Filling The Converter With Our Without The Pen?

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

Please forgive my ignorance here. Although I've been writing with a fountain pen since my early teens, I'm new to fountain pen culture. There's a lot of nuances I have yet to learn.

 

One of the things I was taught by the guy that sold me my first fountain pen was that I must always remove the converter to fill it. So that's what I did for many years.

 

This year I watched some youtube videos about fountain pens and I noticed people keeping the converter on the pen and filling through the nib. So I asked some people I know who are of pre-ballpoint age, and they tell me that they always used to fill through the nib.

 

Now I've tried both, I like filling through the nib very much... except what about the bottom of the bottle? Nibs are really long and the converter alone can make it to the last drop.

 

Is there anything wrong or damaging about filling the converter without the pen?

 

I would love your thoughts on this.

[Charles Rice]

I've been doing it both ways for many years. Main reason is that some converters don't fill particularly well when attached to the nib. A case of whatever works.

[Charles Skinner]

I too would like to hear other folks on this subject. I almost always fill through the nib, but have experimented a few time by removing the converter. I fear that removing and replacing it might, over time, put too much wear on the "connection."

 

I too would like to read a discussion on this.

 

C. S.

[ardene]

I fill through the nib. I guess its better to fill the converter when the bottle is nearly empty or to avoid the nib inserting dust and paper fibres and organic material from the hands and stuff like that in the ink. The reason I fill through the nib is an old Duofold with a sac. You cant fill pens carrying sacs in any other way but through the nib.

Edited December 29, 2018 by ardene

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

I too would like to hear other folks on this subject. I almost always fill through the nib, but have experimented a few time by removing the converter. I fear that removing and replacing it might, over time, put too much wear on the "connection."

 

 

Now that I think about it, I can see that being a problem.

 

My first pen was a Waterman bought in the mid-1990s. It was my daily use at home pen until about two years ago when I dropped it with the cap off. (maybe one day they will invent a pen that doesn't land nib side down). I haven't had a chance to find a new nib. My second pen was a Cross and I've been using almost daily (it was my main pen for taking to class at uni) for about 18 years.

 

Both of these I always removed the converter and I haven't noticed any change in how it fits. They have the converter that I bought at the same time as the pen. But, I'm more a user of pens, not an expert or connoisseur. So there may be damage I didn't notice. That's why I'm curious what more experienced people do.

 

It always bugged me that I would lose a few drops of ink wiping the converter before plugging it back into the pen.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I seldom use converters being a piston head, but I can see no advantage to removing a converter to fill it. Takes longer....

You are not the only one that did/does the individual converter loading. ....treating it like an open cartridge. (I do refill empty cartridges with a needle syringe.....don't have to worry about vapor lock. & too cheap to have an assortment of converters.)

 

To clean of course one takes it off, got to get it out of the way of the rubber bulb that cleans the nib & section....and the converter.

 

Filling with the converter attached, helps clean the feed....has the feed saturated and ready to go when one starts. Don't have to twist to get the feed wet for fast starts.

 

A converter has to be wiped clean, just like the section of a bottle dipped pen....so there is no savings of time nor material.

 

If you don't have a spare bottle to pour the last few drops into.....then a needle syringe will get the last drops and you can separate and fill your converter.

 

It is good that converters are 'cheap' in taking one off all the time will put wear on the mouth....they are cheap.

But what if the converter you have works with out a problem.?...You are adding wear to something rare, a converter with out vapor lock problems.

[pajaro]

I seem to lose more ink wiping the nib. I generally fill through the nib to move ink through the nib and feed. If the ink gets too low, I get a new bottle and try to get the remainder of the old bottle into the new one. Sometimes I pick up the ink remnant with a syringe. On pens I used a lot the converter life was about ten years, before the piston would seem to get a little wear and not pick up ink. Less used pens, might last longer.

[Michael F]

Apart from the inconvenience of filling the converter separate, I fill through the nib because it ensures that the nib and feed are saturated with ink to ensure instant ink flow when I'm done inking the pen. I've found that when filling the converter separately (and have written the pen completely dry) it takes some time to re-saturate the feed with ink to get it flowing again, even when you twist the piston of the converter down to force some ink back into the feed.

[senzen]

Most of my 26-odd pens have converters, I just dunk the nib in the bottle, trying not to reach the section; it has the advantage of filling the feed with ink, and writing right away, as opposed to waiting for it to suck ink from the converter...

 

I'm not sure if my couple of more expensive pens with now corroded gold collars would have preferred not to be dunked and swiped...

