Diagnosing ink starvation and nib drying

[InesF]

When a pen starts writing darker after a while of not in use and the colour of the ink lines become faint after some lines of written text, you intuitively think about a potential problem with your pen or with the ink.

In theory, an ink that (partly) dried out from the nib over night or over some days will become concentrated and will have a more intense colour, while the flow (the amount of ink laid down per cm) may be almost unchanged. If a nib & feed unit has a problem with restricted (partly blocked) ink flow, you may observe something similar: the pen starts writing wet (intense) after a short break and the line will fade out to a more pale colour with (maybe) visibly reduced wetness.

How to differentiate one from the other?

Why differentiate at all? Because you can do little against drying ink from a capped pen but, most probably, you can do something to overcome ink starvation. (remark: sure you may close the hole in the cap and seal it, but 1) that will not always help and 2) why has the producer designed a pen with a not tight cap?)

From my collection of meanwhile 17 pens, 3 have the problem of writing one or two lines of text in darker colour after a short break. I hate that!

 

So I did the experiment with two of my pens. If you like to do such a test, follow this experimental setup:

• prepare two sheets of paper of the same type, one for the startup, one for the test
• make sure the pen is filled half-full (or more) with non-black ink
• equilibrate the pen on the first paper by writing three (or more) lines of text in your normal handwriting speed and style. Set this sheet aside, you do not need it any longer.
• without closing the pen, immediately write a paragraph of three to four lines of text on the test sheet in your normal handwriting speed and style (paragraph 1)
• close the pen and give it a 15-20 minutes rest, do not move it, do not open it during the break
• open it and immediately write a new paragraph (number 2), as before
• close the pen and give it a 6-24 hours rest (over night ist OK), do not move it, do not open it during that time
• open the pen and immediately write a third paragraph (3), as before.
• examine the appearance of the three paragraphs, look for sudden and for gradual changes in colour, colour intensity, line width and signs for extraordinary wet or dry lines.
• optional: re-fill your pen, wipe the nib clean and immediately write a fourth paragraph (4). Is it very different from the first?

 

The result of my pen test and comparison is in the attached picture. Left side is the pen with the airtight cap, right side the one with the hole (neither air- nor water-tight). Both use Waterman inks, although of different colour.

 

A) no differences: all lines of all three paragraphs look the same. Congratulations, you fountain pen is fully functional with the chosen ink (!), there is neither ink starvation nor ink drying.

B ) the third paragraph starts darker, but no difference between first and second: The ink is drying from you nib when not in use. Nasty, but maybe unavoidable. Luckily, your fountain pen does not suffer from ink starvation with the chosen ink.

C) the second AND the third paragraph start darker than the first and both look similar to each other: Most probably your pen suffers from ink starvation, with your style of handwriting you want to put more ink on the paper than the feed can deliver. If you dislike slowing down your writing (I can understand that), you may flush the nib & feed with excessive warm water and/or dishwasher solution or pen flush or whatever has a cleaning effect. Afterwards let all parts dry, assemble the pen and start the test again from step 1.

D) both paragraphs start darker with the third significantly darker than the second: Your fountain pen has both symptoms, a drying ink and ink starvation. You can somehow work against the starvation problem by flushing the nib & feet unit (see c).

optional E) almost all freshly filled pens write significantly wetter, but may reach their equilibrium within some single lines of text. With this test you get an impression about how big the cavities in your pens feed are and how much you can write before an ink starvation (if any) will become visible.

 

Why do I think, closing and sealing the hole in the cap may not help? In my test you can clearly see that the fountain pen with the tight cap (left side) has the bigger drying problem! The pen on the right side suffers from ink starvation and only a little bit from ink drying, although it‘s cap is not tight. I can do nothing to improve the drying pen but I will continue to rinse and clean the other one and try a less viscous ink - the pen has, at least, some potential to become more consistent.

I hope this is helpful for you and I would like to read your comments, your test results and more interpretations.

[maclink]

So far, out of over 50 pens, count me lucky, but I've had significant flow issues only with two because of feed issues that I managed to fix.  These flow issues were significant with the ink flow never settling down.  One would flow very well then write quite a dry line, only to 'flood' as it were and put down a wet line, cycling from wet to dry as I wrote.  The other pen would start with a wet line and then fade until completely dried out after a paragraph or so.  I would agitate and shake it for it to start again with a good heavy flow and then it would gradually dry out until it stops writing again, cycling like this.  

