Kung Te Cheng...or Equivalents

[truthpil]

Before I try another experiment, I thought I'd ask here first. Has anyone tried KTC in a Penbbs pen? I find that my 308s and 309s have really good cap seal and the plethora of o-rings keep the body sealed well. I recently dedicated one for Baystate Blue and the match is perfect (once I spread the nib's tines). I wonder if Penbbs pens would be another good KTC option.

Edited December 10, 2018 by TruthPil

[Mongoosey]

I was thinking about giving Kung Te-Cheng another try. I also find it hard starts.

 

I wanted to dilute it with water. What is the recommended amount?

 

Would I need to put some dish soap with it to help the flow after that?

 

I don't have photoflo or anything like that, but I've heard a drop of dish soap helps. Is that right? If so how much?

[WolvertonMountain]

 

Using a Petit1 is a great idea I had never thought of! I bet the special wick in the feed might help prevent they drying out problem that is common to KTC in many pens. I just hope the wick doesn't get clogged over time.

 

 

I have had KTC in a Petit1 for quite some time and the wick did get clogged. However, I found this problem to be VERY easily resolved, especially as I used the included cartridge by cleaning it and refilling with KTC.

Requirements:

One shot glass (67 cents at Walmart)

One bottle Koh-I-Noor Rapido-Eze Pen Cleaner (bottle has a flip-up dropper)

Method:

Empty any remaining KTC into a bowl of water in a sink (keeps ink from splashing).

Turn on the hot water faucet so only a small stream of water is flowing.

Rinse the cartridge, then the feed unit and its nib. Shake to remove excess water.

Place the cartridge open end up into the shot glass.

Place the nib unit nib down into the shot glass.

Drip the pen cleaner into the cartridge and nib unit until full. No need to fill the shot glass.

Place the shot glass where it won't be disturbed and leave until the units are clear of ink.

(I found 24 hours was enough time to clear the KTC.)

Rinse the shot glass and pen parts and shake to remove water.

Place the pen parts back into the shot glass and place on a window sill to dry.

 

I found my Petit1 to be a dry writer as well as scratchy. After cleaning the pen parts, I reassembled the pen, as an eyedropper, with water. I spent a few minutes several times a day for two days just making figure eights and dragging the nib's point side to side on a grocery store brown paper bag. When the pen was no longer scratchy on writing paper, I (mostly) dried the pen parts, refilled the cartridge with KTC, and reassembled the pen.

After leaving the pen nib down overnight to charge the feed, I found the pen wrote as I liked and the line was now wider than the really fine line with which it previously wrote.

 

Clifton

Edited March 7, 2019 by WolvertonMountain

[uceroy]

I was wondering, has anyone tried KTC in a Platinum plaisir? Although it'd be hard to clean the feed, the cap would probably prevent drying?

 

I've ordered a bottle, although I have no clue when it'll get here. 😆

And how does the color compare to Lamy Crystal azurite?

[inkstainedruth]

I wouldn't in my Plaisir -- it's a dry writing pen.

As for Lamy Crystal Azurite? I tried it at the Lamy Soho store at Christmastime (the ink wasn't available yet, but they had tester pens) and I would say that Azurite is too blue -- I don't remember seeing a purple component to it, and I also think of KTC as being more of a deep indigo (the purple only really comes out when the ink is diluted).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[uceroy]

Thank you for the quick reply 🙂

I personally was surprised at how purplish Azurite looked, it's a blurple to me, similar but a bit lighter than Diamine billberry.

But then again, that may be just me 😆

I guess I still have quite some time to decide on a pen before KTC gets here

[someguyhere]

I had the ink previously in a TWSBI Eco F nib, and it never once gave me any issues with hard starts or skipping. I went through at least two refills without issue before changing out the ink -- and I don't use fountain pens much nowadays. I have two Ecos, and my plan was just to keep using the one Eco for Kung Te Cheng. However, it didn't stain the Eco to any significant degree so I haven't been able to tell which Eco I used the ink in. So if you're worried about staining the barrel, that doesn't seem to be much of a concern.

 

Between the TWSBI Eco/Vac700/580, I think the Eco is actually TWSBI's best performing model.

[uceroy]

I had the ink previously in a TWSBI Eco F nib, and it never once gave me any issues with hard starts or skipping. I went through at least two refills without issue before changing out the ink -- and I don't use fountain pens much nowadays. I have two Ecos, and my plan was just to keep using the one Eco for Kung Te Cheng. However, it didn't stain the Eco to any significant degree so I haven't been able to tell which Eco I used the ink in. So if you're worried about staining the barrel, that doesn't seem to be much of a concern.

 

Between the TWSBI Eco/Vac700/580, I think the Eco is actually TWSBI's best performing model.

That is great to now! I love my Ecos 🙂 Thanks a lot for the info. I wouldn't even mind a bit of staining, as long as it works properly 😆 I can always use a destaining ink later on, like Noodler's eel series 😊

[Tweel]

I had Kung Te-cheng in a Dollar 717i for a while, since others had had luck with that pen. It worked okay, but I had to floss granular dried ink out of the nib slit about every other day. I've now had it in a Kaweco Sport for about 3 weeks straight, and it's been working like a champ. No hard starts or anything -- it just acts like ink .

Edited March 24, 2019 by Tweel

[truthpil]

I had Kung Te-cheng in a Dollar 717i for a while, since others had had luck with that pen. It worked okay, but I had to floss granular dried ink out of the nib slit about every other day. I've now had it in a Kaweco Sport for about 3 weeks straight, and it's been working like a champ. No hard starts or anything -- it just acts like ink .

Oooh thanks for the idea! I have a dark blue Sport that doesn't get much use. How were you filling it, refilling a cartridge?

[Tweel]

No, I'm using one of the "squeeze bulb" style converters.