Leakage?

[Turquoise]

I have two different Laban pens that I enjoy the appearance of, and writing with. However, both of them are developing leakage problems that I’m not sure how to fix.

The first is made of a marbleized white resin and I am seeing ink accumulating in the section. The nib is very tightly inserted so I’m not too anxious to try and remove it and see if I can clean it out. What is causing this?

The second one writes well initially, but, as the ink level in the converter goes down, it is subject to hard starts. I have gotten in the habit of unscrewing the barrel and moving the plunger in the converter down a tiny little bit to get rid of the vaccuum. But, now I am noticing ink on the outside of the converter when I remove the barrel. Could this be a poor fit with the converter? Or something else?

None of my other fountain pens have any issues with ink being where it’s not supposed to be, so I’d appreciate any tips.

I might add that I don’t leave the pens lying around unused — when they’re inked they are used several times a day. And, when I rotate them, I clean them out pretty thoroughly.

Thanks!

[jar]

The ink in the section is ink where it's supposed to be.

The second is a matter of ink viscosity and not the pen. The problem is an air bubble that gets trapped right at the mouth of the converter and so stops ink from entering the feed.

There are several very easy to solve possibilities. My preferred solution are gold compression style springs like those used on keyboard keys. You can also add a surfactant to the ink; use a toothpick that gets dipped in dish detergent and then stick the end momentarily into the ink in the converter. In that method less is better; don't use a drop of detergent just whatever sticks to the tip of the toothpick.

[Turquoise]

The ink in the section is ink where it's supposed to be.

The second is a matter of ink viscosity and not the pen. The problem is an air bubble that gets trapped right at the mouth of the converter and so stops ink from entering the feed.

There are several very easy to solve possibilities. My preferred solution are gold compression style springs like those used on keyboard keys. You can also add a surfactant to the ink; use a toothpick that gets dipped in dish detergent and then stick the end momentarily into the ink in the converter. In that method less is better; don't use a drop of detergent just whatever sticks to the tip of the toothpick.

Great info, jar, thank you! I will try the toothpick/detergent idea — no little compression springs around to experiment with ;-)

In terms of the ink being in the section, why would that be? For white resin it winds up discoloring the entire section with ink. Is there any way to clean that out?

[jar]

The ink in the section is ink where it's supposed to be.

The second is a matter of ink viscosity and not the pen. The problem is an air bubble that gets trapped right at the mouth of the converter and so stops ink from entering the feed.

There are several very easy to solve possibilities. My preferred solution are gold compression style springs like those used on keyboard keys. You can also add a surfactant to the ink; use a toothpick that gets dipped in dish detergent and then stick the end momentarily into the ink in the converter. In that method less is better; don't use a drop of detergent just whatever sticks to the tip of the toothpick.

Great info, jar, thank you! I will try the toothpick/detergent idea — no little compression springs around to experiment with ;-)

In terms of the ink being in the section, why would that be? For white resin it winds up discoloring the entire section with ink. Is there any way to clean that out?

Likely no; but always some possibility. But a discolored section seldom causes writing failures. I'm always amazed at folk who buy translucent or transparent fountain pens and are then upset to discover that ink gets in places where they did not want ink to get.

They are called demonstrators for a reason folk.

It's not the pens fault if they demonstrate things you didn't want to know.