Have Frustrating Experiences Made You Want To Quit Fountain Pens?

[VladDracule]

I recently posted a thread about being ecstatic about a recent purchase of mine here:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/259919-the-pen-that-makes-you-want-to-just-write/

 

Now for the other side of the story that i mentioned at the beginning of that thread.

 

I currently have a somewhat humble collection of 18 pens. A large percentage of my experiences have been very frustrating. I have had the following issues with brand new pen purchases:

1) Pilot Custom 823 - bad flow out for repair

2) Platinum Century Black Tiger - Bad flow out for repair

3) Platinum Celluloid - misaligned nibs out for repair

4) TSWBI Diamond 580 Bad Boy with Angel Wings - Baby Bottom nib, out for repair

5) TWSBI Diamond 580 Rose Gold - also appears to have baby bottom, out for replacement

6) Visconti Salvador Dali – Ink flow problems, sent for repair works better now

7) Cross Townsend Medallist - Nib been replaced, still has major ink flow problems

8) Nakaya Desk Pen – Came with misaligned tines, fixed myself

 

If you take the ratio, 8/18, that means roughly 44% of my new purchases have had issues. All of them were bought from respected sellers on this forum, and each of these issues have been verified by the seller and/or nibmeister, so it isnt something I am just making up.

 

the most recent one, the TWSBI Rose Gold was a gift, from my ever-loving girlfriend on our 3 year anniversary. I was borderline infuriated with having not only another pen with nib issues, but one that has such significance to it.

 

Why is it I seem to acquire a VERY proportional amount of pens, from respected sellers, with these types of issues. It really really does make it so that I never want to buy another fountain pen again, because to me, I should not be dropping hundreds of dollars on a pen, for it to arrive with these types of issues. It absolutely perplexes me.

 

Have any of you ever ran into this type of a feeling during your Fountain Pen hobby? If so, what caused it?

 

Edit: I realized this is not a comprehensive list, because I did previously buy a TWSBI Vac, with a bad nib/feed, sent it to Phillip, he confirmed the problem replaced the nib, sent it back to me, and i had the exact same experience. So there are at least 2 more entries you could argue to put on this list

Edited January 28, 2014 by VladDracule

[requiescat]

I sympathize with your frustrations--although the cursive italic nib I got with my Edison Pearl writes beautifully, I have never been able to buy an XF nib unit for my Pearl that writes without massive skipping. I just gave up after a while.

 

I have this theory that the low angle at which I write (about 30 or 35 degrees) means that sometimes the tipping? doesn't contact the paper quite right and so I am more prone to have skipping issues with my pens. But that's just a guess and I could be wrong. I wonder if there's something about the way you write that means that certain pens are less likely to work out for you?

 

My most reliable writer for the buck, ironically, is the $15 Nemosine Singularity. If I need more fountain pens in the future, I'm probably stocking up on those; even if a couple are duds, at $15 I'm not out too much money!

[Apprenti]

Yeah, a Noodler's Creaper. It works fine for everyday writing, but it's awful for what I bought it for (flex writing). It railroads a lot. I've heat set the feed, adjusted the channels, EMF modded the nib, tweaked different length of nib/feed showing etc etc etc. It's my only fountain pen atm, but I'm soldiering on with it because I've got a beautiful Liberty flex pen coming in the mail very soon!

 

Actually, I probably would have quit fountain pens if not for this forum.

 

So thanks Fountain Pen Network!

Joe

[Bo Bo Olson]

What inks were you using?

 

 

you should get a 10-12-15X loupe and you can tweak most problems away in 1/2 a minute for misaligned nibs. It's easy enough, once you did it once. From the breather hole press down on the up nib and or lift up on the low nib for a 2-3 seconds a couple of times...looking at it with the loupe after every time.

Even at home it don't take but a bump to misalign a nib.

xxxxxxxxxx

 

The way I see it when I hold the pen in the pit of the web of my thumb it's 35 degrees, 40 at the start of the web of my thumb, and 45 just after the index big knuckle.

