What Do You Do When a New Pen Comes With a Scratchy Nib? - Q&A Slices
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- Опубліковано 2 вер 2021
- From episode 9 of The Goulet Pencast - Brian and Drew give their thoughts on scratchiness vs feedback, and how to determine whether or not your new fountain pen has a problem.
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I think it's important to distinguish between "scratchy", which means the nib actually scratches, or even tears, the paper, and is caused by misaligned tines, and "rough", which means the nib just needs a little more polishing.
I al;so think there's a serious difference between "feedback" and "roughness", and it's often more than a matter of degree. "Feedback is good, and is often intentional. It's part of the grind and part of the smoothing process. There won't be much of it, and a fountain pen user with enough experience using vintage pens will recognize feedback instantly. A nib with proper feedback can outlast a nib that's as smooth as butter on glass by decades.
Basically, a Platinum pen, and some other top names, have feedback. Cheap Chinese pens have roughness. Leave the former alone, and polish the latter.
Too many nibs today are polished to without a heartbeat of baby's bottom. The majority of expensive pens are. This is fine, if you don't intend to use that pen every day. If you do use it early and often, however, you can wear out the tipping in a remarkably short time.
UA-cam did exactly the same thing to the world of knives. Before UA-cam, knives were given a bevel angle that matched the primary job a given knife was designed to do. Pocketknives usually had a bevel angle of fifteen degrees per sid, kitchen knives were given a bevel angle of seventeen degrees per side, all around knives received a bevel angle of twenty degrees per side, and hunting/skinning knives were given a bevel angle of twenty-five degrees per side. Only a very, very few knives received a "razor edge" bevel down around ten degrees per side. This worked wonderfully.
Then came UA-cam, and a flood of amateurs, mostly ex-military, who said every knife should have a razor edge bevel. I found this odd because military knives were always given a bevel angle of fifteen degrees per side, which is a long way from razor edge. But they didn't know this. UA-cam being UA-cam, it didn't take long before every knife buyer out there demanded a knife that would shave hair right out of the box. Then pseudo-experts who learned their trade from UA-cam started preaching the same thing, and companies being what they are, it is now almost impossible to buy a knife that won't shave hair right out of the box, even though this is a very silly bevel angle for almost all types of knives.
And so it is with fountain pen nibs.
Exactly! Trying to make these distinctions clear has been a challenge for us for years. Be probably need a separate video for it! IDEA! - Drew
This "A nib with proper feedback can outlast a nib that's as smooth as butter on glass by decades" is intriguing me. I have no other comments other than I intend to get to get to the bottom of this through research. When i have found more info will come back and respond to this comment.
I like to show people the possibilities in feedback difference, usually by having them try one of my pens with a M steel nib, then the same model but with a M titanium nib. The feedback response is crazy different between the two, but they are both perfectly tuned. I know it’s a bit of an extreme example, but I’ve opened the eyes of lots of confused people.
Hello, thanks for a great video. I have a Parker 100, and once filled up it does not write continuously. I have tried flushing, but the problem wont go away. Any ideas? Thanks
Super-articulate, guys!
Very well put.
Thanks for watching! - Drew
Drew showing his 'Spacey" side with that shirt...I like!!! :)
Hi, I have a vintage Sheaffer Snorkel. The nib seems extra fine and has a scratchy feel to it. I’ve recently serviced the pen and I feel the nib is really scratchy. I am unsure if it’s common. Please guide ( I am presently using a Sheaffer 100 with medium nib)
Man, I remember when you guys were so tiny. Here since 2016😁
@Hanshal Khanna I'm talking like 30k
I'm looking for a scratchy/feedback pen. How should i go about looking for it?
That is why going to a pen show is the best way to test drive as many pens as you want. You can bring your pens and compare them to say a gold nib, another size nib, etc. I teach a class where I bring a selection of pens, nibs and ink so my students can compare and get a feel of which pens they like..
I wish I had this video to listen to a year ago. This reminds me of how rookie I was 😅
Btw, I really like the bite size version of the “podcast”.
Thanks! We'll keep them coming! - Drew
I like to give any troubled pens a really good cleaning with the flush from Goulet and try another ink first to see if it helps. 99% of the time it resolves it.
Yes! Absolutely! - Drew
Recently I bought a TWSBI 580 expecting an Eco experience. Different nib, different experience. It took about a week or two of practice and a couple flushes until I got used to its differences. Give it time. :)
Good call! - Drew
I bought the eco and I find it too smooth/less feedback lol
Any thoughts on the sailor compass as a beginner pen, I never see it show up on entry level lists
LOVE it !!!!
My pelikan m200 ef nib is very scratchy, not feedbacky as I can tell it broke my rodia paper when drawing lines....
This video couldnt have been posted at a better time. Im having intermittent feeding issues out of my new Jinhao Shark. Using Noodler's Tokyo Gift out of it. Time to start messing around with it.
