WARNING WARNING WARNING DANGER WILL ROBINSON

[eilu]

The only thing I can say is... OUCH.

[Ghost Plane]

I realized that I had been enrolled in a class that I had forgotten to go to all semester, and only remembered after the drop deadline and just before the exam. Terrible feeling, even in make-believe. Sometimes one's brain can be terribly cruel. When I woke up, I had to check my enrollments online to make sure that I wasn't trying to tell myself something subconsciously.

I had that nightmare myself. Many times. Even years after I was handed my sheepskin from CSU Long Beach.

That one may well be universal.

[PianoMan14]

Wow. That's all I can say. I hope that it never, ever, happens to one of my pens!

[ZeissIkon]

One is tempted to wonder about Superchrome (which, I'm told, was rather like modern permanent marker ink, including being alcohol based), soaking in very wrong solvents in cleaning attempts (perhaps trying to use alcohol to remove India ink, after learning that the ink is shellac bound and alcohol is the solvent for shellac), trying to reset the feed with boiling water (bad idea with a polystyrene feed), etc. Given the pitting and surface wrinkling, and alternate pairs of fins drawn together, it pretty well has to be a solvent that softened the plastic.

[pen2paper]

so, am wondering if Richard flushed the pen to determine from the liquified residue what the damaging fluid may have been? or if the owner supplied information on the ink type, and soaking/cleaning methods?

This would, I think, be pertinent to any claims that specific inks might be damaging..

[Silvermink]

Well, that'll figure prominently in my nightmares tonight. Yikes.

The nightmare where you have a final exam in a class you didn't know you were enrolled in and your only fountain pen falls a apart when you sit down and write your name on the blue book?

 

Yes, the very one!

[Margana]

so, am wondering if Richard flushed the pen to determine from the liquified residue what the damaging fluid may have been? or if the owner supplied information on the ink type, and soaking/cleaning methods?

This would, I think, be pertinent to any claims that specific inks might be damaging..

Indeed. Without more information all this thread does is spread fear about all inks. Even the thread title shouts at us to beware the danger. In the ten years I've been back in fountain pens, not one of mine has suffered such damage even with the discontinued Parker Penman inks.

 

If an overly aggressive cleaning caused the damage, that's a whole 'nother matter. However, without sufficient information, how can people avoid making the same mistake as the pen's owner?

[Imzadi]

I'm having a difficult time with any of this without details. You know, kind of like reading a gossip rag from the grocery.

 

Edited because I still can't type.

Edited December 10, 2009 by Imzadi

[dizzypen]

I'm having a difficult time with any of this without details. You know, kind of like reading a gossip rag from the grocery.

 

Edited because I still can't type.

Exactly! It appears that Richard is not interested in providing details, so one has to ask why he even posted this. Was it just for the shock and horror factor?

[Possum Hill]

I'm having a difficult time with any of this without details. You know, kind of like reading a gossip rag from the grocery.

 

Edited because I still can't type.

Exactly! It appears that Richard is not interested in providing details, so one has to ask why he even posted this. Was it just for the shock and horror factor?

I expect he posted it because it's really interesting to see what can happen to a pen.

 

I don't see any reason to be particularly alarmed or to worry that the particular damage shown will happen to any of our pens with FP inks. Most of us have read the article on his site Ink: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. FP inks are the Good. It looks like someone may have tried to use the Bad or the Ugly, then tried to remedy that error by using the Acetone, or maybe someone inked it with a marker ink based on toluene or other solvent.

 

However it happened, I doubt you could achieve that effect with FP inks that are 97% or greater water.

 

If Richard knows the details behind the damage I expect he is properly reluctant to possibly embarrass a customer or friend by making them public.

[Viseguy]

Moral: Put FP ink in your FPs, use water to clean them out, and you'll be OK.

[Rena]

Moral: Put FP ink in your FPs, use water to clean them out, and you'll be OK.

 

 

Good response.

[Richard]

Exactly! It appears that Richard is not interested in providing details, so one has to ask why he even posted this. Was it just for the shock and horror factor?

Thank you for your kind assessment of my intentions.

 

Because the pen's owner had not yet responded to my query, I did not know, when I posted the picture, what the ink in question was. I do now. It was Bay State Blue. The client notes that this same ink has been used in others of the client's pens without apparent ill effect. My surmise at this point is that the feed was not a Bock part but rather a knock-off made of inferior plastic.

[SMG]

Interesting, one would suspect that a known maker of fountain pens would insist on using Bock feeds with their Bock nibs. Apparently that is not the case in this instance. This makes me wonder about the quality control, or perhaps, purchasing practices of the manufacturer of that pen.

 

Too bad Bay State Blue is getting such a bad rap. I absolutely love the color, but don't wish to put up with the issues it presents. I will be keeping a bottle of it around though, as it is a bit of a curiosity.

 

Cheers,

Sean

Edited December 10, 2009 by SMG

[Possum Hill]

Interesting, one would suspect that a known maker of fountain pens would insist on using Bock feeds with their Bock nibs. Apparently that is not the case in this instance. This makes me wonder about the quality control, or perhaps, purchasing practices of the manufacturer of that pen.

 

Too bad Bay State Blue is getting such a bad rap. I absolutely love the color, but don't wish to put up with the issues it presents. I will be keeping a bottle of it around though, as it is a bit of a curiosity.

 

Cheers,

Sean

 

I would be very interested to see if anyone can reproduce that effect on a pen feed using BSB.

[Richard]

I would be very interested to see if anyone can reproduce that effect on a pen feed using BSB.

I have seen other pens (a cheap brand) that literally disintegrated while being used with Bay State Blue. Did the ink cause it? I don't know, but I do know that other pens of the same brand have not disintegrated in like fashion when used with other inks. I do not have enough volume of evidence to name brands or to state categorically that BSB causes this problem, but this Nettuno is another instance that I've chalked up.

[Cedar]

I appreciate Richard posting this picture. I find it interesting to see what can happen to pens. I forget that it really is quite technical when it seems so old technology. Thanks.

 

Cedar

[Lloyd]

Can't some mad scientist here on FPN put a variety of plastics into a container of BSB to see if they can cause a similar reaction?

[Possum Hill]

I would be very interested to see if anyone can reproduce that effect on a pen feed using BSB.

I have seen other pens (a cheap brand) that literally disintegrated while being used with Bay State Blue. Did the ink cause it? I don't know, but I do know that other pens of the same brand have not disintegrated in like fashion when used with other inks. I do not have enough volume of evidence to name brands or to state categorically that BSB causes this problem, but this Nettuno is another instance that I've chalked up.

An investigation of the phenomenon would be an excellent subject for an article.

[Richard]

An investigation of the phenomenon would be an excellent subject for an article.

Go for it.

Edited December 10, 2009 by Richard