Sheaffer Skrip Black woes

[azkid]

** solved — see end of post **

I bought a vintage Skripsert pen early on and then got some Skrip Black cartridges from Staples nearby.

I've had the worst experience with this ink. The pen wrote way too wet resulting in feathering on even good quality paper such as Clairefontaine papier velouté. Dry times were in the minutes.

I have been able to adjust the nib to reduce flow considerably. With very light pressure the pen barely lays down any ink. (Below top: almost no pressure; bottom: my normal writing pressure).



The feathering is gone but tiny ink pools take over a minute to dry (!)

I expected Skrip Black to behave way better than what I am seeing.

Is it possible I got a bad/stale batch of cartridges?

Has anyone else had this experience?

** May 29, 2019 — solved **

The nib on this pen is extremely difficult to tune for flow but I was finally able to get it working properly with the Skrip Black cartridges. My experience tuning other nibs was a big help.

I know I've got it tuned right because the ink dries quickly and I don't see feathering, both indicating it isn't flowing too much. At the same time, the nib feels lubricated and the line color isn't too faint indicating it isn't flowing too dry either.

I'm very happy to finally have this pen working with its native ink!