Cleaning and Flushing Pens

[Isaac]

Ok,

So i just spent about 17 minutes cleaning my Vacumatic that was filled with Montblanc Blue/Black. This is an iron gall ink. While I am flushing the pen, I begin to wonder if this is how it was always done. Do you think people in the 20's-50's spent 10-30 minutes flushing pens? I know we have a wider variety of inks now, and most of them are more saturated, but they did have variety. Do you think people cared as much as we do?

I have to say that flushing pens via vacuums and vacumatics drive me insane. Pistons usually come clean quick. Esterbrook levers and anything with a bladder can really test my patience.

 

[syngent]

Bladders are the worst... if I had a huge collection of sacs my wearever would just get a new one everytime I had to change inks since that guy is so easy to do so

 

[Isaac]

Bladders are the worst... if I had a huge collection of sacs my wearever would just get a new one everytime I had to change inks since that guy is so easy to do so

It was rather funny and frustrating. As the water ran clear on the vacumatic, I decided to fill it with water one more time and shake the residual out. Guess what....it activated the ink all over again, and it was almost as dark as when I started. So there I began to flush for another seven minutes.

 

[syngent]

I always shake a half filled bladder of water, its amazing how much more will come out after you think your running clear... does the pen flush liquid help with this any by the way?

 

[Isaac]

does the pen flush liquid help with this any by the way?

I dont quite know what you meant there

 

[Dave258]

That is why I love pens that the nibs unscrew easily! Unscrew it, blast it with the bugger sucker, then clean the converter separate. I have even used the blunt tip syringe to flush the inside of a converter.

 

[syngent]

Goulets have that perfect pen flush stuff in a bottle you can buy... I forget who makes it

 

[syngent]

That is why I love pens that the nibs unscrew easily! Unscrew it, blast it with the bugger sucker, then clean the converter separate. I have even used the blunt tip syringe to flush the inside of a converter.

This is where smoking a pipe helps too... I always have pipe cleaners on hand

 

[Isaac]

Goulets have that perfect pen flush stuff in a bottle you can buy... I forget who makes it

I usually just use water. For deep cleanings I used a 1:10 of ammonia after I use the water. For IG inks i use a 1:10 of vinegar after the water, again for deep cleaning.

 

[nemo]

Usually that guy/gal had one ink and rarely flushed, if ever. A little left over ink from before -- eh, who cares?

Make a salad-spinner centrifuge. Personally, I don't spend that long (17 mins) but I do let the water sit in my Vacs for a while, like two or three minutes while I do something else, then I shake it around some before purging. Ink gets caught in the folds of the diaphragm.

I never use vinegar solutions -- too acidic for me. I have scrubbed stained barrels with a vinegar solution to no avail. I think folks use way too many harsh chemicals when they don't always need to.

 

[syngent]

Make a salad-spinner centrifuge.

Oh, Group buy?

 

[OldSchoolYoungin]

Goulets have that perfect pen flush stuff in a bottle you can buy... I forget who makes it

JB's. It works really well. It's intended to be used with a pen that's already been flushed with water, so you can re-use the solution time and time again. The refuse just goes right back into the bottle. I can see a single bottle lasting a long time.

 

[Dave258]

Goulets have that perfect pen flush stuff in a bottle you can buy... I forget who makes it

Congrats on the 5000!

I have the JB's pen flush, it does not help make routine cleaning easier. It does help with stubborn inks though. Not much different than the Ammonia water mix, I don't think.

 

[OldSchoolYoungin]

Congrats on the 5000!

I have the JB's pen flush, it does not help make routine cleaning easier. It does help with stubborn inks though. Not much different than the Ammonia water mix, I don't think.

Yea, I believe the only difference is ethanol. You could make it yourself for much cheaper, I'd imagine.

 

[Sullybob]

That is why I love pens that the nibs unscrew easily! Unscrew it, blast it with the bugger sucker, then clean the converter separate. I have even used the blunt tip syringe to flush the inside of a converter.

Same here. Taking the nib out makes flushing a breeze.

 

[celestino]

Man, Isaac, that is why i don't like the sacs. i much prefer the Pelikans and my TWSBI 700 vac. Good luck with the flushings.

 

[rickboone1]

my guess is they just kept reinking until it didn't work anymore. their colors were much more limited than what we have today. perhaps they were also thought of as more of a disposable, easily replaceable item at that time, too.

 

[Alacrity59]

Ok I'll look like a rube. If you can't flush out an ink with water how badly can it affect the next load of a different colour ink?

 

[Isaac]

Ok I'll look like a rube. If you can't flush out an ink with water how badly can it affect the next load of a different colour ink?

It really has the potential to mess things up. I know that different inks have different pH levels. Some have been known to form precipitates when mixed together. So if your not able to flush out the pen, your going to have some interesting situations.

 

[Slivovitz]

... Do you think people in the 20's-50's spent 10-30 minutes flushing pens? I know we have a wider variety of inks now, and most of them are more saturated, but they did have variety. Do you think people cared as much as we do?

I have to say that flushing pens via vacuums and vacumatics drive me insane. Pistons usually come clean quick. Esterbrook levers and anything with a bladder can really test my patience.

That is why I love pens that the nibs unscrew easily! Unscrew it, blast it ...

Esterbrooks are easy, as sac fillers go. Unscrew the nib, squirt or dribble water into the sac directly, empty, repeat several times, run the tap over the nib. Still takes a little while, but not 17 minutes. Other lever fillers, well, sometimes I just let them soak for a while in between flushing the sac. I may go 20 minutes total, but not all at once.

Mere speculation from someone who wasn't around when fountain pens were the main choice for everyone, but I suspect that your typical user with one or two pens was a lot more matter of fact about them than today's enthusiast rotating through 10, 20, or 100. Meticulous people would no doubt clean their pens regularly, others would just keep on refilling them. If you're sticking with the same bottle of ink, and never letting the pen actually dry out, you can probably go a long time without a real cleaning. On the other hand, today we have the fun of scraping their petrified sacs out of the pen barrels, and soaking the nib / feed assemblies for hours, or days in order to bring a vintage pen back to usable condition.