[Image description: A white fountain pen with a silver clip on the cap and a silver zebra stripe band around the middle lies on a blue dotted grid desk pad.]

I impulse bought a Pilot Metropolitan (F) about a month ago and have had the worst experience so far. First it took 3 days of experimenting (squeezing the cartridge, flushing, cleaning, shaking, incessant scribbling) to get it to write at all. Then I noticed the nib was a bit off-center in the feed so I aligned it and it wrote pretty well for a while. This morning I grabbed it to take some notes and it won’t start, even after a flush with water and re-seating the cartridge. This isn’t my first fountain pen (not even my first Pilot!) but I’m really disappointed because the Metro seems to be such a popular recommendation as a solid, inexpensive starter pen. Did I get a dud?

  • spinnetroubleEnglish
    2•1 year ago

    Any chance you rotate your pen when you write? I do, and have never found a Metro that I enjoyed using. Other Pilot nibs are great–I have a Kakuno and an Elite that I love, but something about the way Metropolitan nibs are shaped is terrible for the way I write and it makes them snag on paper. Paper fibers clogging the nib will block your ink flow. I don’t know if there’s a Metropolitan with an oblique nib out there, but if there isn’t, I highly recommend trying the Kakuno instead.

    If you don’t rotate your pen, try clearing out anything in nib. My first step is usually dipping it in a bit of water in case it’s dried ink clogging things up, and if that doesn’t help, have a look at it under a bright light with a loupe. If it’s clogged, flossing between the tines with brass foil will pull out almost anything stuck in there.

    • @sillyhatsonlyOPEnglish
      2•1 year ago

      I do rotate slightly when I write and I have had other pens snag on paper before but I don’t think that’s the case here. There were no issues with the nib that I could spot other than it being crooked in the feed.

      The Kakuno is one of my favorite pens! I’ve owned several but I wish they were a little sturdier… every one I’ve owned has cracked eventually (cap, body, or both) no matter how carefully I handle it.

      • @ItsJason@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        3•1 year ago

        The Kakuno is one of my favorite pens!

        I believe the Metropolitan and the Kakuno use the same nib. So if you like the Kakuno nib and are just looking for a more substantial body, the Metro should be a great fit. Pilot is know for good quality control, but it does sound like maybe you got a dud.