I once again proved to myself that ink can make or break a pen. I bought a late 80s Cross Century when it was new. I used the Cross ink cartridges. I never did like it, and put it away until I discovered the Nib. When I did, I cleaned it up and loaded it up with Pelikan 4001 Black. I hated it. I was convinced that I didn't like fine nibs, because it felt scratchy. Once again, I put it aside. To me, it couldn't be the ink- it worked great in all my other pens.
Later, I picked up some Lamy Black, mainly because of the unique bottle. On a whim, I cleaned up the Cross and gave it another chance, loading up with the Lamy ink. Oh my- it was like a totally different pen. It flowed beautifully, and I didn't feel any scratchiness. This was a winning combo that I have enjoyed for over a year now.
Like the title said- I verified that ink can make a difference. I was at work and had to fill the pen. Man, the pen was writing horribly. I decided to clean and refill. Still felt bad. I finally had a slow part of the day, and sat down for some PG Tips. Then I saw it- my Pelikan Blue-Black (which I use in my M200 and Parker51) was sitting on my desk, not the Lamy. In my haste I had grabbed the wrong ink. I cleaned the pen again, filled with other Lamy, and was back to writing bliss.
The moral is don't just write a pen or an ink off as junk just because a certain combination doesn't work for you. Experiment a bit. A pen I thought was junk is now in my regular rotation because I figured out what it liked. Thanks for reading my long winded post.
Later, I picked up some Lamy Black, mainly because of the unique bottle. On a whim, I cleaned up the Cross and gave it another chance, loading up with the Lamy ink. Oh my- it was like a totally different pen. It flowed beautifully, and I didn't feel any scratchiness. This was a winning combo that I have enjoyed for over a year now.
Like the title said- I verified that ink can make a difference. I was at work and had to fill the pen. Man, the pen was writing horribly. I decided to clean and refill. Still felt bad. I finally had a slow part of the day, and sat down for some PG Tips. Then I saw it- my Pelikan Blue-Black (which I use in my M200 and Parker51) was sitting on my desk, not the Lamy. In my haste I had grabbed the wrong ink. I cleaned the pen again, filled with other Lamy, and was back to writing bliss.
The moral is don't just write a pen or an ink off as junk just because a certain combination doesn't work for you. Experiment a bit. A pen I thought was junk is now in my regular rotation because I figured out what it liked. Thanks for reading my long winded post.
Oops.
