Drying ink?

[chrisk]

Hi all,
One of my good customers (a physician), a fountain pen addict, reports that he encounters a drying ink issue with both fountain pens he purchased from me. The phenomenon appears every day after only one night of inactivity.
The first FP is an Emperor with the standard nib. I already substituted once the triple parts (holder, feeder and nib). In vain.
The second one is a Statesman with an upgraded Heritance nib. In the beginning all went perfect and after a while... same drying ink issue with the latter.
At first sight, I suspected an ink quality issue. And the customer told me he uses (seemingly mixes) Waterman, Pelikan and Parker inks.
IMHO the mixing should be the cause of our problem... What do the colleagues think about my conclusion?

Thanks in advance for any idea that could help me solve this problem.

Christos.

 

[monophoto]

Some inks tend to dry out faster than others.

But in my experience, there are two other factors that may be more important. One is how tightly the cap fits onto the pen. Caps that are friction or snap fit are looser than caps that screw on, and tend to dry out faster than screw cap pens.

The other really big factor is the nib/feed. A design that holds more ink is less likely to dry out than a feed that is more miserly with ink.

My experience is that it doesn't seem to matter what the nib size is - I have some fine nib pens that dry out very quickly, but the pen in my collection that seems to last forever without drying ink has a very fine nib.

 

[chrisk]

Some readings from the Fountain pen network and its French equivalent seemingly drive me to my initial conclusion: the issue should be the mixing of different inks with different ph, etc.
Ink mixing is common among F/p aficionados but in specific conditions, that is mixing inks in a separate container before using the blend. Here the customer fills his converter independently from different bottled inks, either from Waterman or from Parker or from Pelikan.

 

[79spitfire]

A lot of kit fountain pens do not have an inner cap that reduces the amount of air present around the nib, or are not well sealed. Some of the Schmidt nibs come with an inner cap, but I'm not aware of any kit pens that do (I could be wrong). Your best bet is to try and seal the components as best as possible. I am not skilled enough to make an inner cap to fit the pen kits I've used (yet).

And yes, if he's randomly mixing inks he could be asking for trouble. Inks can vary quite a bit in their PH, and depending on dye composition can do very strange things, like unexpected color shifts, or turning solid. I believe this is why most fountain pen manufactures void warranties when ink other than their brand is used.

 

[chriselle]

And as much as I like the Heritance nibs I do find for some reason they dry out when subbed in on a Jr. Statesman feed.

 

[CREID]

A lot of kit fountain pens do not have an inner cap that reduces the amount of air present around the nib, or are not well sealed. Some of the Schmidt nibs come with an inner cap, but I'm not aware of any kit pens that do (I could be wrong). Your best bet is to try and seal the components as best as possible. I am not skilled enough to make an inner cap to fit the pen kits I've used (yet).

And yes, if he's randomly mixing inks he could be asking for trouble. Inks can vary quite a bit in their PH, and depending on dye composition can do very strange things, like unexpected color shifts, or turning solid. I believe this is why most fountain pen manufactures void warranties when ink other than their brand is used.

Actually with over 35 years in the ink business, I can say the PH of the ink has to be within a certain range. If it's too low it won't matter whose brand it is, it will come apart. If it is too high it would be very corrosive and act very weird, You might even be able to smell a high PH depending on what they use. Mixing of the inks can very problematic though, the different components of the ink between manufacturers may not be compatible with each other and can cause many problems including drying issues. Can't tell you how many times I told customers not to do that. Also can't tell you how many times I did that same thing while at a customers plant and didn't have a color I needed to tone something and used a competitors.:befuddled:
Tell your customer that different suppliers inks may not be compatible and have him or her try to stick with one brand and see if the problem goes away. I think you mentioned 3 different inks, you never know 2 might work together well and the 3rd might not.
Hope you figure it out.
Curt

 

[SteveG]

I have no level of expertise re FP inks. But troubleshooting is a process that follows logic and frequently based on methodic elimination of possible causes of the 'trouble'. The recommendations above (post #6) by Curt may well ID the culprit. Since you customer is inclined to mix his inks, you could maybe get him on board, helping to solve the mystery. Then he will find fun in getting to the solution (pun intended).:tongue:

 

[CREID]

I have no level of expertise re FP inks. But troubleshooting is a process that follows logic and frequently based on methodic elimination of possible causes of the 'trouble'. The recommendations above (post #6) by Curt may well ID the culprit. Since you customer is inclined to mix his inks, you could maybe get him on board, helping to solve the mystery. Then he will find fun in getting to the solution (pun intended).:tongue:

Absolutely correct, it is a process. A process of elimination. Over the years I have had to go through that process hundreds of times. You do need to realize that your client is not stupid but may not know the terminology you use or how to do certain things the right way. Work closely with your client make sure you get the proper information and every bit of information you can get. It really could be anything (the pen might be sitting in front of the furnace vent) you never know. I have been in a pressroom for weeks trying to solve a problem, when we finally figured it out it was sometimes hilarious, sometimes not. But it could be something really simple.
Good luck, and I'm tired of rambling.
Curt

 

[chrisk]

I fully agree with both of you.
I intented to replace both sets (nib + feeder + holder) on my customer's Emperor and Statesman fountain pens. Both sets I prepared were picked from Statesman fountain pens with standard nibs. With a 10x loupe I found out that an Emperor batch of nibs have the tines quite tight, that is dry nibs, and certainly need some tuning.
Anyway, I tried the first set for about one month with Waterman Serenity Blue bottled ink (with a converter in the FP). The 2d I tried for about 5 days with a Pelikan Royal Blue cartridge.
We spoke on the phone with the customer and he was ready to try these sets according to my suggestion to stick with the same inks. But the customer canceled our appointment before I left for holidays and we convened to meet after I come back home.
I'll keep you informed within a few months.

 

[Dalepenkala]

I fully agree with both of you.
I intented to replace both sets (nib + feeder + holder) on my customer's Emperor and Statesman fountain pens. Both sets I prepared were picked from Statesman fountain pens with standard nibs. With a 10x loupe I found out that an Emperor batch of nibs have the tines quite tight, that is dry nibs, and certainly need some tuning.
Anyway, I tried the first set for about one month with Waterman Serenity Blue bottled ink (with a converter in the FP). The 2d I tried for about 5 days with a Pelikan Royal Blue cartridge.
We spoke on the phone with the customer and he was ready to try these sets according to my suggestion to stick with the same inks. But the customer canceled our appointment before I left for holidays and we convened to meet after I come back home.
I'll keep you informed within a few months.

I agree with Steve and Curt as well Chrisk! I people mix inks but it's been my experience has been the people that mix the inks tend to stay with the same brand of inks. In other words mixing 2-3 different colors but they are all Private Reserve, Waterman etc... Keep us informed what you find out! It will be interesting what you guys find out what the problem was.