Inky T O D - Pen Maintenance After Using Dramatic Inks - Tips And Tricks

[amberleadavis]

So, we have discussed how important it is to clean your pen between inks. How about those Dramatic inks - you know, Rouge Hematite, Diamine Sargasso Sea, Bay State Blue - those inks that are high maintenance.

 

What advice would you give someone just now trying out one of those types of inks.

 

 

For the regular inks, here are a few old Inky TODs.

 

 

 

Cleaning or Not
Inky T O D - Do You Ever Use Samples Because You're Feeling Lazy?
http://www.fountainp...e-feeling-lazy/
Inky T O D - Cleaning Between Inking - What's Your Process?
http://www.fountainp...s-your-process/
Inky T O D - How Long Does Any One Ink Stay In Your Pen?
http://www.fountainp...ay-in-your-pen/

[alarickc]

Lots of water and a fairly strong ammonia solution hasn't failed me yet. It also hasn't harmed any of my pens, which makes sense. The Pilot and Sailor inks are significantly more basic than a mug filled with 2/3 distilled water and 1/3 30% ammonium hydroxide solution.

[amberleadavis]

Have you had an ink stain?

[arcadeflow]

I want to stay away from those inks. My Pilot Blue already "stains" my CON-50's and the gold nib of my Custom 74, and that is said to be an easy ink to clean, I imagine the trouble the saturated ones are going to bring me. Until now I always manage to clean these stains, but it bothers me enough and made me change my mind about buying a demonstrator pen someday. An ink that goes away with water immediately and looks good to you is the most precious gift I would like my pens to receive! But sometimes I keep pens inked for a month or more (I am trying to reduce that now) and that might be the problem, evaporation occurs and the ink becomes toxic sludge to clear plastics. But in the case of the gold nib, I guess it is just how they behave, a little polishing with a cloth removed the stains I saw, and Pilot Blue does that in the same day I inked the pen. I now try to avoid nib creep.

 

My advice would be, if you are just trying those inks in a pen you like, just wash it away after you test them, don't keep your pen inked, it is not worth it. Or buy crappy Chinese pens to deal with hazardous environment Any others tips that encourage you to use the saturated inks in a daily basis will leave you at risk of staining a favorite pen of yours, be always prepared for that fact. People have recipes to clean stains (which might not work depending on the pen), but not to fix those hazardous formulas that want to impress you with a high concentration of colorful dyes.

Edited October 2, 2014 by arcadeflow

[amberleadavis]

Well.... I admit, I love those inks... I use them daily and in demonstrators.

[tmenyc]

I dropped the BSB-carrying pen in the gas tank of my tractor to clean it out. Didn't clean out the pen but sure did funny things to the exhaust fumes...

 

Tim

[lapis]

Har, har. That's a good one!

[kestrel]

I only use the high maintenance inks in pens that are easy to clean and that won't show the stain. The vast majority of my collection are lever, button, or crescent fillers so my options for such inks are a wee bit limited. Esterbrooks are good because you can remove the nib and flush the sac with a syringe. An ultrasonic cleaner has helped with some stains on nibs and sections. Refilled cartridges are one way to avoid staining a converter. Except for BSB I have not used an ink that didn't respond to the oft-recommended 10% ammonia solution and a little scrubbing from a Q-tip. I only put BSB in my dedicated BSB pen, currently an Ahab. Another member suggested using a fill with Fuyu syogun as a way to remove stains. I tried it in a Conklin Crescent demonstrator with what appears to be a silicone sac and it removed most of the stains left by Akkermann Shocking Blue.

[alarickc]

Have you had an ink stain?

The only one that has is Sailor Sei-Boku in a Pilot con-50 converter, and that's only because I don't maintain it as closely as I might since that pen is dedicated to that ink. No other problems yet and no clogging.

[A144]

BSB stays in my BSB pens. Simple as that. Flush with water, dry, and refill with BSB. This is a Pilot Metro M and a Lamy Safari EF.

 

I haven't really had much experience with other "dramatic" inks. I just got a sample of Sargasso Sea, and with it's reputation it will probably go into one of my Jinhaos (also cause they're really wet and I want that Sargasso Sea Sheen).

 

Many Noodler's bulletproof inks leave a black film that wipes off easily with a wet paper towel. Sailor Yama-dori left a little color behind in my 580, but that was easily taken care of with a alcohol swab run through it.

[A144]

I only use the high maintenance inks in pens that are easy to clean and that won't show the stain. The vast majority of my collection are lever, button, or crescent fillers so my options for such inks are a wee bit limited. Esterbrooks are good because you can remove the nib and flush the sac with a syringe. An ultrasonic cleaner has helped with some stains on nibs and sections. Refilled cartridges are one way to avoid staining a converter. Except for BSB I have not used an ink that didn't respond to the oft-recommended 10% ammonia solution and a little scrubbing from a Q-tip. I only put BSB in my dedicated BSB pen, currently an Ahab. Another member suggested using a fill with Fuyu syogun as a way to remove stains. I tried it in a Conklin Crescent demonstrator with what appears to be a silicone sac and it removed most of the stains left by Akkermann Shocking Blue.

 

 

I remember Amber saying something about removing stain with another ink. I wanna say it was Noodler's Red, but I'm not 100% on that.

[amberleadavis]

Here was the before...

 

http://sheismylawyer.com/She_Thinks_In_Ink/Inked_Today/slides/20140706_195944.jpg

 

Here was after 1 fill of Noodler's Rattler Red eel.

