Cleaning With Vinegar?

[kethiemann]

I have found that vinegar is very useful for removing sediment from old stopped up shower heads and the like (50/50 vinegar to water mix). I am wondering if this mixture would be useful in clearing out old ink sediment from older pens with flow issues. But, I sure don't want to hurt my pens. Any thoughts?

[viclip]

The old Parker repair manuals advise using vinegar to clean clear Vacumatic barrels. I've tried that with no apparent harmful effects, the vinegar does remove additional ink residue judging from the resultant coloration of the vinegar. Realize that the pH of many fountain pen inks is roughly the same as that of vinegar (diluted acetic acid), so I suppose it's like using clear ink as a wash. Not all pen components may withstand a mild acid solution however, especially cheap steel nibs.

[glyeakley]

I once spoke on the phone to a repair person with Pelikan in the US and she said to flush your pen out occasionally with a diluted vinegar solution, which I think was 1 part vinegar to 10 parts water. I've always used vinegar to clean pens, but I've always diluted it way down. Hope this helps. Greg

[kethiemann]

Thanks so much for the generous advice. Sounds like vinegar should be safe. I might just plan to go a little more diluted than 50/50.

[Flounder]

What kind of vinegar? Also, what kind of vinegar are you supposed to use on your wiper blades, I can't remember?

[Clyde Suckerpunch]

@ Flounder, I think the answer to both is the "white distilled vinegar"- buy the store brand, it is like fifty cents a gallon. I think the rule of thumb is never use good culinary vinegar for household cleaning etc, and never use white vinegar for cooking.

[Mister5]

Apologies for necroing this thread but I tried this out to good effect on three pens today. I used appx 10% white vinegar and the rest tap water for these:

 

1. My Pelikan M200 Cafe Creme was building up this goo in the visualated area where the piston head stops. I've tried cleaning it out with plain old water, and pen flush and it would not come out. This solution worked.

 

2. An M215 Rings had blue stains on the nib that wouldn't come out, it's back to the original color. Again, the solution seemed to do the trick. It also helped remove the blue that accumulated on the metal ring toward the rear of the nib unit. (It did the same on some odd grey-brown crud on the M200's nib unit)

 

3. After filling and depleting Diamine Registrar's Blue Black in an orange Pilot CH92, there were disturbing black streaks visible in the barrel. This method worked, and I had a holy s*it moment since I thought I'd be stuck with those stains forever.

[FarmBoy]

Note that one mode of celluloid decomposition is acid catalyzed.

[EMQG]

Note that one mode of celluloid decomposition is acid catalyzed.

Would a momentary exposure to diluted vinegar really be damaging? A 10% solution would be higher on the pH scale than many inks are, right?

[langere]

Although this is an old thread, it is always useful to bring these back once in a while. More people, different experiences, and this kind of thread is always needed.

 

Necro on!

 

Erick

[aawhite]

For many years my father cleaned / flushed his Parker 75 with a very dilute solution of white vinegar in water.

 

I think he used a much weaker solution than 10% vinegar. Anyway, it always worked but he was very careful not to get the solution on the pen body since he had a sterling silver Parker 75.

 

I use the same solution every now and then for stubborn ink deposits, even on my stainless steel nibs. Be sure to rinse the pen well after treatment.

[inkstainedruth]

I mostly use dilute ammonia solution, with a drop of Dawn dish detergent to flush pens, but that is NOT good for low pH inks (such as iron gall inks). For acidic inks I always substitute household white vinegar for the ammonia (clear ammonia). But I often, after flushing the vinegar solution out with distilled water, also do an ammonia solution rinse as well, followed by more distilled water.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[oneill]

I mostly use dilute ammonia solution, with a drop of Dawn dish detergent to flush pens, but that is NOT good for low pH inks (such as iron gall inks). For acidic inks I always substitute household white vinegar for the ammonia (clear ammonia). But I often, after flushing the vinegar solution out with distilled water, also do an ammonia solution rinse as well, followed by more distilled water.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Glad to see people are still using my recipe to flush out Pens,

One has to have learned something at 87 years of age. Trust Me, oneill

Edited November 6, 2017 by oneill

[Johane]

I was looking up white distilled vinegar use with fountain pens because it was recommended for odour absorption... I was wondering what you good folks thought?

I bought my "first" Fountain Pen, a Noodler's Ahab, and THEN I saw everything about some people saying that it had a very strong smell... I haven't received it yet, but my concern is that I struggle with sensory perception issues, and smell and touch are "the worst offenders". Please do *NOT* regale me with stories of how horrid it smells or what it smells like. My ADHD will then hyperfocus on it and I won't be able to get over the imagery, and I won't ever be able to use the pen...

So I'm just hoping that when it gets here, I can throw it into a bag of clean kitty litter, set it out in the back room, and just let it sit for a while, and get the smell (if any) mostly take care of that way... Then a friend of mine reminded me of the little household tip for taking care of smells in small corners that uses white vinegar (soak a piece of bread with vinegar, place it on a plate, put it in the enclosed area that has a problematic smell...) So I started wondering...

Would a quick wash in white vinegar damage the pen? Then I'd put it in the bag with the clean kitty litter (debating if I'm sitting it on top of the litter, with a piece of paper towel under to help protect it, under the paper towel & litter, or sandwiched between paper towel and surrounded by the litter... Any recommendations?)

I know that the pen might not have a strong smell to it, and I might be doing some overkill on it, but when just the thought/image of something is enough for me to have a negative sensory reaction... I just want to be careful. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Johane

[Inkling13]

I think it would be hard to kill an ahab. Go ahead and report back. Shouldn't be an issue, since it handles all of Noodler's acidic inks. I think the smell will dissipate with time though.

[praxim]

While on vinegar, a cleaning solution comprising 80% white fermented* vinegar to 20% water is effective against mould should that be a problem with a pen (or elsewhere, for that matter). Flush well afterwards.

 

* One source, mycolab.com suggested that synthetic acetic acid vinegar, the cheap stuff, was less effective. Other sources I read made no comment on that.

[Johane]

Well... It's arrived... I haven't opened the box yet... I'm a little nervous. I'll let you know how things go!

[balson]

i have used vinegar as a way to kill mold in the rare instances i have encountered it on old pens. for the most part it has been fine, but i have had one incident of it discoloring an old wearever deluxe pen. it made the barrel significantly whiter.

[Johane]

Ok... So I couldn't bring myself to open it, so I had my husband open it for me... And the smell is... not offensive! I find it smells like old non-brand name baby powder... Old not in the sense of it's what it used to smell like, but old as in I found an old open bottle in the back closet of your grandparent's cottage after some 40+ years... Ok, I'm not going to do like I've seen some people say and just sit here and smell my pen, but I'm pleased that the smell isn't going to stop me from using it!

[FarmBoy]

I think pen smell should be included in a review.