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Conklin stub

I just got a new Conklin Duaragraph with a stub nib. Now the is my first stub nib, and I'm relatively new to fountain pens.
I love this pen in terms of looks, color, weight. And I love the line it lays down. The problem is it doesn't lay it consistently. It keeps skipping, not writing for short periods of my script. The angle I hold it at seems to affect it somewhat, but I haven't found a sweet spot to hold it that makes it write perfectly.
My question is, are all stub nibs tempermental, and I've simply not mastered the right angle? Or did I get a bum pen that I need to find a way to replace?
 
Did you flush the pen a few times when you got it new? I've read about manufacturing processes leaving some residue that affects the initial inking of some pens, which causes them to skip/sputter.
 
I have on a few occasions noticed that a new pen seems to take a while to "break in." Now whether this is a function of the pen (e.g., leftover residue from the manufacturing process), oe the writer (knowing the right angle) I do not know.

Also, maybe try a different ink. I have one Pelikan that is extremely fussy about the ink that I use -- to the point where its use level is diminished because I can't use some of my favorite, more conservative (i.e., business) inks in it.
 
Did you flush the pen a few times when you got it new? I've read about manufacturing processes leaving some residue that affects the initial inking of some pens, which causes them to skip/sputter.
Ahh, this I did not do. Excellent advice. I will flush it when I get a chance.
The pelikan ink I'm using I hope isn't the root of the problems.
As I use it more today the skipping is getting a little better, and I'm realizing part of it seems to be not catching the corner of the nib when I write, rather than the center where the ink is.
 
Stub nibs don't skip, and they're not as angle-sensitive as, say, an italic. Unless you really aren't aligning the nib properly, it might be a nib issue. Conklin nibs seem to have QC problems, almost like they don't take the time to polish the nib before sending it out.

I got my dad a Duragraph with a stub nib for Christmas and it writes perfect...wet and smooth. But my Conklin All-American with a "medium" nib (quotes on purpose) needed some time on the fine-grit paper to get it to write like it should. And some people report the same issue with Conklins.

Practice with it more. Pay attention to your nib alignment. If it still skips constantly, you probably have a nib that's either slightly misaligned or not properly polished/smoothed.
 
I, too have a Duragraph stub. So far, I hate it. It's not smooth, it has a tendency to hard start, and it's just not pleasant to write with. I noticed the nib was a little crooked, so I adjusted it and that made it flow a little better, but it's still a miserable pen. I need to flush out the ink (some kind of Waterman sample) and throw some Mont Blanc or Sailor in it to see if that changes the pen any. I noticed there are a few different nibs on Conklins. Mine happens to be a black nib that I hadn't seen mentioned anywhere. I'm curious if it's an older style or newer, and if the silver ones are smoother or not.
 
Black Conklin nibs were first-batch and are not offered anymore. Did you make sure the tines were aligned? If the nib was crooked, there's a good chance they're not.
 
So flushing my pen helped a ton. It now writes consistently. But it not like any pen I've written with before. Previously my broadest nib was my Pilot Custom 74 with a Medium nib. Compared to that the Conklin is huge. And wet. All my other pens work great with the Black n Reds I use for notebooks. But this pen bleeds through them. Not so much they are unusable, but I know I can't consistently use this pen for my journal.
 
What ink are you using? A drier ink should help with the liberal flow. Something like Pelikan 4001 series ink or iron gall (such as Rohrer & Klinger Salix) would probably suit you well.
 
I'm currently using Noodler's Hunter Green. Maybe I'll try my Pelikan Brilliant Brown.

Worth a shot! I find most Noodler's inks to be on the wet side. Robin's Egg (Anderson Pens excl.) was very dry, though. I use Pelikan Brown and Turquoise is one of my pens exclusively as it feathers with any other ink because it is such a gusher.

Thicker paper is an option too. Black N Red is pretty good, but far from great. Rhodia, Clairefontaine, or some papers by the ream might prevent bleedthrough as well.
 
So this whole thing ended up so drawn out. I finally got a new replacement nib, feed and convertor from Conklin directly yesterday. Changed out the nib and saw an immediate improvement. O ddly they sent me a somewhat different nib. It is a grayish black rather than the original silver. And the air hole is a different design than I've ever seen, kind of a half moon rather than one hole. Anyway it will take some more writing to really see how it fares, but I have high hopes. I want it to work because I really like this pen.
 
Well, I'm a fountain pen newb, so I don't know that my opinion counts for much, but the new nib has worked wonders. It writes fairly smoothly, and much more consistently. I now like it a lot. Since it took two tries, I'm still not sure I would recomend there pens. But then again if this new nib were the first I had recieved, I'd probably be raving full throat about what a great pen it is.
 
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