You know what? The same happens with me, and at least for me I think it's not worth the time to work on it.
Mind you I use pilot black ink which is often said to be on the wetter side
Which is the replacement nib of Lamy 2000 fountain pen?
Z 50 /52 /55?
LAMY does not sell replacement nibs for the 2000 in the US, so I can't make a recommendation to you. Sorry! - Drew
Love your videos & I now but all my pen needs from you guys! The service is great & call me silly but I love the card & stickers I get with each order! Lol
Thanks for the support! - Drew
I bought Lamy Safari in EF and used it on watercolor paper (with RK Sketch Ink) and started to notice the nib becomes drier and scratchy. Did I just ruin it? Any way to resolve this?
Did you use the Rohrer and Klingner *Sketch Ink* (which is specifically formulated for fountain pens)? I know they also produce some acrylic watercolor inks which are not suitable for fountain pens and will ruin them.
If you used an ink made for fountain pens, there are a couple ways to troubleshoot the scratchiness.
There's a difference between cold pressed (textured) and hot pressed paper. With the cold pressed paper, you'll have a bigger risk of tearing the paper and skipping, because it already has quite a lot of tooth to it. And watercolour paper absorbs water like crazy (hence the name), which means it's completely normal for it to get dryer. So I suppose you could either work with different inks like PrefrostedSundays said, or a bigger nib, which is usually a bit wetter (but broader). I hope this helps ^^
@@PurtyPurple Yes it was the one meant for fountain pens cos I use the same ink with other pens on tomoe river paper/TN insert grid and blank refill (no/less tooth) without any issue. I suspect the nib is too fine for watercolor paper, or perhaps the ink is more on the drier side?
@@asheirahs_nook Thanks for replying, yes I was thinking the same, either the nib too fine for the paper (I use cold pressed and some are more textured than others) or the ink is more drier. Need to try with broader pens and see how it goes. I just hope I don't ruin my new Lamy Safari savannah green :/
@@EdahaniWanYahya It sounds like the extra fine nib/particular ink is just too dry for the textured paper then, your hunch is probably correct! I doubt your pen is ruined, it's just that fountain pens are fickle creatures and the pen-ink-paper combo can sometimes just not work out. You could try changing any of these variables and testing that.
There is also the possibility of the ink having dried out if you left it sitting for too long, or paper fibers being caught between the tines of your pen. In that case a good flush should clear it up. Good luck and I hope your pen is back in working order soon!
love your videos! btw just got to know that Vanishing point isn't 15 times better than jinhao 159
Yeah, its only 14 times better. Common misconception.
@@RealTittiesAreBetter LOL
The Ms Frizzle shirt!!!
Yes! I love it! - Drew
I'd rather have a scratchy (Sailor) feedback when drawing, and smooth (Pilot) when writing. Smoothness is not a goal to have. It's an attribute. Just like how same musical instruments giving you different tones. To me it's good to have different feedback from every single pen. Otherwise I'd just stick to only one. For example I'll buy a custom 823 soon, and feedback is the only thing I'm curious about it. (:
p.s I wrote this before hearing the car analogy so that works too xD
I like how Lamy nib is more feedback-y than Pilot's one. If I were to be blindfolded and test both of the pen I'd be able to tell which is which. Giving each pen a character.
It's a good thing.
Figureeights! :)
Send it back…. Fixed
What happened to the hour plus pencast?
It's still here! This was just an excerpt. - Drew
When Drew said “first of all…” 👀
Not the first time he's answered this customer support question... today, this week, this year.
Definitely not the first time :) - Drew
Wait wait wait wait wait … WARRANTY?!?!?!?
Myself, I have never bought a pen with a bad nib. NEVER.
Wow, I came here for advice, not to get talked down to..
You know, I bought a Stipula from a company you know well (Goulet Pen). I contacted the company and talked to Drew (I believe). I own a lot of pens now. Some much more expensive; some less. The only pen I have ever identified to a vendor as “unwritable” was that Stipula; however, I have not used it in over a year now, largely because I received everything but an encouragement to send it back! There was no offer to tune it for me. It was the last time I purchased from Goulet, but I have a pen to remind me that Italian pens are sometimes a mess.
I'm sorry to hear that! If you purchased it within 60 days, the option to sent it back to us would have certainly been available to you, however we don't offer tuning services so your options wouldn't have included that.If we didn't remind you that you could return your pen, I sincerely apologize for that oversight. We try to make our return policy as visible as possible, but sometimes it can get missed. - Drew
Stop buying pens with Jowo nibs......
We've found JoWo nibs to be some of the best on the market today - and we've tested thousands. - Drew
The guy in the gray shirt is really really hard to hear. He modulates his voice so portions of his words don’t come through. Maybe lower the microphone because I don’t think he’s speaking directly into it. Just some feedback to make these tutorials better.
Thanks! - Drew