Quote Originally Posted by reprieve View Post
Quote Originally Posted by Buster99 View Post
I have no clue what causes this except maybe oxidation inside the feed? Neither pen dries out, both write nice and wet from the start. It is definitely an effect caused by the amount of time that the pens are not used.
Has anybody else noticed this? Maybe found a clue as to how this is caused or even better, how to prevent this effect from happening?
In my experience, some inks (and pens) are more prone to this than others. It's just one of those things that happens with fountain pens. I don't think you can prevent it.

I wonder if it's that the ink in the feed is slowly evaporating making the dye content more highly concentrated (hence the ink appears darker). As you write, fresh ink flows into the nib and feed and becomes lighter again.
I don't know the cause, but I see this with different pens and inks. I agree with reprieve that it's just something that happens.

Perhaps you could scribble or doodle a little on scratch paper to get the lighter colored ink flowing before you start your final copy? I do that with a hard starter sometimes.