"lubricating" Inks And Water Solubility

[pseudo]

I think I'm in the right forum section, but mods feel free to move the post if it isn't. I've got a question about inks "lubricating" the nib, and whether that's affected by water solubility.

 

Anyway, context. I recently started using my neglected Waterman Serenity Blue again, and I'm about to chuck the bottle out the window. It's horrible . I feel like I'm writing without ink, and my handwriting is garbage because of the vastly different feel.

 

Thing is, the Waterman is the most (read: completely) water soluble of my four routine inks. I also remember reading about "lubricating" inks, and I got the idea that "lubricating inks" helped reduce the friction between nib and paper (I may have misunderstood, though).

 

Do more water-soluble inks tend to cause more friction when writing? I figure maybe it's got something to do with viscosity? Or maybe less pigment/filler/whatever in washable inks that causes less lubrication or something.

 

Any explanation would be greatly appreciated; anything for that good writing experience, hey?

[Runnin_Ute]

Lubricating inks lubricate internal parts of a pen and may be wet or dry....

 

Serenity Blue is a well behaved moderately wet ink. It used to be considered wet.But there are wetter inks available. Many people use it and Pelikan 4001 inks as benchmark type inks. One wet, one dry.

 

There is a TOD on this issue that is more in depth. One for wet, one for dry and one for lubricating. ...

[pseudo]

Ah I see, thanks. Well maybe it's my nib or feed being weird, then. I haven't been very lucky with pens, my Platinum is wet but scratchy, and I've gone through 4 Lamy black nibs already and they all write really dry.

[AG_ORD]

Aloha pseudo, it doesn't sound like an ink problem per se; you may need to give your pen a good flush cleaning and then inspecting the nib tines under magnification to make sure they are in proper alignment. As Runnin_Ute said, lubricating inks are designed for lightly lubricating internal parts of pen, like the plunger in a piston filler etc.

[tamiya]

Ah I see, thanks. Well maybe it's my nib or feed being weird, then. I haven't been very lucky with pens, my Platinum is wet but scratchy, and I've gone through 4 Lamy black nibs already and they all write really dry.

wonder if it might be a temperature/humidity thing... which part of oz are you in?

 

Recently landed back in Melb, picked up a pen I left inked with Serenity probably 4-6 mths ago... found cart half emptied (more evaporated than written I'd say). Didn't think much of it when I topped it up back to full when I had the Serenity bottle out last week.

 

This was a nice wet smooth writer back last summer; now it's really draggy on copypaper. Tried Rhodia pad and its way worse, squeaky like a broad texta! weird... ink must've concentrated, the blue is definite deeper. (Either that or maybe it wasn't Serenity in there originally, perhaps Mysterious... Hmm)

 

How old are your Lamy nibs btw?

 

Brandnew mine write fine but after a period of using/polishing they seem to dry up a bit. Feels better when I rough their tip a bit with 7000grit rather than a mirror shiny sweetspot.

 

Feeds are ok usually but my first Al-Star came with a gloriously generous example (came from a proper pen shop, he took some time installing me a black M nib... I didn't know black art of pen tuning back then) so I want every subsequent Lamy to flow as good - most do need a floss & wash at the very least.

 

Most of my Lamy fleet are filled with fancier inks (Lamy own, Iroshizuku, J.Herbin) and they're nicely smooth... recently tried some cheaper utilitarian inks (Pilot, herlitz) thru Lamy and those 2 dried up like they sucked a lemon! Scritchy & desert dry... washed out the herlitz black, refilled with Lamy and its gliding again. Have left the Pilot blueblack in for now, it's tolerable & I'll keep it as a test constant.

[pseudo]

@AG_ORD

I've done the usual flushing etc. on the pens. It's most likely exclusively a nib issue, if not nib and ink. That said, I swapped in my favourite nib and the Waterman Serenity Blue still writes a bit drier than my other inks.

 

@tamiya

I'm in Brisbane. While it's cold and dry, I don't think it's that bad

 

I've had very bad luck with black Lamy nibs; this is my third Fine one in about a year. The first didn't flow properly and I damaged it while spreading the tines. Second one goes out of alignment only when you put it on a pen. The third and current one looks perfectly good but doesn't feel smooth (it's a bit "sticky" on the paper, if you get my meaning), and it skips a lot even with a rather wet ink.

 

So far my best nib is the stock steel Fine nib that came with my first Lamy Safari. Very smooth, very straightforward.

 

Nibs aside, there's just something about the Waterman, I dunno. It's as if the ink is too thin; it's like water, maybe that's why I feel like I'm writing with a dry pen. I've got only three other regular inks: J. Herbin's Larmes De Cassis (my favourite), Kaweco's Pearl Black, and a De Atramentis Petrol. All of these are okay even with my Platinum Cool in Fine, even though that pen is scratchy like a nail.

[tamiya]

yeah Brissy is relatively tame back in summer 43degC some pens lying on my desk had to be cocooned into plastic pencilcases to reduce them barfing their ink into their caps each day; 6mths later it down to 6degC in the same room - we don't have central heat nor aircon.

 

I've had very bad luck with black Lamy nibs; this is my third Fine one in about a year. The first didn't flow properly and I damaged it while spreading the tines. Second one goes out of alignment only when you put it on a pen. The third and current one looks perfectly good but doesn't feel smooth (it's a bit "sticky" on the paper, if you get my meaning), and it skips a lot even with a rather wet ink.

 

So far my best nib is the stock steel Fine nib that came with my first Lamy Safari. Very smooth, very straightforward.

yeah their nibs vary a lot and these days I prefer to buy in person, I kinda know which ones will write smoothest (vs which ones I can't even rehabilitate). It's all in the shape of the foot (tipping), I prefer the ones which are oval "upright" rather than oval "sideways". I can spend hours inspecting every FP in a Lamy shop display...

 

Once adopted home I then floss, spread tines and give the feed a onceover; if only to make every pen behave similarly. I prefer Al-Star's see through segment over Safari opaque too - better to see how the ink is wicking.

 

Some need a quick buff if sweetspot has some sharp edges giving odd transitions.

 

Nibs that rock on the feed means their gripping tangs need retensioning. I've to bend in the square sides whilst not flattening the top curve too much... always needs several goes trial & error.

 

Haven't noticed much difference between black or chrome except the black can get scuffed off if meddled too much.

 

Are you willing to try your hand at tuning? if you can't find any useful abrasives & shim stock drop me a msg with addy, got ample supply down here.