Pelikan Section Swells With Overnight Soak In Water

[yachtsilverswan]

I have a biweekly routine of flushing my rotation pens until they run clear, and then soaking them overnight immersed in tepid water to a level above the section threads. The next morning I flush the pens once again, and then stand them nib-down in a nest of paper towels to wick dry. That evening the pens are re-inked for the next two weeks.

 

This routine has worked well for all my pens except for the Visconti Divina Proporzione (which is crafted of celluloid, which may be hydroscopic) and my Visconti Homo Sapiens (which may also have a hydroscopic resin). Those two pens I flush without an overnight soak.

 

I've done this for several years to keep my pens' flow optimized.

 

I have a Pelikan green striated M1000 and a Pelkan blue striated rhodium trimmed M805. I've owned both pens for over a year, and each has been subject to my routine of flushing and soaking with good results.

 

http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/rr131/yachtsilverswan/souveraen-m-805-normal.png

 

This weekend I may have left the M805 in a nest of paper towels that were damper than usual.

 

That evening, after wicking dry all day, nib down in the (damp) paper towels, I tried to recap the M805.

 

I could not screw the cap onto the M805 - the fit was strangely tight, as if the section of the pen had swollen with the overnight soaking.

I carefully examined the section, threads, and cap of the pen - I could find no cracks, no debris, and no obvious damage. But the cap would not fit without the greatest amount of force.

 

Suspecting that the pen had somehow swollen in the overnight soak and failed to dry in the moist paper towel nest, I put a fresh dry nest of paper towels in a collins glass and left the M805 overnight to dry further.

 

The next morning, after the extra twelve hours of drying, the easy precision fit of the cap to the section was back to normal, and the pen writes perfectly.

 

Is the plastic section, screw threading, or the striated barrel of the M805 hydroscopic?! That seems silly to me since the pen is designed to hold watery ink; but I can't think of another explanation.

Edited May 15, 2012 by yachtsilverswan

[albruce]

I bought a few "junker" old fountain pens that I could use for experiments in repair. As they were old and uncared for with lots of dried ink in the caps, I soaked them overnight in water. The next day the sizes had changed in that the parts would not screw back together. One pen now had a bent barrel! After drying completely the parts did screw back together but the barrel of one is still bent like a banana! I was surprised. Fortunately they were flee market buys so I had a cheap lesson.

 

Pens - Platignum, Conway 475

[Bo Bo Olson]

Well I don't soak overnight...I think that a bit OCD. (I would if I had a problem....like dried ink that has sat in the back of a drawer in a pen for the last two generations....but not for fresh ink.)

 

The overnight in the paper towel nib down in a cup is the end of my trick.

 

For CC pens, a rubber baby syringe is good enough to clean out the nib and feed. For Pelikan, one needs to cut the rubber baby syringe to fit....so you might need three...one for the 200/400/600, one for an 800 and one for the 1000 to fit the chopped off spout perfectly.

That will clean out the nib/feed section as well as a bulb does the cc pens.

 

The amount of ink that does not seep out into a paper towel over night....is so little it will never cause ink in the bottle to have any color or hue change.

 

I don't know why your pen did that....but be warned not to do it any more.

[Chrissy]

I wouldn't soak any pen, in any liquid that came above the threads, overnight either.

 

I clean it thoroughly, then leave it upright in a jar that contains a thick wad of kitchen roll. It works for me.

[PAKMAN]

Good to know! I would not have expected this! I used to do this but since the nib unit unscrews so easily I just remove it now and quickly clean up the pen and just leave the nib unit in water over night.

[Chrissy]

Good to know! I would not have expected this! I used to do this but since the nib unit unscrews so easily I just remove it now and quickly clean up the pen and just leave the nib unit in water over night.

 

That's what I usually do with Pelikans too.

[MarkTrain]

Is the plastic section, screw threading, or the striated barrel of the M805 hydroscopic?! That seems silly to me since the pen is designed to hold watery ink; but I can't think of another explanation.

 

The section and inner barrel are acrylic and should be unaffected by water. The outer stripped binde is cellulose acetate which can absorb water and swell.

[fplover01]

 

The section and inner barrel are acrylic and should be unaffected by water. The outer stripped binde is cellulose acetate which can absorb water and swell.

What he says is right...