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

Maybe that's why I was taught not to dunk. The pen has gold in places. The gold is worn away where the split is in the nib - I guess ink does that?

[sandy101]

It might not be gold, but gold plating that can chip or wear away through use over time.

 

It depends on the ink used. Older inks used to be slightly acidic and that would gradually wear down steel nibs and other pen parts. Gold nibs were not affected by the chemicals.

 

These days, most inks are not so aggressive and steel nibs can cope, but some brands still use iron gall which can have an effect.

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

The nib is a replacement and was sold to me as gold, but taking the pen apart, it's plated with a gold colour over a silver metal which looks like steel (not stainless). The gold colour hasn't tarnished over the years and is acting like gold - but it may just be a gold-coloured metal. I finally discovered why the ink wasn't coming down right - there were chunks of gold in the groove where the ink travels (feed?). The gold is flaking off with ease so I think it's time to retire that nib.

 

I guess I need to add a new Waterman nib to my wish list. 17 years isn't a bad life for a nib considering how hard I can be on my pens. Do they make non-gold ones? Or maybe I can use a different brand nib? Something to ask in a different thread.

[Honeybadgers]

there is precisely one pen I fill from the converter, the faber castell loom, and that's because the cap ring slot is a PAIN to clean.

 

I'll also fill a converter with a syringe to get the last drops of a bottle or sample.

 

Otherwise, why would you fill the converter. you still have to wipe it down and now you have to waste ink in it saturating the feed.

Edited December 29, 2018 by Honeybadgers

[Honeybadgers]

Most of my 26-odd pens have converters, I just dunk the nib in the bottle, trying not to reach the section; it has the advantage of filling the feed with ink, and writing right away, as opposed to waiting for it to suck ink from the converter...

 

I'm not sure if my couple of more expensive pens with now corroded gold collars would have preferred not to be dunked and swiped...

 

Paper towel is mildly ablative. That's why you should never wipe down plastics with them, like motorcycle visors or television screens.

 

If you REALLY care about keeping that plating, use a proper towel.

Edited December 29, 2018 by Honeybadgers

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

 

Paper towel is mildly ablative. That's why you should never wipe down plastics with them, like motorcycle visors or television screens.

 

If you REALLY care about keeping that plating, use a proper towel.

 

I didn't know this. That's really good information.

 

Could you tell me more about a proper towel? Do you mean a regular cotton towel?

[Honeybadgers]

 

I didn't know this. That's really good information.

 

Could you tell me more about a proper towel? Do you mean a regular cotton towel?

 

cotton, nylon, chamois, whatever. Just not wood pulp paper.

[XYZZY]

...except what about the bottom of the bottle? Nibs are really long and the converter alone can make it to the last drop.

 

 

Well there's the Sheaffer Snorkel. And there are some pens that have a filler hole towards the tip-end of the feed so that you don't have to dunk the pen all the way to the section. That way you can get a better fill from a low bottle. Brian Goulet mentioned this in one of his recent Q&A videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7BfKVzIPsY at about 14:40 in the video.

 

Otherwise people like to complain about bad ink bottle design that makes it harder to get the last bit.

[Seele]

XYZZY,

 

The old Sheaffer bottle with a little "cup" near the top was designed for the Snorkel, the "straw" that emerges from the feed is able to pull out the last bit in the cup.

 

But think about it: "converter" got its name as it converts a cartridge pen into a then regular pen that fills from the bottle; it is not meant to be filled on its own as it would just be an over-complex, user-fillable cartridge with further problems.

[ISW_Kaputnik]

I'm more likely to use a pen with a built in filling mechanism. But when I do use a converter, I fill through the nib.

 

It looks like my reasons have already been mentioned.

 

• That's what a converter is for, to let you fill through the nib. Filling it outside of the pen is kind of defeating that purpose.
• It's quicker. Well, maybe you lose back a little time wiping the pen afterward.
• It saturates the feed, particularly if it's a previously empty pen.
• Probably reduces wear on the converter caused by repeatedly taking it out and putting it back on. I can't quantify that. But I have noticed with some "standard" international converters that using them in a particular make of pen apparently stretches them so that they will no longer fit a different make of pen that should nominally take the same converter.

What would be interesting would be to know why the seller from whom the OP got his first fountain pen told him that he should always remove the converter for filling. I can see mentioning it as an alternative, but not as the "correct" thing to do.

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

 

What would be interesting would be to know why the seller from whom the OP got his first fountain pen told him that he should always remove the converter for filling. I can see mentioning it as an alternative, but not as the "correct" thing to do.

 

I would love to know this.

 

It looks like it wasn't the best advice I've ever got.