Fountain Pen Care: Platinum 3776 Celluloid

[Tinevisce]

Hi, so about a month or so ago- a big shout out to Hari, if you're reading this, you were a huge help- I got my first "expensive" fountain pen- the Platinum Celluloid.

It's beautiful, amazing and all sorts of sunshine and rainbows (but that's for another topic); but I'm a bit leery of not being able to take proper care of it.

 

I use it- currently- with the Diamine green black ink, and so far, it doesn't seem like anything that would corrode or choke up the pen.

Regardless, when I do rinse the pen out, I'd like to know the proper way of doing it:

 

A ) Water Temperature: My head forever associates a higher temperature with better cleansing. So should I use lukewarm water for rinsing, or would that damage the feed? Or does that not matter at all?

 

B ) Detergent: Is it OK if I add a tiny bit of detergent to the water, or should I be concerned about damage?

 

Thanks!

Edited May 18, 2014 by Tinevisce

[Cerbervs]

YOu can use hot water, but do not use boiling water, because that could just flat out melt the feed. Putting detergent in the water will make the water work like a pen flush. So detergent is ok, just make sure to flush the (diluted) detergent out with water so there is no residue.

Edited May 18, 2014 by Cerbervs

[Nonsensical]

Lukewarm water should be fine.

 

As for detergent, it's probably unnecessary if your pen has no flow issues. It won't damage the pen itself, but may remove any silicone grease present in the converter (which will make the converter more stiff to use).

 

In general higher temperatures are associated with better cleaning - at least in terms of bacteria, moulds etc. You would have to be using quite high temperatures for an extended period of time for it to have any effect....So when it comes to FPs, I wouldn't really worry too much about the heat, unless you're using boiling water for some reason. Cold water should clean your pen just as effectively.

[NKessler]

As the two people above me have stated, heat is not necessary and will generally do more harm than good. Detergent is just fine as long as you rinse very well, but it will remove any silicone grease lubricating the converter. Because of this, I generally only use detergent when my pen is actually in need of a serious cleaning so I can also do all the lubricating I need to do without feeling like I'm wasting silicone grease and over-working my pens.

[ceac]

cold/luke warm water with a bit of amonia .... But always thouroughly flush with just water afterwards