I have recently become intent on improving my penmanship. I was given great advice from other users on the forum and purchased my first fountain pen, a Lamy Safari and Write Now, to get me on the right track. Already I have improved dramatically, thank you everyone for the advice. Now the Lamy isn't an investment but if it lasts me several years I'd be delighted. I tried searching to no avail, so my question is; what regular maintenance or cleaning should I be doing to keep the pen in good order, does the orientation matter if stored for several days, e.g. nib up, down, horizontal? Thank you.

I would just maintain the pen by flushing it with water every time you change the color of your ink or every month or six weeks. This keeps any deposits out of the feed. The exception to this is if you're using an iron-gall ink like Lamy or Montblanc blue-black. Then flush it more often and don't let the ink dry in the pen. I tend to store my Safari when inked in a horizontal position, though I guess if I knew I wouldn't use it for more than 4 or 5 days I'd probably position is vertically (nib up).

Hope this helps out.

With ink in the pen, don't store the pen nib down. Some inks will flow rather freely right out and into the cap and make a general mess. Horizontal isn't usually a problem. If the pen is empty, store however you wish. If you aren't going to be using a pen for a good while, it's best to flush it out and not let ink dry up inside the pen.

Maintenance of your fountain pen should include a good flushing every 2 or 3 fills. Completely flush the pen out with water (do not use hot water, only cool water) and let it dry. This should keep the pen working well for some time to come. You don't have to let it dry, but your ink might flow a little watered down for a short time.

Other maintenance: don't drop the pen onto its nib on a tile floor, and don't loan it to someone known to make the Grand Canyon of grooves in their writing paper with a ballpoint. In the event of nib disaster, there are replacements or nibmeisters to choose from.

Aghhh! iron gall?? I (being a just a kid to all this) didnt know about this. Do Lamy carts have iron gall in them? If so do I need to flush at the end of a cart or whilst still using same cart if it takes a while to get though one?
I use my pens in rotation and the Lamy only gets used about once a week.

Any advice please
T

Thank you for the reply's. I've been storing it nib up in the rather post modern box it cam in. It works well and doesn't look tatty either.
I'm using the ink supplied with the pen and also have some Lamy refills. I'll be sure to flush with water before every fill. Also what is a "Converter?" Lamy apparently makes one for most of their pens.

Cheers

Hello again, Tawanda,

The only Mont Blanc inks that have ferric sulfate (iron gall) additives are the Blue-Black. If you use Blue-Black, either cartridge or bottle, I would flush the pen with water every two weeks or whenever I refill my pen. That is considered fairly often by the Mont Blanc people. Also, wipe your pen tip a bit more often than usual. I usually make sure to wipe my tip before I start the day's writing, then again when I close or if I can see any buildup on my pen tip.

The threads on the FPN show that Mont Blanc cartridges just don't seem to haved the same luster and pizzazz as the bottled ink. If you decide to use Blue-Black much, a filler pen or converter is a good investment.

When are you going to post a before and after writing show? Looking forward to seeing how much you have improved.

Rinse out the pen every time you need to change to a new cartridge. And when you're not using it, cap it. Store it somewhere where it's not likely to roll around. When flying in a plane, keep the pen capped and nib up. Otherwise, you can just leave it lying horizontally most of the time.

As nobody's answered your other question, Anachronist:
A converter's a device that plugs into a fountain pen instead of a cartridge so that you can use bottled ink with it. That works out cheaper in the long run), and some people are bothered about the waste of plastic from the cartridges or prefer the flexibility that comes from being able to pick and choose inks rather than being saddled with whatever is used to fill the cartridges at the factory, but if you're happy using cartridges that may not be a problem for you. Have a browse through the Ink forum for more detail on this: there's a lot of people on the board who take a rather purist approach to this one.