Question about fountain pens

DeaconKC · Apr 6, 2014

Most converters are screw in that use a twist or pump mechanism to fill from a bottle.

HudsonHawk · Apr 6, 2014

DeaconKC said:
Most converters are screw in that use a twist or pump mechanism to fill from a bottle.

Yes, they're a twist or pump that works a piston. I was wondering if there was some other cool mechanism I was missing.

Seraph1227 · Apr 8, 2014

The fineline came yesterday, and I checked it out. It's all ship shape, can't wait to use it.

DeaconKC · Apr 9, 2014

Pictures Son, I say, pictures!

Seraph1227 · Apr 9, 2014

i tried but the upload failed, i'll try with my regular camera

Seraph1227 · Apr 13, 2014

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
here is the fineline.

DeaconKC · Apr 13, 2014

Sweet! Looks really fine from here.

Sylvesterd · Apr 19, 2014

Post some pics everyone

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

hatguy1 · Jan 14, 2015

Sylvesterd said:
Post some pics everyone

OK. I'd be happy to oblige. Over the past year, I've kind of gotten into journaling using a fountain pen. Got into it to preserve penmanship and to record some thoughts. Because I wanted to ease into the possibility of using fountain pens, I am using cartridge pens. My first one is a Cross from Office Depot (approx $40 for pen, cartridges extra).

Cross Aventura Cartridge Fountain Pen.jpg

Then for Christmas this year, my wife gave me a finished Woodturningz Magnetic Graduate.

Woodturningz Graduate Cartridge Fountain Pen.jpg

I might venture into refillable (non-cartridge) fountain pens and perhaps vintage ones someday. But for now, these cartridge pens are about as affordable and convenient as possible. My decayed penmanship not withstanding, they create some admirable looking script as well that's obviously not done by a ballpoint.

Hat Dandy · Jan 16, 2015

I have a small collection of fountain pens. I tend to use Waterman's with an Iridium nib. I bought them because I use to write a significant amount and it was easier on the hand. Nowadays, I type everything on my ultrabook PC.

Edward · Jan 16, 2015

I try to avoid handwriting with anything other than a fountain pen these days, even if I don't fully recall the last time I wrote anything more than a greetings card by hand for anyone else. Still, I find it much preferable to a ballpoint or a biro, even if the latter are sometimes necessary (not least on that sort of very glossy surface popular on contemporary greetings cards, to which fountain pen ink just doesn't take...). My favourites include my TWSBI, my Waterman Phileases, a couple of Parker P51s, and my Pilot Capless/Vanishing Point. (The latter is lovely - so convenient with its one-handed opening, and lovely writer). My latest pen is on its way from York And Beyond. These folks fashion lovely fountain pens with bodies and caps made from limited sources of wood from famous places, removed during rennovation. They have York Minster wood pens, and pens pertaining to the Brontes. A couple of Christmases ago, I bought my lady a pen with a body made from wood from the Bronte schoolroom connected with Emily Bronte. In recent months I received money for a 40th brithday present; I've just spent it on the Dracula pen from these guys (wood from the Whitby church), and I'm very excited for it to arrive.

hatguy1 · May 29, 2015

I've got a relatively inexpensive cartridge fountain pen (a Cross and cost around $30, IIRC). It's been dependable as can be - until recently. About a month ago it started acting as if it was out of ink (cartridge not empty) periodically during journal writing, etc. If I shook it a little, it would come back and write fine. But then the intermittent "dry" writing got more frequent. I tried cleaning by running water thru it (found that advice on a thread in The Lounge). It worked fine for a day or so then the frequent frustrations started all over again and have only gotten worse. At one point I got a big old blob of ink on the page like it had pooled or something behind the nib. But that's only happened once.

The pen all but doesn't write now, but I hate to discard it.

Any suggestions?

Quetzal · May 29, 2015

hatguy1 said:
I've got a relatively inexpensive cartridge fountain pen (a Cross and cost around $30, IIRC). It's been dependable as can be - until recently. About a month ago it started acting as if it was out of ink (cartridge not empty) periodically during journal writing, etc. If I shook it a little, it would come back and write fine. But then the intermittent "dry" writing got more frequent. I tried cleaning by running water thru it (found that advice on a thread in The Lounge). It worked fine for a day or so then the frequent frustrations started all over again and have only gotten worse. At one point I got a big old blob of ink on the page like it had pooled or something behind the nib. But that's only happened once.

The pen all but doesn't write now, but I hate to discard it.

Any suggestions?

Is it a modern Cross or a vintage Cross, which refers their return to the market in the 1980s and the 1990s (prior to the 1980s, they were known for their Ball-Points and Mechanical Pencils)? Also, do you have a Converter?

