Giving fountain pens another go and request for feedback on cleaning

[Taylor of Bank Street]

Greetings,

Giving fountain pens another go
Far back in the mists of time I used to use a fountain pen a fair bit when I was in highschool. So, I have some very base level of familiarity with fountain pens but at the time I had neither real nor virtual (this was pre-Internet) guru to learn from. When it worked, it worked great and I loved the smoothness and elegance of it. I also remember the downsides: ink on my writing hand and having trouble getting the pen starting to write sometimes.

I have no idea what the actual causes were, but my guess was that the leaky ink came from refilling the same cartridge over and over with a syringe, creating a looser and looser fit. I could be wrong, but that was my guess.

On the issue of having the pen difficult to get going I don't even have a theory, plausible or implausible. I used to get it primed by capping it and flicking my hand down hard to give the ink a little centrifugal nudge or by wetting the end of my finger and starting it on that to try to get the capillary action going. Desperate times...

It was a fairly inexpensive stainless steel Parker which I still have.

Fast forwarding to the present, I picked up a lamy al-star in some recent travels. Bought it retail for what seemed like a very good price and I didn't mind that it didn't come with the nice lamy display box. I liked the look, had read some reviews and this seemed like a good vehicle to test out fountain pens without it being an overly costly experiment. In my haste, I grabbed a fine nib, which is just not me. So...it's presently awaiting a medium nib which is on its way.

Near-term, I'm just going to keep it simple and coast it out for awhile on some lamy cartridges I picked up. One challenge at a time.

I've now started to geek out a little watching the various Youtube videos on fountain pens, including the ones by Goulet which I found especially useful. The more I learn, the more I realize how little I knew before.

Feedback on cleaning
Before firing it up for the first time, I've read/watched advice being given that one should clean the pen before its first use. This seems especially true for the lamy's which it looks like come with some residual ink in them from testing. So far so good. My hesitation comes from conflicting advice on what to clean with.

The acceptable options seem to be:
-water with a bit of detergent
-1 part ammonia to 2-10 parts water depending on who you ask. I think I'll err on the side of safety/higher dilution first.
-a professionally made solution, which I think I remember reading is just water ammonia and detergent?

Now the question...
According to lamy, one shouldn't use detergents:
http://www.lamyusa.com/care_fountain.php

According to other sources, ammonia is corrosive to aluminum (it's an AL-star pen)
http://www.nibs.com/PenMaintenance.htm

So, what's a guy to do, all the options seem to have been eliminated.

What do folks think of this as a strategy?:
-first clean: just plain water.
-later cleaning:
-aluminum body cleaned in water or water and a bit of detergent.
-pen 'guts' (I'm showing my lack of proper jargon here) cleaned just in water but if there's some kind of a build-up issue, a weak ammonia solution.

Any other, 'I wish somebody had told me that' advice for trying these out again?

Thanks!

 

[Dave258]

Congrats on your new Al-star, and Welcome to The Nib. You can use just plain water to flush your pen, and it will work just fine. I suggest getting a bulb syringe, it makes cleaning the feed of the Lamy a snap! If you need to use ammonia, only the body of the Al-star is aluminum I believe. The grip section that would come in contact with the ammonia is plastic so I don't think you would have to worry about the aluminum corroding. I usually use the 1:10 ratio.
Good luck with your pen, enjoy it!

 

[The Nid Hog]

I find that just flushing out a new pen with plain water doesn't always clear away the gunk that's left in it from the production process. I'd try the 9:1 water:ammonia solution with a drop or two of mild liquid detergent in it. If the discussions at FPN are to be believed, that's pretty much what you'll find in commercial pen cleaning solutions. If you have an old pen that has ink dried up in it, this is an even more necessary step.

I'm sure that ammonia would do bad things to your pen if you left it in it, but you need to flush it out with clean water after that. If you do that, you should be good to go.

If I were you, I think that I'd invest in a converter too. Doesn't cost that much more, but I think it's cheaper in the long run to use bottled ink (isn't it?). Also, you can use that to cycle the cleaning solution through the feed in your pen (you could use one of those bulb thingies too). Plus, you can prime your pen if it's slow starting by pushing a little ink up to the nib.

I'm still a novice myself, but it sounds like you're on the right track. Before long you'll realize that you really need to start saving money by investing hundreds of dollars in pens and ink.

 

[Taylor of Bank Street]

Thanks guys!

I picked up one of the bulb syringe contraptions in the drugstore yesterday. An inexpensive little oddity which will hopefully help with the maintenance.

I definitely want to go with the converter eventually, but for the first little while I'm just keeping it simple.

Before long you'll realize that you really need to start saving money by investing hundreds of dollars in pens and ink.

Too true. Now, where have I been down this path before?

 

[Taylor of Bank Street]

Not that anyone was on the edge of their seat waiting for the results, but I'm happy to report that I'm now up and running.

Initially, when I first loaded up the pen with a new cartridge and tried it out I was not impressed with the smoothness of the writing. It seems this had more to do with the pad of paper I was testing it on than the pen itself. Since then, it's worked like a charm on other papers, none of which were high end or made for fountain pens. The pen has become my new little workhouse at the office.

I thought I could hold off on a converter and ink for awhile, but I think I may have misjudged both my needs and willpower. The Lamy cartridges are handy to get me rolling, er...writing, but I already see the advantages of getting a nice bulletproof ink that won't leave me worrying that a drop of rain or errant snowflake will smear some critical word in my notes.

Next challenge: my horrible penmanship.

 

[Doc4]

 

[Andy]

Congrats on the Al-Star, they are a great pen!
When you order a converter, perhaps pick up a bottle of JB's Pen Flush I use it when changing colours, it really cleans everything out.

 

[Dave258]

I use the JB's Pen Flush also, it works well!

 

[Taylor of Bank Street]

Thanks guys,

->Yes, it has begun.... I don't intend to be anything more than a user of a FP or two, but we'll see. I'm starting to see, as I guess you folks already know, that sometimes these things just seem to evolve on their own. In terms of hobbies though, it could be worse.

->Thanks for the recommendation on the pen flush. I'll add that in when the time comes. Haven't yet read a harsh word against it and two gentlemen on here in a row recommending it speaks volumes as far as I'm concerned.