NOTE: The saga of Ahab started HERE.
The third round of testing started pretty much the same as THE PREVIOUS DAY, with Ahab the Clear leading the way. Running without any problems and gliding smoothly, the first Ahab went through all the tasks in front of it. A “confirmed” pen, I would say. Now that it feels reassuringly stable, I can enjoy it’s shape and size which I find to be really pleasant. It’s one very comfortable pen, both unposted and posted, although it’s big enough that posting isn’t really necessary, at least for my not so big hands.
Ahab the Red continued in it’s own fashion, alternating moments of significant wetness with periods of dry seasoning. A curious combination of both wet and dry pen at the same time. Also it needs more of kick-starting than Ahab the Clear, who in it’s turn, managed even to handle without a smirk that slightly glazed paper I declared “inappropriate” yesterday.
To prevent it from feeling lonely, I introduced once again the Pontiac pen and it joined the session immediately. It still feels somewhat more stiff than both Ahabs, but is reassuringly trouble free. In the meantime Lex from FPN gave me some advice on smoothing the nib so Pontiac gets the treatment next.
Then a nicely detailed thread on Ahab tuning appeared on FPN, inspiring me to clean the red one again and reassemble the nib and feeb according to new instructions. Once done, I filled Ahab the Red with Pelikan’s Brilliant Brown, to see if that might improve the flow and also solve the feathering issues.
The answers are YES and NO. Ahab the Red now just works as well as Ahab the Clear. Yummie! But feathering seems to be even worse on that beautiful Fabriano Disegno. That paper just ignores my affection, resenting any fountain pen ink I introduce. Too bad, as it is a very pleasant surface to draw on. A lighter ink and line variation are also a recipe for shading that illuminates the drawing and highlights the strokes.
Seems we have reached a happy ending, with both pens performing and feeling well, inspiring the owner to sketch and sketch more. Thanks to knowledgeable people and a few drops of patience, these pens of the unbeatable value for money, beautiful shape and comfortable size, now work and produce. Give them a chance.
NOTE: The saga of AHAB continued HERE.