Pen Cleaning Solutions?

[afern401]

Hi all,

 

I find cleaning my pens to be a tedious chore and as such I dont switch inks very often. However, playing around with different inks is something Id really like to do.

 

Do any of you use cleaning solutions? Do the pens clean up much faster when using a cleaning product instead of just using water?

 

Thanks,

 

Alex

[azbobcat]

Hi all,

 

I find cleaning my pens to be a tedious chore and as such I dont switch inks very often. However, playing around with different inks is something Id really like to do.

 

Do any of you use cleaning solutions? Do the pens clean up much faster when using a cleaning product instead of just using water?

 

Thanks,

 

Alex

 

I've never have tried a "Cleaning Solution". The best "Cleaning Solution" is some D.I or Distilled water, PLUS a drop or two of Dawn. I am also told a quick dip or two in a cheap, affordable ultrasonic bath makes the process go that much faster.

[afern401]

... Distilled water, PLUS a drop or two of Dawn. I am also told a quick dip or two in a cheap, affordable ultrasonic bath makes the process go that much faster.

 

Thanks for the tips!

[wallylynn]

My experience with cleaning solutions (homemade) actually make the process slower! The solution starts dissolving ink plain water leaves alone so dirty water/solution just keeps coming out!

[ArchiMark]

I don't always use cleaning solution.

 

However, when I do, I fill and flush out pen with water multiple times until it's pretty darn clean.

 

Then filled pen with cleaning solution and expelled solution back into bottle.

 

Then fill and flush one more time with water.

 

Have found pen gets very clean that way.

[DilettanteG]

I've used Rapid-eze by Rotring which is pretty strong stuff. Lately, I've been working my way through a bottle of Goulet's pen flush and I have a bottle of Diamine's nib cleaning solution on the way. If you really want to get all traces of color out, some times water isn't enough. (I use Reverse Osmosis filtered rather than distilled and it works fine.)

 

A helpful trick I read here years ago is to fill your pen with water (or pen flush in extreme cases) and place the writing bit of the nib on a folded piece of dry paper towel and leave it over night. The capillary action does a better job pulling out the residual ink, plus free paper chromatography!

 

Ultrasound cleaners are great, but the industrial ones can strip thin plating off of metal and shake apart delicate things. Pick up a cheap ultrasonic jewelry cleaner from Target or whatever your local discount store is.

 

Good luck!

[markofp]

Just make some yourself. Nine parts distilled water to one part non-sudsing ammonia.

[Eclipse157]

I only use cleaning solutions when dealing with ink left to dry in pens. In that case I make my own with ammonia and/or dish soap plus demineralized water in a very eyeball-y fashion. 99% of the times I just clean with water.

[Anderglan]

This:

 

Flushing Lamy Pens (Or Any Cartridge Pen)

[A Smug Dill]

Do any of you use cleaning solutions? Do the pens clean up much faster when using a cleaning product instead of just using water?

 

Yes. Dishwashing detergent (e.g. Dawn). Ammonia. Both are cleaning products. Dissolving some of that into water makes the resulting liquid a cleaning solution. All things being equal, a cleaning solution will remove ink more quickly than just water alone, but if you bother with using a (commercial or homemade) cleaning solution at all, you're probably already committing yourself to a longer end-to-end cleaning process than just flushing a pen "clean" with water.

 

I have commercial pen flush solutions here, but I rarely use them.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Plain water usually does the trick.

 

I'm intolerant of ammonia in any form, so like DG, when some ink REALLY doesn't want to come out, Rapido-Eze to the rescue.

 

We also have a few low-end ultrasonic cleaners, which we've used with even vintage pens.

[nibtip]

Work really fine:

https://www.diamineinks.co.uk/detail.aspx?prodcode=1223

Also google:

Rohrer & Klingner cleaning solution for fountain pens

[inkstainedruth]

Another vote here for the homemade version. It's a lot less expensive, for one thing. Distilled water is pretty cheap in the grocery store around here (Pittsburgh) and can be found by the gallon in the same aisle as regular bottled water. Clear ammonia is not that expensive by the gallon either, especially since you'd be using so little of it in ratio to the distilled water.

One caveat that so far nobody seems to have mentioned -- and that's if you're flushing out a low pH ink, like an iron gall ink. In that case, you want to substitute white vinegar for the ammonia (or you'll have a nasty chemical reaction between the pH of the ammonia and the pH of the ink.

In both cases, flush with distilled water thoroughly before and after the solution. I actually often use both for IG inks -- the vinegar solution first, then the ammonia solution (flushing well with distilled water in between). Someone a couple of years ago explained the chemistry of why that worked better than the the vinegar solution alone, but I don't remember the actual reasoning -- just that it works.

Yes, it's probably a slower process, to soak/flush that way. But for me, I can go off and do other things in the meantime (a load of laundry, watch the noon news, etc.), and check every hour or so. I dump the flush out of the pen into a cheap dishpan, and then rinse that out well after dumping the contents down the drain. After the pens get flushed, they drain into paper toweling, nib down. I do flushing in the bathroom, and the solution(s) and the distilled water get put into a votive candle holder, which has straight sides and isn't top heavy (I use a plastic clothes pin clipped to the pen and, resting across the edges to keep the pens upright and more or less perpendicular). I use a second votive candle holder for the paper toweling.

