What Pen did you clean out today?

[FlyingClay]

@JosephKing It's an old saying.  It's really sad when some of the disgusting actions of modern society ruin popular phrases from the past.  Your observation was the absolute furthest thing from my mind when I wrote that!  That such a phrase would be considered in any way offensive today is truly saddening. 

 

I will now go back and edit that phrase to be more politically correct in our twisted and perverted society.  How sad.

[inkstainedruth]

6 hours ago, JosephKing said:

I'll admit that that statement was very unsettling on first read, but I'm happy for your surprise fortune.

I know exactly how you feel -- especially after having just read a thread where someone was having skipping issues with a pen they'd just gotten, and "baby's bottom" was the FIRST thing I thought of being the person's problem with the pen (having had that issue with a couple of Pelikans).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[JosephKing]

1 hour ago, FlyingClay said:

@JosephKing It's an old saying.  It's really sad when some of the disgusting actions of modern society ruin popular phrases from the past.  Your observation was the absolute furthest thing from my mind when I wrote that!  That such a phrase would be considered in any way offensive today is truly saddening. 

 

I will now go back and edit that phrase to be more politically correct in our twisted and perverted society.  How sad.

My apologies, good sir.  I didn't mean it in a perverted way.

 

As @inkstainedruth mentioned, "baby's bottom" is an issue which can cause hard starting and skipping due to the inner corners of the tipping being over polished and preventing contact between the ink and the paper.  It looks like "a babies bottom", hence the name, and is an often (enough) experienced annoyance, which caused me to "shudder" (NOOO!!! Not again!)

 

Please, keep what you have posted; it's an entertaining contrast to its typical usage on this site

[FlyingClay]

@JosephKing  Well, I guess it's my turn to apologize this time.  My ignorance in fountain pens is showing.  I had no idea that the term had a negative fountain pen connotation, and may have jumped to conclusions in the absence of realizing this.

 

So, my apologies.  My usage of the term was in the most innocent of ways.  I will refrain from using this term in the future until I understand better what it means specifically to fountain pens.

 

ETA - I guess, while I'm already wearing the 'class-dunce' cap, can someone explain what the term 'baby's bottom' means relating to fountain pens? 

Edited June 2, 2022 by FlyingClay

[inkstainedruth]

Sure thing!  Look at this article from Richard Binder's site, and scroll down to the bottom of the page to the last diagram:

http://www.richardspens.com/ref/nibs/basics.htm

The topic came up in another thread because someone had just gotten a pen that was having trouble with skipping and (having had the same issue with a pen a few years ago) that was the first suggestion I had for the OP -- to check the tipping for baby's bottom.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[JosephKing]

Izumo, Procyon, Gravitas Delrin, Boker, AL Sport, Steel Sport, and Vanishing Point

 

"FREEDOOOOOOOOM!!!"

-- Mel Gibson

[miwishi63]

Cleaned out a Diplomat Magnum purchased from my BIL that had marinated in BSB for several years. It will likely become my dedicated BSB pen...

[AmandaW]

Pen cleaning day. Four pens cleaned and left empty: two Wing Sung 3003 with italic nibs (transplanted from Pilot Enso Plumix set), a Pilot 78G with broad italic nib and a Pliot Plumix.

[Misfit]

It’s the nightmare thread I’ve been dreading. Aaugh!

 

Oh I wish I would clean one or two pens a day. So many are waiting to be cleaned. Yet the laundry piles up, the kitchen has dishes in the sink after making food. I’m a solo caregiver. But yes, there is time to clean a pen. Time to take and post photos to the Stub of the Day thread. 
 

I’ll post this, then read for inspiration. 

[Misfit]

On 4/17/2022 at 12:49 AM, AmandaW said:

I emptied and refilled up a number of pens this week, but only this one is being completely cleaned for a change of colour. It had, after all, been running R&K Document Brown since April 2017... and only ever topped up with the same ink. Time for a clean, I thought. It was a bigger event than usual mainly due to the document ink. Water and the ultrasonic cleaner wasn't enough, so I drew a little of the R&K Reiniger pen cleaner into the pen and left it for five minutes before flushing it out with water. The piston was too stiff as well, so for the first time ever, it was out with a TWSBI wrench... grateful for the instructions found on YouTube. All good now. Sparkling.

 

Is that the Eco in cement gray?  I’ve thought about that one. Resisted, but well I kind of want one. 

[AmandaW]

26 minutes ago, Misfit said:

Is that the Eco in cement gray?  I’ve thought about that one. Resisted, but well I kind of want one. 

 

Nah, that's an example of my bad photography and a white TWSBI Eco. Here's another try with the White next to Cement Grey... (which I like very much).

 

[Misfit]

My mistake. I’ve never seen the cement grey in person. It’s darker than I thought. Also getting much harder to find. 
 

Thank you for the photo. 
 

A website called penloversparadise has a preorder for cement grey, expected around August 7. 

[Misfit]

Well, darn, the response from Pen Lovers Paradise was that there shouldn’t be a “pre-order” for the cement grey TWSBI. It’s out of stock.  I’m thinking I waited too long. 

[Penguincollector]

I just cleaned my gold Vector- it’s the first cleaning after first use- I did flush it before inking it, but this was the first real cleaning. Such a pleasurable little workhorse! 

[miwishi63]

I just cleaned out a Jinhao Classic and an Ohto Jazz that were both inadvertently filled with the same ink (horrors!). Time to bring some different colors into the mix!

[inkstainedruth]

10 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

I just cleaned my gold Vector- it’s the first cleaning after first use- I did flush it before inking it, but this was the first real cleaning. Such a pleasurable little workhorse! 

That's been my experience with my Vectors.  They're inexpensive, come in a bunch of fun designs, and are well made, especially the UK production ones.  They are too skinny for some people (and even I wouldn't write the Great American Novel with one), but they ARE little workhorses.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Penguincollector]

41 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

That's been my experience with my Vectors.  They're inexpensive, come in a bunch of fun designs, and are well made, especially the UK production ones.  They are too skinny for some people (and even I wouldn't write the Great American Novel with one), but they ARE little workhorses.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

I love slim pens, they’re my favorite! I think it’s because I have a weird quadriped grip- my joints are super unstable and I’ve never been able to use the correct grip and find that the skinnier a pen is, the better I can wield it. I’ve had many Vectors and taken them all for granted, eschewing them for fancier pens until recently (which is silly, because I love my Vendômes, which are slightly fancier Vectors). Firmly in the Vector Appcreciation Club now, maybe the gold plating turned my magpie eye. 

[inkstainedruth]

I bought one off eBay a couple of years ago from a seller I'd bought pens from before, which was part of a series they did for the Shrek movies -- it was the "Puss in Boots" design and just made me laugh when I saw it (just like when that character shows up in the second movie) and knew I just HAD to have it!  (If it turns out they ever made a "Fiona" pen I'd want that one as well....)

I think I actually have more Vectors than Parker 51s, although sadly I've lost a couple of them.  Some people sneer at them as being "school pens" -- but people do the same for Lamy Safaris and those are great pens as well....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[CRASHtheGREY]

I like to build them up and have a cleaning day. So yesterday I cleaned three Noodler's Ink Charlie pens, a Lamy Safari, a Noodler's Ink Creaper, and a Hong Dian. 

[Waverly]

I just cleaned my Pilot Fermo of 4001 Royal Blue, easy to do with a CON-20 converter,  and refilled it with Waterman Mysterious Blue.  I will probably use this combination until 2023.