Hard to get at ink stains

[amk]

I have a few pens that I bought secondhand which have bad ink staining, modern cart/converters with staining inside the section, and piston fillers where the area behind the ink window is stained for about a centimeter back, presumably having got between the ink window and the barrel material.

 

I've only found one post on how to remove ink staining and there were a lot of shall I say potentially destructive methods suggested. what's the **safest** way to start? 

 

And is it going to be best to try to disassemble the pens, where I can? 

[txomsy]

I'd say the safest is to give the pieces a soak in water, water with a drop of dish soap, water with a drop of ammonia, or an ultrasonic cleaner.

 

 

[amk]

I'd wondered about the ultrasonic. I'll give that a try if the dish soap doesn't work.  Thanks!

[amberleadavis]

Start in Inky Thoughts - Start HERE

 

Stain Removal

Operation Exterminate Bsb Stains

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/303281-operation-exterminate-bsb-stains/

Informal Review - Noodler's - American Eel - Rattler Red

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/258169-informal-review-noodlers-american-eel-rattler-red/

What's Your Cleaner Ink?

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/297645-whats-your-cleaner-ink/

[es9]

12 hours ago, amk said:

I'd wondered about the ultrasonic. I'll give that a try if the dish soap doesn't work.  Thanks!

You should not just throw entire pens or converters into the ultrasonic. Doing so would likely force water into places it’s not meant to be. Ultrasonics are very good for specific parts when a pen is disassembled, you should be careful. There are good threads out there about how to use them. 
 

You might try a flushing with a solution of 1 parts ammonia to 10 parts water, with perhaps a drop of dish soap mixed in. If that doesn’t work, rapido-eze is expensive but works very well when properly diluted. 

[OCArt]

I've cleaned the inside of an old Pelikan's ink window by removing the nib and gently scrubbing with a Q-tip cotton bud. I didn't need to use anything other than a drop of Dawn dish soap. This was on a fifty-year-old pen that was left filled with some horrible black ink, maybe even India ink.

 

15 hours ago, amk said:

I have a few pens that I bought secondhand which have bad ink staining, modern cart/converters with staining inside the section, and piston fillers where the area behind the ink window is stained for about a centimeter back, presumably having got between the ink window and the barrel material.[snipped]

 

[amberleadavis]

Dawn works great!

[txomsy]

Great advice, I hadn't seen about the Rapid-O-Eze, but it looks like a great solution. I'm gonna try it on a stubborn vintage pen that keeps drying after ~5 min use.

[amk]

I've cleaned up one already - just took it completely apart and then soaked the stained parts with a little dish soap and put back together.

 

I'm thinking of using the ultrasonic for the one with the stained ink window, if I can get the nib out, then support the pen so only the section and ink window are in the water. Does that seem a reasonable idea or have I missed something? (No trim ring on the the section to worry about, thank goodness.)

[es9]

10 hours ago, amk said:

I'm thinking of using the ultrasonic for the one with the stained ink window, if I can get the nib out, then support the pen so only the section and ink window are in the water. Does that seem a reasonable idea or have I missed something? (No trim ring on the the section to worry about, thank goodness.)

I personally wouldn’t do that for the reasons discussed in this post.  I suppose it might depend on the specific pen/material, however. 

[amk]

Wow! thanks for the warning!