How long should I let my pen dry after cleaning?

[fpn16]

I have seen overnight, but that seems excessive to me. If I am just cleaning and reusing the same ink color, should a few hours be enough?

 

Thanks

[cafzal]

Never thought about drying, especially with same color. Hmmm.

[Opus104]

Overnight is ideal if you want to prevent a bit of a watered down start to your first page. However, I rarely wait that long. I cradle the nib in a towel to absorb the water. Then I give a bit of a shake (make sure you hold on well and don't get carried away). If it's a converter I dry it off inside with a bit of paper towel. Then I fill.

 

With the same color, you don't need to rinse each time.

[Ernst Bitterman]

If I'm just cleaning for cleaning's sake, I do as Opus if anxious to be about it, or leave the pen water-filled and point down in a cup with toilet paper at the bottom. Within ten minutes, everything except perhaps a semi-drop is drawn from the reservoir, feed/collector (as appropriate) and point, and I'll still give it a little shake for good measure. Any dilution at that scale of ink:water is pretty much imperceptible.

 

Also, if you're just refilling with the same ink, I further agree that cleaning is not demanded each fill; I feel pretty safe with all but the most saturated inks to go with a monthly washing.

[fpn16]

Thanks everyone! FYI, this is a new pen and have had it for a few weeks, so I thought it would be good to give it a quick rinse after some good use and several refills.

[finalidid]

I like to NOT leave it overnight. My reasoning goes, that if anything is bad for a pen, leaving drops of water sitting in the sac and the feed is probably not as bad as making sure that absolutely no water is sitting anywhere in the pen. Seems to me the sac is more likely to cake and crumble, and the feed more likely to develop some kind of need to be "coated" (all those stories about using borax and ammonia ...), if it dries out.

 

I clean my pen by using up the ink in it by writing. Then by "flushing" with a cup-full of luke-warm water and a running sink. I just squirt and draw and squirt and draw until it runs (relatively) clear. I don't mind a 5% solution of ink-to-water. Then I do the fling-thing, holding a paper towel to the nib and whipping it so that a good deal of color comes out. If it seems too dark, I go flush some more. If it's nice and pale, then I just put the cap on. Seems to me that keeping the cap on, will help it to stay "moist" a while longer.

 

[Ron Z]

I like to NOT leave it overnight. My reasoning goes, that if anything is bad for a pen, leaving drops of water sitting in the sac and the feed is probably not as bad as making sure that absolutely no water is sitting anywhere in the pen. Seems to me the sac is more likely to cake and crumble, and the feed more likely to develop some kind of need to be "coated" (all those stories about using borax and ammonia ...), if it dries out.

 

I clean my pen by using up the ink in it by writing. Then by "flushing" with a cup-full of luke-warm water and a running sink. I just squirt and draw and squirt and draw until it runs (relatively) clear. I don't mind a 5% solution of ink-to-water. Then I do the fling-thing, holding a paper towel to the nib and whipping it so that a good deal of color comes out. If it seems too dark, I go flush some more. If it's nice and pale, then I just put the cap on. Seems to me that keeping the cap on, will help it to stay "moist" a while longer.

 

Hmm.... I would have to say that your fears are unfounded. If the pen is going to be stored for some time, you're better off flushing the pen with water and then allowing it to dry. If you don't have a centrifuge, you can stand the nib down with the nib on a paper towel or tissue. This will draw the water out of the pen.

 

The crumbling of sacs and clogged pens come when the ink in the pen is not cleaned out prior to storage and left to dry in the pen.

 

Speculation from those more advanced in the hobby and repair than I am is that the rubber begins to break down and outgass from the water contacting the rubber sac, not just ink. Evidence cited is that there are pens that have been water tested, not inked, where the sac has failed and/or the barrel discolored.

 

As far as drying between fillings, it's not necessary. As Ernst has pointed out, the only concern there may be that the water left in the pen could dilute the ink. But if you shake the pen down, that shouldn't be an issue.

[Jinnayah]

My reasoning goes, that if anything is bad for a pen, leaving drops of water sitting in the sac and the feed is probably not as bad as making sure that absolutely no water is sitting anywhere in the pen. Seems to me the sac is more likely to cake and crumble

 

Speculation from those more advanced in the hobby and repair than I am is that the rubber begins to break down and outgass from the water contacting the rubber sac, not just ink.

 

If I may jump in from a materials perspective, rather than a pen-specific one.

Some formulations of rubber are damaged by long-term contact with water. Some do not react to it. I personally can't think of any that actively need it, or even benefit from it.

On the other hand, there are many growing things that just love dark wet places like the inside of a pen stored without full drying.

[Vintagepens]

Speculation from those more advanced in the hobby and repair than I am is that the rubber begins to break down and outgass from the water contacting the rubber sac, not just ink.

 

If I may jump in from a materials perspective, rather than a pen-specific one.

Some formulations of rubber are damaged by long-term contact with water. Some do not react to it. I personally can't think of any that actively need it, or even benefit from it.

 

The rubber formulation used by the Pen Sac Company is the one taken over from the White Rubber Company, the major supplier of pen sacs to penmakers back in the heyday of the fountain pen. Unsurprisingly, it contains a mix of additives designed to make the rubber resistant to breakdown when exposed to ink, as well as other materials typically found on the inside of pen barrels, such as various metals.

 

I would not think that these sacs will suffer much from long-term exposure to plain water. It would appear that when sacs do deteriorate as a result of the pen having been filled with water, it is because the interior coating of talc (or other mold release compound) has been washed away, allowing air and in particular ozone into direct contact with the sac's rubber surface.

[Bjeweled]

This may sound very fundamental but what's the pen sec? Is it specific to certain brands of pans or is it specific to the converter? I'm a little confused.

[praxim]

Look up lever-fill pens for the easiest examples, although it refers to any flexible sac to hold ink.

[mulrich]

If using the same ink I just refil without flushing. When I lived in South Carolina pens could take a few days to dry, especially if the nib wasn't removable (super humid city and a particularly wet year). Now that I'm in Utah most pens are dry overnight. If you're not sure test with demonstrators.

[MarkusD]

Overnight dry is ideal, but when needed earlier , I wait for some hours, then leave the pen filled with ink uncapped for about 5-10 minutes

and start writing . If still wet, I leave the Pen uncapped for another 5-10 minutes and start writing.