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Good day all, I have a Waterman Man 100 which is a bit too wet and am wondering if I can do anything to reduce the ink flow. I read somewhere some time ago but can't recall where that a solution could be to put a 'spot' of shellac on one of the feed canals.
I have been told, as well, that another way is that of boiling the nib so that the tines get close again.
I could try and find a vintage F nib, but how likely is this to happen?
Marco
What ink are you using? Before you try to reduce the nib's ink flow I would suggest you use a drier ink like Pelikan 4001.
Marco….keep the shellac well away from the feed !
I have sorted this problem a few times by turning the pen/ nib upside down , placing your finger on the feed and GENTLY pressing the nib at a shallow angle against a hard smooth surface , in effect trying to bend the nib downwards.
Only gently mind you, and not so as to introduce a noticeable bend , just to coax the tines together a bit tighter.
Again I stress, only a gentle press , and trying the writing each time to see if it has made a difference….
You should notice a difference quite quickly.
If not, don’t keep pushing as it takes some experience to know how much a nib can take.
As Robalone says never get any trace of shellac anywhere hear the feed as it will render it unusable and it would be a heck of a job to clean off. When my nib tines are apart and need to be closer together I gently use both thumbs and forefingers and cross one over the other two or three times until they look closer and still line up.
Your chances of finding a F nib for a Waterman Man 100 are very low unless by some miracle you find someone who wants to swap a F for a M. You never know it might happen but I wouldn't hold your breath. Maybe you could set up a search on ebay. You might find a badly damaged pen that you can harvest the nib from.
Most tweaks are mentioned in the replies, but I still like to repeat the advice about trying different inks. It can mean all the difference. Some pens are made to be wet and it means we need to use better paper quality, they are not meant to perform ideal on anything from tissuepaper to cotton fiber paper. Getting the tines closer together will likely affect ink flow, but be careful when adjusting hard to replace nibs. If you have a pen / nib repair guy near you, they are worth going to.
Barring other issues (e.g.: air leak, crap paper, big gap between feed and nib, etc...), the ink flow it ultimately controlled by the gap between the tines. If they're closer together, the pen writes drier. If they're further apart, the pen is more wet.
Sure, different inks can write more wet or dry; but you can adjust the tines for that as well.
As noted in another recent thread, to close the gap you cross the tines. Cross your middle finger under your index finger, then cross your index finger under your middle finger. That's the principle.
I wouldn't learn with the pen you mention. Pick up some cheap Chinese pen and practice with that. You need a 10x loupe to check your work. Hold the nib up to a light and you can see the width of the gap.
Can´t remember which pen, but I solved the problem by placing a pencil lead in one of the feed channels.
Easy and reversible !
Folks thank you very much for your suggestions. I will try with some other ink first and see what happens. It is not ideal to play around with this nib as some of you have pointed out.
Marco
I discovered that the converter had a crack where it is inserted on the 'nipple', am trying to find a better word.
Got a new Waterman converter and the pen skips, nothing new as it did it before. How can this be, wet nib, new converter and it skips?
I removed the nib and feed, cleaned them both and reinserted, I believe correctly as I have seen that the section has a groove where the nib+feed have to be inserted.
I checked all the 'canals' on the section with a loupe and a dentist's pick and they are clean.
Now what?
Have you had this Le Man for all of it's life or have you recently purchased it? I'm only asking because I've seen previous repair threads over on the other place where Le Man 100 nib units seem to come out of their "sheaths" that then remain inside the section. If you just bought it then I might be suspicious of some sort of a fix.
When you said you "removed the nib and feed, cleaned them both and reinserted, ...where the section has a groove", it sounds like you didn't unscrew the nib unit with it's collar intact. Is this pen definitely a Waterman Le Man 100 or could it be one of the earlier very similar models?
@chrissy, I've had it donkeys years. Nib and feed are friction fit. The section unscrews from the barrel. Looking inside the empty section there is a groove that accepts both pieces assembled together. It is a genuine Man 100 :-)
Attached is a comparison with a PFM III
Attachment 70385
M
SOLVED! Hope for good as well. Removed nib and feed, placed in USC machine and left to soak for a bit then cycled a few times on automatic timer. rinsed and reassembled pushing as hard as I could into the section. reinserted converter and started writing. 3.5 A5 pages without skipping once. Looks good 😊