 

Otherwise, if there's a problem with saturation variation, it's from drying out.  I conclude this because the high saturation occurs for the first few lines to even pages and then the pen settles down to the consistent and expected saturation as I would get from a fresh fill.  I agree that the lighter colours are more sensitive or show up the issue more readily.  

 

I do feel that many of my pens seal well, and yet, dry out a little as the air space within the cap allows.  Typically, these pens have no inner cap to limit the amount of air around the nib when stored.  These pens put down a more saturated line for about 2-3 lines of text before reaching the inks true saturation, performing consistently from there.  On the other hand, pens that I know do dry out when stored, will put down a more saturated line for longer and with the initial level of saturation being deeper.  I don't use dry or permanent inks in those pens! 

[mouse2cat]

For me I can see how fast the ink evaporates out of the cartridge. So I know that my pens are evaporating out of the cap. This seems to be an issue with my friction fit caps that don't have an O ring at the closure. For me it's my parker 45. So I will be careful with my nanopigment inks in this pen. Unfortunately for me that's the majority of my ink collection.

 

I have not observed quite as dramatic a difference in color but I have been using much darker inks. 

 

I have heard that the indigraph India ink pen has the opposite problem. Because it has that humidity bubble in the cap it gradually dilutes the ink in the nib so that when you pick it up after it's sat for a while it will actually write lighter than usual. 

[ParramattaPaul]

The only occasional flow problem I have with one pen is caused by the converter 'vacuum locking'.  I resolve that by simply screwing down the plunger.  I could probably eliminate the problem completely by replacing the converter.

[OMASsimo]

I think that your nice analysis describes the two potential problems pretty well. The only thing I’d like to point out is that the vent holes in the caps of many vintage pens are not responsible for the nib drying out.  In fact, the vast majority of my vintage pens show very little problems as you demonstrate here. The vent holes are below and thus outside the sealed off nib cavity when the cap is on the pen.

[InesF]

Thank you for your kind and informative replies!

 

@maclink: The ratio of drying vs. not drying pens is about the same for me, luckily. My 2007 Parker Sonnet has an inner liner in the not tight cap and dries the quickest, the Leonardo is fully tight and is second, while the Stipula has the 'biggest' hole in the cap but dries the slowest of these three. This provides me sleepless nights (ha, just joking) as I have no logical explanation.

 

@mouse2cat: The most important is to be aware about which of your pens has a drying 'problem' and to take care not to fill those with permanent or otherwise troublesome inks. I have heard about the Indigraph pens, but if it dilutes the ink, then I would not call it a solution to avoid ink drying.

 

@ParramattaPaul: Just for curiosity - may it be the air channels in the feed that are blocked or partly blocked? As far as I know, all ink reservoirs, independent from construction details, must be airtight. The volume of ink running out to the nib must be compensated by an equal volume of air flowing in through the 'other' channel in the feed. As it must have the bigger diameter, it is usually the more easy to rinse. Maybe there is some residue stuck inside which you can rinse out from one, and if not, then from the other direction passing dishwasher containing water through the nib & feed unit.

 

@OMASsimo: Yes, I made a similar observation with my one vintage pen that has a visibly drilled hole sideways in the cap - and this hole is behind the cap inlay. My Parker Sonnet has a comparably big open slit at the base of the clip (top of the cap) and this hole is behind the cap inlay. Nevertheless it is my fastest drying pen (but filled with a dark ink where it is not that pronounced).

 

Once again, thank you for your contributions.

Looking forward to reading about more observations and hypothesis. I really like to understand this drying effect more deeply.

 

[Dione]

This illustrates a good reason why using an ink and a pen made by the same manufacturer can assist. When a pen manufacturer designs a pen with it's ink flow system, filling system and ink to work well together the whole set up can be designed harmoniously. If the user decides to buy the pen then use other inks in there then they have to do their own experimenting to get the right combination that works for them.

[maclink]

Using inks and pens from same manufacturer expecting a less troublesome experience opens a can of worms.  Many seem to believe that ink is ink and it’s the manufacturer  trying to get users of their pens to purchase their own inks. 

 

I’ll have to look to see if there’s a thread that debates this. 

 

Pelikans tend to be wet writers. Interestingly the Pelikan 4001 inks run on the dry side.  That’s one clear match but perhaps the only example I can think of.  I’m not so convinced that these matches are deliberate/by design. 

 

Unless the ink is of the shimmering type, or permanent, or a deep red colour, then typically, IME, the ink just works as it would with a particular pen, complimenting, or not, that particular pen’s tuning. 

