Keeping fountain pens in good condition can be tough, tricky, and time consuming. In response, I have created a list of three products that make taking care of your pens a breeze. The benefit to maintaining the condition of your pens is that you get to keep them for a life time and pass them down to future generations.
Get a Bulb Syringe
I talk a lot about these products on my blog, but they are vital to my fountain pen experience. Seriously. This one product has saved so much time and effort when it comes to cleaning pens, whether they need a deep clean, or just a quick rinse between fills.
Bulb syringes cut down on the time it takes to clean the nib unit on pens. This is especially helpful for pens with removable nib units (so most pens on the market). The basic idea of cleaning a fountain pen is simply removing old ink from the pen. This is normally done by drawing ink in and out of the pen through its current filling system. This can become a tedious action when it comes to the nib unit. The reservoirs of pens usually clean out pretty easily, it is in the nib unit where ink gets trapped between parts that becomes an issue.
Instead of using the filling system, simply remove the nib unit from the pen, fill a bulb syringe with water, fit it to the nib unit, and squeeze. This provides a quick, constant, and pressurized stream of water moving through the nib unit, that removes ink stuck in between pieces of the unit.
This method is easier and quicker. One or two fills of the bulb syringe can complete the job much faster than countless draws from the filling system. A couple a squeezes on a bulb syringe is less tedious that dozens of twists of a piston in a filling system.
Pen Flush for stubborn ink
A problem I had when I first started messing around with fountain pens was the infamous Baystate Blue stain. This is a difficult blue stain that is left on what ever Noodler's Baystate Blue touched. At the time the vibrancy of the blue was worth the stain for me.
Whenever the time came to clean my pen, it was a struggle. Pen flush helped me out big time with removing the stains left behind by numerous fills of the in-famed ink.
Pen flushes can be bought online, or made using household ammonia and water. Recipes can be found online. WARNING: some pen flushes may be dangerous for pens. Always rinse with water after using a pen flush.
Silicone Grease
This last product is more for maintaining fountain pens and keeping them in good working condition. Silicone grease is useful for a couple of different things in the fountain pen world. An analogy to the real world would be WD-40.
Silicone grease can be used for seals. The first line of defense against leaks in a pen are usually O-rings put in place by the manufacturer. However, there are some cases where more protection against leaks is necessary. One example is when you are eye-dropper converting a pen. Silicone grease comes into play in this scenario by creating an extra barrier to keep ink from escaping the pen. Simply apply silicone grease to the threads on the barrel of an eye dropper safe pen after filling it with ink, and screw the barrel back to the nib unit.
Silicone grease acts as a lubricant to keep pistons moving smoothly. Pistons must move smoothly to ensure full and even fills of a pen. Rubbing the sides of the plunger of the piston that makes contact with the pen barrel with silicone grease provides a lubrication that helps pistons move smoothly through the barrel of a pen.
Hopefully these products will help in taking care of your pens. If you have any questions or extra tips, feel free to leave a comment below!
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