How To Fix Nibs That Write Way Too Dry ?

[kludgyken]

Hi guys!

 

I have a Nemosine fission that writes way too dry. In fact, it's so dry that the ink appears to be a shade lighter than it's actual color.

The problem started a few days ago. I have tried to clean the pen, made sure that the nib and feed were aligned and even made sure that the converter was nicely in.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

~Ken

[Bo Bo Olson]

First get a wetter ink.............but in it's resent....the converter could use a small steel ball or bit of spring to break up vapor lock.

 

What ink are you using? Be it a wet Noodler's....dilute the ink with water.

 

You have taken your rubber baby syringe and flushed the section out from the back? That is the basic cleaning tool for a CC pen. It gets out all the gunk.

Edited November 1, 2017 by Bo Bo Olson

[PAKMAN]

A process called nib flossing will probably make it wetter.

[Bo Bo Olson]

As a last thing......cure....is to take your thumbnails under the shoulders of the nib and very gently and very lightly pull the shoulders slightly apart.

Try a different ink or diluted ink first.

In it is much easier to spread tines than it is to shove them back to tight enough.....tiny bit...check...tiny bit.....check.

Hopefully someone will link you to the link needed.

[OMASsimo]

Hi guys!

 

I have a Nemosine fission that writes way too dry. In fact, it's so dry that the ink appears to be a shade lighter than it's actual color.

The problem started a few days ago. I have tried to clean the pen, made sure that the nib and feed were aligned and even made sure that the converter was nicely in.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

~Ken

 

So, in other words, the pen wrote fine before? And now something changed and it developed flow issues? Unless you dropped the pen on the nib, it's most likely a cleaning issue. Don't fiddle around with the nib before you are sure that it must be the nib. What ink do you use?

 

Good luck

[virgilio]

All useful advice. I will add that most modern pens write too dry out of the box, except on very absorbent, cheap notebook paper and the like.

 

To increase ink flow, press down very lightly on the tines. If you press down too far and the tines splay (too far apart), so that there is no ink flow at all, turn the pen over and press down until the tines are closer together and you get ink flow again.

 

If you want a REALLY wetter pen however, you will need to increase the space between the tines all the way from the breather hole to the nib point. For that you will have to pull the nib and use a razor blade (or shim) that you insert between the tines, preferably beginning at the breather hole, not the nib point. But you may ruin the nib unless you have some experience doing this.

 

Another cure for a dry pen is to make your ink wetter. Drip in 2 or 3 tiny drops of Ivory dish detergent from a small veterinary syringe (available in farm supply and horse stores) into your bottle of ink. Shake. If you add too much detergent and the ink feathers (too wet), add a little distilled water to make the ink drier. You may also want to add BOTH detergent and distilled water if the ink seems very thick.

 

I am assuming that you know how to refill your cartrige from a bottle of ink, using a syringe.

 

YOu should get a converter for the pen, and use that instead of a cartridge however; this reduces clogs. To clear a cartridge pen with a clog, remove the cartridge and soak the section overnight in warm water.

[Bo Bo Olson]

It depends on what you want the ink to do....if you want 'wet glossy' ink, then some nibs will be too dry.

If you want shading ink....it's possible a real wet nib could be too wet and drown the shading.

 

I'm sure the good shading ink Herbin Le Thee`....a medium brown would be considered too dry......in it is a two tone shading ink and not a painted with a brush vibrant supersaturated ink.

Shading inks are often called wishy-washy or pastel by noobies looking for the super glistening gel pen line.

 

I have no need for such boring monotone inks....when I can get inks that shade, have sheen or even ....glitter inks that also have sheen.

 

Semi-flex nibs tend to be wetter due to ease of tine spread.....so are often too wet for shading inks, unless well matched for ink and paper.

For wet line variation, one might think of eventually buying them.....and semi-flex ........ is not a so called 'Flex' nib....superflex is the proper term.

Edited November 1, 2017 by Bo Bo Olson

[kludgyken]

Hi guys!

 

 

Thanks for the replies.

I have been using parker Quink Black. I would consider the ink to be dry. I have re-cleaned the pen to make sure that it wasn't a cleaning fault. I have never 'flossed' the pen though. How are you supposed to do that ? With dental floss or with a thin sheet of some metal ?

 

~Ken

Edited November 2, 2017 by kludgyken

[senzen]

In my (limited, or at least not as vast as others here) experience, it's usually not the nib, but the filling system or feed; for instance I've had nothing but problems with a Platinum Cool, until the converter even stopped going back up, so I tried something I had not done in years and years: an actual cartridge; and wouldn't you know it, it's finally behaving today; even if writing with a standard blue black ink seems... monochromatic. Likewise a Waterman Le Man 100 had problems until I changed the converter. I've only had feed problems with Rouge Hematite, which is a notoriously gunky ink; luckily Lamy Safaris are very easy to clean, and I got proficient at it.

[Sasha Royale]

Does your fountain pen have an "EF" or "EEEF" nib ?

[kludgyken]

Hi guys!

Thanks for the replies. The problem seems to be solved. I took the nib and the feed apart and checked the feed for any problem. Turns out the ink coagulated in the feed. I checked the date of manufacture of the ink which said the ink was 3 years old, which might have caused it to coagulate. And I also passed a thin metal sheet through the nib, which made it an even writer.

Thanks guys

~Ken

[Bo Bo Olson]

Ink three years old are mostly OK....Save it for your next pen. You can needle fill a cartridge and save a small fortune. Cartridges are now and always have been very expensive when compared to bottled ink.

 

I have lots of ink that is older than 3 years....some folks have 30-50 year old ink that works well.

Some bottles .....are too old. As Jar says....ink is cheap......well, in my bracket two sports bar beers cheap.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Bo Bo Olson

[FarmBoy]

I'm a fan of nib oil, I'm surprised no one mentioned this method.

[minddance]

Just very gently spread the tines to make sure they are not pressing too tightly against each other. And hack the feed. Probably get a Nibmeister who would do feed work.

 

Many modern feeds are way too restrictive.

Edited November 4, 2017 by minddance

[sidthecat]

Nib oil? How hard do you have to squeeze a nib to get oil out of it?