Thread: Any Fountain Pen Users?

Ive just had a browse of the DaVinci and the Einstein and both look like a box of puff daddys bling fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. Good taste wasn't in the design brief it appears. Truly awful looking things. The Hitchcock is passable but still has the look of ostentatious tat about it.

Originally Posted by Obie

Gentlemen,

Here is the link to my fountain pen essay for Figlo Press, my publisher, that I promised you a week or two ago. The Pelikan in the photo is mine, resting on the first draft of the piece. Thanks for reading.

Figlo Press

Obie, my friend, I finally got to read your paean to the fountain pen, thoroughly enjoyed it. It did bring up a memory of having read somewhere that Ernest Hemingway used a typewriter for the narrative parts of his novels, but stood at the mantel and hand wrote the dialogue, the essence and spirit of any story, longhand in ink.

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

Obie, my friend, I finally got to read your paean to the fountain pen, thoroughly enjoyed it. It did bring up a memory of having read somewhere that Ernest Hemingway used a typewriter for the narrative parts of his novels, but stood at the mantel and hand wrote the dialogue, the essence and spirit of any story, longhand in ink.

If I recall from my reading, that was his routine. Also, because of the beating his body had taken through the years, he frequently stood up to write. Ah, what magnificent writing.
Thanks for the kind words on the piece.

Guilty as charged Numerous Montblanc, Pelikan, Edison, Lamy, Parker, etc. I use a FP 99.9% of the time and love it! Interesting correlation with straight razor use...

Just went through a tough patch with my Charcoal Lamy Safari, lost it for a few weeks and had it returned to me, only two days later to get in a car wreck and have the paramedic rip it off my shirt to put on a neck brace.... We got the car back to collect our personal items and found most of the Lamy Safari (clip ripped from cap..) got it home and cleaned it up and it still works like before but with a bit more history behind it

I don't use a fountain pen but my wife has one. It hasn't been in use in about twelve months and when she went to use it, it was dried out. She replacedtheink carting bit can't seem to get it going again. Any ideas on fixing it?

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

I don't use a fountain pen but my wife has one. It hasn't been in use in about twelve months and when she went to use it, it was dried out. She replacedtheink carting bit can't seem to get it going again. Any ideas on fixing it?

Yeah, they will dry out over time if left unattended. You can buy cleaning solutions, but giving the business end of the pen (the bit holding the nib) a good soak in warm water usually does the trick for me.

Check out Youtube - I'm sure there are plenty of videos there that will point you in the right direction. Try searching for 'fountain pen cleaning' or something like that.

Edit: just noticed that her pen has a cartridge rather than a converter (refillable cartridge) After soaking, you're going to want to get all that dried ink out of the pen, and plenty of it will be dried right in the path of the ink. With a converter getting that out can be easy because you can just suck water in through the nib, expel it back out, and repeat until it's clear. Try mounting the cartridge then squeezing it to see if it will draw water in through the nib. If that works then use it as described for the converter. If it doesn't I have had some luck in the past with filling the cavity behind the nib with water then blowing it through. This can a) make a hell of a mess and b) give you funny looking lips if it's a permanent ink.

Some places can give you a cleaning tube for cartridge pens, for example Montblanc. Essentially it is like a plastic pipette. In fact, a cheap plastic pipette could probably be used too - just cut the end to a height that fits fairly snugly over the ink feed tube. Then just suck up some warm water, put the pipette over the feed tube, and squeeze. Repeat as many times as necessary.

James.

I'd start the simplest way - put the part with the nib in a glass of cold water for a day to a week and change the water every now and then. If that doesn't work the next step would be to add a little dishwashing detergent.
Ink is water soluble so the dried out stuff should dissolve back and clear up the channels. There shouldn't be anything in there to rust, the nib is usually made of gold or stainless steel and in the later case it's not the high-carbon type for tools and razors, but more like a cutlery.

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

I don't use a fountain pen but my wife has one. It hasn't been in use in about twelve months and when she went to use it, it was dried out. She replacedtheink carting bit can't seem to get it going again. Any ideas on fixing it?

This is rather crazy! Glad that you're good!