I recently loaned one of my piston filled fountain pens to a friend for a few notes and forgot to mention not to post this pen, because the cap threading may catch on the piston knob and potentially create a big mess. Of course this was entirely my fault.
I can tell you guys, I really had a hard time to get the cap off without turning the piston knob and spraying ink all over the table and the people sitting around. With some effort I was able to get the cap off without flooding my surroundings with lovely blue ink.
Here's my question. Do you guys have fountain pens which you don't or shouldn't post because of potential ink disasters? Or are you generally posting or not posting, no matter the pen?
In my case, I generally like to post unless it's a pen with cap threading which easily can jam into either the piston knob or the ink shut off valve knob. For me that is the Narwhal Schuylkill (piston) which had this problem I mentioned above and Opus 88 Koloro (shut off valve) where the threading of the cap and the threading of the valve knob might catch. Other piston fillers like the Pilot Custom Heritage 92 or Pelikans don't have this issue in my experience and can be posted without any worries.
I also realized that the Bock B nib on the Narwhal doesn't write that well and I decided to install the original F nib on the fly (i.e. with ink still in the pen). I used my ink rag to pull the nib and feed out of the pen, aligned the new nib on the feed and pushed both back in. I had to use a brass sheet to increase the gap between the tines to make the pen write though, but after that everything was quite smooth.
Do you change your nibs "on the fly" or do you flush the pen and change nibs, if at all, when the pen is clean?
I can tell you guys, I really had a hard time to get the cap off without turning the piston knob and spraying ink all over the table and the people sitting around. With some effort I was able to get the cap off without flooding my surroundings with lovely blue ink.
Here's my question. Do you guys have fountain pens which you don't or shouldn't post because of potential ink disasters? Or are you generally posting or not posting, no matter the pen?
In my case, I generally like to post unless it's a pen with cap threading which easily can jam into either the piston knob or the ink shut off valve knob. For me that is the Narwhal Schuylkill (piston) which had this problem I mentioned above and Opus 88 Koloro (shut off valve) where the threading of the cap and the threading of the valve knob might catch. Other piston fillers like the Pilot Custom Heritage 92 or Pelikans don't have this issue in my experience and can be posted without any worries.
I also realized that the Bock B nib on the Narwhal doesn't write that well and I decided to install the original F nib on the fly (i.e. with ink still in the pen). I used my ink rag to pull the nib and feed out of the pen, aligned the new nib on the feed and pushed both back in. I had to use a brass sheet to increase the gap between the tines to make the pen write though, but after that everything was quite smooth.
Do you change your nibs "on the fly" or do you flush the pen and change nibs, if at all, when the pen is clean?
