It can really give you the creeps

“You should consider a fountain pen as a tube with a partially controlled leak of ink…”

Richard Binder

I was going to post about the new pen collaboration between Kaweco and Moleskine, but I am too easily distracted. Taking this photo I noticed my pen had significant nib creep, that recollected despite multiple cleans. Nib creep is that excess black ink emerging from the tine slit, and is yet another issue in the fountain pen lifestyle. Richard Binder is a renowned nibmeister and considered by most to be the absolute guru of fountain pen function, repair and modification. He believes that in certain conditions capillary action, the core physics behind how a fountain pen writes, can lead to ink being erroneously drawn up the tine slit from the feed chamber, and onto the presentation surface of the nib. Gold nibs (which we have here in a plated version) and black, wet, heavily pigmented, permanent inks (which we also have here), are more prone to nib creep. Some love the look , others with more OCD tendencies are going to have to incessantly wipe the nib. Nib creep is a common reason the careless or inexperienced get inky fingers from fountain pens. #iactuallylikethelook #letsmakelemonade