 

OTOH, I’m beginning to really like MB permanent inks. They have a formulation that makes the ink not cling to plastic.  The thing is that although it was clearly designed to work with their piston fillers without staining etc, my other pens benefit from this property.   A side benefit is that seeing the ink level is easy.

[Dione]

13 minutes ago, maclink said:

Using inks and pens from same manufacturer expecting a less troublesome experience opens a can of worms.  Many seem to believe that ink is ink and it’s the manufacturer  trying to get users of their pens to purchase their own inks. 

 

I’ll have to look to see if there’s a thread that debates this. 

 

Pelikans tend to be wet writers. Interestingly the Pelikan 4001 inks run on the dry side.  That’s one clear match but perhaps the only example I can think of.  I’m not so convinced that these matches are deliberate/by design. 

 

Unless the ink is of the shimmering type, or permanent, or a deep red colour, then typically, IME, the ink just works as it would with a particular pen, complimenting, or not, that particular pen’s tuning. 

 

OTOH, I’m beginning to really like MB permanent inks. They have a formulation that makes the ink not cling to plastic.  The thing is that although it was clearly designed to work with their piston fillers without staining etc, my other pens benefit from this property.   A side benefit is that seeing the ink level is easy.

I know at least one manufacturer has designed an ink range and a pen model to work together. I didn't say they all did with all of their inks and pens. When a pen manufacturer tests how his pen works with ink if he also makes ink I bet he's not going to go out and buy another ink brand to test it with.

[Bo Bo Olson]

On 4/25/2021 at 1:21 AM, OMASsimo said:

I think that your nice analysis describes the two potential problems pretty well. The only thing I’d like to point out is that the vent holes in the caps of many vintage pens are not responsible for the nib drying out.  In fact, the vast majority of my vintage pens show very little problems as you demonstrate here. The vent holes are below and thus outside the sealed off nib cavity when the cap is on the pen.

Quite a nice analysis.

Modern pens had a law, saying the child must be able to breath when swallowing a cap, so the holes are different than in vintage I suspect.

 

I use to have 17 pens inked, so some dried out. I have a postal stamp licking rubber cup with a damp sponge to get a dry pen to start. I am now down to 7 pens inked in I want to use up some of my inks. The least used can dry out.

 

I also have mostly piston pens, so have no such problem of darker and lighter ink. Nor had I noticed my semi-vintage cartridge pens do that. I only have a couple of my CC pens with a converter, and hadn't been looking for that problem.

 

[InesF]

54 minutes ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

I use to have 17 pens inked, so some dried out. I have a postal stamp licking rubber cup with a damp sponge to get a dry pen to start. I am now down to 7 pens inked...

Indeed, it is a good idea to keep the upper hand by reducing the number of pens. Especially if there are some 'driers' in between, they will more frequently rotate in and will show the darkened start less often.

I can only repeat, I hate when my pens start writing dark and then fade out after some lines.

[maclink]

1 hour ago, Dione said:

I know at least one manufacturer has designed an ink range and a pen model to work together.

Which manufacturer is that? ... if you don’t mind my asking of course. 🙂

[Bo Bo Olson]

Pelikan, Waterman, MB, all design their inks to match their nibs.

 

Pelikan is a 4001 dry ink to go with a wet nib.The Edelstein , some are wetter others dryer. Edelstein supposidly is a more lubricated and 'cleaning' ink.

 

Waterman is a wet ink to go with their skinny nib**. (once was wet, some Noodler's users say Waterman is a dry ink....so tells you how wet some Noodlers are. So do try a wet Noodlers in a dry pen aslo.

 

MB is a middling ink.....not sure how that relates to the modern MB..........never got around to worrying about it.

 

I had a dry writing semi-flex, so went to Waterman to cure that....did, but later I went over to DA Royal Blue, tinges towards royal purple, is more lubricated, darker and perhaps wetter.

 

** Before Japanese pens became main stream, Waterman was the second thinnest Western nib behind Aurora.....which I've heard here is near Japaneses thin.

Aurora also makes it's own inks....I've the blue....wasn't paying attention much when I inked some pen, which I don't know. Only inked once...........the blue didn't grab me.....not bad. I think they may have a third ink out ....... finally after many decades of being an only two ink company.

Visconti has it's own inks. The blue was and still is on my to buy list.

There is some other Italian company that makes inks, that might have a fountain pen....don't remember which but the ink is well liked.

 

Then there are all those Japanese pen companies with their own inks.....which I assume have been made to match their thin nibs.

