Cleaning The Outside Of The Pen?

[Weiss.ar]

I looked long and hard and couldn't find anything dispositive for this question on the forums here.

 

How can you safely and properly clean the OUTSIDE of your fountain pen (that is, the part that your hand touches when you use it)?

 

I am using two fountain pens with such frequency that I'm (happily) forced to fill them up every other day: a Pelikan m200 and a Sailor HighAce Neo (that a lovely and kind user paid forward to me so that I could enjoy writing with a finer nib).

 

After a few hours of constant use, the outside of the pens become oily from my hands (and the fact that the school's library is 90 degrees F and humid).

 

I want to clean them off but I don't know if I can just use water, maybe a touch of soap, or if there is some other technique that will protect the pens from harm (they are both plastic barrels I believe). All resources I've found thus far on the topic relate to cleaning the internal mechanisms, so I'm hoping to learn how to properly clean the outside as well.

 

If anyone has any advice, my greasy pens and I would greatly appreciate it!

 

Cheers.

[jar]

Wet rag, or the sleeve of anyone sitting near you.

[AtomicLeo]

I use a small microfiber cloth. You can get these in many different colors and sizes. Easy to pack up in a rolling pen case.

 

http://www.amazon.com/3M-9027-High-Performance-Cloth/dp/B00006IBLQ/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1315772747&sr=8-5

[HDoug]

I use the pen polishing kit and pen wax I got on this page at tryphon years ago.

 

Doug

[georges zaslavsky]

polishing kit and cloth.

[Zeroblade]

if you just need to wipe, a slightly moist cloth will do, it's not like some hand oil will dissolve plastic.

if you want your pens to glisten like a freshly waxed car, then get a polishing cloth, and a bit of polishing wax too.

[Kelly G]

I can't speak for the Sailor, but the Pelikan is plastic. I would think that if you put just a tiny bit of soap on your wet fingers, you should be able to wash the "grease" from the pen. Be sure to rinse with plain water - again, on your fingers and then polish with a micro-fiber cloth. You want to avoid getting water in the cap (it is not a big problem if you do, it just takes longer to dry it) and if you rinse the nib it obviously dilutes the ink for a bit.

 

 

Good luck with your pens.

[olivier78860]

I use a paper tissue with a few drops of water.

Also, wash your hands every hour if you sweat a lot.

[Rosetta59]

As a personal preference, I employ an old and retired sensor brush (those brushes able to clean CCD or CMOS sensor in DSLR cameras).

These brushes have to be charged by air (better way by an air blower) and then, by static charge they can attract dust. When the pen external surface is (hopefully) cleaned from contaminating dust, it is possible to employ a deep microfiber cloth (flitz, horosafe or others such as those from Tryphon or Boston watch exchange...). Finally you attain a scratch-free absolutely clean (even at high magnification) and photo-ready pen...

[JonSzanto]

What you are describing is very surface, and not primarily dirt. Start with just a damp cloth, and polish dry. If you still see residue, then a tiny bit of dish soap in water should clean it off just fine.

 

Since, in addition to oils, your hands have acidic compounds, you might consider a next step: if you are concerned that these pens will get constant use over a long time, you might want to have a very light coating of wax on them. I have found GREAT results with a product called "Renaissance Wax", which was developed by the British Museum to protect many of their objects. Do a search on it, and you can read their information - I truly believe it to be non-harmful. An extremely light coating would put a protective barrier on the pen to lessen the effects of the acid on your hands.

 

The big picture? You really don't have much to worry about, just have a soft cloth with you and wipe them off every so often, and that is probably all it will take.

Edited December 4, 2011 by JonSzanto

[falika]

What about when there's a ring or a splotch of ink that seems almost ground into the celluloid? Anyone have any advice for removing that sort of stain?

[JonSzanto]

What about when there's a ring or a splotch of ink that seems almost ground into the celluloid? Anyone have any advice for removing that sort of stain?

Well, that is different. I don't have a long track record, but I read a LOT of recommendations on this list and others, and for refurbishing old pens that had a lot of... problems, I settled on the polishing products from Novus. They have 'kit' that has 3 different polishes, made for plastics, that go from a straight cleaner/polish to progressively more abrasive materials, though they are still fairly gentle. Some people also swear by the product Simichrome.

 

Cleaning and polishing pens carries an awful lot of opinions and what not. Do a lot of research before you start in on the pen!

[andybiotic]

Careful if the pen is made of hard rubber, I wouldn't soak it for long even in water, mine first hard rubber pen faded/discoloured in water just about over 10 minutes! (others may be more resistant than that but I won't risk it anymore...) I just wipe it with a wet towel and then polish it...

[Pendoodle]

I use a small microfiber cloth. You can get these in many different colors and sizes. Easy to pack up in a rolling pen case.

 

+1 on the microfiber cloth.

[Skeet]

I use a fine microfiber cloth and Zymol polisher/wax. It works absolutely wonderful.

[tanalasta]

Don't use a solvent (e.g. alcohol)

 

Microfibre cloth with a little water is what I do. Except for pens which I think will survive being thrown into my ultrasonic cleaner!

 

Mild soap is probably the only thing I would use if I must.

[Chevalier]

Lens cleaners (soft leather for example) or a soft cloth is what I use. Not everything that appears soft to us is really soft, some materials might be kinda abrasive. I don't really clean my pens often, but I use the corner of the button border a lot, this keeps most pens clean.

Edited December 6, 2011 by Chevalier