Inking pens that haven't been inked in a while.

[Bisquitlips]

I just want to say that it is only my intention to share my personal experience that may be helpful and perhaps even allay the fears of many pen owners that have concerns about this.

There is a lot of discussion about whether you need to clean your pens every time you put them away for any significant amount of time... say more than 30 days. I have never been dedicated to doctrine and this morning I was moving some pens around in different storage cases and decided to break out out a 1/2 dozen of my pens that have not been in the rotation in 5 plus years.

2 x Montblanc149s. One with a 1.1 stub and the other with a fine italic.

1x Waterman Careen medium nib.

1x Nakaya Burl wood. 1.1 italic.

1x. Omas Dama Arco Bronze with a medium italic.

1x Yard O Led Barley.

I fully inked each of them and then put them to paper. Every one of them filled completely and worked perfectly from the time the nibs touched down until I put them back in my case. Not one issue with hard starts, skipping, leakage, hard draws, or other problems that I think many of us fear will happen if we don't clean them well and often.

All of the pens had various inks in them before I put them up (I did not clean them prior to storing them.), most of them being filled with Noodlers Squeteague, J. Herbin Lie De The', and Montblanc Blue Black, which are inks that I was using a lot at the time.

Just no problems at all guys. This was my personal experience this morning. I have no problems with those that see the need to clean their expensive pens, but I think I am going to put this subject to rest.

[jar]

I do flush a pen that I will take out of rotation but I also find the cleaning regimen folk often talk about downright nuts. I'm a firm believe in not taking stuff apart unless there is absolutely no other option.

[NewEnthusiast]

Originally Posted by Bisquitlips

I just want to say that it is only my intention to share my personal experience that may be helpful and perhaps even allay the fears of many pen owners that have concerns about this.

There is a lot of discussion about whether you need to clean your pens every time you put them away for any significant amount of time... say more than 30 days. I have never been dedicated to doctrine and this morning I was moving some pens around in different storage cases and decided to break out out a 1/2 dozen of my pens that have not been in the rotation in 5 plus years.

2 x Montblanc149s. One with a 1.1 stub and the other with a fine italic.

1x Waterman Careen medium nib.

1x Nakaya Burl wood. 1.1 italic.

1x. Omas Dama Arco Bronze with a medium italic.

1x Yard O Led Barley.

I fully inked each of them and then put them to paper. Every one of them filled completely and worked perfectly from the time the nibs touched down until I put them back in my case. Not one issue with hard starts, skipping, leakage, hard draws, or other problems that I think many of us fear will happen if we don't clean them well and often.

All of the pens had various inks in them before I put them up (I did not clean them prior to storing them.), most of them being filled with Noodlers Squeteague, J. Herbin Lie De The', and Montblanc Blue Black, which are inks that I was using a lot at the time.

Just no problems at all guys. This was my personal experience this morning. I have no problems with those that see the need to clean their expensive pens, but I think I am going to put this subject to rest.

I only tend to clean mine if I'm switching colours (and even then it's mainly because I'm a bit obsessive about the colours mixing).

I've read before that MB Blue-Black has been known to damage pens. Is this still the case or has it been resolved?

[jar]

Originally Posted by NewEnthusiast

I only tend to clean mine if I'm switching colours (and even then it's mainly because I'm a bit obsessive about the colours mixing).

I've read before that MB Blue-Black has been known to damage pens. Is this still the case or has it been resolved?

That's another internet folk tale.

MB's Blue-Black ink used to be an iron-gall ink. That was what gave it it's permanency.

The ink didn't damage the pens, the owner did by leaving the pen filled and unused long enough for the Iron-Gall to cause clogs.

If the user did not abuse the pen that ink (or any IG ink) is just fine.

[NewEnthusiast]

Originally Posted by jar

That's another internet folk tale.

MB's Blue-Black ink used to be an iron-gall ink. That was what gave it it's permanency.

The ink didn't damage the pens, the owner did by leaving the pen filled and unused long enough for the Iron-Gall to cause clogs.

If the user did not abuse the pen that ink (or any IG ink) is just fine.

That's interesting. Thanks for the info. Does this mean that MB no longer uses an IG formula? (I ask because I only use my MB sporadically but like the idea of the blue-black ink)

[jar]

Originally Posted by NewEnthusiast

That's interesting. Thanks for the info. Does this mean that MB no longer uses an IG formula? (I ask because I only use my MB sporadically but like the idea of the blue-black ink)

I don't know about the current MB inks. It's been several decades since I used any. Sorry I can't help.

[Bisquitlips]

The only thing I am careful of is any ink that uses compounds or pigments of any kind to sustain their colors. Iron gall would be one of them that I regulate to dip pens only. I only use inks that use dissolved dyes to create their colors.

Also, I will not use any of the new "sparkly" inks in any of my good fountain pens. Those would consist of inks like the Diamine "Shimmering" inks or the J. Herbin 1670 inks. I have some cheap Heros and Jinhao pens that are fine with these and I will clean them after use, but if I don't for some reason I don't lose any sleep.

I should have added this to my OP.

[tamiya]

I try to clean/flush my FPs before storage for the main reason I probably won't remember what they were inked with previously. I don't like filling with a different ink when it's not flushed out; I like a lot of odd bright colours and cross-contamination results in storage colours :)

[Formulansx]

I've been keeping a record of what my pens are inked with in my journal just in case. Unfortunately I don't have a ton of different inks but just enough to get confused if I don't write it down. The problem I have is I change colors frequently and I still get some intermixing of colors no matter how much I flush the pen. The only pen I don't change color in is my Montegrappa Espressione in blue. Diamine Blue Lightning is the perfect color for that pen hands down! Love that pen and ink combination! Really, it's just great. Couldn't be happier with it

[Bisquitlips]

Over the last few weeks I have unsheathed about 10 more of my pens that had been put up for 6 to 10 years. Everyone of them except an old Cross FP worked like a charm after a quick rinsing out.

The Cross has a proprietary converter that is damaged so I think after I will replace it, it will quick leaking.