So, It’s Time to Clean That Pen of Yours…
*This post goes out to my niece, Josephine, who recently discovered the fountain pen world. I hope this busts the myths around owning a fountain pen!
And we’re back! The holidays are over, the new year has begun, and it’s not still January (is it?). While we’re leaping into this leap year, let’s not forget about all the awesome fountain pen goodies we procured over the last few months (or years?). If you checked out our Holiday Gift Giving guide last year, perhaps you were the giver or receiver of a new fountain pen!
This little guide may be helpful for your newer fountain pen users – you’re in good company! You may have heard that one difference between a classic old big name brand ballpoint pen and a fountain pen is that there IS maintenance required. You’ve traded the disposability of those single-use plastic pens for the beauty, grace, style and…tiny bit of upkeep in your new pen.
Not to worry! There are many ways to maintain your pen. Have you ever had one of the following questions pop into your head?
- My cartridge is empty – what do I do?
- My pen isn’t writing as smoothly as it used to; I think it’s clogged – what do I do?
- I want to change ink colors – how do I do that?
- I’ve used all the ink in my piston filler and want to change it but I’m nervous – I don’t want to break anything.
- Everything is fine, but I just want to give my pen a quick clean.
- I like to use inks with lots of shimmer or pigment – how can I clean that?
Check out the little chapters below for the scenario that best fits your situation. You can also check out this blog on fountain pen gifts for the newcomer, or Karen’s FAQ’s about fountain pen basics – this is a great place to start for the really new newcomer.
CHANGING CARTRIDGES or CONVERTERS: Basic cleaning techniques
Great work – you’ve used up a cartridge. You’re writing! Now, if you are going to replace your cartridge with another cartridge of the same ink, no work necessary. Just pop on a new cartridge and get back to writing.
If you’re looking to try a different color ink – you’ll want to rinse your nib/feed/section to clean the bits of all the old ink remnants before popping on your new cartridge. This can be done in a few small steps:
Unscrew the nib/feed/section from your pen body.
Pop off the old cartridge and either A.) toss it or B.) rinse it out and keep it for later!
Rinse the nib section under cool running water for a few seconds (think of this like rinsing your dishes before you put them in the dishwasher – could be unnecessary but makes the cleaning process much easier) – it gets the easy to remove bits out of the pen.
Gather a small vessel of clean water to soak the nib section. Any cup will do – and any water will do (except hot water – it could affect the nib parts). Tap water? Filtered fridge water? Brita? Distilled from your doomsday prep go-bag? Room temp? Cool? Great!
a. Soak the nib until the water becomes saturated with ink – rinse and repeat.
b. Note: the more saturated the pen, the longer this process may take.
Once the nib section is clean and free of old ink bits, remove it from water and let it dry completely. I like to use the same cup (emptied and dried) with a paper towel and place the nib tip down on the paper towel (gently). The drying process could take several hours. Time for the LOTR Trilogy!
After the nib has been dried, you can now reassemble your pen – pop on that new cartridge and play around with your new color – go on, friend!
But wait! I use a converter, not a cartridge!
AMAZING! I love converters – they really make trying lots of inks super fun and easy and quick. Go through steps 1-6 and then flush out your converter by twisting (or plunging) water in and out until it’s all clean. I like to have a cup of clean water and an empty cup to flush the inky water into.
I HAVE A PISTON FILLING PEN (TWSBI, Nahvalur, Lamy2000, Pelikan M200/M205 and more)
Incredible – I love piston filling pens because they seem complicated and super mechanical at first, and then you realize how much it influences your writing experience and opens doors to the INK WORLD! (and it’s also a bit like a large cartridge converter)
If you’re changing the ink color and still have old ink leftover, you can dispel that back into your ink bottle. Otherwise:
Have 2 cups at the ready. One filled with clean water. One empty. Draw water from the clean cup into the empty cup. Repeat until it flushes clean. (this will be a lot of twisting back and forth)
Note: you can also do this over a sink – prepare one cup of clean water and dispel ink into the sink – INK TO SINK.
Draw water into pen body – give it a little shake shake shake to loosen up any ink bits – dispel back in to sink or cup.
Once clean, blot dry with a paper towel or soft cloth – do this gently so you don’t disturb the sensitive feed teeth and precious nib.
Once dry, refill and get back to writing!
THIS PEN HAS BEEN SITTING IN A DRAWER FOR MONTHS/YEARS AND I NEED HELP
Oh boy! First, not to worry. I recently found a very old calligraphy pen in a drawer and thought – ‘Jeez, I better just throw it away. I’m sure it’s done for’. But I saved it – and felt a little bit proud.
If the pen in question is a TWSBI ECO or other TWSBI and there’s still ink in there– try writing! TWSBI has some incredible design details that help address just this – and the O-ring in the sealing system is designed to keep the nib from drying out so in theory you can keep this pen in a drawer for months and months and it’ll still write.
If the pen is not a TWSBI, start here:
Disassemble pen into its main parts:
a. Cap
b. Nib/feed/section
c. Cartridge or converter
d. Pen body
Go through steps 1-6 of the basic cleaning technique and if a few rounds of rinsing don’t work it’s time for a flush.
For a flush, it’ll be helpful to have a flat-tipped syringe or pipette or other cleaning kit.
a. Flushing is essentially forcing water (and/or cleaning solution) through the pen.
b. There are ways to ‘hack’ or ‘MacGyver’ an empty cartridge, syringe, and pipette to enable flushing. This will involve an empty cartridge and flat tip syringe body or cutting a plastic pipette to the diameter of a cartridge
i. THIS is why it can be helpful to keep an empty cartridge. You can also refill a cartridge with bottled ink with that syringe for continued recycling!
You may need to rinse the pen cap and/or pen body (if water alone doesn’t work, I use a Q-Tip)
One time, I dropped my Kaweco Student and cried a little (the cap was on thank goodness). It had a cartridge full of Diamine Ancient Copper – when I checked on it, the cartridge popped off and the pen body was full of ink – good times!
Once flushed, rinsed, cleaned, dried – reassemble your pen pieces, ink it up and get goin’!
Note: If you use shimmery inks or pigment-based inks, you may need to go through this flushing method more frequently. You may also need to disassemble the nib from the feed/section for a more thorough cleanse. Depending on the type of pen you have, this process will be a little different. Pop into the shop and we’ll talk you through it!
WHEW – there they are. I hope these tips are useful for you, or at least a little bit funny. To recap, here is a list of supplies that may be helpful for you as you clean your pen:
2 cups of water (distilled or fridge, or tap, just not hot) – one for clean, one for dirty
Paper towels or tissues or soft cloths
Q-tips
Finger cots if you are worried about inky fingers
Kitchen or bathroom sink
Fountain pen cleaning solution (purchased online)
Small pipette and/or flat tip syringe
An empty cartridge
A tiny bit of patience
Keep in mind this isn’t a fully comprehensive list of all the ways you can maintain your pen – there are all sorts of creative folks out there with their own methods. As always, we LOVE talking about fountain pens so pop in – bring your pen and your questions!
Write on!
Caiti
