How To Clean Pelikans?

[mercurius]

Interested in hearing how you clean your Pelikan sections, barrels and caps. I have several birds in my flock and don't want to put micro scratches on their beautiful finishes by using cloths, tissues, etc. What's the best way?

[fountainpenlady]

Interested in hearing how you clean your Pelikan sections, barrels and caps. I have several birds in my flock and don't want to put micro scratches on their beautiful finishes by using cloths, tissues, etc. What's the best way?

This site is one which you may find your answer. The person whose blog is the Pelikan's Perch may be along at some point to answer your question or steer you more specifically. He is a member of FPN

 

http://thepelikansperch.com/tag/maintenance/

Edited April 30, 2015 by fountainpenlady

[sargetalon]

I really need to come up with a how-to on this for my site.

 

1) For older pens with more fragile feeds, you can just cycle the piston repeatedly in room temperature water until the water runs clear. I use 6 ounce cups to facilitate this. If there is some stubborn ink left over, you can use a dilute ammonia solution (1:10). I use a pre-made product call JB's pen flush. Once you have cycled with ammonia though, you have to flush again with water.

 

2) For more modern Pelikans, I unscrew the nib and run it under the faucet. Once the water looks clear, I put it in a cup of water to soak. I will then run the section and barrel under the faucet to more quickly remove ink. This is faster than method number one but means you'll probably have to re-lube the piston seal more frequently and you run the risk of dropping these things down the drain so caution will be needed. After a short soaking, I'll reassemble the pen and cycle a couple of flushes through it, using dilute ammonia if necessary.

 

With regular maintenance, water is all you should need. To clean the caps, I use a baby's safety cotton swab (wider than the adult versions) dipped in water to swab the inside of the cap and then I will dry the cap right after. If I have any scratches or surface issues to deal with, I use Novus which is gentle and works well on Pelikans (that's a separate and more advanced issue). That's a quick and dirty scheme of how I do it and I hope that it helps you. I'm sure there may be some variations. You really can't harm the pen. Regular maintenance is the way to keep these pens working trouble free.

Edited April 30, 2015 by sargetalon