Only a couple of my pens want a lower hold, a couple, like my CI a high hold. That is easy, if I don't post...it's a heavier metal Large pen, a Lamy Persona.

Most write easy enough through the whole range that I never have to think about it.

 

I let the heaviness of the pen find it's own place between 45-40 or 35 degrees.

 

I though use the 'forefinger up' method of grasping a pen, so that also involves a small movement of my flat thumb, if I'm posting or not posting a pen. A posted pen sits lower in this tripod variant.

 

The ink you use and the paper can have something to do with railroading. I assume you are trying to max that Ahab all the time. I strive not to max a nib, out side the first time I use it to find it; to stay below it.

Mine has the Angle Wings grind adjustment, so it writes with Easy Full Flex pressure. I'd say mine goes from EF-BB-BBB. I have no problems at 4-5 expansion of the nib, with Noodlers Golden Brown if I draw the letter slowly. If I press it to BBB, yes I get railroading.

EF to BB is an expressive nib.

Mine works well enough up to BB.

 

You can taken out the breather tube, when my nib got flexier, it lagged behind.

These other steps I didn't have to do.

I can see deeping channels as a step followed by widening them if needed.

Then there is the trick I read about about chopping off a few buffer rills to have less buffering= faster feed.

 

Edited January 28, 2014 by Bo Bo Olson

[Steven]

The short answer in no because most of my fountain pen experience has been positive. The other part of this is that I have weeded out all the duds and I have become very aggressive at returning lousy pens and letting the manufacture know about it. Then I come here to occasionally vent my frustration with all the fine folks on this web site. Finally there are a lot of people in this world that live in poverty, misery, are hungry and live in constant fear for their safety, and thus in the big scheme of things, it is just a pen. (Did I just say that?)

[VladDracule]

What inks were you using?

 

 

you should get a 10-12-15X loupe and you can tweak most problems away in 1/2 a minute for misaligned nibs. It's easy enough, once you did it once. From the breather hole press down on the up nib and or lift up on the low nib for a 2-3 seconds a couple of times...looking at it with the loupe after every time.

Even at home it don't take but a bump to misalign a nib.

xxxxxxxxxx

 

The way I see it when I hold the pen in the pit of the web of my thumb it's 35 degrees, 40 at the start of the web of my thumb, and 45 just after the index big knuckle.

Only a couple of my pens want a lower hold, a couple, like my CI a high hold. That is easy, if I don't post...it's a heavier metal Large pen, a Lamy Persona.

Most write easy enough through the whole range that I never have to think about it.

 

I let the heaviness of the pen find it's own place between 45-40 or 35 degrees.

 

I though use the 'forefinger up' method of grasping a pen, so that also involves a small movement of my flat thumb, if I'm posting or not posting a pen. A posted pen sits lower in this tripod variant.

 

 

I have a 15x Loupe, and most of my issues are bigger than mis-alignment with the exception of the Platinum Celluloid. That is a music nib with 3 tines and the breather hole is very hard to see and i dont want to try to align the 3 tine system myself.

 

Most nibs with flow issues have aligned tines, breather hole right down the middle, but there is a bigger problem behind the scenes that i cant fix myself.

 

The custom 823 just stop laying down ink. For words/lines at a time, and yes the breather cap is open. The Platinum black tiger is identical, it just plain wont lay down ink.

 

I mostly use Pilot Iroshizuku ink, or Pelikan. I have a few bottles of private reserve but i dont use it anymore due to sediment building up in the bottles frightens me.

Edited January 28, 2014 by VladDracule

[mrcharlie]

Frustrating experiences have in fact caused me to quit FPs for long periods of time. I am unhappy with the percentage of new pens that don't work well enough to be considered working pens, and especially but not limited to the low price end where the cost of getting them fixed or exchanged is often not worth it due to postal costs, and the cost of a nib-meister fix is 1 to 3 times the cost of the pen.

