New Pelikan - Turning Piston Wrong Way

[cpmcnamara]

Hi everyone - a bit of a dumb question, but curious. I got a new pelikan. I grabbed it and stuck it in ink, turned the piston up and down a few times in ink before filling. Why? - I was a bit tipsy and forgot to push to piston down before pulling it up.

 

Anyways, my dumb question - Im assuming this is completely fine. But can turning the piston both directions while the nib is submerged in ink cause any issues (eg like ink getting behind the piston?)

[mana]

It will not cause any issues but in general I will avoid it for the off chance of contaminating the bottled ink in whatever way (pushing ink residue etc. into the bottle). Always a cleaned nib and only draw ink in.

[Bo Bo Olson]

No, it can help clean out a feed.....but first one should dunk the nib&section in water and twist it up and down to get rid of any manufacturing oil residues, before one inks a piston pen....or use a rubber bulb syringe on a C/C pen to do the same.

 

I've managed a number of times to want to fill the pen more fully than my normal 1/3 in not getting a full load.

.....I like changing inks and don't have a job where i would need a full pen.

Sometimes not often, the pen will not fill fully on one twist......and won't if the piston is not all the way down as is.

 

Do remember to let out 3 drops of ink, so there is air in the top of the barrel so you don't get a vapor lock. My '50's papers from both Pelikan and MB, state that.

[sargetalon]

No issues with that in itself besides the risk of contamination which shouldnt be a big deal with a new pen. Pelikans current instructions for filling can be found at the bottom of this page;

 

https://www.pelikan.com/pulse/Pulsar/en_US.CMS.displayCMS.252910./refills-and-care

 

I doubt many people follow the prescribed procedure closely and there is usually no harm as a result.

[sirgilbert357]

+1 to the above.

 

You could also always transfer 4ml of ink into an ink sample container and fill your Pelikan from there. This would avoid ink contamination of the bottle. I used a well-cleaned blunt tip syringe to fill the sample vial up with ink.

 

Doing this also means you open your bottle of ink less. You can fill a Pelikan 2-3 times from a sample vial depending on your technique and how full you get the pen. This saves you from opening your ink bottle as many times...

[DonM]

This should be no problem. I routinely fill, empty and refill my fountain pens while they are in the ink bottle. Been doing it that way for 30+ years and have never experience contaminated ink. The bonus is that this also cleans your pen out at the same time . It also helps to get a complete fill.