Trying To Clean The Ink Off The Cap Of This Bottle...

[KBeezie]

So long story short, my brother ordered some Caran d'Ache ink (hypnotic turquoise and electric orange), only to get his electric orange half full due to a leak, and since he has a new bottle on the way gave the leaked bottle, of which I managed to salvage about 20ml of the electric orange into vials, and attempting to clean it up.

 

So far so good on the bottle itself, except some real stubborn hard bits in between the threads even after soaking in hot dish soapy water for a few hours, including the lid in a seperate container, but for the life of me I just can't get that ink out of the lid. Seems like there's no damage on the bottle itself, just it leaked (cuz it takes a long time to get that crusty) , and probably lost most of it's volume during shipping.

 

Thing is though, hot water and dish soap don't seem to be cutting it for the lid, and I'm not sure what kind of solvent I can use that's not going to damage that white plastic cushion on top (or permanently set in even if I rinse it real good with water afterwards).

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/caran_clean2.jpg

 

On a side note, the bottom says 03.2013 which I assume is when it was bottled, if the ink has been somewhat exposed to air (as the whole top side was covered in dried ink, with ink behind the label etc), is it possible that the ink itself has 'gone bad' so to speak?

[inotrym]

Try ammonia. I had a pen that run COMPLETELY clean when I was flushing it with warm soapy water (the paper towel that I used to dry it didn't show any ink traces left) and when I filled it with a very mild ammonia solution it actually turned into a super bright pink.

 

As for the "salvaged" ink, I wouldn't worry. IMO inks are not as fragile as we think they are.

[Sasha Royale]

Ammonia would be my choice, too.

WARNING >> No trace of chlorine (bleach) should be around when using ammonia..

The mix produces a very toxic, fume that destroys lung tissue. You may DIE !

[KBeezie]

So... looks like the ink actually ate the inside of the lid (gently used a brillo pad under some running water to get a fair amount of the ink off).

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/caran_clean3.jpg

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/caran_clean4.jpg

 

Bit worse than I thought would happen to new ink in just under a year on the shelf, good thing my bro is getting a new bottle eh.

Edited April 17, 2014 by KBeezie

[KBeezie]

Ammonia would be my choice, too.

WARNING >> No trace of chlorine (bleach) should be around when using ammonia..

The mix produces a very toxic, fume that destroys lung tissue. You may DIE !

 

Yea I'm familiar with the deadly vapors the two create...

[inotrym]

Ouch! That seems to be corrosion, indeed!

 

What material is the cap made of? Could the same thing happen to a nib if the ink is left on a pen for too long?

 

I think CdA should be notified. Perhaps there's something more going on here than a bad/leaky bottle..

[Safari_Camo]

Nice close ups.

[KBeezie]

Ouch! That seems to be corrosion, indeed!

 

What material is the cap made of? Could the same thing happen to a nib if the ink is left on a pen for too long?

 

I think CdA should be notified. Perhaps there's something more going on here than a bad/leaky bottle..

 

I've no idea what it's made of (but it is a heavy metal of sort), and the bottom of the bottle has a date code of 03.2013 so the ink itself shouldn't be that much older than a year. But I have to wonder the same about the ink, could it be corrosive to steel nibs when exposed to the air?

Edited April 17, 2014 by KBeezie

[KBeezie]

PS: Don't have ammonia in the house, so using some vinegar (diluted 1:1) with the cap to hopefully break down the rest of the ink.

[yogalarva]

I had the same corrosion problem with a CdA lid! I was hoping mine was the only one... I cleaned it out with paper towels and q-tips soaked in vinegar, which helped, but there was some that I couldn't get out no matter what I did. It seems like those lids are probably just prone to corrosion - maybe the reason not many other ink companies use metal caps?

[KBeezie]

I had the same corrosion problem with a CdA lid! I was hoping mine was the only one... I cleaned it out with paper towels and q-tips soaked in vinegar, which helped, but there was some that I couldn't get out no matter what I did. It seems like those lids are probably just prone to corrosion - maybe the reason not many other ink companies use metal caps?

 

I suspect if the ink itself is not corrosive then it's probably rust, and if it's rust, why are they not using rust-proof steel for their lids (or I guess they figured a coating was enough?) It's not exactly cheap ink.

 

Though the lids shouldn't be prone to corrosion if the ink isn't corrosive.

Edited April 17, 2014 by KBeezie

[inotrym]

Perhaps a plastic inner cap would remedy this.

I absolutely believe tha CdA should know so they can fix it.

 

At that price you're also buying the bottle.

[KBeezie]

Perhaps a plastic inner cap would remedy this.

I absolutely believe tha CdA should know so they can fix it.

 

At that price you're also buying the bottle.

 

I posted it to their facebook wall, but I also shot off an email to GouletPens (where the bottle came from) in case they had information regarding the ink itself.

 

also a plastic inner cap (ie: a plastic insert with the threads, with the metal covering that for appearance) would be an excellent idea in my opinion.

 

I'm not the original buyer of the ink, but rather my brother, but he normally doesn't pay attention to things like this, and he's getting his replacement bottle so all is good with him. I'm just looking at this lid and thinking... do I really want to put this in my pen?

Edited April 17, 2014 by KBeezie

[inotrym]

On the bright side, that orange seems to be electric indeed!!

[KBeezie]

On the bright side, that orange seems to be electric indeed!!

 

Yea I haven't inked anything with it yet, just this little spittle onto paper from the syringe when I got done filling the vials.

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/caran_eorange.jpg

 

Though not sure what's up with that crusty layer left over, seems to dry to that when laid on thick.

 

Anywho, just letting the cap sit and bubble in some diluted vinegar.

 

Edited April 17, 2014 by KBeezie

[inotrym]

Diamine Pumpkin (another super bright orange) does the same thing (disgusting crust even when left for a week or two in a pen).

Perhaps it has to do with the amount of dye they had to put in, in order to make it that poppy.

 

I have a feeling that it is the cap's problem after all..

 

 

edit: wow! i can see tiny particles moving around!!!

Edited April 17, 2014 by inotrym

[dxing97]

If the cap is made of steel/iron, it may just be that the water is causing the iron to rust, especially if the cap was wet and exposed to air. Although, the cap might be plated with something corrosion resistant, so I may be wrong.

[KBeezie]

If the cap is made of steel/iron, it may just be that the water is causing the iron to rust, especially if the cap was wet and exposed to air. Although, the cap might be plated with something corrosion resistant, so I may be wrong.

 

Perhaps, but you'd think that much leakage/crusting on the outside would be noticeable prior to shipping (... do they come in their own boxes?), though doesn't seem like the ink itself should be able to cause that when stored in a cool dry place, seems like there'd be enough of a fill of ink in there that it wouldn't make air contact while on retail shelf for a year.

 

Anywho took a pic of that 'crusting' I mentioned earlier, so if anyone else knows if this is normal of electric orange when heavily saturated on paper lemme know.

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/caran_crust.jpg

Edited April 17, 2014 by KBeezie

[KBeezie]

After the Vinegar Bath:

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/caran_clean5.jpg

 

100% Crop (guessing it's plated)

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/caran_crop.jpg

[KBeezie]

Shaking some water around inside seems pretty well sealed now. Guessing the lid wasn't on that good from the manufacture.

 

Edit: ... or not, seems there's quite a bit of water in the threaded area after testing.

Edited April 17, 2014 by KBeezie