All of a sudden, pens won't write.

[scrivelry]

I'm finding this a little creepy...

I have *cough* a few pens. Generally, I put ink in them, and then they write.

Some of them get dry if they sit for a day or two, then I dip the tip of the nib in water, and they write.

I let my desk pens sit too long, so I needed to wash them out, and I did. Then I filled one, an Estie, which had worked fine in the past, and... it would not write.

I replaced the nib with a different, NOS nib right out of the ancient, but previously unmolested little nib box, and...

It still will not write.

I have let it sit there in the Estie pen holder, and... still, it won't write. If I dip it in water, it will write for a few letters, then - won't write.

Now this could just be this Estie being mad at me for the one I inadvertantly twisted the neck off the other day. I did not let it sit long enough, I thought it was twisting... no, it was breaking. OK, so, Esties unite against your oppressor, I get it, I am sorry, I will repent, but...

Did you have to get my Sheaffer 440 to do it too? And my Chinese no-name, special for little kids, probably costs five cents in China red plastic pen? The Sheaffer I realize needs some nib tweaking, but the little red one, baby of the pen herd? Really?

Have I, as a person, somehow gotten drier? Am I just sucking the life out of these things? Is it my admittedly dated computer screen? This is not happening with pens I carry around with me - it's happening with the ones on my desk. They are up in arms, or something.

But, in all seriousness, does anyone have a clue? They are not all filled with the same ink, or even the same brand of ink, some have their regular caps, some are in Estie holders, but none of them want to write, despite there being wet ink in the hold.

It's not exactly a dry climate, either - there's green something growing on the vinyl siding...

[Dreck]

That is weird. I went through something similar several months ago with my Noodler's pens after taking them to the beach. Every one of them used for note taking stopped working. Humidity, low or high, can affect your pens' performance.

Although the effect was somewhat unsettling and quite inconvenient, I try not to attribute supernatural influence or motive to inanimate objects unless it becomes blatantly apparent that such is the case (so far, so good).

Have you tried giving each of them a good flushing out? I mean with the "1:10 ammonia/distilled water blend with a drop of Dawn dishsoap per 10ml " flushing out and not just holding them under a hot tap.

Eventually, with my recalcitrant Noodler's, I took them completely apart and soaked the nib and feed in the flushing solution for several hours. I cleaned the pens inside and out. I even scrubbed the feed and concave surface of the nib with a toothbrush dipped in pen flush after their soak. Then I gave it all a good warm rinse, made sure everything was nice and dry, re-greased the piston mechanism, and started the reassembly process. They've been great ever since.

One of the things I love about fountain pens is the relatively low number of parts to troubleshoot. There's only so much that can go wrong, and only so many possible solutions.

Seriously, somebody with a more engineering-oriented mind than mine should develop troubleshooting flowcharts for various fountain pens based on fill mechanism.

[Sailor Kenshin]

If the pens are still filled, you could try dipping them in ink and writing until they re-learn their function and leave their mini-tantrums behind.

[carlos.q]

Some of them get dry if they sit for a day or two...

I let my desk pens sit too long...

You have no doubt offended the pen gods!!! To make amends you must make an adequate sacrifice.

I suggest the following:

1. Separate some time to flush all your pens.
2. Fill only the ones that you will use during your rotation.

And the most important part of your sacrifice:

3. Promise them that you will never ever leave them unattended while inked, and that they will all have some time in your rotation.

If you are lucky the pen gods will forgive you. If not, you could easily be condemned to the thirteenth level of hell. That's the one where everyone writes with beautiful fountain pens but you are condemned to writing all day with a dry Bic Stic. Tread lightly!!!

[Chi Town]

Follow "Dreck's" solution regarding Flushing, that is the most common cause regarding failure! Keep us apprised as to what method you use and the results, please.

[KKay]

How long have you been keeping the ink in the pens? I keep a log of which pen, and what ink I used. That would be the day inked, and the day I cleaned it. That way ink won't sit in a pen for too long. I also have a habit of lightly shaking a pen, or turning it to agitate the ink a little. I tend to use my pens every day. Even if I don't write much, I get each one, and write a couple of lines with it. That seems to keep them running good. Most days they get a work out. Some days they barely get touched. If a pen is acting up, I pull out printer paper and scribble with that first. You may have to turn your convertor up a notch, and push out a drop of ink. I would try cleaning them from top to bottom first though. Oh, and if I know I won't be using that much ink from a certain pen, I don't fill the converter all the way up. I may fill it half way or something. Just a thought. I hope you get them running right!

[scrivelry]

Update:

Thank you everyone who gave constructive suggestions - or even just read the post.

Here is where we are at the moment:

The Little Red Plastic Pen has been beaten into submission. She is writing fine now. I pushed her nib against her section - which may or may not have done the trick, but then she was writing well.

The Sheaffer, it turned out, needed some nib tweaking - not surprising, because when I got it it looked like a Buzzard's beak after a bad Saturday night in a bar where they put chicken wire in front of the band. I had more or less straightened it where it needed that - said straightening had left no slit whatsoever, and once I managed to fix that, it began writing just great.

The Estie Desk pen...

I washed it out and put ink in it, and then tried to write with it. No dice.

So then, i let it sit 45 minutes so the ink could make its lazy old way into the feed and address the nib - still did not write.

Let it sit overnight, dipped it in water, pulled on lever to make ink gush down the feed, shook it a little, tried writing on copy paper - still did not write.

Took out that nib. Put in Brand NOS nib. It still did not write. Pulled lever to gush ink - won't write. Try again at varying intervals - won't write. Dip tip in water - won't write.

I think I am going to try Sailor Kenshin's suggestion. If that does not work I will empty it and soak. IF that does not work...

[mhguda]

You do not mention if you flushed the nib and feed together - blew water through and actually saw water coming out where the ink would meet the paper.
And I'm assuming when you say you change the nib you mean the nib unit - housing, nib and feed all together. Which may mean you have two feeds that are clogged along the channels - not impossible... even if it's a little strange, if you did see the ink come out that way when pulling the lever. Still, this has happened with my eyedroppers - you turn them upside down with the barrel half-screwed off, ink will come out, but once the quantity of ink you forced into the feed is gone, if there is gunk in the channel, it will dry up again... flushing forcefully with water (the famous earbulb method) or something similar to force the water through is the only thing that will remove the obstruction.

[ac12]

You do not mention if you flushed the nib and feed together - blew water through and actually saw water coming out where the ink would meet the paper.
And I'm assuming when you say you change the nib you mean the nib unit - housing, nib and feed all together. Which may mean you have two feeds that are clogged along the channels - not impossible... even if it's a little strange, if you did see the ink come out that way when pulling the lever. Still, this has happened with my eyedroppers - you turn them upside down with the barrel half-screwed off, ink will come out, but once the quantity of ink you forced into the feed is gone, if there is gunk in the channel, it will dry up again... flushing forcefully with water (the famous earbulb method) or something similar to force the water through is the only thing that will remove the obstruction.

Depending on the clog, forcing water through may or may not help. With DRYED ink, I either soak the nib assembly overnight or maybe for a few days, and/or put it into the USC.