[dipper]

Linked ink range and pen manufacturers qn?

 

I recall from the 1960's, using various fountain pens at school, that the instuctions slip in a Parker pen box would say something like "Always use Parker Quink .... with Solvo-X .... that cleans your pen as it writes."

 

But, with hindsight, that instruction was probably written by the sales and marketing department, not the research and development team.

[Dione]

1 hour ago, maclink said:

Which manufacturer is that? ... if you don’t mind my asking of course. 🙂

Parker

[dipper]

The excellent original post by InesF, starting this thread, is a good demonstration of a principle of scientific research. That is controlling the variables.

 

The idea is not some obscure secret of rocket-science, for people in white lab coats only. It is basic common sense! If you want to learn something by looking at what happens then you need to control what you do, and how you do it, for your "results" to be of value.

 

The original post  of this thread inspired me to ponder this question:

In all the pen performance topics discussed on the FPnetwork what are all the variables? What are the performance variables that recur in most topics? What are the various "causes" that recur in many discussion topics.

 

I started to draft a list....

Giving one letter of the alphabet to each variable.....

Gosh - it's a long list.

 

For general chewing-over, pasted below is my first draft variables list. Some on the list are inspired by the original post and the replies in this current thread.

 

List of variables observed in pen & ink performance ("results"):

W) Wetness of lines = quantity of ink laid down per sq.mm of paper covered.

C) Concentration, or darkness, of the ink liquid laid down.

T) Variations in "W" and "C" over Time.

D) Variations in "W" and "C" over Distance written.

("Variations" can be subtle changes, or can be radical changes ranging from a burp/flood/ink-blot at one extreme to the ink flow stopping completely at the other extreme.)

List of variables affecting pen & ink performance ("causes"):

M) Model of fountain pen used

S) Ink Storage option used = Cartridge, Converter, Piston, Sac, Eyedropper.

N) Nib type fitted, and how it is tuned

B ) Bits and pieces of the pen construction that may vary from pen to pen and alter performance. ( For instance the tiny area at the back of the ink feed, inside the pen, where ink leaves the storage chamber and enters the feed fissure - and also where air enters the ink storage chamber as little bubbles. At a microscopic level every feed is individually slightly different, potentially altering performance of one individual pen from another of the same model.)

I) Ink type used

Q) Quantity of ink held in the pen's ink storage system = Full - Half full - Nearly empty.

P) Paper type used

V) Velocity of pen tip movements over the paper performed by the specific pen user

F) Forces applied by the pen user

E) Environmental conditions: Temperature, Relative humidity, Atmospheric pressure, Ventilation air movements.

U) User behaviours: Pen in pocket, pen on desk, shaken vs barely moved etc. Hot or cold hand gripping the pen body. Held upright or tilting or variable.

R) Recent History = what has the pen been doing in the past few minutes or hours.

L) Long term History = what has the pen been doing in the past weeks or months: eg: fills with different inks, flushed or not, frequent use or not, any cleaning fluids used?

A) Accidental variations that are almost impossible to control or repeat.... A whisker of paper fibre in the nib slot, a random clump of pigment particles, an odd patch on the paper used, etc.

 

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

Wheee!!!

A lot of thought has gone into this thread.

[mouse2cat]

I believe the Platinum Carbon Desk Pen is designed to go with the Platinum Carbon ink. 

Specifically with the platinum carbon ink being a nanopigment ink which could really damage a pen if it dried out. 

 

Same goes for the Indigraph pen which I mentioned earlier. It's an art pen designed to take India ink. The design involves a water bubble in the cap and a membrane that actually keeps the nib damp so it won't dry out. If you leave the pen in your drawer for a week it does too good a job and the pen in the nib can start a shade lighter before stabilizing. Because there is so much humidity in the cap. 

 

Call me cynical, But a lot of inks that companies make are just one more product to sell. I doubt everyone is carefully calibrating their inks for their pens unless you have a weird ink or a weird pen that has specific needs. 

 

Here is a longer test. Take one of your pale inks and test it at the start of your and then test it again once you are near empty. Overall has the color darkened due to evaporation out of the pen and not just the nib. How long does it take to finish a fill? Because while the initial bit of writing being darker is more obvious I suspect if you were to compare a line of test from the bottom of the cartridge you would also see darkening. Writing with the ink dregs and all that. 

[maclink]

1 hour ago, dipper said:

The excellent original post by InesF, starting this thread, is a good demonstration of a principle of scientific research. That is controlling the variables.