 

http://sheismylawyer.com/She_Thinks_In_Ink/Inked_Today/slides/20140712_165723.jpg

 

and here it was after the subsequent wash with soap and water.

 

http://sheismylawyer.com/She_Thinks_In_Ink/Inked_Today/slides/20140713_211154.jpg

[SeeksAdvice]

I could usually get QSH stains to come out of a TWSBI demo by loading some Momiji. Then, I ran out of Momiji sample.

Have been unable to remove the following stains:

- Polar Blue staining a J. Herbin Rollerball pink/red

- Bad Blue Heron staining the inside of a Stipula Converter black and leaving "blobs" of stuff behind

- Sargasso Sea staining a TWSBI blue/purple in places

- Upper Ganges Blue turning a Preppy pink

- QSH staining the barrel of a Pelikan 140

I dumped the bottle of Bad Blue Heron (after noticing the black stain and unexplained "blobs" in the converter) in a porcelain sink at work, not expecting any problems since, in theory, it's supposed to be cellulose reactive dye. Wow, just wow, was I wrong. I apologized profusely to the janitorial staff, who had to hit it with vandalism remover.

[amberleadavis]

Those inks see you coming - I am beginning to think it's an inky conspiracy to upset your ink-quell-ibrium.

[PaperQueen]

Is there a thread, chart, or anything along those lines that shows which inks (brand + color) stain worse than others? Like Amberlea, I'm fond of demonstrators, but...I'm too chicken to risk staining a couple in particular (including the new Pelikan M805 that arrived this week).

 

Would be wonderful to have a single reference point to peruse before slinging stainers into special pens.

[ac12]

The only high maint ink that I am currently using is PR DCSS blue. It is in a Parker 51. This is probably a bad combination, because a P51 is a HARD pen to clean to begin with. But the P51 was made to use the rather nasty old Parker inks, so PR or Noodler's inks should not be a problem. But because the P51 is a hard pen to clean, any ink that I put into it is a LONG TERM ink. It goes in, and it STAYS in.

 

Some things that I do, especially for high maint inks.:

• Generally, I use high maintenance inks in easy to clean cartridge pens, like the Parker 45 which I can be easily totally disassembled to clean.
• I use a 10% ammonia solution to help clean out the ink from the insides of the pen.
• I use an UltraSonic Cleaner to get dried ink out of the feed and section. Note, an USC will not clean out liquid ink, just the dried and gummy ink. It works great to clean out the collar/section interface so I can unscrew Esterbrook nib assemblies.
• I soak the section nib down overnight in water or the ammonia solution to get the liquid ink out of the feed. Then shake the water/ink out of the section and repeat soaking. Usually I need to soak repeatedly, to get all the ink out of the feed.
• On pens like a Parker 51 or Esterbrook, I load up with water or ammonia solution and leave the pen flat overnight, periodically shaking the pen. This is to try to dissolve the ink coating the inside of the sac/cylinder.
• I avoid taking the nib/feed/section apart to clean the pen. On some pens, there is too much risk of damaging the pen. And when you break something on an old pen, it can be REAL HARD to find a replacement part. Been there, done that This just means it takes longer to clean out the section/feed.
• On pens like the Parker 45, Esterbrook J, etc., I unscrew the nib assembly from the section. This gives me better access to cleaning the ink out of the pen and nib assembly.
• Cotton swabs (Q-tip) works great for places where you can use it.

Bottom line is cleaning these inks requires patience. It may take a week of cleaning and soaking to clean out some pens.

 

CAUTION. Ammonia does not play nice with many metals, including gold. Ammonia attacks the other metals in the gold alloy. So don't leave metal parts in a strong solution of it for very long. And rinse well, to get rid of the ammonia.

 

I had PR Black Cherry in a Chinese pen. I loaded the ink into a cartridge to prevent converter staining. I did not have any problems cleaning the pen when I rotated it out of service. Just water flush like usual, and soak the section overnight in water.

 

I am currently in the process of making one of Ron Zorn's pen spin dryers.

That "should" make cleaning the 51s easier, especially the vacs.

And will make drying out other pens faster and easier. The faster I can eject the cleaning water/solution, the more I can clean the pen.

 

So far, the only inks that I've put into my clear pens have been "safe" inks; Pelikan and Waterman. I've been too chicken to risk staining the pens.

Even with converter pen, I will use a cartridge for inks that might stain the converter.

[lgsoltek]

Diamine Pansy stained my M200 demo and a Platinum converter. Had to clean with soap water and regrease.

Rouge hematite left eternal trace in my metal Pilot Falcon barrel (I used it as an eyedropper - coz I broke the thing that held the converter, that's another story - I've had it fixed by now) and no matter how many times I rinsed with water or soap water there was still traces of red in the water.

Sailor Storia Spotlight Yellow stained a Lamy Vista - converter and grip - nothing can remove the stain. It now has Sailor Doyou in it which is rumoured to be able to clean stains. We will see.

Sailor Sei-boku: don't get me started on this one... A year ago I had it in Pilot Justus 95 (even trickier to clean due to the adjustment mechanism) for quite some time with frequent use. It stained the converter. God knows how many fills of other inks finally removed the stain. It stained the feed, which still has this bluish coating on it even now. It stained the nib too. The stain on the nib could be scratched off with my finger nails but not completely. I suppose it's totally gone now.

 

Generally I find Sailor's nano-pigmented inks a PITA to clean. That includes Sei-boku and all the Storia inks.