How To Use The Last Drop...

[Phormula]

Hello

Please apologize me for the stupid questions. I moved back to bottled ink after 20 years.

I bought some bottles of ink (Diamine Midnight, Diamine Presidential Blue and Visconti Blue, Waterman Blue-Black coming soon). everything OK, I still remember how to fill a pen without staining my fingers however I was looking at the Diamine glass bottle and I am realizing that once the ink level will go below a certain height, it won't be possible to fill my pen with the converter. In my past days I didn't had this issue, because I was using one ink only and the strategy was to use the last ink to fill some cartridges, but this is something I don't want to do at present. Do you have any strategy to fill the pen using the last part of the bottle?

 

Thanks

[777]

Here's a few solutions for you:

 

1 - Get an eyedropper pen. Then just use the last of you rink with a syringe and pour it in.

2 - Be a waster and throw it away (I don't recommend this one )

 

Regards,

777

[KCat]

you can fill a converter with a syringe just as you would an eyedropper pen. or use plastic transfer pipets to do the same. Not difficult and saves ink. No different from filling cartridges. You can still get some fills through the converter for a while by transferring to a smaller container (like a 7 ml vial) until it gets down to the dregs.

[mstone]

snorkel!

[Trebster]

snorkel!

 

+1 Snorkel!

[Phormula]

snorkel!

 

 

Please explain for a non-English speaker... what do you mean by snorkel, thanks

Edited April 10, 2011 by Phormula

[psfred]

Sheaffer Snorkel filling pen, a modification of the TouchDown filler. Sold between 1952 and 1959, very nice pens. Available from many sources, great to write with, a little short on ink capacity (0.8 mL, or about the size of a short international cartridge or converter), and absolutely wonderful for reaching into the corners of an ink bottle.

 

The filling tube extends from under the nib, which is very nice -- no wiping after filling on top of reaching distant recesses in the ink bottle.

 

Probably a few for sale right now in the markeplace!

 

Peer

[Phormula]

Thanks!

[watch_art]

You could use my invention:

 

[floydee1]

I use the technique of using a plate (developed from my school and muso days):

 

Pour what little ink you have into a flat saucer/plate (preferably a tea saucer) and fill the pen by inserting the nib inversely and HORIZONTALLY - nib face into the plate of ink with the feeder facing upward.

 

Fill your pen as normal but hold the position as you fill (as horizontal as possible) with the nib hole always faced down in the ink/plate.

 

Think of your pen as being a syringe drawing in the ink but from a horizontal position but with your nib face down onto the plate. Its the same technique as heroin users draw in their blow with a syringe (as in the movies of course - ahem). Its waste not want not whether its ink or otherwise :embarrassed_smile:

 

In fact you could even use a flat ash tray rather than a plate. If you're good at it you can draw in even the very last drops of ink - by tilting the plate and use the plate groove and your inversed pen nib as horizontal to the groove as possible.

 

And of course make sure you use a clean plate or ashtray.

[Feanor]

I've only run out of one bottle, and that because I spilled most of it. I was using a CC pen, and I sucked it up with a converter directly. I believe I poured it into the cap to concentrate it, but you may not need to. Anyway, that got every last drop (that was left).

[Randal6393]

watch_art,

 

you are ok -- one sick puppy, perhaps, but an inventive type of guy.

 

Thanks for a fun and instructive video,

[watch_art]

of course! I lost my first funnel fill, so bought another thin red funnel like this. Will be making another one soon.

[ru32day]

of course! I lost my first funnel fill, so bought another thin red funnel like this. Will be making another one soon.

 

watch_art - I LOVE your videos, esp this one. I had seen it before but had forgotten it. Thanks!

[fojeremiad]

I think the pending TWSBI bottle adresses this issue, as do the existing Visconti, Mont Blanc, and Akkerman bottles.

 

While I get the last drop for my converter with a syringe, I have been wondering how you fill a piston pen as ink gets low...

[watch_art]

Dumping a drop of ink on a plate really works well. One of the vendors did that at the pen show I just went to. He had a pen he wanted to show me, didn't have any ink, so he took another pen and dripped a bit out and then sucked it up like described above with the other pen. It was an esterbrook I think.

[Gobblecup]

I think the pending TWSBI bottle adresses this issue, as do the existing Visconti, Mont Blanc, and Akkerman bottles.

 

While I get the last drop for my converter with a syringe, I have been wondering how you fill a piston pen as ink gets low...

 

This is a pretty good question, I can't give you answer besides buying Iroshizuku ink (with those fancy bottles), or using bottles like you list! :roflmho:

Edited April 11, 2011 by Gobblecup

[Phormula]

Thank you all for the useful suggestions.

I need to think out which one best suits to my situation.

[floydee1]

I think the pending TWSBI bottle adresses this issue, as do the existing Visconti, Mont Blanc, and Akkerman bottles.

 

While I get the last drop for my converter with a syringe, I have been wondering how you fill a piston pen as ink gets low...

 

This is a pretty good question, I can't give you answer besides buying Iroshizuku ink (with those fancy bottles), or using bottles like you list! :roflmho:

Using a plate (as describe earlier) works with ALL pens that pull (siphon) in ink to fill up really.

I've done it on most pens (except eyedroppers, of course). Its cheaper too than buying an ink bottle and having to clean for your varying colours of ink. You can practice using a thimble of water if your worried about losing ink on the plate.

Depending on the bottle shape, you could by pass using a plate and just place the bottle on its side and refill the last drops as such too. The key is to have the nibs face (with feed facing upwards) in the low pool of ink as u pull in the ink.

[ru32day]

Hi floydee1 - this is a great tip - it would make a great video!