Pen skipping?

Hoping for some help/guidance from the nib experts.

I've recently purchased a Waterman Expert III, in a medium nib, which I've equipped with a genuine Waterman converter. I've loaded it with Parker blue-black quink, and love the way it writes... When it writes...

It seems it's skipping a bit, and I'm new enough to FP's to not know what to do about it.

It seems to do it whether it's sat on my desk for a minute or two uncapped, or if I've kept it capped, so I'm thinking drying out might not be the culprit.

About 8/10 times I pick it up and start writing, it misses the first half of my first letter/number, and then the ink starts flowing. Once in a while, while writing, it will miss a portion of a letter or number.

I've tried draining and re-filling it a few times, to no avail.

Any tips or tricks to get this thing writing as I expect it to? I didn't experience this with my Lamy Safari, or with my old Parker Frontier. Is it me? The ink? The pen/nib?

Thanks in advance, gents.

have you tried another ink when draining and re-filling or just the Quink? Sometimes a different ink makes quite a difference.

Jut said:

have you tried another ink when draining and re-filling or just the Quink? Sometimes a different ink makes quite a difference.

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So far, I've only tried the Quink (it's all that I've got at the moment). I'll swing by my local stationary store in the next few days to see if they've got something else I can try. If memory serves correctly they carry Noodler's stuff. Maybe that'll help?

Since it's a new pen, a good flushing/cleaning may do the trick.

Winchester38 said:

So far, I've only tried the Quink (it's all that I've got at the moment). I'll swing by my local stationary store in the next few days to see if they've got something else I can try. If memory serves correctly they carry Noodler's stuff. Maybe that'll help?

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Doc4 said:

Since it's a new pen, a good flushing/cleaning may do the trick.

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I would probably try Doc4's suggestion before making a trip to the store to buy more...its cheaper, and may work just as well if not better.

Just a flush with lukewarm water and a touch of dish soap, followed by a water rinse, right?

Never flushed one before, but in searching here, that seems to be the common method.

Id flush it. Using waterman black in mine. Write fine

Hey Winchester! I'm new to The FP world also but I have found that Iroshizuki inks have solved some issues with some of my pens. That said, I found one pen that didn't write as well with it. Overall however, they are my favorite inks but you pay a bit more for them. To me I find it worth it... Disclaimer: YMMV...

If you want, PM me your address and I can send you some ink samples. Some I've tried and some I haven't but at least you can try some different colors and or brands to see if anything works for you.

Flushed it last night, and refilled with Quink this morning. Noticibly better. No mid-word skipping in the first two hours of usage today. Still a bit dry at the beginning of writing, but that' probably more de to my "write a few numbers, set pen down, write a few more numbers a few minutes later" style of writing during my work days.

Thanks for the help gents!

Moondoggie said:

If you want, PM me your address and I can send you some ink samples. Some I've tried and some I haven't but at least you can try some different colors and or brands to see if anything works for you.

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Very kind offer. I may just take you up on that. To this point, I've only used Lamy cartridges in my Safari (that I've since given to a family member), and Quink in my Parker and Waterman.

hard starts do happen with some pens, but the skipping shouldnt, In a lot of cases I find skipping has more to do with technique in writing (rolling or the wrist or stretching fingers out on longer letters like "t" or "h" ) if you have a writing sample thats easy to spot. if it is the pen a simple flush like said is the easiest to start as otherwise the nib may need adjusting either the tines or its placement on the feed