Some Questions about Fountain Pens

[Damage Inc.]

A couple questions for the resident FPIS’ (not sure if that’s a term…but think WIS)
A little background; I recently (Thursday) received my first fountain pen- a Monteverde ‘Black Pearl’ Invincia with a fine steel nib. I loaded it with a cartridge of regular Pelikan “Royal Blue” ink and got to it.
Once it started flowing (a little reticent at first) I tried it out on a few different papers- plain ol’ printer/copier paper, my lab notebook (marginally better) and my day-planner (much smoother).
I found that the ‘texture’ of my writing experience was rather scratchy on the printer paper, a little less so in my notebook, and considerably less in my calendar.

So, my first question:
Is this (the scratchy-ness) normal, especially given the (presumed) modest quality, material, and size of the nib?

Second:
Will the quality of the ink have an impact on the ‘texture’ of writing? (I’m assuming the Pelikan is pretty bargain basement)

Third (& fourth):
When I sign my name or otherwise make rapid/swoopy/slashing movements the pen seems to skip/not lay down a smooth line of ink. I saw (on the Noodler’s Ink page) that the tines of the nib should be able to pass a thin piece of paper…mine will not, at least in my hands.
Could the two be related?
Thoughts on the spacing/adjustment mentioned on the Noodler’s page?

I look forward to hearing your input!
Vic

[Shangas]

A fountain pen nib should write smoothly, with minimal (if any) scratching, catching or dragging. If it's doing any of those, it's not smooth. This could be due to improper grinding of the nib-point, or a misalignment of the tines. Tines (the two split halves that make up the nib) can be...with care...realigned, and nibs can be smoothed out using extremely fine sandpaper, but this should only be attempted if you know what you're doing.

The QUALITY of the ink will not. The TYPE of ink will. Fountain pen ink is fountain pen ink. It is what it is. Quality doesn't really enter into it. The TYPE of ink that it is, can play a factor, though. By this I mean - the saturation of the colour, how the ink is made, what brand it is, etc. Different brands of inks work differently in every fountain pen. But so long as it's FOUNTAIN PEN INK (put away your drawing-inks!!!), it should work fine.

If your pen is writing dry (that is, it's skipping and laying down inconsistent ink, etc), you can fix this if you (very carefully) use your fingers to pull the tines of the nib gently apart, testing often between pulls. What this will do is increase the gap between the tines (duuuh!) and encourage better inkflow, which should give you smoother, less troublesome writing.

[Damage Inc.]

Thank you Shahan!
That is exactly the sort of info I was looking for.

[Damage Inc.]

I tried Shangas' recommendation to 'spread' the nib tines a little, and it did seem to help some. The scratching has decreased (I'm guessing it was just too dry), and the skipping is better...but not gone. I've also ordered some other ink and will give an update when I receive those and have tried 'em out.

[2careless]

Also please note that when you use fp's, do not use the same force/pressure onto the paper as if you're writing using ballpens. Ballpens require a lot more force for the ball to rotate while you only need a fraction of that force to write with fp's. So naturally if you use the same pressure as if the fp were a bp, you'll get a scratchy pen.

[TattooedGQ]

In my experience, if you're using cheap paper (ie typical Office stuff) and you open up your nib too much and it writes wet you'll get a lot of feathering. I've found that Noodlers inks seem to feather less than others. (right now I have a bottle of Parker, 2 bottles of Pelikan, 1 Aurora, and 2 bottles of Noodlers.)

I'm using the Pelikan blue-black in my EF Lamy Safari, since that ink seems to feather when it's layed down wet, and the Noodlers Blue black (looks greenish) in my M Mont Blanc since its more of a wet writer. just to give you a contrast.

[Damage Inc.]

Thanks for the input guys.
I'm accustomed to a rollerball, so the pressure adjustment isn't quite that extreme.
The 2 inks I just ordered are both Noodler's- 'Zhivago' and 'Bad Belted Kingfisher', it'll be interesting to see how they behave.
I switched the cartridge yesterday afternoon to an unlabeled black that came with the pen...it feathered much more than the Pelikan. So, I've switched it back to the Pelikan until the bottled ink arrives.

[TattooedGQ]

If you're doing the cartridge route, I've found that the waterman ones are pretty good.

[Damage Inc.]

Switching to bottled ink tomorrow.
Also thinking seriously about a Visconti 'Homo Sapiens' FP- anyone own or tried one?

[Lion]

Originally Posted by Damage Inc.

Switching to bottled ink tomorrow.
Also thinking seriously about a Visconti 'Homo Sapiens' FP- anyone own or tried one?

I have checked them out at my local pen store when the Sales Rep was there for an open house and it really is a nice pen.....definitely worth looking at and buying!!!

[JBat]

Using a high quality paper will make a big difference in your writing performance. The cheap printer-type papers just don't work well with FP's. Also, with a new pen, sometimes giving it a good flushing with water will help get any gunk out of there that may be causing skipping issues. Just make sure you get as much of the water out of the pen as you can before re-inking.