Ink blotching on vintage pens

[Spideysgirl]

I love the old celluloid pens but I can't seem to get them to stop blotching ink all over my page. I gave them new sacs and a good polishing. I heat set the nibs and even put silicone grease on the feed that is inside the grip section. In careful not to get any on the ink channel.
I was writing last night with one of my favorites and I paused a moment to think about what I was writing next and bloop. This huge bit of ink came dripping out.
I thought I fixed the problem. But I guess not.
Did I do anything wrong?

[jar]

Air leak. Something not sealed or pin hole in sac. Also could be too large a sac.

[PaulS]

As part of your pen renovation is removing the feed and nib, then just possible that you're not putting them back tightly enough or far enough into the section, causing ink to filter past these parts. It's also possible that when these parts are not replaced in the position they occupied originally, differences in the internal part of the section could give rise to minute gaps caused by their original location - I know some of the books make a big thing of reminding us to replace in exactly the position they were originally.
If the sac is the problem, then ink would surely make itself known by exiting the threaded join between barrel and section.

[Pterodactylus]

I would also recommend not to remove the nib and the feed if not necessary.
If it is necessary always mark the position of the nib/feed in the section to be able to put it exactly on the same position back.

I agree with Jar that the most likely root cause is a air leak.

Also the really old ones can be real gushers and might not play well with every ink.
Not every ink may really harmonize with such pens.
Also a wet ink can cause your problem.

Which ink are you using?

You can try to use another dry ink before searching for the air leak.
E.g Pelikan 40001 or a iron gall ink (iron gall inks imo tend to work well with very wet pens)

[ac12]

What ink are you using?
Some inks that are too WET for the pen can do that to a pen.
I had a Parker pen that would drool ink, after I switched to the dryer Cross/Pelikan ink, no more drooling.

Do NOT use silicone grease on the feed. When you stick it into the section, the grease will spread, and could clog the ink channel, which could slow down or stop the ink flow. But just a little silicone in the ink channel, could also make the ink channel flow ink easier, which could lead to drooling. The problem now is, silicone grease is HARD to remove once it is on something. The best you can do is to clean as much of it as you can, and hope for the best.

Some pens are just problematic.
I have 2 Noodler's pens that I just could get to stop drooling, no matter what I tried. They now sit in my junk box.



My suggestion is to clean the pen and try Pelikan ink.
If it still drools, test for an air leak.

To test for air leak back of the section.
- EMPTY the pen of ink, but do not wash it. You want "some" ink ink the pen.
- Pull the section from the pen.
- Wrap a tissue over the back of the section and the sac, to catch any spurting ink.
- Put the nib side of the section into your mouth, with your lip over the section.
- Blow into the section.
- - If there is an air leak you should see the ink on the tissue, and be able to narrow in to where the leak is.