 

The number of new, non-vintage pens I have purchased which skip, or have flow too bad to use, or "work" as long as you hold them in an exact sweet spot but if they rotate even a few degrees start grabbing paper on the upstroke (which completely !@#$^!s with your handwriting) is large, and is a reasonably large percentage. I also have several used pens that work, but are unpleasant to use for sweet-spot/grabby or just plain scratchy nibs, and one that skips. It is disheartening. On some of these pens I didn't realize the pen was not working right when I first got it since I didn't have much experience at the time; I thought it was supposed to be like that and I was doing something wrong. If I knew then what I know now I would have immediately sent them back for fixing, replacement, or refund.

 

On the other hand, getting one of my "new" pens that didn't work right fixed (seven or eight years later, after not using it during that time) such that it became one of my two functionally best pens was a huge motivational boost, even if it did raise the overall price of the pen from $67.50 to about $100.

[UK Mike]

Out of something like 150 fountain pens that have passed through my hands in the past 18 months there hasn't been one that has had any of those issues you mention. One or two have need a little nib tuning or smoothing which I do myself and although I have sampled the fruits of a nib expert's labours I have never had to use the services of one.

I can't help thinkng you have been extraordinarily unlucky.

[Blade Runner]

Overall qc for fps stink, some brands much worse than others. But knowing how nice a pen can write keeps me in. I also favor a brand with readilly accessible and good customer support. That means a repair center in my own country with people who speak the same language.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I'm lucky I couldn't afford new pens so had to buy vintage....Living in Germany I chased '50-65 pens looking for semi-flex and 'flexi'/maxi-semi-flex nibs.

 

There is nothing I need a modern pen for, I have 5-7 nails...two modern that worked with no problem. A nail's a nail...don't matter if it's an old nail.

 

I have a few 'semi-vintage Pelikan '90's nibs with a very nice springy vintage style regular flex.

 

My butter smooth 605 is more rigid than I like, have heard the modern 400 is the same.

I have a P-75 so don't need any more of that hard semi-nail regular flex.

 

All I can suggest is vintage pens with the better nib of yesteryear.

 

I've reached pen saturation...ie I don't need any more.....out side a Wahl-Eversharp and a ....XX and a XXX. All vintage by the way.

[Sasha Royale]

A good pen is a joy. A bad pen is a challenge.

For me, this is love, not profit.

[RMN]

Disappointments? Yes, I have had some. My Pilot Capless, my Lamy2000, a recent Nakaya, an expensive Pelikan, a few others. Some have been repaired.

 

But there were some great FPs too, so I never felt the urge to throw it all away from me.

 

I think about 10% were real disappointments, 20 % real delights, and the rest just decent pens.

 

D.ick

[pajaro]

You would think technology development would make fountain pens better. Bo Bo Olson has hit the nail on the head. Back when people actually needed fountain pens, they were made to write. Today some are made to write but today many are made for glitz and their value as pocket jewelry. What with ballpoints, rollerballs and pencils and also electronic datacomm, who needs a fountain pen? Why make them to write when you can ramshackle them together as adornments and decoratioons?

[Centopar]

I've had frustrations, but never enough to make me question for a minute how much I enjoy fountain pens. (Right now I have a flexy Waterman BB keyhole nib that I just can't set in a way that doesn't make it pee ink; and I have sent a vintage button filler Parker Challenger out for repair because I daren't apply heat to the celluloid.) But I know I'll fix those things, the pens will be all the better for them, and writing with the rest of my collection gives me such pleasure I can't imagine stopping using them.

[Bo Bo Olson]

No, I had an ample supply of good pens, that an occasional clunker never had a chance.

