Using Your Tongue?!

[tdeecy]

Licking pen nibs is not about mold and it's not about bacteria. This is not the 17th Century. We're not dealing with nice, old-fashioned plant pigments and benign solvents in today's inks. Modern inks are loaded with chemicals. Chemicals to color them, chemicals to help them dry, to help them flow, and so on. They contain metals, surfactants and dyes that might even be neuro-toxins.

There is no doubt in my mind that chemicals in inks over a long enough period of time are toxic, perhaps even carcinogenic. Since no one knows for sure, why take such an ill-advised risk?

Licking pen nibs is not smart.

And I don't think that doctors who suggest safer ways to moisten nibs are "covering their @$$", as somebody suggested. I think they are trying to cover their patient's @$$.

 

Tom/

[acolythe]

Licking pen nibs is not about mold and it's not about bacteria. This is not the 17th Century. We're not dealing with nice, old-fashioned plant pigments and benign solvents in today's inks. Modern inks are loaded with chemicals. Chemicals to color them, chemicals to help them dry, to help them flow, and so on. They contain metals, surfactants and dyes that might even be neuro-toxins.

There is no doubt in my mind that chemicals in inks over a long enough period of time are toxic, perhaps even carcinogenic. Since no one knows for sure, why take such an ill-advised risk?

Licking pen nibs is not smart.

And I don't think that doctors who suggest safer ways to moisten nibs are "covering their @$$", as somebody suggested. I think they are trying to cover their patient's @$$.

 

Tom/

I am probably commiting sacrilege but just barely dipping the tip in a nice warm coffee (warm not hot) works far better than a tongue

[brahmam]

In fact, one way of making excellent brown ink is as follows:

 

1. 15 ml of hot water

2. 15 ml of ethylene glycol

3. 1 drop of alcohol

4. 1/10 drop (just a pin tip amount) of dish washing liquid (for emulsification)

5. 1/2 teaspoon normal Nescafe instant coffee power or cocoa powder

6. 1 drop of Kadukkai juice (for surfactant)

 

Step 1: Mix hot water and instant coffee powder thoroughly. Allow mixture to cool.

Step 2: Mix the remaining ingredients and shake thoroughly.

 

Ink is ready.

 

Cheers!

Brahmam

 

Ps.:

1. Try it on very, very cheap pens that you had always wanted to get rid of.

2. Try it on April 1st.

3. Don't blame me for the results

 

 

 

Licking pen nibs is not about mold and it's not about bacteria. This is not the 17th Century. We're not dealing with nice, old-fashioned plant pigments and benign solvents in today's inks. Modern inks are loaded with chemicals. Chemicals to color them, chemicals to help them dry, to help them flow, and so on. They contain metals, surfactants and dyes that might even be neuro-toxins.

There is no doubt in my mind that chemicals in inks over a long enough period of time are toxic, perhaps even carcinogenic. Since no one knows for sure, why take such an ill-advised risk?

Licking pen nibs is not smart.

And I don't think that doctors who suggest safer ways to moisten nibs are "covering their @$$", as somebody suggested. I think they are trying to cover their patient's @$$.

 

Tom/

I am probably commiting sacrilege but just barely dipping the tip in a nice warm coffee (warm not hot) works far better than a tongue

Edited March 21, 2012 by brahmam

[paperskater]

Licking pen nibs is not about mold and it's not about bacteria. This is not the 17th Century. We're not dealing with nice, old-fashioned plant pigments and benign solvents in today's inks. Modern inks are loaded with chemicals. Chemicals to color them, chemicals to help them dry, to help them flow, and so on. They contain metals, surfactants and dyes that might even be neuro-toxins.

There is no doubt in my mind that chemicals in inks over a long enough period of time are toxic, perhaps even carcinogenic. Since no one knows for sure, why take such an ill-advised risk?

Licking pen nibs is not smart.

And I don't think that doctors who suggest safer ways to moisten nibs are "covering their @$$", as somebody suggested. I think they are trying to cover their patient's @$$.

 

Tom/

 

I might be going out on a limb here, but my spidey-sense tells me that it's highly unlikely that a company would put a neurotoxin in a bottle of ink. :/

[Biber]

I am probably commiting sacrilege but just barely dipping the tip in a nice warm coffee (warm not hot) works far better than a tongue

 

Done that too.

