Nibs Covered With Ink

[Charles Skinner]

Lately, it seems that the nibs of many of my pens must be completely summered in the ink in order to pick up the ink. Has this always been the case, and I just never noticed it? If that is truly the case, a lot of ink is going to be wasted. C. S.

[KellyMcJ]

I think it's always been the case. It's probably not nearly as much waste as you think. If they're CC fillers though, you can pull out the cartridge and fill it separately. It works very well, and isn't nearly as messy as it sounds.

[Driften]

How far you have to submerge the nib in ink depends on the nib design. The standard is to submerge to the section as most use a fill/breather hole in the feed where it meets at the section. Hooded nibs normally don't need much distance into the bottle. The Shaffer snorkel extends a tube for filling that does not require the nib to even touch the ink.

 

The design of the ink bottle will influence how much ink might be wasted. That is why some bottles are narrow at the bottom, or have the glass slanted inside, or slanted face on the outside so the bottle sits at an angle. MB has a two chamber bottle where you fill the front chamber from the larger back area before filling the pen. Some come with a little cup inside that fills when you tilt the bottle and you fill from that.

 

You can always syringe fill a cartridge or most pens to get just about every last drop from a bottle as well.

[Bo Bo Olson]

A lot of folks with converters have gone away from needle feeding....in filling from the bottle helps clean the inside of the nib.

 

The drop of ink that is left on the section.....you do let the pen drip for a couple of seconds...yes?

Is only a drop, and wipes off easy.

When one fills from the bottle one rubs the top of the nib on the mouth of the bottle .... leaving but one little drop on the section to wipe off. What ink on the nib will write off.

[Honeybadgers]

If you want a pen that will get every last freakin' drop, a schaeffer snorkel will do it. I love the snorkel filler, it really is probably the coolest filler ever made and a bloody shame it isn't still being made (what I wouldn't give for a modern statesman with an x4 triumph nib. I'd own like six in addition to my 1950's one)

 

I personally section fill most of my pens, there are two exceptions - the rotring core and faber castell loom. Both those pens get ink stuck in little nooks around the grip and are a NIGHTMARE to clean. So they get needle filled.

 

If you want to get almost all the ink out, an ink miser ink shot (get the clear one, worth the $5) will get you down to the last few drops.

 

If you want those last few drops, get an ink syringe and squirt it directly into the converter.

 

Fountain pens do need a few essential accessories - a loupe, a bulb syringe, a piece of rubber tubing for removing the nib/feeds, and an ink syringe.

[mitto]

Sheaffer and schaeffer please.

[tamiya]

If you want a pen that will get every last freakin' drop, a schaeffer snorkel will do it. I love the snorkel filler, it really is probably the coolest filler ever made...

hahaha, snorkel works in *theory* for sucking up every last drop

 

but in *practice*, a healthy snorkel would blow bubbles out pretty strongly on plunger downstroke, it'll probably blast out all the ink that's left

 

made a right old mess when I once tried filling from a Skrip bottle's upper reservoir lip... I now poke the snorkel tube into the lower cavity, using the lip to deflect bubble splashing