Wet Nib Advice

[hourwerk]

I currently have a Sailor 1911 large with a broad nib. It's a nice pen but it's a bit on dry side, giving inks a washed out look. Can someone recommend me a pen which writes smooth and wet and puts more ink down on the paper?

Thanks in advance

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[silverlifter]

Almost all nibs can be tuned to write wetter (or drier). And before tuning, you could experiment with different inks, some are wetter than others.

[fc2464]

My experience has been that my Japanese pens such as Nakaya are often fine and dry writers in general compared to my German pens such as my Pelikans and Montblancs. If you want to lay down some ink, go with a Pelikan M1000 or Montblanc 149 in a medium or larger nib. I would just keep your Sailor for what it's good at in case you come across a really wet flowing ink. It's always good to have different pens in the stable with different characteristics.

[Sandy]

I currently have a Sailor 1911 large with a broad nib. It's a nice pen but it's a bit on dry side, giving inks a washed out look.

Thanks in advance

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A solution might be to use a wetter ink. If you have not already done so, try using Sailor's own inks, or some Waterman ink if you have it. I think you will see a difference. Also try different paper. If you are using paper like Clairefontaine for example, I find it doesn't "take" as much ink as others, because of the coating, which causes some pens to skip or lay a thinner line than usual.

You can adjust/have pens adjusted to get them to write wetter.

The Lamy 2K writes wetter with their own inks, than with diamine.

The Cross Townsend and pretty much anything from Waterman tend to write quite wet.

[hourwerk]

Thanks for the advice. Yes I am using Diamine inks and Triomphe Clairfontain writing paper. What paper or inks would give me a wetter writing experience?

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[Sandy]

1st of all - try a different paper. I think if you use any 80/90gsm printer/office paper if you have some lying around you will get a very different result. (I am not saying Clairfontaine paper is bad - just some nibs like it better than others). I find Japanese nibs matched with Japanese paper get a better result - Apicia, MD, and MonoKaki for me gives me a smoother writing experience than others. (Yes, a huge generalisation, but the 5 Japanese papers I have used have worked better than the different European brands I have used).

Sailor inks are wetter than Diamine. As is Waterman - Caran D'ache also works a treat (but is very expensive). If I have a stubborn pen I feed it with C'dA. After a couple of fills of that, I manage to get pens writing better.

[emver]

You could try a Jinhao 100 (or Centennial). It's a smooth, wet writing pen which doesn't dry up, and will also save you a lot of money. I now use mine in preference to all the more expensive pens I own.

[welch]

Almost all nibs can be tuned to write wetter (or drier). And before tuning, you could experiment with different inks, some are wetter than others.

Silverlifter is exactly right. This is the simplest way to fix any nib to write the the way you want it. Inexpensive...last I looked, most nib-craftsmen charge about $40 or less. There are many good nib-workers; I'm sure FPG members can suggest a dozen or more people they routinely use.

[Ray-VIgo]

I'd say start with Waterman Florida Blue (or Serenity Blue now is it?) or Waterman Blue-Black (Mysterious Blue?). Try one or both of those inks in the pen. When I repair pens, I use them as the "standard" for seeing what kind of flow a nib and feed produce. You'll want to try two tests: writing with the pen dipped, and writing with the pen filled. Remember that just dipping the pen will not give you the whole story. You want to test both the nib with just a little ink in it and the pen as it would be filled in the normal course of use. Both of those inks flow reasonably well, they are not overly concentrated, and they seem to work well in a variety of pens.

If you have dry flow problems with those inks, then it's time to look into adjustment of the nib. If it the problem goes away, then it's an ink issue.