Trouble With Ink Flow In Visconti Van Gogh - Is It The Nib Or The Converter?

[AmaranthMoor]

Hi, everyone!

 

I just bought a brand new Van Gogh with a Medium nib, and although it writes smooth and wonderful when it works, it also has hard starts and skips constantly! I'm feeling kind of glum since it cost me almost 300 bucks...and this was my first time buying an expensive fountain pen, too!

 

I have done everything--aligned the tines a little better, flushed it, checked for baby bottom (doesn't look like it has it!) and the only thing I can find off is that the feed is very, very slightly off center from the nib.

 

The only thing that gets it running smoothly for a page or two is if I open it and scroll down the converter in order to force the ink down; this prompts me to wonder whether the issue isn't with the nib at all, but with the converter!

 

Is this a common thing with Visconti pens, or a certain kind of fountain pen in general? I am feeling silly that I just walked into the store without doing much research and took the recommendation of the person at the counter...do other brands like Parker and Montblanc have better ink flow?

 

Thanks!

[Ron Z]

Most likely the feed. Visconti feeds are notorious for having problems.

[Cordovian]

You could mix a drop of dish soap with a cup of water and flush the converter out to make sure it's not a surface tension thing going on.

 

If that doesn't work and you're comfortable with removing the nib and feed you could floss the channel in the feed with some thread or very, very thin wire. I haven't had to do that to any of my Visconti's but I have found some Delta pens that had fine debris in the feed channel.

[ingolf]

If you are not sure then try to use a cartridge (if possible). Maybe you will find the cause of the problem.

Regards, Ingolf.

[AmaranthMoor]

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions! After a lot of fiddling and tweaking, unfortunately, there was no change, so instead I sent it off to Pendleton Brown for his BLS. Fingers crossed! ;u;

[s_t_e_v_e]

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions! After a lot of fiddling and tweaking, unfortunately, there was no change, so instead I sent it off to Pendleton Brown for his BLS. Fingers crossed! ;u;

 

For 300 bucks, I would have asked for a replacement from the vendor who sold it to you! Fountain pens can be a mixed bag. Certain brands or models can have persistent issues but otherwise for the most part, we have decent quality pens around at least at the price you paid. Hopefully PB can fix it for you.

[AmaranthMoor]

 

For 300 bucks, I would have asked for a replacement from the vendor who sold it to you! Fountain pens can be a mixed bag. Certain brands or models can have persistent issues but otherwise for the most part, we have decent quality pens around at least at the price you paid. Hopefully PB can fix it for you.

That would probably have been the smart thing, to be honest--but I figured that they would probably tell me to send it to Visconti through Coles of London, and I've read lots of stories of people doing so only to still get subpar nibs back after weeks of waiting...best to just go all the way at this point! And I've heard so much about Peanut Butter's Pendleton Brown's BLS that I decided to take the plunge

 

Though the waiting is getting to me--I miss my pen! Which is extremely silly, since it's only been like three days, and I ordered the expedited turnaround so it won't be too long, AND it was driving me crazy with all that skipping and disappointment before I put it in the mail...but...I...

 

...

 

...I liked it...