J.b.’S Perfect Pen Flush : Review

[tenney]

When you use this flush, you pull it into the pen then squirt it back into the bottle? Getting the remaining fluid all inky and yucky? Or do you suck it into the pen, hold it a bit, and then flush it outinto the sink or another empty bottle?

[Tweel]

I'd be very cautious with bleach... now, if I ever try it again. Knowing that it can oxidize metal, I nevertheless tried to use it to get the stain out of a Parker "21" Super's sac by filling with it (I don't remember the dilution ratio I used). It did nothing at all to the stain, but turned the surface of the nib's pellet to grey grit.

[tanalasta]

When you use this flush, you pull it into the pen then squirt it back into the bottle? Getting the remaining fluid all inky and yucky? Or do you suck it into the pen, hold it a bit, and then flush it outinto the sink or another empty bottle?

 

Do your usual thing with water until it runs clear (or almost clear).

 

Then dunk the pen in the JB pen flush and flush in and out with the nib in the botle ... i.e. squirting it back into the bottle. If your initial watr flush wasn't too bad, the fluid doensn't get all that inky and yucky. The instructions state it's good until you have it so yucky you can't see through it anymore.

[framebaer]

Yes the Flush will stain to the ink color. It is still effective for cleaning out pens and will change colors depending on what you are flushing out.

 

Regardless of the color, when you can no longer see through your Flush bottle, it's probably time for new. It won't hurt your pen but the cleaning efficaciousness is diminished.

Edited December 31, 2011 by framebaer

[Lloyd]

Jim,

 

If one flushed out several pens with acidic inks (e.g. Waterman) and then flushed out several pens with alkaline inks (e.g. Sailor), would there be a risk of precipitates forming in the JB Flush bottle? If so, couldn't they migrate into subsequent pens that are flushed in the JB brew?

[tanalasta]

Good question... perhaps one for Richard Binder.

 

I imagine the surfactants in the brew may reduce that risk though!

[lovemy51]

Have you tried an approximately 1:9 ammonia/water mix to clean you pen?

my current pen flush solution. :embarrassed_smile:

 

good to know this product is available. thx for the review!

Edited January 1, 2012 by lovemy51

[framebaer]

Jim,

 

If one flushed out several pens with acidic inks (e.g. Waterman) and then flushed out several pens with alkaline inks (e.g. Sailor), would there be a risk of precipitates forming in the JB Flush bottle? If so, couldn't they migrate into subsequent pens that are flushed in the JB brew?

 

Good Question. I don't know the answer however in flushing hundreds of pens ( maybe even a thousand!) with inks of all sorts in them up at work, we have never had this happen! Prehaps to some degree they cancel each other out and no doubt the surfactants play a role.

 

Also remember that one should rinse the flush out of a pen as the last step with plain water, this cleans the flush out.

[Lloyd]

Would you and Richard know if this happened? Don't you take apart most pens after flushing them out with this? If one developed a clog from a stray precipitate, you guys would just dismantle the pen and perform a more rigorous cleansing without knowing if the clog were new or old.

[lbhajdu]

Tenney,

In the photo I posted. I just dip the nib into the pen flush after the two hour soak in water and sucked the ink up. I did not return it to the bottle I flushed it back into the sink. The ink in the pen flush bottle is just what came off the bottom of the nib. For most inks soaking the pen first in water will make it last a long time, however La Reine Mauve (still my favorite ink) accumulates very thickly and is HIGHLY water proof so it builds up on the bottom of the nib and flushing it first with water makes no difference. This ink is more like an acrylic paint its highly unusual. I wish they had a bluish La Reine Mauve. I tried Lux Blue but it's too light. I am currently trying KTC but I have not made up my mind on that one yet.

 

The next time I flushed it, I transfered a little bit to a small glass cup. But it used up a lot of pen flush. So I think I have to find a better container. Perhaps a glass centrifuge vessel or something that comes to a tip and can be stood flat.

 

Bleach is pretty reactive, however Nathan recommends it for BSB. Which I have not tried myself because it's not very UV proof. Also if you get bleach on your clothing ...

[lbhajdu]

(Disclaimer: I suck at chemistry so this could all be wrong !)

Ammonia in the pen flush is a weak base (it is alkali) it combines with acids to form salts, salts are water soluble. As long as some unreacted ammonia exists in the solution, the solution will remain alkali. This is what gets rid of the colors in some inks like Waterman.

 

Fortunately or unfortunately (as you look at it) La Reine Mauve is highly stable. It's archival.  Nathan stated that the KTC die is inorganic and highly chemically stable, I suspect the Mauve is the same. Most ink dyes are organic (has C-H bonds) for example aniline/methyl blue.

Edited January 2, 2012 by lbhajdu

[raging.dragon]

Would you and Richard know if this happened? Don't you take apart most pens after flushing them out with this? If one developed a clog from a stray precipitate, you guys would just dismantle the pen and perform a more rigorous cleansing without knowing if the clog were new or old.

 

The (basic) ammonia in the flush probably neutralizes acidic ink.