 

I personally do not see a need to soak any normal working pen overnight or clean a pen that often but thats me. Just work the piston with water till it comes out clean, dry the pen and store it. Pelikan suggests cleaning a pen that sees use every 6 months, a bit more often if a highly saturated ink is used. There is no reason to clean a pen every two weeks in my opinion.

Edited November 28, 2016 by fplover01

[DnzUlc]

Since it came to this, i would like to ask another question which i know many say different, do you put a little water in your fountain pens, which you will not use for like years maybe, i mean the silicon piston end ones, not the early 100 ones which has a different piston end which can swell due time

[Bo Bo Olson]

Old cork, needs moisture. or it can crumble.....

 

........If you get a old '50s' NOS....do soak the insides with water. I did it with ink....but thought later...water would have been better; then ink it.

Could be easier to get all the new 'old' ink out.

Besides which you can boil some little bit of water and add silicon grease....and keep stirring it as it cools down..luke warm, enough to fill the pen with some silicon water in an old dry cork.

That could let the cork revive better.

Thoughts a bit late...not done.

 

 

I see no reason to water piston pens with plastic gaskets.

 

I did zombie a few pens by letting water sit inside for a full week...a day hadn't been enough.

ASAP...which can be ages, I need to put new cork in them.

Zombie only works a couple of times.

 

No, being lazy with pens that are not made to be pulled apart and putting in O rings is plum dumb stupid.

Marshal and Oldfield in their ...the best pen repair book claim that properly oiled and waxed cork is slicker than plastic gaskets. Even suggests certain MB pens from the '50's if the original plastic gasket goes...replace it with a properly prepared cork....boiled in paraffin& beeswax and silicon grease after mounting before inserting.

 

Even someone thinking about doing it cheap with an O ring makes me cringe. :crybaby:How many times will the pen who is not made to be ripped apart, be ripped apart until the O ring..which needs regular greasing.... no longer works because the pen won't fit together any more?

 

Richard Binder does sell plastic gasket and tools to cut them to the right size if you don't want to go through the much harder work of doing the better cork.

 

If you want or need to clean a pen down to it's littlest parts every day, week or such....Ahab or Twsbi allows that.

A 800 or 1000 can be taken apart also ...carefully.

Many times I don't understand why someone wants to do that....'clean' behind the piston...when nothing is happening; nor seen.

If they did that to their car motor, we'd have a lot more bike riders.

 

But something like a 400 or any older piston pen....no. When you do...once to repair the leaking piston...use top quality properly cut to size gasket or a treated fitted cork. The less times such pens are taken apart the better.

[sargetalon]

What he says is right...

 

I personally do not see a need to soak any normal working pen overnight or clean a pen that often but thats me. Just work the piston with water till it comes out clean, dry the pen and store it. Pelikan suggests cleaning a pen that sees use every 6 months, a bit more often if a highly saturated ink is used. There is no reason to clean a pen every two weeks in my opinion.

 

Agreed

 

Since it came to this, i would like to ask another question which i know many say different, do you put a little water in your fountain pens, which you will not use for like years maybe, i mean the silicon piston end ones, not the early 100 ones which has a different piston end which can swell due time

 

 

No, not for synthetic seals. No advantage to come from this practice and you run the risk of mold formation.

[Witsius]

An overnight soak won't get your pen any cleaner than just flushing water through it until the water runs clear. There is just no reason to soak for routined cleaning.

 

Thankfully your pen seems to have returned to normal. Hopefully there isn't any hidden damage. If the section expands and contracts as much as you report, I could see the fit of the nib unit or even the joint being the section and the barrel being compromised.

[viju]

I am just wondering how plastic/resin can absorb water. That's just beyond my comprehension. I have this habit of socking pens overnight in water especially after disassembling into parts. So far I haven't had any problems, but I will not be doing that in future.

[Bluey]

A pen should only really be cleaned(with dish soap and water) when you first get it to remove the manufacturing oils and also(with just water) before putting away in storage. If the pen is used continuously there is no need to clean it because the ink is doing the job of lubricant.

[sargetalon]

I am just wondering how plastic/resin can absorb water. That's just beyond my comprehension. I have this habit of socking pens overnight in water especially after disassembling into parts. So far I haven't had any problems, but I will not be doing that in future.

 

 

The plastic/resin does not absorb water. The cellulose acetate that is used to make the striped binde around the barrel is hydrophilic and can absorb water if left to soak.

[viju]

Yes..that make sense.