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Inspired by a Goulet blog and instructional video, I've discovered a new way to clean Waterman fountain pens which use converters or cartridges. I've always flushed the pen by filling and rinsing, filling and rinsing, etc., with a converter. The new way is to remove the converter or cartridge, then use running water to flush out the nib and feed, and fill and rinse the converter by itself. I've got a bulb syringe on order. However, I've immediately run into a problem. After doing this flushing, if I insert an ink cartridge and start writing, the writing is very faint. It takes a lot of writing before the writing darkens to a usable level. Dipping the pen in ink makes very little difference. Any suggestions on how to speed up the process of getting my writing to be dark enough? Relevant details: Waterman Expert GT and Waterman Phileas pens, Waterman Intense Black and Serenity Blue 75mm cartridges. The Phileas is about 10 years old, the Expert ir 6 months old. I use a variety of inks.

Today, I ran across a couple of old Sheaffer ink cartridges. I don't have a Sheaffer pen and almost threw them away. I happened to be replacing the short International Cartridge in my Kaweco Sport and noticed that the hole that goes on the pen nipple looked to be about the same size. I couldn't resist and dug out a Jinhao 599 and the Sheaffer cartridge seemed to fit, but I didn't get any ink flow. After I poked the little ball out manually and the Sheaffer cartridge fit into the 599. I wrote about half a page just fine with the Sheaffer cartridge in the 599. I consider this very experimental until I go a few days without any leaks. I don't plan on buying any more Sheaffer ink cartridges, but it is nice to be able to use up the ones on hand instead of trashing them.

Hi! I've recently purchased my first-one-ever fountain pen - Platinum PTL-5000A (Platinum Standard) with a fine nib. I've since come across an opinion, that is it not so good as a pen for a beginner, but it was listed amongst Goulet top next level pens, and I was able to get the pen for a little more than price of a Lamy Al-Star in retail around me, so I guess it shouldn't be that bad of a deal. Now for the question part. I ended up with a bunch of (3, to be exact) Platinum converters for my pen. For low long you can usually use one? Should I keep them all, or use 1 and try to trade or sell them? I also have two models of them 500 and 700, and it seems, that the only difference is trim colour, is it so? That brings us to another question - should I even bother with Platinum converter? It seems, that the converter holds 0.5ml of ink, while the Platinum ink cartridge looks like it holds ~1ml of ink. I'm only using my pen for a week, and already have a little less than half of my cartridge. I don't mind if I need to change my ink only once a week, but I'm afraid that if using a converter, I can easily run out of ink in the middle of the day with no option to refill it, and basically needing to switch to something else. That got me thinking, that I could just purchase some Platinum cartridges, and just refill them with my bottled ink using a syringe or something similar to it. My pen maintenance would switch to a biweekly schedule, making me more than happy. Since Japanese pens are not represented where I live, I'm thinking of purchasing a Platinum International adapter, and using standard international long cartridges as a container. Did anybody try to do this with PTL-5000A or a similar pen? Will the long cartridge fit in the pen along with the adapter? And last, but not least, is there any advice on how much can I push my pen when writing? I like to sometimes press it a little harder to make a broader line on a page, I now I'm afraid that I've done it with to much force, somehow it seems, that my line is now broader if compared to one when pen was just bought. I can post photos of my nib if anybody is willing to help, but I don't have any magnifier glass handy right now. Looking forward for any advice you can give in the relation to any of my questions. Thanks!

Hello everybody, A little more than a year ago, when I first started using fountain pens seriously, I was not really aware of the pleasure of using bottled ink. So I ended up buying tons of cartridges. Now, however, I almost exclusively use bottled ink, and those cartridges that I bought initially just sit in a box. I was wondering if I can empty them with a syringe and collect the ink in separate ink bottles? Thank you very much!

Hi, had a little spare time and made a short 1 min video how to use an eye dropper bottle to refill the ink cartridge of a pilot petit1 / vanishing point etc . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ1VQ-d0Uko with a little practice, there's no need to wash up or clean up anything. enjoy kenneth

Would anybody please help me by telling me which type of ink cartridge this is. It is 46mm in length if that helps, Thank you.

Hi! Perhaps I'm blaspheming by asking about ballpoint pens here (and maybe this thread should be in the ink forum?), but this is not about any ordinary Bic ballpoint. Anyway, I'm sorry for asking about ballpoint pens. Be assured that I am a true believer in the superiority of fountain pens. You see, for the last three years I've been in possession of a rather odd little brass note book case with an attached pen, presumably ballpoint. This case was a gift, bought at an antique store, and the attached pen came without an ink cartridge. I've been trying to find a place to buy new ink cartridges for the pen, but so far without success. When asking an experienced pen salesman at a well-established department store in Stockholm where I might find the ink cartridges I'm looking for, his answer was Britain. And now so it happens that I'm staying in Scotland for a while, so now I may perhaps have the chance to find ink cartridges. So, I'm asking you all now: have you seen a pen or a case like this before? Do you know when it may have been manufactured? Do you know any shop in Britain (preferably in Scotland or in London) where they might sell ink cartridges for it? I'd be delighted to receive help in the matter, because it would be nice to get the case complete.