I was just rinsing a pen to put in storage, and the converter has a very thin ring of ink (? stain vs dried ink) from Noodlers Black. Flushing with water does nothing to remove it. Somehow I don't think soaking it will help, but I guess I'm asking if there is experience with soaking, or what to use to remove it? If soaking is supposed to work, for how long do you soak it? thanks.

John

I usually just flush soapy water in and out and that takes care of it. Some people say a little sudsy ammonia in water works, but I don't find much difference to dishwashing liquid.

Well, I tried rinsing with sudsy water, but it doesn't touch it. I've never used ammonia, is that useful for an ink stain like this? I think the problem is it looks like it would need to be scrubbed to come off, unless something can really dissolve it. It is close to the tip, so the angle is so sharp it would even be hard to get a pipe cleaner in there to scrub it.

Excuse me, but why worry about an ink stain in the converter?
It does not harm the converter, it does not hurt the pen. Leave well enough alone; converters are cheap and if you absolutely need a pristine one, buy it and keep it unused....
No offense meant, but I see so many pens damaged by people who try to fix what ain't broken! (I know, I have done it myself, more than once).
Just a bit of advice by an old collector (I started collecting fountain pens in 1968)

I tried cleaning that ink ring by flushing with cool water, cool water with a hint of dish washing liquid, and cool water with a touch of ammonia. Nothing seemed to touch it, so I figured that it wouldn't bother any other ink that I loaded on top of it.

[quote=tryphon,Jan 8 2006, 11:13 PM]
John [/QUOTE]
Excuse me, but why worry about an ink stain in the converter?
It does not harm the converter, it does not hurt the pen. Leave well enough alone; converters are cheap and if you absolutely need a pristine one, buy it and keep it unused....
No offense meant, but I see so many pens damaged by people who try to fix what ain't broken! (I know, I have done it myself, more than once).
Just a bit of advice by an old collector (I started collecting fountain pens in 1968) [/quote]
I think that was the answer I was looking for! I should have asked the question differently: any reason to care about an ink ring in the converter? Thanks for the help.

I am not sure if this would help with that particular issue, but it may be worth a try. When I clean a convertor, I also dry it out and do not just let it air dry. What I do is this:

• Open the piston as much as possible.
• Roll the corner of a paper towel (diagonally) to as thin a point as possible.
• Insert the point of the rolled paper towel into the converter.
• Close the piston on the paper towel. This squeezes the paper towel around the area just inside the converter opening.
• Rotate the converter/paper towel. This just turns the converter to rub the paper towel on the inside.
• Remove the paper towel.

I do this when the inside of the converter is still wet as it moistens the paper towel after it has been inserted. I do not not use too much force when rotating or removing the paper towel as I do not want to tear it and leave any pieces inside. I just use gentle and deliberate action and have not yet had a problem doing this. Also, when rolling the point, I twist the point to make it a bit sturdier and easier to insert. If the ink is stubborn, it may require a bit of a soak before doing this.

No guarantees, but it may help.

Very interesting technique Tim. Will give it a try.

Only thought I had for improvement was that if one is concerned about leaving a bit of paper towel behind, use of a small absorbent piece of cloth instead may be less likely to leave anything behind.

Gerry