[tenney]

When I saw this on Gouletpens, I was hesitant to buy it because I wasn't sure how long 4oz could last. But now there's instructions and options for a 16oz bottle too, so things are looking up.

Today I only see the 4oz bottles at Goulet. Who else might have the 16oz bottles? (May not need that much, but it's worth checking into)

[lapis]

Ammonia in the pen flush is a weak base (it is alkali) it combines with acids to form salts, salts are water soluble.

Right on. Not only is ammonia exceedingly water-soluble ("ammonia" as we use it is actually ammonium hydroxide, a solution of the gas ammonia in water) but also almost all ammonium salts belong to the most water-soluble of all salts. So... if you wash and rinse with enough watter, there will remain practically zero ammonia and/or ammonium salts in any pen.

 

Mike

[JefferyS]

I keep all of my pen/ink combinations in a Filemaker database, and realized today that I have 32 filled pens in my rotation. Time to clean and flush a lot of them.

 

I have to tell you that the Noodler's black inks were the hardest to get out of the pens. Even after the pen flush treatment with a bulb syringe, the Noodler's black inks were pooting some dyes. That suggests to me that the Noodler's blacks are hard to get out of the nib because of their bulletproofness.

 

I absolutely recommend Brian Gray's advice on flushing pens. A big rubber bulb syringe really can blast the older ink out of there, and once the nib is clear, the syringe blasts enough air through the nib to clean it up nicely.

[een brouwer]

Thanks for reviewing this product. I had wondered about if for a while. I see that it didn't do much for the converter but does anyone know if it will be effective against BSB stained demonstrators? I made my Lamy Vista a dedicated BSB pen but it would be nice to clean the feed/section out.

Thanks!

[edmund]

When I use more saturated ink I am experimenting with omitting the recommended final flushing step of flushing with water to remove the residual J.B.'S Perfect Pen Flush. As the label says the ink flow increases, but not excessively.

The label does not warn about damage to a pen from omitting this final step. So I hope there will be none - but I am l limiting the experiment to 3 pens.

I also wonder if leaving the residual Pen Flush in the nib and feed will work a bit like Parker claimed for Solv-X: "clean the pen as I write"?

I expect it will take some time to find out.

[OC Mike]

I have also been using it for the last 4 months with excellent results. As the specific method involves ejecting the fluid back into the bottle (back and forth) until the fluid is rather nasty and dirty, my cleaning method is a slight modification as follows:

 

• Flush pen with plain cool water until reasonably clean.
• From my 16 OZ bottle of JB Flush I pour a 1.5 OZ portion into a 2.0 OZ nalgene bottle.
• I use the smaller isolated sample as directed, doing a "final flush" with the "in and out, in and out" process on perhaps 10-12 pens before the fluid is dirty enough to toss.
• Final rinse twice in cool water to clean out the fluid and also make sure that the cleaning agent is 100% gone so as not to break all surface tension on the next ink fill or the ink will quite run out of the pen. Made that error just once...

My pens are sparkling clean inside and out, all the way around (pistons, levers and cc alike) and I don't contaminate the "big bottle" by using a smaller sample for the "in and out" flush process. This has been very helpful on my CS lever fillers as getting them shiny clean inside so the next ink fill won't have a shade of the last is no easy task with plain water, IMO. Same on a getting a good clean on my many demonstrators - Pelikan M800's, Pilot 823's, Stipula's and TWSBI's all get well flushed with ink gone from nook and cranny alike.

 

I guess I could "make my own" and play with the formula but in this one bottle I have at least 120 perfect pen final flushes and if I am diligent on the cool water probably twice as many.

 

I've been using J.B.'s for about six months with great results. The one thing that creates anxiety for my OCD personality is the "murkiness" of the solution from the "in and out"flush process back into the large bottle. I will give your process a try when I purchase more of the flush. In the mean time, I'll tape the bottle with duct tape to hide the contaminated solution!-JK!!!

[inkstainedruth]

I was curious about this product too. I was cleaning out some cartridges and one of them had a lot of residual ink, even after flushing well with distilled water (I think it was the cartridge that didn't seat correctly in the . I rewashed it with a glug of clear ammonia in distilled water and then still had some residual ink. I went back later and did it again, letting the ammonia water sit for a while in the cartridge before flushing. That seemed to do the trick. I didn't use any dish detergent. I cleaned out a small glass bottle (originally had a cork) to mix the ammonia and distilled water in, since I already had it -- it's a bit small but still has a large opening, and anyway I was using a syringe. Didn't measure carefully -- just mostly filled it with the distilled water (which I had anyway to use in my steam iron) and then topped it off with the ammonia.

A half-gallon jug of ammonia cost me less than $4 at the grocery store, so it will last a good long time. And if it starts to go bad I can always use it to wash my windows.

I like the idea of the pen flush because of the convenience of not having to mix stuff up separately, but I'll also kinda broke at the moment.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[professionaldilettante]

Now, if you filled an ultrasonic cleaner with this, would it be crazy delicious?