Success stories with homemade pen flush

[PenLovingE]

Not really a question but more of a note of appreciation. Thanks to various contributors of these forums, I have concocted the following pen flush (I use a 77.8 oz container from Target):

 

1,760 g distilled water

195 g clear ammonia (had to buy on Amazon to avoid lemon scent)

35 g Dawn dish soap

9 g Wetting agent (also from Amazon)

 

I have been amazed at how well this stuff cleans vintage pens and even seems to lubricate some parts for disassembly, cleaning and restoration. It even seems to help clean old graphite and other gunk out of the occasional included pencil. 

 

I will put the parts in a snack size Ziploc half filled with the flush, seal it up, put that in an ultrasonic cleaner of water and run it for 1-3 times, 2-5 minutes at a time. I'm no pro but it hasn't failed me yet. Many thanks to all the experts who help me dial in the formula!

 

[FarmBoy]

I would not soak pens completely submerged even in water. 
 

I am likely not at the cutting edge of pen repairs but I found this blog post from vintage pens interesting. 
 

https://vintagepensblog.blogspot.com/2025/03/premature-latex-sac-failure-and-ammonia.html

[PenLovingE]

37 minutes ago, FarmBoy said:

I would not soak pens completely submerged even in water. 
 

I am likely not at the cutting edge of pen repairs but I found this blog post from vintage pens interesting. 
 

https://vintagepensblog.blogspot.com/2025/03/premature-latex-sac-failure-and-ammonia.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawJXDjpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHTg_q8Coy7u7d6eoyKc_4zlS2qcBYCcIo7UXVkMcUi6___ckGQJXRRNBoA_aem_3Qv3Ho8ZbtjfGV_UxUqdJg&m=1

The article, and the refenced one of gold nibs, don't seem to indicate any issue with short term exposure and I don't have any pens with latex sacs...yet lol. I suspect that when/if I do, I will employ some other method or flush well with distilled water after a flush. Thanks for the information! There is so much to know in this pen world!

[Vintagepens]

The articles by no means state that short-term exposure is safe. 
And multiple cycles in an ultrasonic, each lasting for minutes, is far from a short exposure. 

With gold nibs in particular the damage done by ammonia is cumulative and irreversible, so best to avoid exposure entirely. This is easy enough: hold off on the use of such solutions until the nib has been removed, and clean the nib separately (you can use alcohol or other solvents, which is what I do).

Ammonia should definitely not be used to clean mechanical pencils. It attacks brass aggressively. Ask watch and clock restorers, or handloaders.

It is also important to distinguish between cleaning solutions to be used in restoring a long-neglected pen that is thoroughly gunked up, and those to be used for regular maintenance of a pen that has already been restored. In the latter case there is no need for anything at all harsh -- water alone should be quite enough.

 

[PenLovingE]

20 minutes ago, Vintagepens said:

The articles by no means state that short-term exposure is safe. 
And multiple cycles in an ultrasonic, each lasting for minutes, is far from a short exposure. 

With gold nibs in particular the damage done by ammonia is cumulative and irreversible, so best to avoid exposure entirely. This is easy enough: hold off on the use of such solutions until the nib has been removed, and clean the nib separately (you can use alcohol or other solvents, which is what I do).

Ammonia should definitely not be used to clean mechanical pencils. It attacks brass aggressively. Ask watch and clock restorers, or handloaders.

It is also important to distinguish between cleaning solutions to be used in restoring a long-neglected pen that is thoroughly gunked up, and those to be used for regular maintenance of a pen that has already been restored. In the latter case there is no need for anything at all harsh -- water alone should be quite enough.

 

I stand corrected. Thank you for taking the time to reply!

[VacNut]

Assuming you are using the appropriate inks for a fountain pen, you really don’t need to remove every bit of ink from the pen. 
I used to fret about removing every bit of residue but I eventually decided a good flush with clean water is enough. 
Ink will flow through the pen if water does.

[kestrel]

Be advised that ziploc bags are permeable to all kinds of small molecules and ions so the ammonium ions in your flush are leaching out into the water bath.  Back in the days before dialysis tubing become readily available and affordable I used to demonstrate semipermeable membranes with ziplocs.  It was one of those ooh and aah events.

[AmandaW]

I have seen the gold zogan fall off the hood of vintage Japanese pocket pens while submerged in plain water in an ultrasonic. And if the water gets inky? Good luck finding it. And then finding a glue thin enough to re-attach as nicely as it was.

[MartinTenbones]

I have not seen a recipe using a setting agent yet.   Is this common practice?   I have some I use in vinyl record cleaning and could add it to my recipe (which is the 9 part water 1 part h2o and dawn concoction)

 

Have you had good success with it? 

[inkstainedruth]

The mixes I make up were basically recipes I ran across on here, which I more or less eye-ball: one part of either clear (non-sudsing) ammonia  [for most inks] or household white vinegar [for acidic inks] to nine parts distilled water (some people use tap water, but where I live is hard (i.e., has a very high mineral content), with about a drop or two of Dawn.  And I make it up as needed, and don't attempt to store it (and even if I did, I wouldn't trust a ziplock bag with something liquid).  

I wasn't familiar with what a "setting agent" is, so looked it up just now.  And it's apparently some sort of thickener or gelling agent which does NOT sound like a good idea when flushing a pen out (the same way that I DON'T use tap water).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[PenLovingE]

On 6/13/2025 at 1:19 AM, MartinTenbones said:

I have not seen a recipe using a setting agent yet.   Is this common practice?   I have some I use in vinyl record cleaning and could add it to my recipe (which is the 9 part water 1 part h2o and dawn concoction)

 

Have you had good success with it? 

The stuff I use is a "wetting" agent which helps with flow and lubricating the old ink. A few experts here have made me Leary of exposing gold to ammonia so I'm I reserve it for super gunky pens and cleaning out old cartridges. It works amazing well for those applications. 

[PenLovingE]

4 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

The mixes I make up were basically recipes I ran across on here, which I more or less eye-ball: one part of either clear (non-sudsing) ammonia  [for most inks] or household white vinegar [for acidic inks] to nine parts distilled water (some people use tap water, but where I live is hard (i.e., has a very high mineral content), with about a drop or two of Dawn.  And I make it up as needed, and don't attempt to store it (and even if I did, I wouldn't trust a ziplock bag with something liquid).  

I wasn't familiar with what a "setting agent" is, so looked it up just now.  And it's apparently some sort of thickener or gelling agent which does NOT sound like a good idea when flushing a pen out (the same way that I DON'T use tap water).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"Wetting" not "setting". It's used in photograph development, I believe. It seems to really help gunk flow off old pens. 

[kestrel]

This is one of the more common photographic wetting agents.  Tiny doses are good for pen cleaning.  I know a guy in south Florida who buys this stuff by the gallon.  He prints really HUGE enlargements.

 

https://www.amazon.com/kodak-photo-flo-200-solution-16oz/dp/b00k335f6s

[BrassRatt]

On 6/16/2025 at 7:46 PM, kestrel said:

This is one of the more common photographic wetting agents.  Tiny doses are good for pen cleaning.  I know a guy in south Florida who buys this stuff by the gallon.  He prints really HUGE enlargements.

 

https://www.amazon.com/kodak-photo-flo-200-solution-16oz/dp/b00k335f6s

The "200" in the name is the dilution of the detergent ingredient, I believe (or was originally).  Perhaps the undiluted stuff is Triton-X100 or equivalent.  

 

See https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/US/en/product/sial/x100 for too much more info.