Nakaya Maintenance

[TFForever]

So I got my first Nakaya the other day and now fully understand why people rave about them.

 

In terms of maintenance, I usually soak the nib sections of all my pens overnight whenever I'm changing ink colours. I just wanted to know if I can still do this with the Nakaya, since it is lacquer.

 

I'm going to assume the answer is yes since the material used for the Nakaya is the same as the stuff the Japanese use for their super expensive bowls and dishes, but if I'm wrong about this, please say so.

 

That said, do you guys clean and maintain your Nakayas the same as other pens in your collection, or do you do something else?

[Keyless Works]

I don't soak mine so I don't know if it is safe or not. I just use a bulb syringe to flush out the pen. Because it's hard rubber I definitely wouldn't use anything other than room temperature water. To me soaking seems unnecessary unless you are trying to get rid of a really stubborn ink that was left in the pen for too long.

[Wolverine1]

I think Keyless has it correct. Usually it is unnecessary to soak your pens. Using a bulb syringe ti force clean water at room temperature is usually more than sufficient to clean off any stubborn inks. Best of luck with your Nakaya pen.

[TFForever]

I do a bulb flush if I'm keeping the same colour in the pen, but I think it only cleans out the main channels; there always seems to be ink hiding in other places in the section that I find come out if I let it soak overnight. I'm paranoid about letting different colours mixing in the section and creating (gulp) some kind of sludge.

 

Suffice it to say, I'd be freaked out about sending my Nakaya back for a cleaning because of a clogged feed.

[FPFan]

Occasionally after using a nano particle ink, I have left mine sit overnight with JB's pen flush. No obvious problems do far.

[sadiemagic]

Given the cost of Nakayas and the wait for certain models, I'd be reluctant to do the overnight soaking thing. I actually had a Conway Stewart pen from the 1950's warp in an overnight soak. Not that Conway Stewart and Nakayas are comparable, but that made me swear off overnight soaks unless I can remove the nib and feed and soak only those.

 

If it is important to you, though, perhaps you should inquire of either Nakaya directly, or the seller of the pen (presuming they are knowledgeable about Nakayas and urushi) to be on the safe side.

[tarheel1]

Given the cost of Nakayas and the wait for certain models, I'd be reluctant to do the overnight soaking thing. I actually had a Conway Stewart pen from the 1950's warp in an overnight soak. Not that Conway Stewart and Nakayas are comparable, but that made me swear off overnight soaks unless I can remove the nib and feed and soak only those.

 

If it is important to you, though, perhaps you should inquire of either Nakaya directly, or the seller of the pen (presuming they are knowledgeable about Nakayas and urushi) to be on the safe side.

The conway stewart was probably casein which is a milk product and will eventually dissolve.

[sarahfar]

I am impressed at just how hard and impervious the urishi actually is, that said flush yes, soak probably not.....

Best

[TFForever]

Nibs.com just replied to my question and said soaking and even parts of ammonia mixed with water is not recommended.

[Anneleen]

But if you can't soak it, what would you do about inevitable ink buildup? I've noticed that no matter how often I flush some pens, they still slightly discolor the water after soaking. This is especially visible with demonstrators.

[Doug C]

I have 3 of them and don't treat them any differently than my other pens. I clean them out with the very hard water here in New Mexico and put them away. No problems for years...

[Mickey]

If you're really concerned about build up, use a WaterPik. Clean the feed fins and nib with a regular pik, then cut off the back end of a cartridge and make an adapter for connecting the pik to the back end of the feed.

[shuuemura]

Platinum makes a cleaning kit for their pens that will work for Nakaya pens as well. I haven't tried the cleaning concentrate because the bulb syringe is more than sufficient for my cleaning needs. You might consider that as well.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/223721-platinum-fountain-pen-ink-cleaner-set/