[Biber]

I might be going out on a limb here, but my spidey-sense tells me that it's highly unlikely that a company would put a neurotoxin in a bottle of ink. :/

 

Where have you been - Don't you know that's the VERY reason we can't get Pelikan Blue-black un the US any more?!!

[osrever]

I understand that the practice we see in old movies was actually just used for pencils: the kind that were made from various amalgams after the supply of high-quality graphite in England was worked out. You had to lick the amalgam to form a slurry that would transfer to the paper well, as I understand it. I don't think the practice was transferred to fountain pens until people who had never experienced a really rotten pencil saw it in the movies and misunderstood.

But that is hearsay, and may be incorrect.

ron

 

+1 I agree totally with you. I think it is a kind of pencil. I used long time ago one of them which write in a beautiful color purple.

Edited March 21, 2012 by osrever

[paperskater]

I might be going out on a limb here, but my spidey-sense tells me that it's highly unlikely that a company would put a neurotoxin in a bottle of ink. :/

 

Where have you been - Don't you know that's the VERY reason we can't get Pelikan Blue-black un the US any more?!!

 

Everything that I've read about the Pelikan Blue-Black indicates that it could be a possible carcinogen, and that not all ingredients were listed under the US Toxic Substances Control Act, which doesn't necessarily mean that it's toxic. Additionally, carcinogens and neurotoxins are not the same thing.

[sparky.88]

Whoa... This is getting serious now. I only looked at this topic because I thought it sounded dirty. (Just kidding).

 

Ok, seriously, I've never even been tempted to use my tongue to start a dry writer. I get enough funny looks from the all-too-frequent ink stains on my fingers. I gotta stop playing with my pens at work.

[smodak]

Ewww

[amberleadavis]

I've actually developed a taste for the scented J Herbin inks. Especially nice are the Apple and Orange. I am looking for the Diamine Guinness Stout I've heard so much about.

 

 

 

cuza

 

 

 

Yeah, I really like the Lavender from De Atramentis

[Biber]

Everything that I've read about the Pelikan Blue-Black indicates that it could be a possible carcinogen, and that not all ingredients were listed under the US Toxic Substances Control Act, which doesn't necessarily mean that it's toxic. Additionally, carcinogens and neurotoxins are not the same thing.

 

 

Uh yeah..., but I was only joking.

[amberleadavis]

I admit, I usually just swish the pen around in my glass of tea or cuppa joe.

[paperskater]

Everything that I've read about the Pelikan Blue-Black indicates that it could be a possible carcinogen, and that not all ingredients were listed under the US Toxic Substances Control Act, which doesn't necessarily mean that it's toxic. Additionally, carcinogens and neurotoxins are not the same thing.

 

 

Uh yeah..., but I was only joking.

 

Unfortunately, sarcasm and vocal inflection doesn't translate to text very well.

Edited March 22, 2012 by paperskater

[floydee1]

I too thought this was common knowledge among fp users with a dry starter for a pen.

 

To avoid the stain on your tongue use the side of your tongue - its not that visible an area. You also dont have any taste buds in that area.

 

Regards

Floyd

Edited March 24, 2012 by floydee1

[Biber]

Don't some cultures (Maori perhaps?)tattoo the tongue?

[brahmam]

yeah... may be! But not with the deadly Pelikan Blue-Black - that would wipe out the clan!!!!

 

Don't some cultures (Maori perhaps?)tattoo the tongue?

[jonwat]

I read somewhere that journalists (or was it policemen?) licked their pencils to make what they were writing permanent. I think they used a special blue pencil.

[Scrawler]

Licking pen nibs is not about mold and it's not about bacteria. This is not the 17th Century. We're not dealing with nice, old-fashioned plant pigments and benign solvents in today's inks. Modern inks are loaded with chemicals. Chemicals to color them, chemicals to help them dry, to help them flow, and so on. They contain metals, surfactants and dyes that might even be neuro-toxins.

There is no doubt in my mind that chemicals in inks over a long enough period of time are toxic, perhaps even carcinogenic. Since no one knows for sure, why take such an ill-advised risk?

Licking pen nibs is not smart.

And I don't think that doctors who suggest safer ways to moisten nibs are "covering their @$$", as somebody suggested. I think they are trying to cover their patient's @$$.

 

Tom/

+1

[georges zaslavsky]

I am using it cold water and soap and it works