 

The idea is not some obscure secret of rocket-science, for people in white lab coats only. It is basic common sense! If you want to learn something by looking at what happens then you need to control what you do, and how you do it, for your "results" to be of value.

 

The original post  of this thread inspired me to ponder this question:

In all the pen performance topics discussed on the FPnetwork what are all the variables? What are the performance variables that recur in most topics? What are the various "causes" that recur in many discussion topics.

 

I started to draft a list....

Giving one letter of the alphabet to each variable.....

Gosh - it's a long list.

 

For general chewing-over, pasted below is my first draft variables list. Some on the list are inspired by the original post and the replies in this current thread.

 

List of variables observed in pen & ink performance ("results"):

W) Wetness of lines = quantity of ink laid down per sq.mm of paper covered.

C) Concentration, or darkness, of the ink liquid laid down.

T) Variations in "W" and "C" over Time.

D) Variations in "W" and "C" over Distance written.

("Variations" can be subtle changes, or can be radical changes ranging from a burp/flood/ink-blot at one extreme to the ink flow stopping completely at the other extreme.)

List of variables affecting pen & ink performance ("causes"):

M) Model of fountain pen used

S) Ink Storage option used = Cartridge, Converter, Piston, Sac, Eyedropper.

N) Nib type fitted, and how it is tuned

B ) Bits and pieces of the pen construction that may vary from pen to pen and alter performance. ( For instance the tiny area at the back of the ink feed, inside the pen, where ink leaves the storage chamber and enters the feed fissure - and also where air enters the ink storage chamber as little bubbles. At a microscopic level every feed is individually slightly different, potentially altering performance of one individual pen from another of the same model.)

I) Ink type used

Q) Quantity of ink held in the pen's ink storage system = Full - Half full - Nearly empty.

P) Paper type used

V) Velocity of pen tip movements over the paper performed by the specific pen user

F) Forces applied by the pen user

E) Environmental conditions: Temperature, Relative humidity, Atmospheric pressure, Ventilation air movements.

U) User behaviours: Pen in pocket, pen on desk, shaken vs barely moved etc. Hot or cold hand gripping the pen body. Held upright or tilting or variable.

R) Recent History = what has the pen been doing in the past few minutes or hours.

L) Long term History = what has the pen been doing in the past weeks or months: eg: fills with different inks, flushed or not, frequent use or not, any cleaning fluids used?

A) Accidental variations that are almost impossible to control or repeat.... A whisker of paper fibre in the nib slot, a random clump of pigment particles, an odd patch on the paper used, etc.

 

 

Great list you've got there.  I agree with all and until seeing them, there's a familiarity with a lot of them since I do consider these variables and do believe that these variables make for a very personal experience for each user despite using the same ink, pen etc.

[nibtip]

4 hours ago, maclink said:

Using inks and pens from same manufacturer expecting a less troublesome experience opens a can of worms.  Many seem to believe that ink is ink and it’s the manufacturer  trying to get users of their pens to purchase their own inks. 

 

I’ll have to look to see if there’s a thread that debates this. 

 

Pelikans tend to be wet writers. Interestingly the Pelikan 4001 inks run on the dry side.  That’s one clear match but perhaps the only example I can think of.  I’m not so convinced that these matches are deliberate/by design. 

 

Unless the ink is of the shimmering type, or permanent, or a deep red colour, then typically, IME, the ink just works as it would with a particular pen, complimenting, or not, that particular pen’s tuning. 

 

OTOH, I’m beginning to really like MB permanent inks. They have a formulation that makes the ink not cling to plastic.  The thing is that although it was clearly designed to work with their piston fillers without staining etc, my other pens benefit from this property.   A side benefit is that seeing the ink level is easy.

 "They have a formulation that makes the ink not cling to plastic."

 

I did some personal tests on permanent nano pigment black inks about 2 years.

Montblanc permanent black, De Atramentis document and archive, Sailor Kiwa Guro, Platinum Carbon black, Rohrer und Klingner dokumentus and a few others.

I lay down some ink on a piece of plastic surface with a brush and ran tab water on it some minutes later. Nothing scientific.

I can therefore fully confirm your assertion about Montblanc permanent black: It was the only one to wash away easily from the plastic surface. 

What some see as a weakness (not totally waterproof), may in fact be the best solution for not clogging a pen.

I don't know.

Since i don't care much about permanency, really never cared, i forgot about it. 

It is just a very enjoyable game for me.