Freshly Filled Nib Hygiene Practices?

[Tseg]

I'm still trying to deterimine my preferences once I fill/refill a pen with ink what my next prep step should be:

• Just start writing with an ink covered nib and saturated fins
• Wipe off the top of the nib with a cloth to "clean it up"
• Blot the top and bottom of the nib to clean it up and get some of the ink out of the fins
• Hit the nib with a dash of water which helps shine up the top side and empty the fins
• Other?

Do you vary the above based off individual pen performance? I have some pens that are super soupy writing ink when the fins are filled with ink after a fresh refill. Others are less bad in this regard. My Sailor King of Pen with a pretty heathy sized nib is very troubling in this regard... can take pages of writing for the fins to clean themselves up, with whole time my writing is extremely juicy. I have migrated to the splash of water approach, but then the ink (cut with water) is a bit less saturated when I start writing but gets fully saturated after a few pages. What are best practices?

[TheDutchGuy]

The need for cleaning some of the excess ink out of the feed differs for each pen, or so I find. My TWSBI pens require serious cleaning with absorbent tissue, otherwise they burp after a refill. With other pens, it may not an issue at all. Personally I always remove excess ink from the area where the nib enters the section and I also remove ink from the surface of the nib.

 

How thoroughly I remove excess ink also depends on what I'm going to do next. If the pen is going into a pouch and I'm about to travel, I remove ink from between the fins to prevent splattering inside of the cap. But if I'm going to be writing straight away, I just start writing (except with the TWSBIs).

[Aysedasi]

The need for cleaning some of the excess ink out of the feed differs for each pen, or so I find. My TWSBI pens require serious cleaning with absorbent tissue, otherwise they burp after a refill. With other pens, it may not an issue at all. Personally I always remove excess ink from the area where the nib enters the section and I also remove ink from the surface of the nib.

 

How thoroughly I remove excess ink also depends on what I'm going to do next. If the pen is going into a pouch and I'm about to travel, I remove ink from between the fins to prevent splattering inside of the cap. But if I'm going to be writing straight away, I just start writing (except with the TWSBIs).

 

Exactly this for me.

Edited January 13, 2019 by Aysedasi

[Bo Bo Olson]

It is such a small problem ink in the combs...I read about someone with a Pelikan with such a problem, Looked at all my Pelikans, and found one where it could have been noticeable; but was not a problem so....it's some times normal, but not important.

 

Wipe the top...the combs/rills could be filled with ink, when just filled from a bottle. I seldom have or notice such a combs on the bottom filled problem................sounds to me as OCD. If it don't burp.

 

If the feed works anyway like it should the nib will write with what is in the combs first before feeding from the piston chamber.

 

Not looking for it, in there should be no reason for ink to be so wet in the feed bottom to be super noticeable in, cartridge or needle filled converter into the feed. Like a bottle filled piston pen, a bottle fed converter can have a wet bottom, for the same reason.

If it don't blurp on the paper .... so what.

If it does look for a dryer ink.

Edited January 13, 2019 by Bo Bo Olson

[cattar]

After the fill, I send 2 drops of ink back into the bottle, then brush the feed against the bottle rim, then turn the pen nib up, then turn the converter to pull the ink back from the nib.

Rarely wipe the nib, but when I do, it's with cloth, not paper.

 

If I'm traveling, rather than writing right away, I'll send 3 drops back into the bottle, etc.

[Driften]

After the fill, I send 2 drops of ink back into the bottle, then brush the feed against the bottle rim, then turn the pen nib up, then turn the converter to pull the ink back from the nib.

Rarely wipe the nib, but when I do, it's with cloth, not paper.

 

If I'm traveling, rather than writing right away, I'll send 3 drops back into the bottle, etc.

 

 

This is also what I do to start, then I take a folded paper napkin and wick away the ink where the face of the nib meets the section. On demonstrators this help removes much of the ink that dries stains the section. If it's a TWSBI Eco/Go I also dab the feed as the maker suggests. The other TWSBI pens don't seem to need that.

[Holon]

After the fill, I send 2 drops of ink back into the bottle, then brush the feed against the bottle rim, then turn the pen nib up, then turn the converter to pull the ink back from the nib.

Rarely wipe the nib, but when I do, it's with cloth, not paper.

 

If I'm traveling, rather than writing right away, I'll send 3 drops back into the bottle, etc.

 

I do it the same way, but I almost never wipe the nib. I like the look of a nib with some ink on it.

[inkstainedruth]

I tend to wipe the excess with a tissue. Because I'm also wiping around the section in most cases -- even the c/c pens all have converters, so most of the time I'm using bottled ink, and I'm dipping the nib at least up to the shoulders of the section so I know I have the nib completely submersed (which gets interesting with the Pilot Decimo -- it's a long, skinny nib, and the breather hole is way up at the the far end, almost to the section anyway). I don't bother with wiping the feed.

Unlike Holon's apparent experience, I often am using inks that have issues with clogging or nib creep (or both). Yes, I'd like to find a better behaved ink than Noodler's Kung Te Cheng in that respect. No, I haven't found one that is remotely close to the amazing color -- deep indigo with purple undertones -- or KTC's permanence (I describe it as being "everything proof" ).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Honeybadgers]

always wipe with a paper towel or chamois towel, an over-saturated feed can be annoying and prone to blurping a drop of ink. Also, ink on a section sucks.

[bitterwonder]

Spit. I always use spit.

[sombrueil]

I just wipe the section with a cotton rag so I don't get (more) ink on my fingers. Sometimes I might give the top of the nib a swipe too. That's it.

[Pentode]

I drag the bottom of the feed across the edge of the bottle once to draw off any excess ink and wipe the section with a small square of chamois. If there's a whole lot of ink on the top of the nib I might give a light wipe there, too, but not usually.