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Norika
February 23rd, 2014, 01:02 AM
Last week I bought a brandnew Pelikan Souveran for half the original price. I didn`t test the pen prior to buying it which I now see as a mistake. This because after filling it with Montblanc Burgundy Red ink for the first time and writing with it I found the nib to be very rough and making "skrrrrrrtch" - noises on the paper I use. The paper is Clairefontaine. I have looked at the writing tip of the pen with a loupe. It seems to be normal, without misaligned tines and such. There are also no starting or flow problems with the pen, just the noises it makes and the roughness on the paper are quite disturbing.
The nib is a medium one. Shouldn`t it be smooth and glide over the paper effortlessly then? It is my first fountain pen after decades and I remember my school fountain pen to be smoother than this one. I have found out that it has an older nib with two chicks in the nest instead of one while on the golden cap top there`s only one chick. I don`t want to send the pen to Pelikan for a nib exchange because a friend who collects these pens has told me that due to a change in the making process the new nibs all have a big round blob of iridium at their tips and write broader than the old ones. He also said that this would take away some of the feedback of the nib, making the writing feel more ballpoint-like because the new nib tips are quite similar to the "Kugelspitz" or K nibs he has on some of his pens.
So, is there any way I can make the nib I got a little smoother and less noisy?

Greetings,
Norika

Jeph
February 23rd, 2014, 01:27 AM
Well, first you already have the kugel type fat ball modern nib, so an exchange should not be a problem.

If the alignment is really good that does not leave many options. Since you just started I want to make sure that you inspected the nib from the perspective that the paper sees the nib. Looking directly onto the nib can often be misleading. And the misalignment can be very small.

With that out of the way, my first thought would be a loose nib unit. That would allow aligned tines to screech at you. Dooes the line it puts down wiggle or splatter, or is it straight and uniform? It should take almost no force to screw in the nib unit. Stop as soon as you get resistance, but test to see if it is loose. That could cause the sound and cause aligned tines to feel rough.

I hate to mention it, but it could be you are subconciously applying pressure to the nib? Cradle the pen in the web between your thumb and forefinger and simply drag it agross the paper. Does it make the same sound?

As a variation of that, how do you hold the pen when you write? I handed my father a butter smooth 60's Parker 45 and he proceeded to hold it almost 90 degrees from the paper and slightly rotated. I was horrified. I did what I could to tune the nib to that writing style but what started as a rare zero feedback nib was reduced to an unremarkable nib. I will give credit to the 45 that it still wrote that way without (much) protest.

There could be a cracked feed, a cracked nib collar or a cracked barrel as well. I would not expect that from a new pen though but I am trying to think of casues.

The Pelikan M should be very smooth like you expect. Try the zero pressure drag test and check the nib unit. With some troubleshooting we should be able to figure things out.

Paul-H
February 23rd, 2014, 03:59 AM
Are sure it was Brand New? Very few sellers would dump a Brand New "Souveran" for half price without good reason. What Model is it.

In addition to all Jeph said also try a different ink and Paper, some pens will play up with one ink and or paper but will be transformed with another. I find Montblanc Inks to be quite Dry, try something wetter like a Waterman Ink.

Paul

Norika
February 23rd, 2014, 08:56 AM
Thank you for your suggestions.
My collector friend came over with his toolbox today to help me out of my misery with the nib. He looked at it through a loupe and told me that the tip itself was rough and looked like the moon`s surface. And that the tines were also too close together, which led to producing these weird noises together with the rough tip that scratches over the paper.
"This nib hasn`t gone through all steps of the finishing process it seems." he said. Then he took a Dremel out of the box and used it to give the nib tip the highgloss finish that was missing. After that he ran a very thin piece of brass through the nib slit to slightly widen it. He said that this would increase the ink flow and take care of the noise.
Then he screwed the nib back into the pen and tested it on paper. "It`s smooth like a good Montblanc nib now and won`t give you any further troubles. But don`t expect other Pelikan nibs to be that smooth, they`re not. " he said. And after asking him if my Pelikan nib was one with a fat ball tip he shook his head and said: " You`re lucky that this one is none of them. The writing tip on your nib hasn`t that much iridium and is rather flat, like they once used to be before that nonsense began. The nib also is not their latest model because it has two chicks instead of one. But if I was you I`d keep it for these days they tend to write more like broads. What you have there is a true medium one. If you don`t want to keep it give it to me, I`ll trade it for a fat ball nib anytime." He laughed.
Then he showed me a few very nice looking fountain pens that he had brought with him and let me write with them. They were all from Pelikan and had their original, unaltered nibs that were less smooth than the one on my new pen is now. But they still wrote very well. The one of the pens shown to me that I liked best is called a Lizard and is a remake of some classic Pelikan. It looks very beautiful and writes very well. It is smaller than the pen that I have which is from the Souveran series and green and black with golden hardware and a twotone nib. It`s been in the shop window since 2011 and nobody wanted to buy it, probably because of the nib that gave no good testwriting experience.
So they reduced the price to find someone stupid enough buying it. And they found me. I bought it right away without trying it out. I thought it was a very good deal until I discovered the disadvantages. But then it was too late and I couldn`t return it for it was inked already. If I ever buy a fountain pen in the future I`m going to try it out before I pay for it, that`s for sure.

Jeph
February 23rd, 2014, 10:03 AM
Well, we are glad that it worked out. Since you had a friend that could come and help you, the bargain WAS a bargain. I can't imagine a pen like that being sold by any reputable dealer, but there you go. That is the type of thing that I expect from evilbay but not from a B&M store.

Most of us don't get the option to test pens first but it is an advantage. One that you usually have to pay extra for unfortunately.

Now we want pictures. We always want pictures!