Using fountain pens as dip pens

[steersbylitning]

I am fortunate enough to have more pens than I can possibly use on a timely basis. I am also (shame on me!) somewhat lazy when it comes to flushing my pens if I am not going to use them, which leads to balky nibs when I do want to use many of them.

 

Since I rarely write a long time with any given pen (tending to use my pens for journal entries, which are relatively short, and for snailing, where I write no more than a page with a given pen/ink combination), I have decided that except for two or three pens that will write no matter how long it's been since the last time I used them, I am probably going to use my pens as dip pens. This allows me to rinse the nibs off easily (rather than going through a protracted flushing routine) and keeps the pens healthier (I think).

 

I was wondering how many others amongst us do this?

 

Debbie

[notts86]

I often dip pens which aren't used regularly... I find that I get about a page (depending on the pen / paper combination) and if I need anymore I can always dip again which isn't a great inconvenience. Don't know if this is actually any healthier for the pen but I can't imagine that it does any harm!

[Glenn-SC]

Nope, never.

[Margana]

I've only done this to test a new nib and at that only manage a paragraph or two. A whole page? Not too often from a single dip.

 

I keep an ultrasound on my kitchen counter just for cleaning pens. A quick rinse under running water and a single cycle in the US is all it takes at least for my Japanese pens with converters to come squeaky clean. For long term storage I leave the pen upright in a soft container with the nib down and touching a thick wad of paper towels to dry the nib thoroughly. After a day or so the pen goes back in the box to protect it from unnecessary wear. I like this method best because there is never a trace of previous ink to alloy the next fill. Sometimes the mixed colors are pretty .

[FrankB]

Yes, Debbie, from time to time I do use a fountain pen as a dip pen and I never hesitate to do so. I usually do so when I am writing something that requires a particular nib that I happen not to have in the current monthly rotation. As an example, I just wrote out addresses on a set of postcards for a service organization meeting. I wanted to use one of my B italic nibs for that job, but it was not in the monthly rotation. I just dipped the pen in Noodler's Legal Lapis and wrote out the addresses without inking it per se.

 

I learned to write in ink with a dip pen in grammar school. Believe me, the modern pens when used as a dip pen hold lots more ink than the original dippers I used as a kid.

[kissing]

It doesn't bother me that much if my inked pens aren't used for long periods of times (months?). Ink is totally water soluble, so if I pick up a pen that hasn't been used for months or more, all I have to do is dip the nib in an ink-bottle of water, and it writes exactly how it did when I left it.

 

But this isn't really an issue for me, because all my pens get used. Some good fountain pens, like Pelikan, seem to write perfectly even though I left it inked for several months

[Paddler]

I dip fountain pens often. The first time they get dipped is right after I recondition them. I use them dipped to write their own entries in the pen journal. I get an idea of how thick a line it makes, where the sweet spot is, how smooth or toothy the nib is, etc. That description goes into the journal entry.

 

Sometimes, when I am about to begin writing a story, I will go to the "dugout" and select a pen at random to write with for an evening. For a short assignment like that, I just dip. A feed with a lot of deep gills cut into it, like most Sheaffer feeds, will provide a page of writing on a single dip with an F nib. An italic will only give about a third of a page with the same kind of feed. I only actually fill a pen when it goes into the rotation.

 

I find that it takes a lot of flushing and shaking to wash all the ink from a feed after it has been dipped once.

 

Paddler

 

[Garageboy]

Dipping doesnt work out for me. Doesnt write like it would normally. So I just fill very litte of it

[arbatrmwc]

Sure, I don't hesitate to dip. I only own three pens that I use regularly, so none ever sit undisturbed very long. I use dipping for a cheap leaky pen to write letters and such in fun colors. I fill my everyday pens with conservative colors like black or blue but would be hard pressed to use up a filling of plum or orange in less than two months. So I dip the leaky one and get some use out of it.

[Shangas]

To be honest - I used to dip, but I don't anymore. Mainly because I don't have to.

 

In about 200...and...4...5?...I ran out of cartridges for my Campo Marzio fountain pen. And at that time, I didn't know where to get any - The cartridges weren't a type that I was familiar with. So to compensate, what I used to do was every morning, I'd unscrew my Quink bottle, uncap the pen, dip it right into the ink-bottle, recap the pen and the bottle, and head off to school.

 

One good dip of ink would soak up the feed good enough so that it would provide me (more-or-less), with a full days' worth of writing-ink.

 

Eventually, I did find the cartridges (INOXCROM brand), so I stopped doing that. But if I had to, I'd probably do it again.