What's your take on refilling a half-empty FP?

Is it better to empty the pen first, by simply turning the converter completely out, as you would for an empty pen, or expunge only the air (keeping the nib up, as if you were de-airing a syringe), and only add ink?


On the same note, is it better to completely empty a pen every time, or to use one of the above to keep the pen topped up on a daily basis or so (or weekly, depending on how much you write).


May be a bit of a beginner question, but until recently I've always written with cartridges.

Thanks in advace.

I am also interested on this subject. AFAIK, it also depends on the converter used. A "squeeze" type won't let you do that, will it? <_<

If the converter was thoroughly cleaned before you filled it up with ink, how would you contaminate the bottled ink if you were to drop the ink back in? It's always a risk, but if you don't remove the converter from the pen and let dust/air contaminate the ink inside it, then I guess you'd be fine

EDIT: Oh, and what does YMMV stand for? :doh:

I only clean out, then refill a pen if I am having an ink change. I do tend to wipe the nib before filling, just to get rid of any fibres that may be caught. I tend to do this most with my frequently used pens, others I tend to write out of ink, flush then put away.

If the pen was clean to start with then what is the harm?

Jim

"Your Miles May Vary"

I think the concern is that the nib might have picked up dirt, etc. and would contaminate the ink bottle.

However, I prefer to refill before I run out of ink, and I always discharge the ink back into the bottle (I'm not cheap, I'm thrifty). I will even, sometimes, cycle a load of ink in and out of the pen & bottle a couple of times with the idea of keeping the system flushed. I've had no problems doing this. The only time I've had a bottle of ink with *stuff* in it, it came from the store that way.

Bill

I hold the pen, nib up, and slowly force out the air until the ink starts to accumulate around the nib at the section. Then I put the pen in the ink, force out a little more ink and fill the converter. This lets me fill the converter as full as possible.

I do the same thing when I fill a new or clean converter, otherwise there is unused space inside the converter.

Jim

I do like Jim does, except I don't always push ink back into the bottle.
After taking the pen out, I make two or three drops fall into the bottle to get the air flow started. A small air bubble in the ink supply does keep the ink flow consistent after the dip-deposited ink at the nib gets used up.
Before an altitude change (trips "over the Grapevine" to northern three fourths of my beloved home state, where my closest immediate family members live) through which I'll carry a pen, I either dump the pen back into the bottle and bring the bottle or else overfill the pen (no air bubbles at all!) and carry the pen point-upward.

I think one cause of gunk ending up in a bottle of ink is a combination of pen design and the strong mental health of fountain pen users. Many current-production pens seem to require putting a little bit of the grip section into the ink in the bottle. I may be a pen hobbyist, but I don't wash my hands hundreds of times a day . Just wiping the grip clean before filling should keep grip gunk from becoming bottle gunk.

That's what I've been doing since I started using fountain pens.

BTW, I've never encountered stuff in the bottle.