Nib Dried Up On Trip - Ink Issue?

[New_Falcon]

I was just on a two week vacation where I wouldn't do much writing, but would need a pen for the occasional form, etc. I took a recently acquired Lamy 2000 and the first couple of days were fine. I should note that I did use this pen for a couple of days before I left and it wrote fine.

I did have the pen carried in a shirt pocket daily and after about a week, I had to make a note and found the nib to be dry even though that I could see ink in the ink window. I used the piston to expel a drop of ink and made the note.

My thought was that maybe the feed was starved due to the ink not touching the feed. The ink level was about a half.

However, the same thing happened at the end of the trip. Only this time expelling a drop of ink didn't let me write anything more than a letter or two. I had to finish the form with a back up rollerball.

This morning I quickly flushed the pen at my desk and filled it again and it's been writing fine since.

Any thoughts on what happened? Ink issue, pen issue, freak occurrence, nasty paper clogging nib?

[pete709]

Odd, my lamy2000 is my most dependable pen in regards of it being left alone for a while. I can leave it for a month on my desk and it will write without any hesitation as soon as nib touches paper.

Always had noodlers x feather or blue in it. So, maybe it's the ink?

Edited January 3, 2014 by pete709

[amberleadavis]

It could be an of those things. I have found that the surface tension of some inks causes issues when I have traveled. When I stay at home, the same ink in the same pen is no problem. Try a few experiments and if you don't see a problem, I wouldn't worry.

[Inkling13]

For small trips, I carry a 20 ml bottle of ink by Pilot, just for such occasions. Your ink may have dried out, or it may be more concentrated than desired in that pen to work properly. Either way, it's fixed with a quick top off on the road, and a bath in an US cleaner when at home.

[New_Falcon]

Just as a follow up.

 

I've been using the pen as my sole pen since I've come back. After the initial flush and fill, the pens been working perfectly so far. I've been carrying it in my normal fashion, shirt pocket.

 

The suggestion of having a little bottle of ink for such occasions is a good one. I actually do have 15ml Nalgene bottles for use when travelling and had it filled with ink. Just never occurred to me to do a quick flush and fill.

[PAKMAN]

A quick flick over a trash can usually does the trick or a touch to a wet paper towel or dip under the faucet. Some members of the "Blue Tongue Society" touch it to their tongue to get it going but I'm not an advocate of that method!

[Tas]

A quick flick over a trash can usually does the trick or a touch to a wet paper towel or dip under the faucet. Some members of the "Blue Tongue Society" touch it to their tongue to get it going but I'm not an advocate of that method!

 

pakmanpony, I used to be a member of the "Blue Tongue Society" until I "Blue Tongued" one of my pens that has ESS Registrar's Ink in it :sick:

 

Never again! I'm convinced that stuff has Bitrex in it's make up.

 

I'm mostly a wiper and a flicker now . . .

[WirsPlm]

Did you fly or otherwise change elevation drastically, or was the area you went to much drier than your home? All of those things can effect how an FP writes (pressure impacts the feed, drier air dries out the ink super more quickly).

[New_Falcon]

-pakmanpony

When the dry up happened, I did operate the piston to expel a drop. The first time this got the pen going again. The second time I tried it a week later, the pen wrote for one letter and then stopped.

 

WirsPlm

Yes I did fly. Two flights there. The first 16 hours and the second 7 hours. It was very dry and very hot on occassion, so that might have something to do with it.

 

I'm going to store the pen nib up for the next week and then see how it writes.

Edited January 8, 2014 by New_Falcon

[Algester]

if it was dry and hot yes the ink may have dried up that' most likely the case