeder/nib (I used a hair dryer), properly positioned the feeder to make pressure to the middle of the nib, cooled it down immediately under the cold water tap, and just after filling the converter with Pelikan 4001 blue (that's my "comparison" ink) it was writing perfectly, and still is.

 

Now if you don't have much practice with this process have the pen fixed by an expert, like John Mottishaw.

 

Cheers from Italy

 

 

 

Alex

 

[Richard]

Richard Binder ... his queue is what, 5 months now?

No, actually, we're quoting 13 weeks (exactly 3 months) and will probably return most work in less time than that.

[Blade Runner]

I just heated carefully the Feeder/nib (I used a hair dryer), properly positioned the feeder to make pressure to the middle of the nib.

Could you explain what you mean by "make pressure to the middle of the nib"? Where was the feed originally?

 

Best,

Jeen

[Phthalo]

Sorry to hear about your issues. My pens are all direct from Nakaya, and I have no problems here - my pens are all just perfect. Seriously!

 

I have the most difficult nibs, yet they have gotten them right every time... I am enamored with these pens for good reason.

 

Not being a US resident, I have no need for Mottishaw. But if he and you are both there, it would make sense to take advantage of that to ensure a smooth experience.

[jkrewalk]

I just received my new Nakaya from John Mottishaw - It is a perfect writer out of the box. Perfect flow and very smooth. I love this pen.

[solitaire]

I have a Nakaya with a fine elastic nib and have been through the disappointments and frustrations of the above uers.

This is what I have discovered.

 

When a pen (any pen) writes a couple of lines - or maybe a paragraph - and then dries, it is because the ink in the nib and feed have been used up and no ink (or not much ink) is getting from the converter or cartridge into the feed. (That's why shaking it etc gets it going again.)

 

The problem is almost certain to be at the place where the converter fit to the pen.

 

So what to do?

 

1. Drop the nib section into water (with a drip of detergent?). After a brief soak, blow through it to make bubbles.

 

2. Empty the converter. Clean its open end, because this is almost certainly where your problem is situated. I find the little interdental tooth brushes are ideal for cleaning out these large mouth Nakaya converters.

 

3. Fill up with a low viscosity ink. My Nakaya at present holds a Herbin Moon Dust and writes perfectly but Waterman inks such as the South Seas Blue are also suited to these narrow feeds.

 

For those about to buy a Nakaya, keep to one of the Fine nibs. These are what the Japanese do better than anyone in the world and its a shame not to use their peerless technology (Some of the Japanese pen companys buy their Medium and Broad nibs from Western manufacturers.

 

Hope this helps

Solitaire

Edited March 17, 2009 by solitaire

[globetrotterjon]

Had the same prob with mine. As I bought it from John Mottishaw, I sent it off to him for repair/adjustment. Wrote like a charm thereafter.

[jpr]

All my Nakayas came, and will come, from Mottishaw. What has been delivered are great writers without any problems.

When you order from Mottishaw, regardless of whether you want him to cut the nib or not, he will work on the nib and

feed before shipping it out. Great service from that site (nibs.com). No affiliation, blah blah blah.

[Joehek]

I am very glad I read this thread and I want to thank everyone for their contributions. I have been corresponding with Nakaya and was in the process of placing an order with them but after reading this there is no way I am taking that kind of risk, especially at this dollar amount. I was planning on purchasing a Piccolo Cigar but for what they are charging for these pens I would expect them to work flawlessly for many years. Who wants to ship back and forth to Japan? Sounds like nibs.com is the way to go, too bad I am in CA since now I will have to pay sales tax

[winedoc]

I am very glad I read this thread and I want to thank everyone for their contributions. I have been corresponding with Nakaya and was in the process of placing an order with them but after reading this there is no way I am taking that kind of risk, especially at this dollar amount. I was planning on purchasing a Piccolo Cigar but for what they are charging for these pens I would expect them to work flawlessly for many years. Who wants to ship back and forth to Japan? Sounds like nibs.com is the way to go, too bad I am in CA since now I will have to pay sales tax

 

You can try going to one of your local meet and try other people's Nakaya or purchase a Nakaya second hand before taking the plunge

 

Kevin

 

[Joehek]

Thanks Kevin,

 

Mava (Mac) was kind enough to offer letting me try one of his if we can ever get our schedules worked out to meet. Even the second hand market prices are high. I saw one for sale the other day and the price delta was so small why take a chance on a second hand? For an extra $50 I can get one brand new and it sounds like you want a new one that has a warranty :hmm1: The Danitrio's are looking better every day Kevin!