Using Your Tongue?!

[brahmam]

That is called "Copying Pencil".

 

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.

[LedZepGirl]

I've never licked a nib, but I've licked the end of my finger and wiped it across it. I get ink on one finger- so what- I get way more ink on my hands at work that's a little more permanent.

[tricnomistal]

I just lick my finger tip and then touch the tip of the nib to my wet finger.

[amberleadavis]

Let me be the dissenter. Ew, gross.

So it's a guy thing, then? Not very lady-like. I can see that.

 

Oh, no. I'm a guy? Fine time to tell me.

[amberleadavis]

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

 

[panpan]

I did it once out of habit from RBs.... It didn't taste so nice but my pen started... I remedied that with better ink!!!!

 

Maybe i should find some flavoured ink and it won't be so bad when I do it from reflex.

[catmurphy]

I have done that and perhaps dipped a pen in my coffee a few times. But I have since found tiny jars that I fill with water and keep with my pens.

[zenephi001]

'osrever' is quite correct. In the UK many years ago, long before fountain pens became fairly common, when 'ordinary people could not afford such luxuries, the 'indelible' pencil was very common, especially among craftsmen & tradesmen, and it did require a lick or two.

 

Re licking nibs ...."when I were a lad ....." (inserted for UK & Monty Python aficionados) ... we all used dip pens at school. The ink monitor had the job of topping up the desk ink wells with real ink and, if they were lucky, mixing up some more when supplies ran low.

 

Every time we got a new bare steel nib (what do you mean 'weren't they gold plated'? - this was when boys were real boys and girls were real girls!) you had to lick / suck / rub to remove the fine coating that was on them (to prevent rusting in the box) before they would write properly. It was a bit of a ritual lick / suck / rub dip in the ink and test .... not quite right? ... repeat the process ... sometimes one forgot to clean the ink off first ....

 

Not sure what the coating was ... probably some sort of mineral oil ... probably nothing serious as we all seem to have survived ok .... though now I think of it 'lusting' over fountain pens does seem a bit weird .....

 

The dip pens with their steel nibs also made, when properly weighted, pretty good throwing 'knives and mini fencing foils - I still have a half inch faintly black/blue tinted scar at the base of my forfinger where I attempted a fancy riposte ..... and failed . Don't worry the ink was not permanent .... just long lasting

 

p.s. my opponents nib was irreparable and he had some explaining to do before he was allowed a replacement ......

[Skyppere]

So those of you who suggest licking your finger first... you think your finger is cleaner than your pen nib? I wonder. It doesn't bother me. I dab my nib on my tongue or for a REALLY hard starter, I dip the nib into my hot coffee. THAT really works!

cheers

skyppere

[Pengrump]

My pen nibs think my tongue is not sanitary enough. They prefer to be dipped in water. Some are fussy enough to demand distilled water. I have occasionally touched a pen nib to my tongue, but that often wasn't enough to get the ink to flow. Once and only once in the rather distant past, I sucked on a pen nib in frustration because the ink didn't flow. That was enough to get the ink to flow all right--and to turn my tongue, gums, and teeth a lovely shade of blue. That was the last time I put a pen near my mouth.

[pen2paper]

wouldn't it just be easier to give the cartridge a gentle squeeze / or advance the piston, to fill the feed with ink to start the flow? then the paper acts to draw out the ink from the feed...

otherwise a wet papertowel drawn over he nib, or flushing does the trick for actual dried ink in the nib.

guess I'm a germophobic, non-spitting dissenter ; )

[gwernogle]

Can't see a problem myself. All my life, and I'm in my 70's now, I've licked pens to start them and it was the approved method at school. Never had a problem with any ink that I can recall, but some of those ballpoints . . . , Yecch!

[Frits B]

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.

These were known as aniline pencils which had to be licked before they would write. Now replaced by ballpoints ...

As for licking nibs, we did so all the time when we learnt to write in school with dip pens. They were always somewhat greasy when new so it helped to lick them. And nobody ever contracted any disease from doing so. I suppose we are far too afraid of germs nowadays. When in decent company nowadays and in need of a lick I take out one of the tissues I carry instead of the handkercheifs of yore, and lick a corner which is then used to moisten the nib.

[LionofdiSouth]

I use my tongue frequently to start a pen, it works great on a few of my pens.

[alc3261]

Can't see a problem myself. All my life, and I'm in my 70's now, I've licked pens to start them and it was the approved method at school. Never had a problem with any ink that I can recall, but some of those ballpoints . . . , Yecch!

 

Medically not recommended.

Some Smokers live to be 90 but not as many as Non-Smokers......

[NedC]

Probably safer than fast food;) Unless you treat your pen nibs like all-day-suckers I doubt that there would be any problem. I do it occasionally when I need to start a recalcitrant pen and am not near a sink.

[andyslo]

I'm quite a germophobe, so just the thought of doing something like that just squicks me out. Ick.

 

 

 

"Squicks?"

[andyslo]

I'm quite a germophobe, so just the thought of doing something like that just squicks me out. Ick.

 

 

 

"Squicks?"

[cedargirl]

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/

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

 

 

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. :/

 

Maybe not neurotoxins, but who knows what? Ink is not designed to be consumed and therefore the various food safety standards do not apply. Long term ingestion of unknown and unregulated chemicals, even in small quantities, is a risk I'm not prepared to take. I keep a shot glass filled with water on my desk, whenever dry starts are expected (only when I have too many pens inked!).

[ehemem]

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. :/

 

HA! You think not? What about Iroshizuku fugu-syogun?