Got new pens, have a few newbie questions; also feedback on CVS Caliber paper

[Horseflesh]

I started learning about fountain pens just a couple of weeks ago, with Platinum Preppys and a Pilot MR. I'm certainly no expert, but those pens seem to be pretty easy to use. 

 

Today, ahead of schedule, my order from FPR arrived, so I have some new pens... a TWSBI 580, and one of FPR's Himalayas with an Ultra Flex Nib, plus the freebie Muft pen. I also got a couple of ink samples which are the only non-cartridge inks I have for the moment. 

 

The first thing I did was turn on hard mode and ink up the Himalaya with the ultra flex nib, because I was dying of curiosity. No surprise, it is wildly different than other pens I have tried. I was hoping to get some feedback on my observations because, since I don't know jack yet, I am not sure if things are working as expected. I realize the Himalaya is not a fancy pen and that inks can behave very differently, so maybe what I see is totally normal. The answer to my questions may just be "LOL try another ink." That's OK. I just don't know yet. Thanks in advance for any input you may have!

 

Gushing after filling 

 

I put about 0.4 mL of FPR green ink in the Himalaya converter, and when I turned the pen nib down, most of it just gushed right out onto the paper towel I was working on. After that, it seemed to work OK and didn't spit more ink. But, it seemed to go dry quickly, because I think everything in the converter drained and I was left with what was in the feed. When I reloaded it with another 0.4 mL, the same thing happened. Does this suggest the pen needs attention?

 

 

Ink amount / dry time

 

Writing with the pen seemed to work OK. I was able to produce line variation pretty easily and there was no railroading. But, even when pressing as lightly as possible, the pen puts down a lot of ink. You can see it pooling. (Yes, my writing is bad, and you are supposed to make the downstrokes wide, not the side to side strokes. Baby steps.) This is as different from my Pilot MR as the Pilot is from a ballpoint pen. 

 

 

So, is that pretty much what you'd expect? Or does this look like too much ink? 

 

But, once dry... Which takes minutes... the result looks OK and there is some shading. 

 

 

Caliber paper

 

I saw 'round here that CVS house brand Caliber paper could be good for fountain pens. I got an unlined tear pad and a couple of lined spiral notebooks. In short, the lined paper seems to be pretty good. The pics above were all on Caliber lined paper. And even with a heavy ink load I saw no feathering or bleed-through. Here's a picture of the back. 

 

 

The unlined pad seems to work OK with a dryer pen like the Pilot MR or Platinum Preppy. However, with the ink firehose that is my FPR Himalaya, it feathered bigtime and there was substantial bleed-through. 

 

 

 

Looking forward to more paper samples arriving next week. 

 

 

[Horseflesh]

OK, it will be obvious to y'all but I thought this was interesting. 

 

I put FPR Mardi Gras in my new TWSBI 580 (M). I was sitting outside and writing samples... Nice dark purple ink, but I did not see any of the green sheen. My writing sample even said "where's the green?"

 

Later I looked at the samples again under indoor lighting, and the sheen was obvious. It's amazing how much of a difference the light makes. I was sure brighter outdoor light would have been better for seeing the variations, but nope!

 

Also, the TWSBI 580 w/ medium nib is great! This is pretty much what I was hoping a fountain pen would be like. 

 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Yup, sheen is just light reflecting off pooled dried ink. Stronger the light source, the more noticeable it'll be. Also, some paper is way more conducive to sheen cause it takes longer for the ink to dry and that allows it to pool more. If you can get a hold of OG Tomoe River paper, that's pretty much the best for sheening.

 

For the FPR pen writing experience, yeah, I've had the same experience with it being way too wet. They're "tinkerer" pens in that you have to play around with the feed and nib position to get it to work the way you might want it. You can try heatsetting the nib and feed, that may help. As for it draining completely, that does not sound right, can you check if the converter is firmly set? Also check if the nib and feed are loose. I don't have the best understanding of physics but my impression is that something like that can happen if there is a lot air getting in somewhere and pushing the ink out. 

 

You can also send the guy over at FPR an email, he's been really responsive any time I had an issue with one of the FPR pens. He might have some more ideas on what to do.

[Horseflesh]

I'll definitely email FPR if can't resolve it, I just wanted to see if there was anything obvious to try first. I'll inspect the pen and look into heat setting as you suggested. The Himalaya ain't fancy, I fully expected it to need some tinkering.

 

Oh, the converter was definitely in good, it is threaded so it's easy to tell when it's tight. But yeah, it was like when you have a straw full of liquid, and you take your thumb off the end... The ink seemed to just... Fall out. 