[WirsPlm]

I went into using fountain pens knowing that this was a niche product and I wasn't going to get a perfect product every time (my IT experience probably helped with this, I learned at a young age that a failed piece of technology was just a chance to try fixing it ). I've applied the same rules to FPs that I do to technology, clothing, and other stuff where preference matters a lot and QC isn't always reliable, I buy multiple backups, I research reliability extensively before a purchase, and I set a fairly low upper price limit so that when I do get a failure I feel no remorse in fixing it myself. The most I've ever spent on a pen is $35, and to be honest I'm not really interested in going higher than that.

 

I do think that the lower price products are more heavily engineered (to avoid returns), because i've used about 20 FPs (rough estimate, haven't been keeping track exactly) and the only failures were ones where I tried to tweak things and didn't know what I was doing. So you might want to start investigating the $20 and below market, especially Pilots at that price, because I've been very happy with my purchases so far.

 

 

I have a 15x Loupe, and most of my issues are bigger than mis-alignment with the exception of the Platinum Celluloid. That is a music nib with 3 tines and the breather hole is very hard to see and i dont want to try to align the 3 tine system myself.

 

Most nibs with flow issues have aligned tines, breather hole right down the middle, but there is a bigger problem behind the scenes that i cant fix myself.

 

The custom 823 just stop laying down ink. For words/lines at a time, and yes the breather cap is open. The Platinum black tiger is identical, it just plain wont lay down ink.

 

I mostly use Pilot Iroshizuku ink, or Pelikan. I have a few bottles of private reserve but i dont use it anymore due to sediment building up in the bottles frightens me.

 

Sediment in the bottles can actually be a normal thing with FP ink, I was surprised and worried about it to at first but there's several threads here talking about how that's normal for some inks especially saturated ones

It sounds like something in the feed is blocking the flow, perhaps a commercial pen flush would help (or flossing the nib), or doublechecking that the cartridges and converters are sealed properly?

[jar]

With your luck I'd fear to leave the house and live in terror because an asteroid was about to hit my house.

[HandLikeAFist]

When my MB 149 was stolen after 20 years, I gave up on FPs. But then I got tempted back by falling in love with a certain shade of ink. I bought a couple of cheap pens in Rome, a Stipula and something else forgettable. Loved the ink, hated the pens. Almost gave up, but that ink, that ink… But I bought a Kaweco...

 

And now I have a perfect pen, a fabulous pen, a very good pen, and a blah pen. Respectively: black Kaweco Sport Classic, f nib; sterling silver Montegrappa Reminiscence, large, f nib, greek key engraving; a silver plastic Kaweco Sport Classic I don't remember buying; a red Lamy Safari, f & 1.1 nibs. I think I'll dump the Lamy unless I can make the nibs less scratchy. I'll waste a paper bag or two and see if I can get the nibs to behave.

 

It's funny how after being so blasé about FPs I am now unable to use anything else. All because of violette ink and a perfect Kaweco pen.

[UK Mike]

With your luck I'd fear to leave the house and live in terror because an asteroid was about to hit my house.

............... and have buttons on my jeans instead of a zip!

[Anirban4u]

Why is it I seem to acquire a VERY proportional amount of pens, from respected sellers, with these types of issues. It really really does make it so that I never want to buy another fountain pen again, because to me, I should not be dropping hundreds of dollars on a pen, for it to arrive with these types of issues. It absolutely perplexes me.

 

Have any of you ever ran into this type of a feeling during your Fountain Pen hobby? If so, what caused it?

 

Edit: I realized this is not a comprehensive list, because I did previously buy a TWSBI Vac, with a bad nib/feed, sent it to Phillip, he confirmed the problem replaced the nib, sent it back to me, and i had the exact same experience. So there are at least 2 more entries you could argue to put on this list

I have accumulated some 14-15 pens and found serious nib problem with only 1. Which my girlfriend gifted me. A Sheaffer 440.

I'll show you the nib.

 

Quite baffling how much bad the nib is for a sheaffer. I have no idea where to get mesh/emery-boards in India.

Them sellers are ready to refund the money but not replace/restore the pen.