Why does my fountain pen stop working?

Good question, and one that we hear a lot. As wonderful as they are to own and to write with, even the most expensive fountain pen can be temperamental and fussy. The reason why: a fountain pen is a writing system – like mechanical systems, electric systems, every other kind of system, it relies on a number of components working in harmony and like all systems there can be hiccups in its overall performance if even one of these components isn’t working as it should. However the vast majority of the time these problems can be fixed, and often by yourself.

Diagnosing the problem

To begin to fix your fountain pen, it’s important to pinpoint the problem. Without seeing the pen for ourselves, we can’t tell you 100% what the problem is, but this guide should help to give you a clearer idea of what the issue is and so of what you should do next. Here are some of the most common symptoms that we see: 

• Skipping (the nib/point intermittently dries up and won't write)
• Flooding (nib/point consistently lays down too much ink)
• Poor starting (pen won't write on the first few strokes)
• Blotting (pen periodically lets out huge drops or blots of ink during writing)
• Scratchy point (feels like you are scratching holes in the paper)
• Needs to be refilled too frequently
• Leaks into the cap (or elsewhere)

Causes of the problem. 

Wrong kind of ink used

Symptoms: Skipping, Poor Starting, severe cases of ‘It’s Filled with Ink but Won’t Write at All!’

As said earlier, fountain pens can be rather fussy. Not all inks are good for all kinds of fountain pens, and the more ‘dense’ the ink, the more likely it is to cause problems. India ink, for example, is made with soot – wonderful for dip pens, but this sediment can build up very quickly inside even a new fountain pen and clog the feed, preventing ink flow. Calligraphy and art inks can also do this to fountain pens.

Ink types and what to look out for

• Pigment-based inks hold particles of the colouring material in suspension, meaning a greater likelihood of clogging up the feed. These can be used, but to keep the pen in tip-top condition prepare to commit more time to maintenance. When using heavily pigmented ink you should not fill the fountain pen completely unless you plan on using all of the ink in one sitting - or leave unused ink inside the filling system for long. Flush out the pen after use to prevent ink drying in the chamber and causing future problems, especially if it won’t be used again for more than a few days.
• Dye-based ink are dissolved in water and therefore recommended for fountain pens. Very unlikely to clog up your pen. Bottled ink that had been left for some time might lose some of its water and become thicker – simply dilute with a drop or two of filtered water to restore.

Fix: Wash out the pen – process varies slightly depending on filling system. For plunger fillers, sac fillers and mosquito fillers, fill them with warm, faintly soapy, warm water the same way that you would fill them with ink and then shake the pen to dislodge any residue. Use one small blob of washing up liquid such as Fairy in warmish water – never use powder-based soap for flushing a fountain pen. When you’ve flushed it a few times, pour out the soapy water and rinse with clean, filtered water to clean away the soap. Repeat this until there are no more bubbles.

Factory glue

   Symptoms: Similar to above; Skipping, Poor Starting

The symptoms of this one are very similar to using the wrong kind of ink, but it’s often the case if the pen is brand new and doesn’t write well. If you’ve just bought a fountain pen and the ink’s not flowing right, then this might be because of factory glue on/in the nib. 

Fix: Luckily this one is easily fixed. Rinse the nib section under a warm tap for a couple of minutes, and then gently use a cotton-bud ear cleaner to carefully polish the split in the nib.

 Accumulation of ink over time

   Symptoms: Skipping, Poor Starting.

If you’ve rediscovered a fountain pen after a couple of months of separation and distinctly remember it writing better the last time you used it, there’s a good chance its time in hibernation has resulted in the ink crusting up inside and blocking the feed.

Fix: Flush, and keep flushing. Or send it to us and we’ll put it into our ultra-sonic pen spa.

Nib Misaligned 

  Symptoms: Skipping, Blotting, Scratching, Poor Starting

A misaligned nib is one of the problems that you  may need professional help with - particularly with expensive pens as a nib is delicate and can easily be damaged by amateur attempts to realign it. Before you diagnose your nib as misaligned, we’d advise making sure that it isn’t a less serious issue of the nib being incompatible with your writing style; ask a few other people to try writing with the pen and see if they experience the same problem as you do. (If they write well with the pen, and it is a case of incompatibility there’s a fix for that too: we can have nibs reground to your requirements.)

To diagnose misalignment, look closely at the tines – are they straight, and is the gap between then narrow and parallel? It is up to you as the pen’s owner to make a decision based on the cost of repair and the potential risk of damage in relation to the pen’s value. Some fountain pens are more easily replaced than others; some have sentimental value, are out of production or are irreplaceable limited editions. A new gold nib can cost hundreds of pounds, whereas a professional fix is comparatively cheap at about £30.

Accidental damage 

   Symptoms: Bent nibs, Flooding, Blotting, Scratchy nibs, Broken clips, Broken plunger-filling systems, Leaking feeds, Leaks into the cap, Leaks into the barrel. 

Accidental damage is a broad category and very common; accidents happen even if you’re careful. Symptoms vary widely but if something happened to jar the pen and the problems started soon afterwards, it’s likely this is the chapter for you. Some of the older filling systems such as sac fillers are increasingly delicate with age, and it can take as little as a pen rolling off a desk and landing badly to bend a nib and result in blotting, scratchiness, skipping and leaking. Other causes are being trodden on, being put through washing machines. Hungry dogs (More common than you might expect). As far as accidental damage goes, we think we’ve seen it all until the next pen arrives. 

The symptoms of accidental damage are often similar to ink-caused problems but flushing out the fountain pen won’t fix the problem. 

Fix: Professional; we wouldn’t recommend a DIY fix for this. If you’d like further advice, tell us what happened. We’ll quote you a price once we’ve seen the pen, and let you decide whether you’d like to go ahead. Also, bear in mind that older fountain pens can use components that aren’t produced by the manufacturers anymore and can therefore take some time to source old stock.