Thouhts on TWSBI 700?

**Altair** · 08-06-2012, 10:44 PM

Anyone purchase the TWSBI 700? Let me know how you guys like it. I may wanna get one.

**Isaac** · 08-06-2012, 10:53 PM

I like it. I have an amber model. I will be honest, in that my nib was quite dry. I had issues with startup as well. I did some nib tweaking, and its working much better now. It does hold a ton of ink as well :)

**Altair** · 08-06-2012, 11:07 PM

Originally Posted by IsaacRN

I like it. I have an amber model. I will be honest, in that my nib was quite dry. I had issues with startup as well. I did some nib tweaking, and its working much better now. It does hold a ton of ink as well :)

what ink are you using? sometimes dry nib can be caused by the type of ink. I wonder if there are any cracking issues with this pen? Thanks

**Isaac** · 08-07-2012, 05:06 AM

it definitely was not an ink issue. It was a nib issue. I tinkered with the nib, and then had to send it back to the Goulets to have Drew look at it as well. I put about 6 different inks through it that were pretty wet to rule out dry ink. It all worked out in the end, but left a sour taste in my mouth..haha. I like the pen, but find myself reaching for the 540 a bit more now, when I need a kick around pen.

**Dave258** · 08-07-2012, 05:46 AM

I bought the Blue one, and when I got it, it wrote so dry that I hated using it. It was filled with Private Reserve Avocado, an ink I never had problems with. I spent about 5 minutes one day messing with the nib and now it writes great!

**JPDyson** · 08-07-2012, 06:46 AM

The slit was a little narrow on mine, so it was a little dry and didn't always start well. I widened it a hair - it's much better now, and is quite well behaved. It has a certain nerd appeal to me w/the filling mechanism. If there's one annoyance, it's that you have to "open" the filler slightly for extended writing.

**Altair** · 08-07-2012, 10:34 AM

Dry nib ha. I'm so used to writing with my ahab and konrad those are very wet.

**Etoyoc_Rebmos** · 08-07-2012, 09:36 PM

I have a 700 that I am not that impressed with. Now, I own three other TWSBI and I love my 530 and 540 models. However, I have no love for the 700. Yes, it posts better. Yes, it feels better and has a better balance. Yes, the filling mechanism is cool. However, two problems have soured me on the pen and it sits in its box waiting for me to either give it another go or sell it. First, was supposed to be a fine nib. The nib was dry and just wouldn't write well (regardless of the ink) so I had to widen the tines (TWSBI even shows this process in a how-to video) and then realign the tines and smooth. It is a much smoother writer now, but it is more of a medium than a fine. Second, after being filled, it writes a nice wet beautiful line. However, it slowly starves itself of ink. Yes, you have to unscrew the piston knob in order to make sure the safety valve isn't sealing the ink flow shut. However, even with my valve all the way open, the pen starves of ink. Maybe there is some 75% open position that works wonderfully. I haven't found that position yet. I have tried waterman inks, diamine inks, noodler inks... all the same result.

But, this is just one pen. Others absolutely love their 700. However, looking at the above posts, it looks like the nib issue is somewhat common. The Micarta has the same nib, so I haven't purchased a Micarta yet.