I have a container of RapidoEze, but fortunately have not come across a pen in that bad a shape -- even the vintage ones I've gotten on eBay -- to have to go that route yet. Some pens (particularly vintage ones found in the wild) it will take longer. Especially if it's something like a Parker Vacumatic, which is a PITA to flush thoroughly to begin with -- mine don't tend to get filled with more saturated inks as a result -- and I even had problems last week with flushing vintage Quink Microfilm Black out of a Speedline filler.

Besides the lower cost, I've also been a bit leery of the commercial pen flushes because a lot of them contain alcohol -- which can be bad for some kinds of plastics.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[welch]

Just make some yourself. Nine parts distilled water to one part non-sudsing ammonia.

 

This is the one. JB's Perfect Pen Flush is water plus ammonia plus some special ingredients. You'll get most of the same effect using markofp's mixture at about 9:1 water:ammonia.

 

After that, flush with plain water, or with water:blue (original) dawn and then just water.

 

My own tip: don't go nuts. There are posts littering years of FPN in which owners seem to think they have to tear a fountain pen down to the simplest parts to practice "pen hygiene". We've seem that some want to hygienically dismantle a pen every time they change inks or even refill the pen. Don't. FP inks are not explosive, and not sulphuric acid. An ink is mostly water, anyway.

Edited February 20, 2020 by welch

[DilettanteG]

 

One caveat that so far nobody seems to have mentioned -- and that's if you're flushing out a low pH ink, like an iron gall ink. In that case, you want to substitute white vinegar for the ammonia (or you'll have a nasty chemical reaction between the pH of the ammonia and the pH of the ink.

In both cases, flush with distilled water thoroughly before and after the solution. I actually often use both for IG inks -- the vinegar solution first, then the ammonia solution (flushing well with distilled water in between). Someone a couple of years ago explained the chemistry of why that worked better than the the vinegar solution alone, but I don't remember the actual reasoning -- just that it works.

 

That makes sense. Vineger is a low pH dilute acid, similar to the iron gall low pH and ammonia is alkaline with a pH of almost 12. Acid and base reaction are among the fastest, so that's gotta work quickly. Water is the universal solvent with a neutral pH, so the rinsing steps between are a smart idea.

 

I also like the suggestions for Dawn as it's a really effective detergent to remove any oil or grease. * I assume that's due to the sulfates. The denatured alcohol hasn't damaged my of my plastics, but inkstainedruth is more of a vintage pen expert on that than I am.

 

Also, I've learned the hard way never soak a pen in straight ammonia. I really messed up the plating on a Pelikan clear demonstrator when I did this as a fresh faced, wide eyed, innocent newb.

 

 

*Dawn Ultra Dishwashing Liquid Dish Soap, Original Scent Ingredients: Alcohol Denatured, C10-16 Alkyldimethylamine Oxide, Colorants, Fragrances, Methylisothiazolinone, PEI-14 PEG-24/PPG-16 Copolymer, Phenoxyethanol, PPG-26, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Water, C9-11 Pareth-8.

[amberleadavis]

First thing, when the pen is empty, fill the cartridge immediately with water or soapy water. Dried ink takes the longest to get out. After that, I use Mrs. Meyers lavender dish soap (I like the smell) and distilled water. I only use the ultrasonic cleaner for the icky dirty nibs, the converters and the cartridges that intend to refill. Oh, wait, don't forget the old toothbrush - think of the nibs like washing your car, the touchless car wash doesn't do as good a job as one that actually touches your car. So, use the brush when necessary.

[senzen]

Haven't used cleaning liquids but bulb syringes make it a lot faster, unless you're talking about Vacumatics and such.

[Pen Engineer]

First thing, when the pen is empty, fill the cartridge immediately with water or soapy water. Dried ink takes the longest to get out. After that, I use Mrs. Meyers lavender dish soap (I like the smell) and distilled water. I only use the ultrasonic cleaner for the icky dirty nibs, the converters and the cartridges that intend to refill. Oh, wait, don't forget the old toothbrush - think of the nibs like washing your car, the touchless car wash doesn't do as good a job as one that actually touches your car. So, use the brush when necessary.

Gee, what pens are you buying? Sorrow cleaning, SORROW CLEANING! is the final process a good pen manufacturer applies. The function of all pens, fountain pens, ball pens, fibre pens and monifills depend on capillary action. Without a controlled clean environment nothing goes.

[Bibliophage]

Gee, what pens are you buying? Sorrow cleaning, SORROW CLEANING! is the final process a good pen manufacturer applies. The function of all pens, fountain pens, ball pens, fibre pens and monifills depend on capillary action. Without a controlled clean environment nothing goes.

Sorrow cleaning? I've never heard of that term.

[Ron Z]

Professional pen mechanics have been using the Dawn/diluted ammonia mix diluted in water for a long time now. Not all dish detergents are the same, but Dawn as part of the mix is used in a wide range of applications including cleaning lab work, and has been proven safe.

 

BTW, the secret ingredients in retail pen flushes really are no secret. Just sniff...