Esterbrook J Flushing The Proper Way?

[Henrik]

Newbie to Fountain pens I was VERY happy to stumble on a VERY friendly American gent (dcpritch) who introduced me to Esterbrooks. From him a got my dear J model.
Now- I want to change ink and I wonder how do I flush it properly? Apparently the lever easily rust so a soaking is out of the question(?)
What´s your tips please?

 

[Slivovitz]

This may not be what anyone else does, but if I am changing inks on these, then I unscrew the nib assembly. [EDIT] Just to be perfectly clear, I mean just unscrew the renew-point nib. Do not work the whole section out of there. Then, I squirt water directly into the sac with a bulb syringe like this. The nib assembly can be rinsed off and left to soak separately. I then let the body of the pen dry out with the open section facing down. This may be overkill, and there may be some reason not to do it that way which hasn't occurred to me. You could probably just use the lever to cycle water in and out through the nib many many times until it runs clear, but this could take a while.

 

[Henrik]

Thanks Slivovitz! Maybe I am TOO nervous but I am really "scared" of having that lever getting any moisture when flushing. I really have no extra spare parts and also no skills whats so ever of re-placing the lever. Conclusion: a bit of extra care is indeed needed for caring of these Esterbrooks eh?
BTW: I have a dull needle suited for the matter which I suppose might fit as a substitute for the syringe. It´s not the money of getting one of course (as they are cheap as chips)- I just hate to have additionel stuff around.

 

[nemo]

I unscrew the nib, soak it in a cup of water; meanwhile dribble water from the faucet into the section, washing out the sac, flicking every once in awhile to check my progress. When the rinse water stops coming out tinted, I air dry it out along with the nib unit on my desk. No tools required.

Pull the section from the barrel if it wiggles out easily for you and inspect the J-bar. In my experience they're pretty robust and rarely fail.