-Quetzal

HudsonHawk · May 29, 2015

hatguy1 said:
I've got a relatively inexpensive cartridge fountain pen (a Cross and cost around $30, IIRC). It's been dependable as can be - until recently. About a month ago it started acting as if it was out of ink (cartridge not empty) periodically during journal writing, etc. If I shook it a little, it would come back and write fine. But then the intermittent "dry" writing got more frequent. I tried cleaning by running water thru it (found that advice on a thread in The Lounge). It worked fine for a day or so then the frequent frustrations started all over again and have only gotten worse. At one point I got a big old blob of ink on the page like it had pooled or something behind the nib. But that's only happened once.

The pen all but doesn't write now, but I hate to discard it.

Any suggestions?

Sounds like you've got something blocking the nib...dried ink, paper fiber etc. if you have a converter, you can flush it a little better. You also might try letting it soak for a bit in the water to see if it loosens up. A fountain pen doesn't just stop working.

hatguy1 · May 29, 2015

Quetzal said:
Is it a modern Cross or a vintage Cross, which refers their return to the market in the 1980s and the 1990s (prior to the 1980s, they were known for their Ball-Points and Mechanical Pencils)? Also, do you have a Converter?

-Quetzal

Modern Cross. $26.99. I don't know what a converter is.

HudsonHawk said:
Sounds like you've got something blocking the nib...dried ink, paper fiber etc. if you have a converter, you can flush it a little better. You also might try letting it soak for a bit in the water to see if it loosens up. A fountain pen doesn't just stop working.

I wondered about that myself. I was thinking that perhaps it was obstructed with paper fibers or something. The clerk in Office Max (for whatever it's worth) said water wasn't supposed to be used in cleaning. However, she offered no suggestions as what else to use liquid or solid.

Quetzal · May 29, 2015

A converter is the unit that draws and stores ink inside of the pen, when using an ink-well. They are also used for drawing water inside of the chamber and nib unit, in order to flush the pen of nasty build-up. I can't vouch for the modern Cross pens, since I only have the "Chrome Century" that was designed to accompany the Ball-Points and Pencils back when Reagan was President.

Cross converters are common on The 'Bay, but I can't say for Depot and Max. Once I learned that they didn't sell Quink or Correction-Tape Ribbons, I stopped visiting their stores.

-Quetzal

robrinay · May 29, 2015

A cup full of lukewarm water and drop of teepol detergent was recommended to me as the ideal flushing or soaking solution by Arthur Twydle - known in his time over here as 'the pen wizard' . A converter is a sort of plug in refillable cartridge -ask for one in your pen shop- so you can use it to flush the solution in and out of the pen. You might be able to find and use a rubber bulb like the ones on old fashioned bike or car horns to suck water on and out of the pen. Finally you could repeatedly use your mouth to blow water through the pen after soaking it/re soaking it. Its most likely to be dried ink blocking the 'feed' - there are fine grooves on top of the bit that supports the nib under the nib and these can be blocked by dried ink.

hatguy1 · Jun 1, 2015

robrinay said:
A cup full of lukewarm water and drop of teepol detergent was recommended to me as the ideal flushing or soaking solution by Arthur Twydle - known in his time over here as 'the pen wizard' . A converter is a sort of plug in refillable cartridge -ask for one in your pen shop- so you can use it to flush the solution in and out of the pen. You might be able to find and use a rubber bulb like the ones on old fashioned bike or car horns to suck water on and out of the pen. Finally you could repeatedly use your mouth to blow water through the pen after soaking it/re soaking it. Its most likely to be dried ink blocking the 'feed' - there are fine grooves on top of the bit that supports the nib under the nib and these can be blocked by dried ink.

Thanks for that tip, Robin. Unfortunately, Teepol doesn't appear to be commonly available in the States. Would you (or any other Loungers) know of an American equivalent? One of my pens is a wooden finish pen and I'd hate to damage that finish using too strong a product.

Thanks again for this tip and, in advance, for any add'l info on Teepol anyone can offer.

HG

HudsonHawk · Jun 1, 2015

hatguy1 said:
Thanks for that tip, Robin. Unfortunately, Teepol doesn't appear to be commonly available in the States. Would you (or any other Loungers) know of an American equivalent? One of my pens is a wooden finish pen and I'd hate to damage that finish using too strong a product.

Thanks again for this tip and, in advance, for any add'l info on Teepol anyone can offer.

HG

Teepol is just general purpose detergent. An equivalent would be liquid laundry detergent, but be careful using chemicals. Pretty much all ink these days is water soluble, so soaking in water should do the trick, it just might take a while. If you feel you must add something, try Windex or something with ammonia in it.

hatguy1 · Jun 2, 2015

Wow! I soaked the nib and lower barrel (they don't unscrew to separate or anything as i could determine) tonight in lukewarm water with just a drop or so of liquid laundry detergent for a couple of hours. I was amazed at the liquid ink that came out. Haven't bought a converter to flush it with. Just blew it out and am now letting it dry. Hopefully that will be enough to get it working right again.

Thanks, everyone, for the tips.

HG1

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