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Help!
My colleagues at work have very kindly bought me a Kaweco Brass Sport fountain pen for my recent milestone birthday. It's lovely - I use a fountain pen every day, so this is a very thoughtful gift.
They bought the piston refill cartridge as I generally use bottled ink with my previous pen.
Unfortunately, whatever I do, I can't seem to get an even flow of ink.
I've tried filling via the nib, filling just the converter (messy!), filling it completely, filling it partially, backing it off after filling, trying to get a vacuum in there, leaving air in there - nothing seems to work.
The only thing that does seem to work is manually pushing in the piston to 'force' ink toward the nib every now and then - not entirely helpful when you're trying to take a note in the middle of a phone call.
I love the pen - when it works, it's lovely to write with - and it's obviously a very thoughtful gift, so I can't just shove it into a draw and use my old pen!
I might try some cartridges instead of the converter, but I do like using bottled ink rather than cartridges as you can get a greater range of ink colours etc.
Any ideas?
It could be to do with the paper. I have an oldie but poshie that writes lovely most of the time, but other times is cack, requires a squeeze of the cartridge, soaking etc. This generally happens on note books. On common or garden A4/pads it's fine, on decent note books it's fine. It's on cheap note books pretending to be posh where I have the biggest issue.
It could be to do with the paper.
Hmm, I'm not so sure - I know what you mean, there are some types where the nib catches or is scratchy, but I *think* that the paper I'm using is okay. Will try different types though.
Could you try a cartridge in it to see if that also generates the same problem? It is possible there's a problem with the pen and not what you're doing (I had one where ink didn't flow well and it was replaced by the manufacturer although a different brand to yours).
Pulling the 'wings' of the nib up and outwards increases ink flow by fractionally opening the nib slot. Pushing them in decreases flow by the same mechanism. Expect to get slightly inky thumbs and only gentle pull or push is required. It's easy to reverse if the nib becomes too wet.
If the nib is slightly catching it is likely that the tines are not well aligned and this can also cause problems with starting. Inspect the nib from front on and you should be able to see that one tine is slightly above the other. A slight push on the errant tine is usually sufficient to correct it.
Also check the nib is well aligned with the feed. You could try a 'wetter' ink, I think waterman and diamine are considered to be free flowing.
It's always worth doing a flush with a mild detergent and soap and rinse on a new pen that is having some issues with flow.
Also you could try different ink - I've changed from Pelikan to Diamine which is suiting my Graf von Faber Castell fp.
I do like the KaWeCoSport range - they work well in the hand.
Middle class-tastic!
I use Diamine ink in my Cross fountain pen, anything thicker and it doesn’t work
f the nib is slightly catching it is likely that the tines are not well aligned and this can also cause problems with starting
Sorry, should have been clearer - it's not scratchy all the time, what I meant (in response to russianbob) was there are some papers that are rubbish with fountain pens.
Could you try a cartridge in it to see if that also generates the same problem?
Yep, that's my next step.
You could try a ‘wetter’ ink, I think waterman and diamine are considered to be free flowing
Currently using Waterman!
It’s always worth doing a flush with a mild detergent and soap and rinse on a new pen that is having some issues with flow.
Might try that, thanks.
The flushing is where I would go. In new pens it looks like the ink sticks to the inside of the piston. Push the ink back out in to the ink bottle and rinse a few times. I find just water works and then take ink and and push it out again and when you fill up the ink should move around freely in the piston.
Big fan of Pilot Namiki cartridges in my Alfred Dunhill AD2000! So STW!
Buy some cartridges and refil them from your bottle with a small syringe?
That sounds similar to my cross townsend, wrote beautifully and then rested. Now it is occasionally scratchy so I have tried cleaning, flushing and different inks.
No progress so I was chatting to the lady in the nice pen shop in Edinburgh, the one opposite the tesla showroom, what else I could do. No problem she said, its a cross, lifetime warranty, just send it back.
So ask the manufacturer if they do likewise.