New Pens That Stop Writing

Barry Bloch asks: What is the cause and what can be done to a new fountain pen that tends to start skipping after a few minutes of writing? The pen in question is from a USA manufacture of relatively expensive pens.

The problem can have any of several causes, and you may be able to fix it easily.

First, new converters frequently are left with some of the manufacturer’s mold release compound on their interior surfaces. This makes the converter hold the ink at one end, usually the wrong one, because the wetting agent in the ink can’t overcome the “oily” effect of the mold release compound, and the ink won’t flow easily to the other end of the converter. Flushing a converter with Formula 409 or a 1:10 solution of clear household ammonia in water — clean it out thoroughly afterward — may remove the mold release compound so that the ink can flow along the converter wall.

There may be some amount of mold release compound on the feed, or even a trace of oil from someone’s fingers remaining on the underside of the nib. Flushing to clean these surfaces may help.

Flossing the feed channels and the nib slit with a piece of 0.002" brass shim stock might also help, as occasionally there’s a tiny nit of manufacturing detritus stuck in there. You have to pull the nib and feed to get at the feed channels, but the nib slit is exposed in most pens. The image here shows me flossing the Christmas Tree feed from a Parker Duofold, but the technique is the same. (Note, however, that you can't easily get at the channels in some pens’ feeds; the Namiki Vanishing Point, for example, requires a special wrench to take it apart.)

You can try a different ink, one that flows more readily. Private Reserve Tanzanite is famed as the “Ex-Lax” of inks; some pens that flow terribly with any other ink are just fine with Tanzanite.

When you’ve exhausted all the things you can do, you have a choice. The pen is most likely suffering from a phenomemon called feed starvation, in which the pen does not admit air properly to offset the depletion of the ink supply. A partial vacuum in the cartridge or converter prevents the ink from flowing. The solution to this problem, which affects plastic feeds more than hard rubber ones but is not unique to plastic, is out of your hands unless you’re experienced in dealing with it. You can return the pen to the maker for refund or repair, or you can send the pen for modification by an independent repairer who specializes in making balky pens write.

Reducing Ink Flow

Fernando Robles asks: Is there a safe way to reduce the ink flow on a nib that otherwise works fine?

The easiest and safest way is to choose an ink that flows less freely. But that’s usually not a desirable option.

Ink flow can be reduced by restricting the channels in the feed. This is a task best left to experts.

Examine the nib under magnification. How wide is the slit at the tip? As wide as a Los Angeles freeway? A slit that wide will act as a fire hose. (A slit that is fully closed, on the other hand, will behave like a clamp, restricting the flow.) A properly-formed slit is usually tapered slightly from breather hole to tip, as shown to the left. Narrowing the slit is best done by pulling the nib and gently bending first one tine, then the other, downward. The natural curve of the nib will cause the tine tips to move closer together. Permit me to reiterate the word “gently” in these instructions; it's always easy to bend a little more, but it can be terribly difficult to unbend a nib that you’ve pushed too far. Do be careful, while you do this, to align the tines properly as you go; push too hard on one and not hard enough on the other, and your nib will be very scratchy.

While you were examining the nib and feed under magnification, did you take note of whether the nib lies nicely along the feed? If there’s a gap that isn’t big enough to break the capillary flow, that gap is also allowing lots of ink down to the nib tip. Bending the tines down will close this gap and reduce the flow. If the flow is too lean, bend back upward with extreme care until you’ve opened the nib just enough.

A better way to close the gap between nib and feed, if you have a pen with a hard rubber feed, may be to heat the feed gently, getting the whole feed warm. There will come a point at which it will soften; stroke your finger along the under side of it to make it conform to the nib, and then, still holding it in place, plunge the entire end of the pen into cool water to set the feed in its new shape. Go slowly; as with nib bending, it’s easier to go further than to undo too much. This method is especially appropriate for pens whose nib slits are properly tapered. Do not attempt to re-set a plastic feed in this way! you will almost certainly destroy the feed.

If you’ve read this far and are now quaking in your boots, fear not. The modifications I describe are all well within the capability of any competent repairer, and the cost for them should be relatively low.