Thread: How do you carry a fountain pen?

Originally Posted by jockeys

1. the hole is clogged with old ink. Solution: easy, flush the pen with warm water several times to clean it

Jockey, I agree wholeheartedly with your explanation - except for your recommended solution - since the passageway on most fountain pens is VERY tiny, and since it is susceptible to temperature change, always use COLD water to flush out a pen - you eliminate the risk of cracking the ink feed, as well as have the added benefit of opening up the passageway through contraction of the (most likely) plastic.

Waterman won't even warranty a pen that has been rinsed in warm water for this reason - it completely ruins the pen. Rinse at your own risk...

Mark

Having read that Waterman don't like you to use warm water to rinse the pen makes me chuckle. I believe it, but it still makes me chuckle.

I used a Waterman from aged 11 to aged 23 all the way through my education.
The pen would regularly bung up with dry ink especially if left unattended over a long hot summer. You are supposed to flush the ink out and flush the pen with water if your not using it for a period. Try telling that to an eleven year old.
Anyway, I would flush the pen under running water and then I would fill a cup full of water and flush the pen using its filling mechanism. Then if I could not see the water coming out of the breath holes, I would carefully pull the nib and resevoire out from the pen holder and give it all a another good rinse and blow through the air holes with a mouth full of water. Bung it all back together and bingo, good for another year. If I'd broken it, my Dad would have killed me. But since just about every other kid in the school new how to do it, it wasn't difficult to learn.

When you pull it all out, you must not grab the tip of the pen or you will split the nib. You must grab the base.

Come to think of it, it may be best to send it to a specialist if washing and flushing doesn't work. Or just leave the pen in water over night.

Second thoughts, send it to a specialist. At least he should have spare parts if things go wrong.

Thanks guys. Wow, I had no idea about the intricacies of pens.

• it's not the ink as it happened with both the supplied Dupont cartridges as well as the bottle ink I've bought (Lamy).
• it's not broadness of nib, because it's only a Medium.
• it could well be the airhole.

Whatever the real reason, I'm going to take it to a Dupont dealer to fix, because there's no way I'm making the same mistake with my new pen as I did with my new razor when I was a noob. I just about ruined the edge on my Dovo from poor honing because I didn't know what I was doing.

As Dubya famously said once: "Fool me once, shame... um... shame on you. Fool me again... erm... you ain't gonna fool me again."

I agree that that's the best thing to do. (My Parker is currently awaiting repairs, but I've always carried a fountain pen in my shirt or inside jacket pocket.) Let us know how it works out.

~Rich

Originally Posted by Milton Man

Jockey, I agree wholeheartedly with your explanation - except for your recommended solution - since the passageway on most fountain pens is VERY tiny, and since it is susceptible to temperature change, always use COLD water to flush out a pen - you eliminate the risk of cracking the ink feed, as well as have the added benefit of opening up the passageway through contraction of the (most likely) plastic.

Waterman won't even warranty a pen that has been rinsed in warm water for this reason - it completely ruins the pen. Rinse at your own risk...

Mark

by warm I mean room temperature and not hot. I think of cold water as having ice in it, which would be equally at risk of damaging the pen. my mistake, I should have specified what I meant.

Jockeys, thanks for both your explanation and your clarification. I will keep both in mind once I get my pen back.

~Rich

I carried a variety of fountain pens for many years and during the rotation some would just have the ink dry up in the nib. You could soak it in cold water for a month of Sundays and nothing would happen. I would soak it in warm water and blow it out with my mouth. it worked every time. As far as the leaking pen goes it needs to be serviced. Sometimes if a tiny amount of ink dries in the nib the pen will still work but it can upset the feed and cause leaks also.

I attended a school (a long time ago) where it was forbidden to use a ballpoint for any exams, prep, homework etc. I tried most of the good pens Parker, Shaeffer etc., but nothing seemed to write as well as a cheap pen made by Platignum in the UK. Times change,on starting at university my daughter was told only printed work was acceptable for marking. I'm interested to know why anyone would carry a fountain pen these days. Most if not all paperwork in my job is created with a keyboard and printer. Any handwriting seems to be on NCR multipart forms. Even Doctors (Physicians US?) generate prescriptions by computer these days.
I do use a fountain pen to write my Christmas cards and the very occasional personal letter.

I had a similar issue with a Diplomat / MB149 in the past. Many Montblancs have an issue with ink "sweating" in the cap, transfer this to the end of the pen when the cap is posted, then onto your hand and shirt pocket.

How is the inkflow in you pen - do you find it too wet, or does it blot? I agree that if it leaks like that, the problem may be with the nib or feed. Taking it to a dealer may be a good idea. You may also want to send it to a nibmeister like Richard Binder to check out and adjust if needed.

My parker has never developed this problem for some reason, dunno why... It's completely leak free and I've never done anything but changing the cartridges...