 

I was definitely surprised that the ink sheen was more obvious inside. I was out on the patio writing the samples, where the light was definitely brighter. But, something about it wasn't conducive to showing off the sheen, to the eye or photos. 🤷‍♂️ Anyway I am now really looking forward to the ink and paper samples that are arriving next week...

 

 

[mhguda]

Hi, and a belated

A suggestion to tame your gusher: if the converter sits correctly, could it have a leak?

Other than that, before heat setting the nib and feed, I'd try pushing them further into the pen. That has helped me tame a few. Also, turning them a bit inside the section may get you a slightly tighter fit. Sometimes the ink comes out from around the nib&feed.

Good luck. FPR was a good choice, and reaching out for help will certainly get you some. In my experience, Himalayas are nicely flowing pens, but not normally gushers.

[Arkanabar]

Regarding the gushing, is this ONLY after filling?  Right after filling, your feed is going to be super saturated.  When I'm doing a complete fill, I force out 3-4 drops of ink and then turn the pen point up and retract the filler to suck the saturation out of the feed.  If I'm doing a short fill, I draw in some ink, and turn the pen point up and draw air into the filler through the feed afterwards.  Ideally, there won't be any standing water levels of ink visible on the feed, but only wetness.

 

The ink should not just continuously gush out.  When it does, it usually indicates that air is leaking into your pen.  First, I'd make sure the filler is screwed down tight to the section, and that there's no debris on the gaskets on the filler, which comes completely apart.  If the issue remains, Kevin is awesome at customer service.  Shoot him an email.

 

You are getting really wet lines.  It's a trade-off, and lots of people like this.  When you buy a pen with one of Kevin's broad, flex, or Ultra Flex nibs, he puts in a firehose of a feed to ensure you don't get railroading.  Experiment with different inks, as that can greatly affect flow.  Noodler's Walnut, and iron gall inks like R&K Salix and Scabiosa, or Platinum's Classic Black line, are often much more dry.

[tde44x]

On my Himalaya V2 with UF nib I ended up heat setting it twice and also putting silicone grease on the converter threads.

 

I was not having gushing problems, but ink flow and the converter would leak inside of the pen.

 

Not a fan of the converter and I now use it eye dropper style.

[Horseflesh]

Thanks for the tips everyone! 

 

I'll return to the Himalaya tuneup soon, but I just saw my Goulet ink samples are being delivered today, much earlier than the first estimate... I'll be playing with those for a while.  

[Horseflesh]

On 10/7/2022 at 9:22 PM, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

As for it draining completely, that does not sound right, can you check if the converter is firmly set? Also check if the nib and feed are loose.

 

I went back to this pen, cleaned it out, and had a look. It definitely seemed to have an air leak... If I filled the converter with water by piston action, it came in with air bubbles... and I could shake it all out the front of the pen with a few flicks. The converter itself was nice and tight, though. 

 

I pinched the nib/feed assembly firmly and pushed back... it clicked back into the pen body by about 1 mm. With that done the converter filled without bubbles and the water was much harder to remove from the pen by shaking. 

 

So, hopefully that's all it was. No big deal after all... It's drying now and I will ink it up soon. 

 

Thanks again for the help. This will all be old hat soon, I hope. 

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

Awesome!

 

 Hope it works

[Horseflesh]

I think it did work, the ink did not all gush out on filling, but MAN is this pen still a firehose! I am glad I have it to play with but I cannot see using the ultra flex Himalaya every day. 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

2 hours ago, Horseflesh said:

 

I went back to this pen, cleaned it out, and had a look. It definitely seemed to have an air leak... If I filled the converter with water by piston action, it came in with air bubbles... and I could shake it all out the front of the pen with a few flicks. The converter itself was nice and tight, though. 

 

I pinched the nib/feed assembly firmly and pushed back... it clicked back into the pen body by about 1 mm. With that done the converter filled without bubbles and the water was much harder to remove from the pen by shaking. 

 

So, hopefully that's all it was. No big deal after all... It's drying now and I will ink it up soon. 

 

Thanks again for the help. This will all be old hat soon, I hope. 

 

Great! Glad it worked and I actually had some useful advice. These FPR pens are really fun to play with, enjoy yours.  

[doriath19]

I think @Arkanabar made a good point. The ultra flex nibs come with a very wet feed so that when you flex them you won’t get railroading. If you don’t want your lines to be so wet, you could always in the future try swapping out the super flex feed for a standard one.

For now it sounds like you got things working well, so enjoy!