A question for those who've used a Fude Nib.

[Mar_]

Hello, pardon my bother but I was curious if a Hong Dian 1850 with a Fude nib would work well as a dip pen? See, I'm lacking a dip pen or a glass pen right now (new to the hobby) and I've got a Fude that i've not used much, I was curious if it'd be wise to simply dip it to try inks out instead of partially filling it?

 

[Paganini]

Sure, any pen will work as a dip pen. Be advised that the same capillary action that makes ink come out of a filled pen will make dipped ink go into your empty pen - it will saturate the feed a little bit. That means you'll still have to clean your pen every time you switch inks, which is not quite as convenient as rinsing off a glass dip pen. 

[Mar_]

Though not having a converter in the pen and having the body loosely screwed on(so it can be removed faster), a bowl of water and a bulb syringe would do me a doozie for quick ink tests no? I'd see no reason for it to not. I just need to get myself a glass dip pen but my wallet hates me already. soon though, soon.

 

[A Smug Dill]

14 hours ago, Mar_ said:

I was curious if it'd be wise to simply dip it to try inks out instead of partially filling it?

 

8 hours ago, Mar_ said:

… for quick ink tests …

 

It depends on your objective(s) for the ink tests.

 

A given ink can render and behave differently when the wetness of the lines varies, even if you use the same test sheet or otherwise keep the type of paper constant, for a series of separate and independent tests — e.g. using different pens or different nibs, changing the orientation or angle where a particular nib touches the page, or (where it is possible, on some pens such as the Pilot Justus 95) dial the softness of the nib up or down. This can affect some or all of the following characteristics presented by the ink: colour (inclusive of hue, value, and saturation), line width (i.e. some inks make a nib of known tipping width put down wider or narrower lines), feathering, show-through, bleed-through, drying time, water resistance, degree of shading and/or amount of sheen exhibited.

 

Dipping a fountain pen typically makes the pen write at a different ‘wetness’ from when it is being fed ink through from its internal reservoir. Sometimes, dipping a fountain pen with an empty converter firmly connected to its gripping section will make it write differently from dipping it with no converter attached.

 

If you want to know exactly how an ink will look or perform coming out of a given pen doing a particular type of writing, the best way is to keep as many factors the same as in your primary use case. On the other hand, if you want to know how an ink will perform in a variety of scenarios, but don't want to ink up different pens (that may already be otherwise in use for something else), then you'll have to develop a repertoire of different techniques for emulating different use cases using a more limited selection of writing instruments.

 

There's no harm is giving it a go, and see what a range of different effects you can tease out of dip-testing an ink with your Fude-nibbed HongDian model 1850. I've done so for some of my ink reviews, but I usually fill the converter instead of dip testing. I can't remember whether the converter supplied with the HongDian can be easily disassembled; but, if it can be, then it's nearly just as easy to clean with a bowl of water and a bulb syringe with or without the use of the converter.

[mke]

@Mar_

I use a dip pen with feeds - here you can see my special setup to test EF and stub1.1 nibs with an ink - to see how an ink performs with thick and thin lines:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CEWkDM9DJuu/

 

Basically, it is easy to clean. But beware: some inks can be a pain in the (choose any body part you like). Especially, pink and turquoise inks like to stay.

[Mar_]

Thank you Mke, and Dill sir, again with another well wrote response, thank you for both of your opinions. Someday soon i'll either make my own glass dip pen or i'll get the dollars to buy one but till then, dipping with the fude nib shall do.